Forwarded comment on our Code of Conduct

The following email was received at our general mail address.  I forward it here in the event that this group wishes to consider any of the writer’s comments.

> Begin forwarded message:
> 
> From: [redacted]
> Subject: Code of Conduct missing addition
> Date: November 18, 2025 at 20:33:34 EST
> To: contact@w3.org
> 
> Hey people :)
> 
> I loved reading through your amazing code of conduct BUT it felt like a nightmare to not read about conflict resolution in a way that enables variation, instead of - it felt like for me reading - forcing peace upon both parties. Thats why I would love to read something like this: 
> conflict is not a by product - its bad design.
> 
> Consideration for point 14 Ode of Conduct.
> 
> 3. Code of conduct
> 3.14. The right to go separate ways — and the understanding that until that time, everything co-created belongs to both sides.
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> 
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> Conflict is rarely a sign of “bad people”; it is often a sign of bad design: systems that do not allow all voices to move freely toward the place where they feel most alive, safe, and true.
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> Sometimes the loudest voices are not “dominating” —
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> they are signaling that something inside them is not yet free.
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> In a healthy system:
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> Everyone is allowed to express experiences of suppression.
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> Anyone may state what they need in order to feel safe.
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> We do not frame this as opposition or sides.
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> We treat conflict as information, not as moral failure.
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> We acknowledge that co-creation generates shared responsibility and shared ownership until a clean transition is intentionally designed.
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> Freedom means multiple interpretations of life may coexist —
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> and each person or group retains the right to move toward the most appealing, most resonant interpretation without being punished for it.
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> Designing for collective well-being means building structures where:
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> Divergence is allowed.
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> Separation does not equal betrayal.
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> Expression of pain is welcomed, not pathologized.
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> And co-created value stays in integrity until a fair, mutual transition can be made.
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> This is not about winning
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> or being right
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> or silencing discomfort.
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> It is about designing a social architecture where everyone — including those who struggle, shout, or shake — can move from constraint into freedom.
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> 

Received on Thursday, 20 November 2025 17:54:51 UTC