[coc-tf] (no subject)

Dear TF and RIPE Chair Team,

Thank you all for a very interesting discussion earlier today.

The action item we took away for us all to think over was the balance
between the authority delegated to the team that performs the initial
investigation in suggesting a consequence and oversight by people with
broader responsibilities. Greater oversight at an earlier stage could
reduce the options for escalation. In other words, what is the balance
between judgement and process?

The proposal below is intended as a straw man for discussion. I am not
emotionally attached to it and won't be offended if I am told that the
balance is wrong. My intention is for us to reach a shared
understanding of why we should or should not draw the balance in a
particular place.

8<---- START STRAW MAN PROPOSAL ----->8

The TF recognises that it does not have a body of experience for the
team that will implement the Code of Conduct to draw on. While that
body of experience is being developed, we favour adjusting the balance
towards greater oversight of suggested consequences. We recognise that
this could leave less opportunity for escalation. In essence, we
favour taking more opportunities to get things right earlier on,
especially when this is a new process.

For example:

The Code of Conduct Team is asked to investigate a report at a RIPE
meeting. The sub-team investigating the report (two trained community
members, plus one RIPE NCC support person) believes that the incident
is sufficiently serious that the subject of the report should not be
admitted to the remainder of the RIPE meeting.

Because they feel the need to suggest such serious consequences they
provide a summary of the incident and the suggested consequences to
both the RIPE Chair and the RIPE NCC Managing Director. Either of
those people is able to adjust the suggested consequences before
implementation.

8<---- END STRAW MAN PROPOSAL ----->8

This straw man proposal is an implicit acknowledgement that we might
want to adjust our processes as we gain more experience. The RIPE
community is likely to suggest changes based on periodic experience
reports.

Please feel free to share your thoughts on this list or at our next
scheduled meeting.

Kind regards,

Leo