[ripe-list] Updated Draft RIPE Code of Conduct Published for Community Review

Gergana, Randy,

Let’s take a step back and reflect a little. Here is my contribution:

In my reality RIPE and the RIPE NCC are *facilitating* meetings of local 
and regional communities.  We have always been very careful to respect 
the autonomy of the local communities as well as their values and 
customs. On the other hand we have some responsibilities depending on 
exactly how we facilitate; for instance we are often the host of the 
meetings. This is a fine line to walk.

As far as I can remember this started in Russia at a time when it was 
even more of an issue who actually *hosted* a meeting than it may be 
now. Back then we were able to make a difference by being a 
‘neutral’ external party who could invite everyone.

We should *offer* our codes, customs and material resources to *support* 
the local communities. We should never just assume they accept our codes 
as their own. They should have the option to adopt our codes or not as 
much as we have the option to walk away if we need to. We should not 
even think of this as being a hierarchy with RIPE at the top. Even with 
the best intentions this would be wrong.

Daniel