Updated 12/23: The repository is open again

[chrisdias]

Update: 12/23/2019

Thanks again for the feedback. We want to address some of the common concerns raised across multiple issues.

1. That we reacted to a single person’s complaint (with perceived questionable motives)
2. That we violated the Microsoft Code of Conduct in how we handled this issue

After the Insiders build was available with the hat last Monday, there were both a lot of positive responses on twitter as well as a handful that were expressing some concern. We watched the reactions, started discussing what we might do, and waited to see if more feedback came in. On Wednesday, issue #87268 was submitted, which added to these concerns. At this point, there was no doubt that we were not delivering on our original intention, which was to simply thank our users and wish everyone happy holidays.

We proceeded as we do with any change. We made a fix (the snowflake), pushed to master, and then Insiders was released the next day as usual. Once the snowflake shipped and we saw the volume of feedback on that change, we made another fix to allow configuration of the icons, pushed to master, and again let Insiders ship as usual.

So, while it may have appeared that we responded to a single issue in a very short amount of time, in fact there were multiple concerns being raised all around us. We could have shipped this as a setting to begin with (which is what we sometimes do when there are multiple valid opinions), or made that the first fix. But, since it was such a temporary “feature” we didn’t want to add yet another setting. Again, we reacted to the feedback and we utilized the normal CI/CD process to release those changes.

Following the Code of Conduct, we considered multiple pieces of feedback and we responded by trying to find a healthy compromise. We could have been more transparent that we were hearing feedback from multiple channels, and not only in this one issue.

3. That “even a single person being offended is one too many” means any concern must be answered with a code change

In our first update below, we made this statement (emphasis is added and intentional):

Earlier this week, we were notified through an issue (and on twitter) that the design of the gear with the Santa hat was divisive and offensive to some of our users (even a single person being offended is one too many), meaning it represented the opposite of what we wanted to convey to our users.

Incomplete and out of context quotes of this statement have resulted in different interpretations of our original intent. What we are trying to say is that we don't want to distribute a product that is offensive or excludes anyone. This applies in general, and even more so when it comes to the small, friendly gesture we wanted to send to our users.

A few suggestions were made to prioritize allowing themes to be able to customize all product icons. We will explore this in the January iteration.

Last, based on feedback, we are unlocking this issue.

Thank you for the feedback and caring about this project.

---

Update: 12/20/2019

Well, that was unexpected.

If you didn’t notice, we locked down the vscode repository for the last ~24 hours because of what some are calling "SantaGate”. We learned a lot, made some changes, and now we want to share with everyone what happened, how we handled it, and how we will handle this going forward.

A little background…

For the past few Decembers we changed the settings gear in the Insiders build to have a red hat with a white pom-pom (aka a Santa hat). To the gear menu we add a “Happy Holidays” command that shows an overlay (with snow!) and wish the community a happy holiday season as we wind down, take time off to spend with family and friends, and get ready for the new year.

What happened…

Earlier this week, we were notified through an issue (and on twitter) that the design of the gear with the Santa hat was divisive and offensive to some of our users (even a single person being offended is one too many), meaning it represented the opposite of what we wanted to convey to our users. In the spirit of the season, and to practice inclusiveness, we reverted the gear to something (hopefully) less controversial (a snowflake) and checked it into the Insiders build.

There were a few “thumbs down” on the issue, which is a common and respectful way to disagree, but we decided the change kept the spirit and conveyed our best wishes for the holidays, without offending any of our users.

Much to our surprise, many people were fond of the holiday treatment, so when we changed it, they were a little disappointed with us. Someone filed an issue, and we closed it pointing to the original issue that was raised. Someone else filed a new issue. And then another. And another.

Some agreed with what we did, some did not, and many tried to make their point using humor. Now, we love humor (especially the references to Monty Python movies), but unfortunately a few went well beyond tasteful, were directed at people rather than the product, and violated our Code of Conduct.

To adhere to our values and the Code of Conduct, we had to delete a handful of comments, which is unfortunate but not uncommon. Our responses triggered more responses. Bots were being employed to create issues and comments. Temporary accounts were being created to spam the system. Offensive issues were being created. The repository was filling up with issues which, frankly, were uncalled for, and we needed to do something, fast.

It was at that point we decided to lock the repository down to contributors using the Moderation feature of GitHub, so that we could clean up the backlog and let emotions settle. We posted this issue (which was titled “Why can’t I file an issue right now?”), locked it, and then went to work cleaning up the backlog.

Cleaning up issues…

We follow Microsoft’s Code of Conduct here, which means we can and do remove issues and comments that we believe do not follow the guidelines. At the same time, we want to be transparent. We were sensitive to some comments that suggested we were “censoring” feedback, which is an unfortunate interpretation of what we had to do, which was to delete offensive content targeted at individuals or racial or religious groups.

In a nutshell, we did the following:

• Created a new label called *off-topic and tagged issues with it, which caused our triage bots to close the issue, making it easier for us to go through the backlog more quickly.
• If the issue was already closed by a team member, we added the *off-topic label and added the reason for closure manually.
• To allow people to see what we closed, we left the issues unlocked, and decided we would only lock it if necessitated by later Code of Conduct violations.
• We deleted a handful of comments which we deemed too offensive to leave as-is (foul language, racist remarks, etc.). We also deleted a few issues that were overwhelmingly offensive. Unfortunately, that resulted in some non-offensive comments within those issues being deleted as well.

The feedback…

As you can imagine, we heard a lot of feedback in these issues. Some were upset at the original issue, but the majority were upset at us in how we responded. The icon change, locking of issues, removing comments, not responding (until now obviously), and more. Some even felt that we were violating our own Code of Conduct.

All good feedback, thank you, and we apologize to everyone offended by the product or by our responses.

Looking forward…

If you’ve looked at our settings, you know that you get a lot of choice with VS Code. We decided to follow this pattern and let users configure how the gear looks. We’ve added a new setting to Insiders that lets you choose the icon. If you like the red hat, go for it! Maybe you live in the southern hemisphere or you are heading to the beach during the holidays, there’s an icon for you too.

• Open settings (Mac: CMD+, Windows/Linux: CTRL+,) and search for “Holiday Gear Icon Style”, and choose your icon
• If you love editing settings.json, set holiday.gearIconStyle

You will still find the “Happy Holidays” command which will bring up the overlay, snow, and message.

And finally, as we did in previous years, we will remove this little treat around the first week of January. In the meantime, download Insiders now and have a happy holiday season from all of us in Redmond and Zurich.

In conclusion…

Having a community as large as ours is an interesting challenge, especially once you step out of the boundaries of "business only". This pause allowed us to get back to what we do best - develop software for you - and we implemented a solution that we hope can be enjoyed by everyone.

Thanks, and #HappyCoding,
The VS Code team

---

12/19/2019

This repository is temporarily limited to collaborators as a result of a number of issues being submitted containing content which violates the Microsoft Code of Conduct.

We will remove the offending issues and comments which we determine do not adhere to the Code of Conduct.

We apologize for the inconvenience this creates for our contributors.

[Jarrich]

even a single person being offended is one too many

are you fuckin serious?

That is indeed a bit worrying.

[mike-code]

Here's product that doesn't offend anyone

seriously the only thing this planet deserve is a giant meteor

[limonte]

Here's product that doesn't offend anyone

It does offend me with its sharp corners! People were killed with sharp heavy objects like that one! How dare you?! Please round the corners asap!!11

[Atulin]

Here's product that doesn't offend anyone

How dare you post such a racist image, it's all white! When I take it to Twitter you're getting cancelled!

[nocturn9x]

Lol, I also got my account flagged because of the issue

Are you serious microsoft? Gonna contact support asap

[ghost]

The snowflake is a metaphor for the snowflakes that were offended by a santa hat

[Tameflame]

I find it ironic that more people were enraged by the removal of the Santa hat than by it being there in the first place.

However, ultimately the icon is irrelevant, but when it comes to functional changes / features, I hope the team doesn't give in to the demands of a few over the interests of everyone else.

[lucasbasquerotto]

I find it ironic that more people were enraged by the removal of the Santa hat than by it being there in the first place.

I think that most people don't care so much about the Santa Hat per se, it's more about the removal of it because someone (supposedly) felt offended by something so irrelevant, which could be applied to basically every other thing, and life would become inviable because anything can offend anyone.

[GrimTheReaper]

I love how the troll who "felt offended" deleted their account (or at least, it looks like it?)

Honestly, I think that it is crazy to let something as insignificant as a temporary icon, not to mention one that can be seen pretty much anywhere around this time of year, get to them. To spend so much time fixated on it, what kind of life is that to live? And then take that here, and waste everyone else's time?

To further my lack of constructiveness, here's a picture of Octocat.

[lunarthegrey]

Microsoft, you are literally spineless for giving into this silly behavior. I could point at any object and claim it's offensive. In fact, this issue on GitHub is offensive to logic and reason. The snowflake is also offensive.

[mkaito]

I'm pretty squarely agnostic. I don't perceive Christmas in a religious context whatsoever. For me, it's about family, goodwill, and sharing. It's my favorite time of the year.

I'm appalled that the idea of Christmas or Santa's hat could construed as pushing a religious agenda. That is narrow sighted, fallacious, regressive and very self-centered. Maybe some people just have so much hatred and pain in their lives that they can't help but share it with everyone else.

Why can't we all just get along, respect one another, and get on with life, instead of wasting time and energy on these petty squabbles?

I understand that MIcrosoft as a company would not want to position itself on either side of such a debate, and the only correct choice is to not participate. It is sad, however, that such measures must be taken because of the lack of civility of a few individuals.

[bdrtsky]

Thank you Microsoft for fueling the upcoming Race War.

[ghost]

Pretty sure that Santa Claus as currently portrayed was an image of Coca Cola (Wikipedia backs this up), not a religious thing at all. Which supports the idea this was entirely caused by a troll.

[rcuza]

In the future, perhaps the Santa hat and other colorful features can be added as easter eggs. With this method, you have to opt in to be offended.

[RedVinchenzo]

@chrisdias , was mentionned

We will remove the offending issues and comments which we determine do not adhere to the Code of Conduct.

But I still can find original issue, with as offensive as agressive terms :

To me this is almost equally offensive as a swastika.

Don't want to talk about religious people, but comparing Christmas to that, is not offensive for all person celebrating Christmas ? Religious or not ?

So if you really remove offending comments, please delete (forever) this issue.

[moongoal]

Today everyone wastes everyone else's time with the "feeling offended" trend. Just grow up, you little flowers. <- I hope nobody gets offended by being called a little flower as they are little, beautiful, delicate living things.

Pretty sure that Santa Claus as currently portrayed was an image of Coca Cola (Wikipedia backs this up), not a religious thing at all. Which supports the idea this was entirely caused by a troll.

Indeed.

[pajasevi]

I feel offended by you putting your time to even consider making up for these lunatics who are offended by literally anything.

[cope]

I have a serious question here, given that I am extremely offended by your removal of the Santa Hat, and especially by the comparisson of the Santa Hat with swastika, what will you do to remedy that offence?

I am actually not joking, I find your reaction and your removal of the hat immensly offensive.

So, how do you plan to handle this issue?

Will you tell me that his offense is more important than mine?

[R2D221]

I just want to add a final opinion on the matter.

I didn't like the fact that you added a setting to change the holiday icon. The whole point of Easter eggs like these are to greet the user with a pleasant surprise, right? Well, then, how can the surprise work if you have to open up the config file and set up the icon you want to be "surprised" with? I think it defeats the purpose of this little feature.

I couldn't comment while the drama was happening because, well, it was happening. But I still wanted to say it, so that people don't forget the point of the features they're implementing, even if they're just for fun.

You don't configure a surprise.

[RinzlerTron]

I'm not Christian, but I do hate seeing these issues politicized so someone can claim offense to ruin things for other people. These inane issues should be left out of products and engineering culture in general, because they ruin user experience and often times force engineers into a corner thereby victimizing them for only wanting to focus on their job/purpose/task at hand.

[enjikaka]

A few others has kind of pointed this out already. But I think it's important to note that the santa hat origins are from the nordic Nisse. This was in Scandinavian folklore a small bearded gnome that helped around the farm. The Nisse with his iconic hat was later the inspiration of Jenny Nyström when she illustrated a poem about the Nisse by Viktor Rydberg.

The Coca Cola santa illustrated (without a hat!) by Thomas Nast is the one with ties to Rome and jewish oppression. On the contrary, the scandinvian originiated santa hat has no ties there and was even a symbol against nazi-German opression in Norway during the 40s.

Hope everyone had a happy Yule, and happy new year. :)

[w0rldart]

Does that mean that I cannot dress as Santa either whilst I'm viciously coding the presents? My minions will hear about this.

[viktor-ku]

unbelievable