We want to make sustainable technology, this requires a community that is architected along the same principle. The Code of Conduct (CoC) is a key tool in ensuring a community that is diverse in experience, cohesive in practice, and growing in membership 1 2. We welcome feedback.
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We empathize with serious concerns that CoC may represent a loss of freedom of speech, inhibit personal expression, or bring unnecessary discussion to what should be the development of technology 3.
To these concerns, we say that evidence-based research has shown that Codes of Conduct are instrumental to achieving and sustaining inclusive communities which promote diverse sets of skills and perspectives 1 2 3 4. Meritocracy is not sustainable outside of interactions between absolute equals, including cultural norms and understandings 2.
This Code of Conduct applies to spaces both online and offline.
Online spaces managed by the Nim-Works organization will be held to the following standards. Spaces that represent our users, or where users are otherwise representing Nim-Works, may still be held accountable to these standards depending upon context and official status of the representative.
Offline spaces where members interact, including but not limited to conferences, will be similarly held to the standards below.
Outlined below are the main values of the CoC, each of which can be expanded to show contributing rules and themes.
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We are an open and inclusive community, so I should behave in a manner which is respectful of others without discrimination.
- Discrimination against an individual(s) or group(s) damages the community and attacks the goals of our contributions; we specifically will not discriminate based on, but not limited to:
- Virtue of race or ethnicity; country of origin, or country of residence; gender(s), biological sex or sexual orientation; age or experience; economic standing or education; disability - physical or otherwise.
- Harassment - online or otherwise are not tolerated. This includes any offensive, belittling or threatening behaviour toward an individual(s) or group(s).
- Cultural diversity and language barriers may play a critical role in differentiating whether a perpetrator intentionally meant to be aggressive in their behaviour. Patience is crucial in investigating these cases.
- Discrimination against an individual(s) or group(s) damages the community and attacks the goals of our contributions; we specifically will not discriminate based on, but not limited to:
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Contribution does not entitle me or anyone else to act in any way that is not conducive to making this a productive and enjoyable environment
- Status within the organisation or technical skill does not allow someone to be exempt from the rules.
- The community does not owe any individual, regardless of the size of their contributions or financial investments.
- Members with greater responsibility (eg: moderators) are held to much higher expectations than others. We believe in leading by example.
- Community moderator status is both a privilege and responsibility.
- Moderators may step down if they do not feel they are able to uphold these responsibilities.
- We should be patient with new or less experienced members; our contributions do not entitle us to belittle others (which would be indicative of harassment/discrimination)
- Status within the organisation or technical skill does not allow someone to be exempt from the rules.
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We welcome new users; whether contributor, tester, documentation editor, or someone interested in our work. We will help those who need a hand getting started (within reason) with the same patience we would expect someone to give us.
- The cost toward the community for onboarding new members should not be expected to be unreasonable. We will provide the resources and guidance for members to learn, however we cannot be expected to provide a teaching service.
- Everyone starts at a different point and we will be patient in providing resources
- Simple answers such as "look at the manual" are not tolerable; these questions and their answers will likely be viewed again in the future by users through search engines and should therefore be treated appropriately.
- However, we recognise that it is not reasonable for repeated contributions to be fixed without any effort from the contributor to remedy their mistakes.
- First impressions matter; we are a good community who will welcome and share with those who are willing to learn.
- Failure to adapt can lead to an unreasonable cost to the community to maintain membership.
- This may create situations which may seem contradictory; however, this is in recognition of, and clarified within, Code of Conduct item 4.
- The cost toward the community for onboarding new members should not be expected to be unreasonable. We will provide the resources and guidance for members to learn, however we cannot be expected to provide a teaching service.
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We understand the expectations of us to act according to values and not technicalities.
- The intolerable will never be tolerable. We will play by the rules as intended. Where it is not seen as discriminatory, people who try to excuse poor behaviour as not being written clearly within the Code of Conduct will be treated as if it was.
- As an example: Discussions such as questioning the legitimacy of genocidal events in history are inexcusable. It being framed as a question or due to ones own ignorance will be investigated under the reasonable person principle and punished appropriately.
- We do not expect situations like this to arise; our conversation should mostly be productive; however, we are an enjoyable group of people who will no doubt discuss different aspects of life.
- As an example: Discussions such as questioning the legitimacy of genocidal events in history are inexcusable. It being framed as a question or due to ones own ignorance will be investigated under the reasonable person principle and punished appropriately.
- The intolerable will never be tolerable. We will play by the rules as intended. Where it is not seen as discriminatory, people who try to excuse poor behaviour as not being written clearly within the Code of Conduct will be treated as if it was.
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Contribution implicitly registers acknowledgement of this Code of Conduct.
- Ignorance of the rules is not a valid argument for breaking them.
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I/We will work towards keeping this environment productive by ensuring behaviour is correct to this Code of Conduct.
- If you see someone being harassed, speak up. We will support you, and whole heartedly thank you.
- Silence can sometimes be worse than agreeing with a harassor/perpetrator.
- If you are concerned due to some connection to the aggressor and do not wish to alienate yourselves from them, please contact us and we will handle the situation with complete confidentiality.
- Please see the code for enforcement below.
When enforcing the Code of Conduct, especially in cases involving non-native English speakers, we encourage patience, empathy, understanding, and willingness to educate and inform. In context where the breach is deemed intentional, we will pursue enforcement of the Code of Conduct as described.
"People from different backgrounds are likely to have different interpretations of what words or behaviors are considered acceptable. It's somewhat ironic that in an attempt to draw a more diverse developer base, code of conduct moderation, if improperly conducted, could potentially alienate users from other countries who don't have the same social conditioning as those in North America [or other Western cultures]."2
- The Code of Conduct can be enforced through a range of passive and active means. We recommend minimal use for first offenders but allow rapid escalation if required (depending on the severity of the breach).
- Passive means may include a public warning against members of the community in general breaching the Code of Conduct. Where a moderator is involved in the conversation in question, we strongly recommend against that moderator being the instigator of this warning if possible. Passive means may also involve reminders of good examples and bad examples of behaviour relating to the code of conduct.
- Active means may range from temporary communicative suppression (mutes), temporary bans, to permanent bans.
- Moderators must assemble evidence for punishments enacted should they be requested to provide it.
- The moderator is not required to include their interpretation or deliberation of the material. This however may be raised by the aggrieved party (or a representative) in which case the decision will be reviewed within 7 days by another moderator who is independent of the first.
Footnotes
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Singh V, Bongiovanni B, Brandon W. Codes of conduct in Open Source Software—for warm and fuzzy feelings or equality in community? Software Quality Journal. 2021. ↩ ↩2
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Li R, Pandurangan P, Frluckaj H, Dabbish L. Code of Conduct Conversations in Open Source Software Projects on Github. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction. 2021;5(CSCW1):1-31. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4
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Dunbar-Hester C. Hacking Technology, Hacking Communities: Codes of Conduct and Community Standards in Open Source. MIT Case Studies in Social and Ethical Responsibilities of Computing. 2021. ↩ ↩2
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Tourani P, Adams B, Serebrenik A, editors. Code of conduct in open source projects 2017: IEEE. ↩