Code of conduct

Inclusive Naming Initiative Code of Conduct (v.1.0)

Our Goal

This community is dedicated to providing a harassment-free experience for everyone. We do not tolerate harassment of participants in any form.

Applicability and Scope

This code of conduct applies to all of this community’s spaces and interactions, including public channels, private channels, and direct messages, both online and off. Anyone who violates this code of conduct may be sanctioned or expelled from these spaces at the discretion of the Inclusive Naming Initiative Code of Conduct Committee (CoC Committee).

Toward a Welcoming and Safe Environment

We are committed to creating and maintaining an environment in which diverse individuals can collaborate and interact in a positive and affirming way. Examples of behavior that contributes to creating this sort of environment include:

  • Using welcoming and inclusive language
  • Being respectful of differing viewpoints and experiences
  • Gracefully accepting constructive criticism
  • Focusing on what is best for the overall community
  • Showing empathy towards other community members

How this Code of Conduct Applies to Inclusive Language

Use of non-inclusive language by a community member violates this CoC only if it (a) is done in bad faith with the intent to harass, exclude, or offend; (b) is done with knowing disregard of its potentially harmful impact; or (c) is repeated multiple times after a request to stop has been clearly communicated.

Community members might make mistakes because language is always evolving, we are all still learning and improving, and it can take time to change communication habits. Inadvertent language mistakes (e.g., accidentally using the wrong pronoun, using non-inclusive language out of habit followed by a correction or apology, or using words that the communicator is not aware are considered exclusionary) are not CoC violations.

If you notice a community member using non-inclusive language, feel free to ask them to stop (in a respectful manner) and explain why their language is non-inclusive so they have an opportunity to learn and improve. If you do not feel comfortable communicating this directly to the person, ask a community leader to do so.

Referring to non-inclusive language for bona fide discussion or educational purposes, or to advocate the use of more inclusive language, does not violate this CoC. For example, this community may discuss, develop, and publish lists of non-inclusive terms for the purpose of advocating their replacement with more inclusive alternatives.

Anti-Harassment Statement

Harassment of any kind will not be tolerated in this community. Examples of harassment include:

  • Offensive comments related to gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, mental illness, neuro(a)typicality, physical appearance, pregnancy status, veteran status, political affiliation, marital status, body size, age, race, national origin, ethnic origin, nationality, immigration status, language, religion or lack thereof, socioeconomic status, caste, or other identity attribute. This includes anti-Indigenous/Nativeness and anti-Blackness.
  • Unwelcome comments regarding a person’s lifestyle choices and practices, including those related to food, health, parenting, relationships, drugs, and employment.
  • Deliberate misgendering of another individual, or disputing the legitimacy of another individual’s gender identity.
  • Gratuitous or off-topic sexual images or behavior.
  • Physical contact and simulated physical contact (e.g. textual descriptions like “hug” or “backrub”) without consent or after a request to stop.
  • Violence and threats of violence.
  • Incitement of violence towards any individual or group, including encouraging a person to commit suicide or to engage in self-harm.
  • Deliberate intimidation.
  • Stalking or non-consensual following—online or in the physical world.
  • Harassing photography or recording, including logging online activity for harassment purposes.
  • Repeated behavior that is disruptive to the community’s goals, discussions, or activities, such as talking over or heckling speakers.
  • Unwelcome sexual attention.
  • Patterns of inappropriate social contact, such as requesting/assuming inappropriate levels of intimacy with others.
  • Continued one-on-one communication after requests to cease.
  • Doxxing, or publication of private communication or private information without consent of the and with the intent to embarrass or harass.
  • Jokes that resemble the above, such as “hipster racism”, still count as harassment even if meant satirically or ironically.
  • If you have questions or concerns about these issues, feel free to message a member of the CoC Committee or ask for an opportunity to explore the issue with a moderator and volunteers.

Reporting

If you are being harassed by a member of our community, if you notice that someone else is being harassed, or if you have any other concerns, contact the CoC Committee via email at conduct@inclusivenaming.org. To submit a report anonymously, contact any single member of the CoC Committee and request that your report be treated anonymously, and that individual will share your report with the other members of the CoC Committee without disclosing your identity. If the person who is harassing you is on the CoC Committee, they will not be involved in handling or resolving the incident.

The CoC Committee will respond to any complaint as promptly as possible. If you do not get a timely response (for example, if no CoC Committee members are currently online) then put your personal safety and well-being first, and consider logging out and/or contacting the CoC Committee by email at conduct@inclusivenaming.org .

This code of conduct applies to our community’s spaces and interactions, but if you are aware of harassment by a member of our community outside of our spaces or interactions, we still want to know about it. We take all good-faith reports of harassment by our community members, including the administrators, seriously. This includes harassment outside our community spaces, and harassment that took place at any point in time. The CoC Committee reserves the right to exclude people from the community based on behavior outside of our community spaces, and behavior towards people who are not in this community.

In order to protect volunteers from abuse and burnout, the CoC Committee reserves the right to reject and decline to investigate any report we believe to have been made in bad faith.

Enforcement Process

Every Code of Conduct violation report made in good faith will be treated with seriousness and care. If a community member’s immediate safety and security is threatened, an individual CoC Committee member may take any action they deem appropriate, including temporarily banning the offender from the community. In all situations, the CoC Committee will review the report, investigate the reported offense, and arrive at a suitable response, which will be shared with the reporter privately. If the CoC Committee determines that a violation has occurred, the CoC Committee will also notify the offender privately.

Once a reported violation has been investigated and a decision has been communicated to the relevant parties, all involved have the opportunity to appeal this decision by sending an email to conduct@inclusivenaming.org.

The CoC Committee respects the confidentiality requests for the purpose of protecting victims of abuse and witnesses. At our discretion, we may publicly name a person about whom we’ve received harassment complaints, or privately warn third parties about them, if we believe that doing so will increase the safety of our community members or the general public. We will not name harassment victims or the person who reported the violation without their affirmative consent.

Consequences

Participants who are asked to stop any harassing behavior are expected to comply immediately. If a participant engages in harassing behavior, the CoC Committee may take any action they deem appropriate, including expulsion from the community and identification of the participant as a harasser to other community members, other communities, and/or the general public.

Code of Conduct Committee

Members

The Inclusive Naming Initiative Code of Conduct Committee (“CoC Committee”) consists of the following members:

  • Celeste Horgan (celestehorgan)
  • Joanna Lee (joannalee333)
  • Jason Brooks (jasonbrooks)

Purpose

The CoC Committee oversees and enforces the Inclusive Naming Initiative Code of Conduct. The CoC Committee investigates and evaluates reports of potential violations of the Code of Conduct to determine whether a violation occurred. When the CoC Committee determines that a violation has occurred, the CoC decides what remediation steps to take in response to the violation. The CoC Committee also periodically reviews the Code of Conduct to determine whether updates are necessary or advisable.

Recusal of Committee Members with a Conflict of Interest

If any Code of Conduct Committee member has a potential conflict of interest that is likely to interfere with their ability to exercise independent and impartial decision-making with respect to a reported incident, they will not be allowed to participate in any activities or discussions of the CoC Committee related to investigation or evaluation of the reported incident, determination if a violation occurred, or deciding upon remediation steps. Any such conflicted member’s participation shall be limited to allowing the remaining CoC Committee members to interview them as a witness and otherwise providing information requested by the CoC Committee to aid in the investigation.

A CoC member will automatically be deemed to have a conflict of interest if they were involved in a reported incident either as the alleged wrongdoer or as an individual who was the direct target or victim of the prohibited behavior, or if they have a close personal relationship (e.g., immediate family member) with the alleged wrongdoer or with the target or victim. Merely witnessing a potential Code of Conduct violation will not disqualify a CoC Committee member from being able to participate in the investigation of a reported incident, so long as their role in the incident is not likely to impact their ability to exercise impartial and independent decision-making.

When a CoC Committee member has a potential conflict of interest with respect to a reported incident, they have an obligation to promptly disclose the nature of their potential conflict of interest to the rest of the CoC Committee (unless such potential conflict of interest is already known to the other members of the CoC Committee).

How To Report a Code of Conduct Violation

If you believe someone is in immediate physical danger, please call your local emergency number.

To report a violation of our Code of Conduct, please email conduct@inclusivenaming.org . You may submit the contents of your report in writing, or you may request a telephone or virtual conference meeting with a CoC Committee member to provide your report in a spoken conversation.

To Report Anonymously

If you want to submit a report anonymously, please send a direct message to any individual member of our Code of Conduct Committee via the Inclusive Naming Initiative Slack community and let them know you would like to submit a Code of Conduct report anonymously. If you submit your report anonymously, that member of the Code of Conduct Committee will share the contents of your report with the rest of the Code of Conduct Committee, but they will not disclose your identity as the reporter to the other members of the Code of Conduct Committee (unless such disclosure is necessary to comply with applicable law, or to protect you or someone else from imminent danger).

What Information to Include in Your Report

When reporting a potential Code of Conduct violation, please include the following information in your report: Names of the people involved (or if names are unknown, use descriptions and any identifiable info such as appearance, role, username, or handle), including the person who you believe violated the Code of Conduct and any witnesses.

Description of the incident, including the events that occured, the date and time, and location or community space where the incident occured.

What happens after the report is filed

Reports are handled discretely and privately, and will only be shared with the CoC Committee. The CoC Committee will investigate the report by reviewing available evidence and, if appropriate, interviewing witnesses, the alleged wrongdoer, and/or the targets or victims of the alleged harassment or other prohibited conduct.

If the CoC Committee determines that the Code of Conduct was violated, the CoC will decide on what remediation steps should be taken.

As part of this investigation or remediation, it may be necessary for some information to be disclosed to others, for example, to key stakeholders administering communities or events, witnesses, and the wrongdoers.

When an investigation is complete, a member of the CoC Committee will inform the person who submitted the report that the investigation is complete. The CoC Committee will determine, in its sole discretion, how much information to share with the reporter regarding the committee’s finding of whether or not a violation occurred and what remediation steps were taken, if any.

No Retaliation

The Inclusive Naming Initiative does not tolerate retaliation against community members who report concerns under the CoC in good faith. Acts of retaliation should be reported in the same process as described above.

Acknowledgements and License

This document is adapted from the Community Covenant, version 1.0 , which is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License . The Community Covenant is an open source effort and is built on codes of conduct that came before it, including the Contributor Covenant and the LGBTQ in Tech community code of conduct .

This document also includes content from the Mozilla “How to Report Violations of the Community Participation Guidelines” document , which is based in part on the PyCon Code of Conduct Revision 2f4d980 . Both of these resources are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License .

This document is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License .

© 2021 The Inclusive Naming Initiative authors and collaborating organizations