George Thank you for your thoughts. I completely disagree with the notion that cases should be handled in public. That not only results in the reporter on an issue being known to the wider community (which would lead to less likelihood of an incident being reported in the first place out of concern over what others may think, "retribution", etc.) but the individual(s) on the receiving end of the report as well (when it may in fact not be a violation of a CoC or may be a situation that can be handled amicably without involvement from everyone).
An incident being handled in public rather than handled privately through proper channels additionally puts an unnecessary pressure on the decision-making, evidence gathering, and communication processes to be done in an expedient manner, which may result in details being overlooked or decisions be made in haste.
There is a very good reason why human resource departments at companies resolve these matters in private. There is a good reason why larger open source projects and communities handle this in private as well (my proposed process being heavily inspired / lifted from Django, as an example). I understand your opinion that it being in public might improve the transparency, but this is one of those places IMO where transparency can have demonstrative downsides that I wouldn't feel comfortable having. I want folks to be comfortable reporting issues and knowing that everyone in the process is treated fairly, decisions are being made responsibly, etc.
