Shane Fagan

In a large community there is always conflict, dealing with it is the one thing that has to be done correctly. We have the code of conduct in ubuntu to give a set of guidelines to follow but I for one was on the receiving end of someone breaking those guidelines.

I was at the Dallas UDS last month and someone mentioned something small, just an off hand comment to that someone said back to me but it wasn’t nice that the person in question didn’t mention it to me directly. So instead of saying something small it made me break down and be unproductive for the next day and a half. It was my first UDS I was out of my element and I was trying to contribute, get to know people and learn most of all.

It made me feel very bad about not only myself but it made me rethink every contribution up to that point and evaluate weather or not that person had a point. That was wasted time for me in rethinking everything but at the time I couldnt think of anything but. So it wasted my time when I could have been doing something better. Maybe my reaction had a little to do with me feeling the pressure to preform at my first event like this but still it was incredibly rude of the person in question not to mention it to me personally. It adds an element of embarrassment to the issue and that makes the problem worse.

So in dealing with personal conflict what do we do? It says in the code of conduct that we should go to the Community Council. I think its hard to do that because when its something small just a little disagreement but it affects just one person its very difficult to take any official steps to make sure that it never happens again. Whats more if its secondary info and the other person doesn’t want to say who said it, its also hard to get answers. So you talk it out with someone I talked with Jono but I dont think it would be great for him if everyone pounded him with personal upsets. (and thanks again Jono)

So then what if the person who was offended was too shy to talk to someone and didn’t take it to the community council? If a person is upset and it effects their productivity and when dealing with a community that is an issue. We cant always abide by the code of conduct we can try but small issues slip through the cracks and people are effected.

Maybe im still over-thinking this but I still think there is issues about following the code of conduct and be a bit more considerate about peoples feelings.