Maria KozińskaNov 26, 2023

#ConflictResolution anti-pattern and an extremly harmful practice in #Karrot project:

§4 End of Membership

There are two ways to stop being part of the Karrot team:
a) either by resignation
b) by all other members consenting on a proposal to stop someone’s membership (the latter in case of conflict unresolved by other means).

https://community.karrot.world/t/membership-policy/1377

@karrot please consider better conflict resolution and separation strategies. This is violence nobody deserves!

#FOSS #implicitPowerStructures

Membership policy

Membership policy §1 Karrot Team Karrot is an open-source digital tool developed to support communities, initiatives and grassroots projects in their organising and daily activities. On Karrot we describe such communities as Karrot groups since to use Karrot they have to create a digital group. The Karrot team is responsible for the digital tool Karrot and consists of its members. The Karrot team is responsible for stewarding the development of Karrot, coordinating, conducting and delegating ...

Karrot Community
Show threadMars Robertson 🐇Jan 4, 2024

@mariha @karrot

"please consider better conflict resolution and separation strategies" - what do you suggest?

"This is violence nobody deserves!" - not really... "all other members consenting" is extremely high threshold, I would not call it a violence, I would call it self-defence.

Show threadMaria KozińskaJan 13, 2024

@marsxr @karrot

Forcing someone out is violent for them. When done by a group, it is a group violence - and has an impact of a group violence on an individual.

Over the internet people don't see the impact of their actions, and there is no stop condition.

---

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/bully-wise/202007/the-pain-of-ostracization-the-bullys-silent-weapon

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/bully-wise/202309/workplace-bullying-as-a-form-of-institutional-betrayal

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/bully-wise/202212/the-myth-of-closure-navigating-through-workplace-abuse

The Pain of Ostracization: The Bully’s Silent Weapon

Top five things you need to know about being excluded at work.

Psychology Today
Show threadMaria KozińskaJan 13, 2024

@marsxr @karrot

> I would call it a self-defence

To put it differently, you don't KILL someone as a means of self-defence. Especially if they didn't mean to hurt you.

The effect that group dynamics has on an individual is called "social death", for a reason.

Consent is 'no objection', it takes no action from a [careless] group, and one person putting a proposal to execute the procedure. Nobody "is" responsible.

It can happen to anyone at any time. As if we evolved maladapted to the rules.

Show threadMars Robertson 🐇

@mariha @karrot "I would call it self-defence" to remove bad apples from the group.

"by all other members consenting" - high threshold

Alternative option: 80% explicit yes, but then voter turnout is an issue, assuming quorum needs to be reached.

Ostracism (bannition) used to be pretty bad in the past - humans relied of tribe to survive.

"Forcing someone out is violent for them." - of course, but what if it needs to happen?

Please suggest a better way...

Jan 13, 2024 at 12:50pmWeb
Show threadMaria KozińskaJan 13, 2024

@marsxr @karrot

> Please suggest a better way...

If two people are in a conflict that makes it hard for the group to sustain and the group lacks any other means then expultion, both of them could be expelled - as a last resort group's self-protective response.

It is not non-violent but at least distributes the responsibility of the situation equally on both people involved.

Show threadMars Robertson 🐇Jan 13, 2024

@mariha @karrot your scenario assumes 1-1 conflict. That's a different use case.

Expelling a member from a group is never easy. I don't think a perfect solution exist. With such limitations, the "least wrong" is "good enough".

I like "all other members consenting' - pretty high threshold.

That also assumes that many steps were taken before putting forward a formal proposal.

Show threadMaria KozińskaJan 13, 2024

@marsxr @karrot that was a use case I experienced and nobody bothered to even have a chat with me on a call.

We did exchange some messages, I offered a few solutions so we both could participate and others from the outside offered to mediate. I also stated from the very begining when I was asked to limit my participation that it's unfair and later requested them to stop.