With Discourse, it was clear that we needed to totally reboot the software to create next-generation forum software. But code is only part of the story. Any reasonable attempt at delivering a Civilized Discourse Construction Kit has to provide a safe, simple default set of guidelines for civilized discourse.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://blog.discourse.org/2013/03/the-universal-rules-of-civilized-discourse/