Code of Conduct

= Page: Code of Conduct =

This is a code of conduct for Wikimedia technical spaces. It applies both within physical spaces, such as Wikimedia technical events and Wikimedia technical presentations in other events, and virtual spaces (MediaWiki.org, wikitech.wikimedia.org, Phabricator, Gerrit, technical mailing lists, technical IRC channels, and Etherpad).

Principles
In the interest of fostering an open and welcoming community, we are committed to making participation in Wikimedia technical projects a respectful and harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of gender, gender identity and expression, sex, sexual orientation, disability, neuroatypicality, physical appearance, body size, race, ethnicity, national origin, age, political affiliation, or religion.

Technical skills and community status make no difference to the right to be respected and the obligation to respect others. Newcomers and other contributors with limited experience in our community deserve a welcoming attitude and constructive feedback. Prolific contributions and technical expertise are not a justification for lower standards of behavior.

Unacceptable behavior
Harassment and other types of inappropriate behavior are unacceptable in all public and private Wikimedia technical spaces. Examples include but are not limited to:


 * Personal attacks, violence, threats of violence, or deliberate intimidation.
 * Offensive, derogatory, or discriminatory comments.
 * Gratuitous or off-topic use of sexual language or imagery.
 * Inappropriate or unwanted attention, touching, or physical contact (sexual or otherwise).
 * Inappropriate or unwanted public or private communication, following, or any form of stalking.
 * Unwanted photography or recording.
 * Disclosure of a person's identity or other private information without their consent. Disclosure of some identifying information is not consent to disclose other identifying information.
 * Inappropriate or unwanted publication of private communication. Publishing or reporting private communication or personally identifying information for the purposes of reporting harassment (as explained here) and/or in the case of whistleblowing, is acceptable.
 * Harming the discussion or community with methods such as sustained disruption, interruption, or blocking of community collaboration (i.e. trolling).
 * Discrimination (unless required by law), particularly against marginalized and otherwise underrepresented groups. Targeted outreach to such groups is allowed and encouraged.
 * Using the code of conduct system for purposes other than reporting genuine violations of the code of conduct (e.g., retaliating against a reporter or victim by filing a report claiming their response was harassment).
 * Attempting to circumvent a decision of the Committee or appeals body, e.g. unblocking someone during a period the Committee banned them.

Report a problem

 * In case of threats of harm and other urgent situations, notify the relevant authorities first (if possible) and email the Wikimedia Foundation via emergency@undefinedwikimedia.org (more information).

People who experience or observe unacceptable behavior are encouraged to follow any of these steps:


 * 1) Ask the person who is behaving unacceptably to stop. Make them aware of this Code of Conduct.
 * 2) If you are at an event, report the problem to the event organizers, or a designated contact.
 * 3) Report the problem directly to the Code of Conduct Committee via techconduct@undefinedwikimedia.org. You can also send a report to the Committee if you reported an incident elsewhere but were not satisfied with the response.

Reports can be as short as a notification with a link, but more information will help us understand what is happening. You can include:
 * Your contact information (e.g. Wikimedia and Phabricator usernames), if you want to identify yourself
 * Your account of the incident:
 * Where and when it happened
 * A description of the unacceptable behavior
 * Who was involved and who saw it happen
 * Whether the incident is ongoing
 * Any additional information that will help us fully understand the problem, such as previous incidents or special circumstances
 * Links to public records of the incident, if any
 * Screenshots showing what happened

Reports are processed confidentially. For more information, see Confidentiality.

Go to Code of Conduct/Cases to learn about how reports to the Committee are processed.

Attribution and re-use
This Code of Conduct is adapted from the Contributor Covenant (revision 49054013), the jQuery Code of Conduct (revision 91777886), the Open Code of Conduct (v1.0), and the Citizen Code of Conduct, along with the WMF Friendly space policy. Text from the Contributor Covenant and the jQuery Code of Conduct is used under the MIT License. The text from the Open Code of Conduct is used under a Creative Commons Attribution license. The text from the Citizen Code of Conduct is used under a Creative Commons Share-alike Attribution license. The overall text is under MediaWiki.org's standard license (CC BY-SA 3.0).

We value each other's contributions and each contributor's commitment to making our technical spaces friendly spaces for everyone. We encourage other projects to adopt and adapt this code of conduct regardless of whether they use Wikimedia technical infrastructure.

Handling reports
Reports sent to techconduct@undefinedwikimedia.org are handled by the Code of Conduct Committee with urgency and confidentiality. When assessing behavior in Wikimedia technical spaces, the Committee can consider behavior in other spaces (e.g. a conference unrelated to Wikimedia or a non-Wikimedia site) for context.

Simple cases
In simple cases, the priority is to act quickly in order to avoid a deterioration of the situation.

Characteristics of simple cases:


 * Public evidence exists, or it is easy to verify.
 * Similar precedents have been resolved.
 * It is the first offense reported about a user.
 * The report relates to one space only.

The full Committee can always overrule a response by an individual member.

Complex cases
In complex cases, the priority is to act fairly and effectively even if that takes some time.

Characteristics of complex cases:


 * Finding evidence requires investigation.
 * The case is likely to set a new precedent.
 * The alleged offender has been reported previously.
 * The report affects multiple spaces and/or refers to a long term situation.

Complex cases may require the Committee to investigate within the margins of confidentiality, eventually contacting any individuals involved and/or related administrators or project maintainers.

In complex cases, the Committee must have consensus on the resolution. In case of very complicated or urgent matters, or if the Committee is unable to reach consensus, the report can be transferred to the Wikimedia Foundation Technical Collaboration team.

Responses and resolutions
The Committee will consider actions already taken (if any) in the local space (e.g. MediaWiki.org, IRC, an in-person event).

In simple cases, a single Committee member can take one of these actions on their own:


 * 1) Issue a public or private reprimand directly.
 * 2) Decide not to take further action.

Possible responses by the full Committee to a reported breach of the Code of Conduct may include: After the initial outcome, the reporter will be notified.
 * Taking no further action.
 * A private reprimand from the Committee to the individual(s) involved. In this case, the group chair will deliver that reprimand to the individual(s) over email, copying the group.
 * A public reprimand. In this case, the group chair will deliver that reprimand in the same venue that the violation occurred (e.g. in IRC for an IRC violation; email for an email violation). The group may choose to publish this message elsewhere for posterity.
 * An imposed break (e.g. asking someone to "take a week off" from a technical mailing list or technical IRC channel). The group chair will communicate this imposed break to the individual(s). They'll be asked to take this break voluntarily, but if they don't agree then a temporary ban may be imposed to enforce this break.
 * A temporary or permanent ban from some or all Wikimedia technical spaces. The group will maintain records of all such bans so that they may be reviewed in the future, extended to new Wikimedia technical forums, or otherwise maintained.
 * Temporarily or permanently revoke a permission in the technical spaces (e.g. Gerrit's +2 permission).
 * A request for a public or private apology. The chair will deliver this request.
 * Administrators and project maintainers who do not follow the Code of Conduct may be removed from their positions of responsibility, temporarily or permanently.

In some cases we may determine that a public statement will need to be made. If that is the case, the identities of all victims and reporters will remain confidential unless those individuals instruct us otherwise.

Appealing a resolution
After being notified of the outcome, the reporter or any people sanctioned may raise objections to the resolution. These will be considered by the Committee, which may alter the outcome. If the outcome is altered, the new outcome will be logged. When the Committee begins enforcing a decision, that is also logged.

Only resolutions (such as bans) that last 3 months or longer may be appealed by people who were sanctioned. Reported victims can always appeal. To appeal a decision of the Committee, the reported offender or reported victim may contact the Technical Collaboration team at technical-collaboration@undefinedwikimedia.org and they will review the case. Until an appeal is resolved, the prior resolution remains fully in effect.

= Page: Code of Conduct/Committee =

The Code of Conduct Committee is a team of five trusted individuals with diverse affiliations responsible for general enforcement of the Code of conduct for Wikimedia technical spaces. Committee members are in charge of processing complaints, discussing with the parties affected, agreeing on resolutions, and following up on their enforcement. At the Committee's discretion, it can also delegate complex issues to the Wikimedia Foundation's Technical Collaboration team, transferring the responsibility of their resolution.

The Committee determines its own procedures, subject to the duty to act fairly.

Incident reports to the Committee should go through the [mailto:techconduct@wikimedia.org official email] for record-keeping and proper handling. Direct communication with individual Committee members is highly discouraged - please remember these conversations are also covered under the Code of Conduct and any violation will be strictly enforced.

Diversity
Diversity among Committee members is encouraged, as a way to promote fairness and independence in their decisions. Members need not be formally part of any organization, and the Committee cannot have all members affiliated to the same employer. Members are expected to have complementary backgrounds, and the selection process should ensure that the Committee has a good knowledge of our technical community.

Conflict of interest
Neither members of the Committee nor members of the appeals body are permitted to participate in a decision, if doing so would place them in a conflict of interest. If all members of the Committee disqualify themselves, the case will be handled by the appeals body.

Confidentiality
Committee members and anyone else joining the Committee's deliberations on a case may not disclose private information, except when required by procedures of the Code of Conduct or the Law.

The Committee must get consent from the reporter before revealing any confidential information (including the reporter's identity) as part of the investigation.

The Committee will maintain a private log of reports received, their related discussions, and their resolutions. A Committee member must not access the log for a case if they are not participating in that decision.

Selection of new members
If you are interested in serving, you can tell the group choosing the Committee, by emailing techconductcandidates@undefinedwikimedia.org at any time. You can also suggest qualified candidates to be on the Committee, using the same email address.

The first Committee will be chosen by the Wikimedia Foundation’s Technical Collaboration team. Subsequent members of the Committee will be chosen by the current Committee.

The group doing the selection will research and discuss candidates. They will then publish their candidate slate on-wiki. The community can provide feedback on these candidates, via private email to the group choosing the next Committee. The feedback period will be two weeks for candidates who are not currently on the Committee, and one week for candidates being considered for re-selection. The group choosing the Committee will then either officially appoint the slate as members, or update the candidate slate in response to concerns raised. If the candidate slate changes, there will be another two week feedback period covering the newly proposed members.

Before beginning their term, Committee members must identify themselves to the Wikimedia Foundation, sign an NDA about confidentiality on reports handled, and commit to comply with and enforce the full Code of Conduct.

After new Committee members are chosen, the Committee elects a chair.

Term of Committee
The initial Committee remains without changes for one year. From that point, the Committee elects their new members by a majority vote every six months, using the above process. Up to four Committee members can be re-elected during a cycle.

Resignation and removal
Committee members can resign at any time. A member not meeting their obligations can be removed by agreement of four out of the five members. In case of a vacancy, the Committee must choose a new member promptly by the usual process. The Committee continues to fully function when there are vacancies.