KDE Community Code of Conduct - KDE Community

KDE Community Code of Conduct - KDE Community
KDE Community Code of Conduct
Preamble
In the KDE community, participants from all over the world come together
to create Free Software for the desktop. This is made possible by the
support, hard work and enthusiasm of thousands of people, including
those who create and use KDE software.
This document offers some guidance to ensure KDE participants can
cooperate effectively in a positive and inspiring atmosphere, and to
explain how together we can strengthen and support each other.
This Code of Conduct is shared by all contributors and users who engage
with the KDE community and its services.
Overview
This Code of Conduct presents a summary of the shared values and
"common sense" thinking in our community. The basic social ingredients
that hold our project together include:
Be considerate
Be respectful
Be collaborative
Be pragmatic
Support others in the community
Get support from others in the community
Our community is made up of diverse individuals and
organizations which can roughly be divided into two groups:
Contributors, or those who add value to the project through
improving KDE software and its services
Users, or those who add value to the project through their support
as consumers of KDE software
This Code of Conduct reflects the agreed standards of behavior for
members of the KDE community, in any forum, mailing list, wiki, web
site, IRC or Matrix channel, public event, public meeting or private correspondence within the
context of the KDE community and its services. The community acts according
to the standards written down in this Code of Conduct and will defend
these standards for the benefit of the community. Leaders of any group,
such as moderators of mailing lists, Matrix or IRC channels, forums, etc., will
exercise the right to suspend access to any person who persistently
breaks our shared Code of Conduct.
Be considerate
Your actions and work will affect and be used by other people and you in
turn will depend on the work and actions of others. Any decision you
take will affect other community members, and we expect you to take
those consequences into account when making decisions.
As a contributor, ensure that you give full credit for the work of
others and bear in mind how your changes affect others. It is also
expected that you try to follow the development schedule and guidelines.
As a user, remember that contributors work hard on their part of KDE and
take great pride in it. If you are frustrated your problems are more
likely to be resolved if you can give accurate and well-mannered
information to all concerned.
Be respectful
In order for the KDE community to stay healthy its members must feel
comfortable and accepted. Treating one another with respect is
absolutely necessary for this. In a disagreement, in the first instance
assume that people mean well.
We do not tolerate personal attacks, racism, sexism or any other form of
discrimination. Disagreement is inevitable, from time to time, but
respect for the views of others will go a long way to winning respect
for your own view. Respecting other people, their work, their
contributions and assuming well-meaning motivation will make community
members feel comfortable and safe and will result in motivation and
productivity.
We expect members of our community to be respectful when dealing with
other contributors, users and communities. Remember that KDE is an
international project and that you may be unaware of important aspects
of other cultures.
Be collaborative
The Free Software Movement depends on collaboration: it helps limit
duplication of effort while improving the quality of the software
produced. In order to avoid misunderstanding, try to be clear and
concise when requesting help or giving it. Remember it is easy to
misunderstand emails (especially when they are not written in your
mother tongue). Ask for clarifications if unsure how something is meant;
remember the first rule --- assume in the first instance that people
mean well.
As a contributor, you should aim to collaborate with other community
members, as well as with other communities that are interested in or
depend on the work you do. Your work should be transparent and be fed
back into the community when available, not just when KDE releases. If
you wish to work on something new in existing projects, keep those
projects informed of your ideas and progress.
It may not always be possible to reach consensus on the implementation
of an idea, so don't feel obliged to achieve this before you begin.
However, always ensure that you keep the outside world informed of your
work, and publish it in a way that allows outsiders to test, discuss and
contribute to your efforts.
Contributors on every project come and go. When you leave or disengage
from the project, in whole or in part, you should do so with pride about
what you have achieved and by acting responsibly towards others who come
after you to continue the project.
As a user, your feedback is important, as is its form. Poorly thought
out comments can cause pain and the demotivation of other community
members, but considerate discussion of problems can bring positive
results. An encouraging word works wonders.
Be pragmatic
KDE is a pragmatic community. We value tangible results over having the
last word in a discussion. We defend our core values like freedom and
respectful collaboration, but we don't let arguments about minor issues
get in the way of achieving more important results. We are open to
suggestions and welcome solutions regardless of their origin. When in
doubt, support a solution which helps getting things done over one which
has theoretical merits, but isn't being worked on. Use the tools and
methods which help getting the job done. Let decisions be taken by those
who do the work.
Support others in the community
Our community is made strong by mutual respect, collaboration and
pragmatic, responsible behavior. Sometimes there are situations where
this has to be defended and other community members need help.
If you witness others being attacked, think first about how you can
offer them personal support. If you feel that the situation is beyond
your ability to help individually, go privately to the victim and ask if
some form of official intervention is needed. Similarly you should
support anyone who appears to be in danger of burning out, either
through work-related stress or personal problems.
When problems do arise, consider respectfully reminding those involved
of our shared Code of Conduct as a first action. Leaders are defined by
their actions, and can help set a good example by working to resolve
issues in the spirit of this Code of Conduct before they escalate.
Get support from others in the community
Disagreements, both political and technical, happen all the time. Our
community is no exception to the rule. The goal is not to avoid
disagreements or differing views but to resolve them constructively. You
should turn to the community to seek advice and to resolve disagreements
and where possible consult the team most directly involved.
Think deeply before turning a disagreement into a public dispute. If
necessary, request mediation, trying to resolve differences in a less
highly-emotional medium. If you do feel that you or your work is being
attacked, take your time to breathe through before writing heated
replies. Consider a 24-hour moratorium if emotional language is being
used --- a cooling off period is sometimes all that is needed. If you
really want to go a different way, then we encourage you to publish your
ideas and your work, so that it can be tried and tested.
This document is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution -
Share Alike 3.0 License.
The authors of this document would like to thank the KDE community and
those who have worked to create such a dynamic environment to share in
and who offered their thoughts and wisdom in the authoring of this
document. We would also like to thank other vibrant communities that
have helped shape this document with their own examples, such as the
Ubuntu community and their Code of Conduct.