undefined | Better HN

0 pointsvintagedave3y ago0 comments

A secular perspective of some of those is still very positive:

> 27. Do not swear, for fear of perjuring yourself.

This means: be true to your word. It's an excellent principle.

> 50. When wrongful thoughts come into your heart, dash them against Christ immediately.

This means: have self-control over your own, possibly not-very-good, impulses and desires. This too is a good thing.

> 58. Daily in your prayers, with tears and sighs, confess your past sins to God, and amend them for the future.

You might not pray, but self-analysis each day, putting the past behind you and endeavouring to make each day better, is also an excellent principle. Confessing the past is a great technique for getting over the past too: it lets you forgive yourself and move forward.

> 60. Obey in all things the commands of those whom God has placed in authority over you even though they (which God forbid) should act otherwise, mindful of the Lord's precept, "Do what they say, but not what they do."

I don't agree with this one, because I believe we should struggle against those in power when it is necessary. But you can still put forward a good argument for it.

> 70. Pray for your enemies in the love of Christ.

This is one of those principles that translates well even without prayer or religion: act in empathy to your enemies; hope that they will improve; do not let yourself become evil in your own heart (you know that anger that can grow? The things that make you behave not so nicely, even if you think of yourself as a nice person?) towards them but keep a loving attitude even to those who don't deserve it.

I don't agree with all of the principles they listed. I could not become a SQLite developer. But none of these -- none! -- are 'ridiculous'. In fact, they are tied closely to being a good person, and to living a peaceful, kind life.

0 comments

bbbobbb3y ago

The thing is you can be charitable with your interpretation or try to decipher some reasonable principles out of ramblings like these but the point is that it's 2022 and referring to 'holy scripture' in normal person's code of conduct is in my opinion actually insane and is not worth anybody's time.

So I do consider most of these insane, ridiculous and worthless. Anybody is free to think otherwise.

vintagedaveOP3y ago

It is good to be charitable with interpretation. In fact, being charitable with interpretations is an attitude that would be encouraged with SQLite's rules.

A code of conduct that has persisted and remained used for 1500 years cannot really be described as 'ramblings'.

Referring to someone's code of ethics as 'insane', 'ridiculous' and 'worthless' is, perhaps, not quite as kind as it could be. It also doesn't fit the HN culture: we try to discuss things rationally here, not emotionally, and if I may so so, a bit more kindly.

This Register article sheds more light on the decision to use the code from the Benedictines: https://www.theregister.com/2018/10/22/sqlite_code_of_conduc...

> "Nobody is excluded from the SQLite community due to biological category or religious creed," [SQLLIte creator, D Richard Hipp] told us. "The preface to the CoC should make this clear. The only way to get kicked out of the SQLite community is by shouting, flaming, and disrespectful behavior. In 18 years, only one person has ever been banned from the mailing list."

> In other words, Hipp decided to adopt a seminal Christian text rather than grab some cookie-cutter code of conduct from elsewhere, reflecting his beliefs and, he believes, the general world view of those who contribute to open-source software projects for free.

So the rules do not require you be Christian or Benedictine to contribute to SQLite. He's chosen something that's stood the test of time, rather than writing something new - he explicitly notes in that article that he asked himself if he really regards himself as wiser than St Benedict, and concluding no, a reason not to edit the rules. He also chose a set of rules that he believes match many of the ways open source developers behave and the behaviours they believe they should have.

I respect that.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse