[erlang-questions] Announcing Erlang.org Code of Conduct

[Peter Hickman]

On a more helpful note I think that if we are to have rules then we also
need a statement of purpose to keep the community on topic. For example
"Erlang questions is a mailing list for the discussion of erlang
programming techniques and technologies using erlang. It is also a place
for people so seek help with erlang programming techniques and practices
and discussion of functional programming in the context of using erlang."

This is to head off things like:
1. Editor wars. Erlang programmers use emacs or vi therefore lets have a
flame war
2. OS wars. Erlang runs on Windows so we can bitch about Microsoft
3. Politics. Party X's stance on H1B visas can affect programmer so lets
talk about Party X
4. Language wars. Erlang is a programming language, so is X. Lets talk
about X
5. Religion(?). Bet365 use erlang, gambling is immoral therefore erlang
programmers are immoral
6. Products. RabbitMQ is written in erlang therefore this where I expect to
get support for it

Not that I have seen anything like this in this community but I have
certainly seen topics raised in other communities that were very tangential
to a community and shutting them down proved difficult as the posters
basically held that "We are programmers, this (might) affect (some)
programmers (perhaps). Therefore I will post 5,000 word rants about it".
Then they get pissy when they are banned.

So being upfront about the purpose of the community can at least make it
clear what is going to go down badly.

There are many things that concern programmers but outside of the statement
of purpose this is not the place for them. Find a better place.
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