What is CAT?

In an (online) mongers meeting yesterday I jokingly suggested the creation of the Department Of Governance, abbreviated DOG, to set up community rules and how to deal with violations.

Jokes aside: It has become quite apparent that many members of the Perl communities are uncomfortable (or worse) with the recent activity of CAT, and the recent update doesn't help a lot (it helps a bit, though).

I guess that by now, many people involved in the case are also unhappy and didn't want it to turn out like this. I also guess most of them are aware of their own contribution to the mess. However, I consider it very hard for any party to leave their defensive fortresses as long as the public bashing in both directions continues (see, for an example, the comments to the CAT update). The way to peace will be a long and difficult one, and the first step is to stop trying to win the fight.

There is no us and them. There's only us. And all of us are different.

A good Community Affairs Team can help keeping the peace. It needs to build a reputation so that people talk to them instead of going public if they have social problems. Their role could then be to unite, not to split, the community. For not thinking enough about the consequences of their publication in this case DOG considers to give CAT a severe barking.