It seems that the GNU Project isn’t unaffected from the development happenings in the land of Linux. After Linux kernel community introduced its Code of Conduct to make the contributors and maintainers follow certain rules and make the community more welcoming to the new contributors, Richard Stallman said that strict of conduct are “repressive and rigid.”
In the latest development, he has announced “GNU Kind Communications Guidelines.” The initial version of the guidelines is available online and Stallman has requested the GNU contributors to follow them.
The guidelines start with the line:
In his announcement post, Stallman talks about the ongoing discussion regarding GNU development pushing away new contributors, specially women.
Further, he writes about practicing some of feedback from others and found them effective. “The current version not set in stone; I welcome comments and suggestions for future revision,” he adds.
Comparing it to Linux’s new Code of Conduct, Stallman calls them different on the fundamental level — while Code of Conduct punishes those violate it, GNU Kind Communication Guidelines tries to help people learn how to communicate with kindness.
You can read the complete guidelines here and share your views on the same.
