carbon-lang/CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md

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# Carbon: Code of conduct

The Carbon community works to be welcoming and respectful, with a deep
commitment to psychological safety, and we want to ensure that doesn’t change as
we grow and evolve. To that end, we have a few ground rules that we ask all
community members to adhere to:

*   be welcoming,
*   be friendly and patient,
*   be considerate,
*   be respectful,
*   be careful in the words that you choose and be kind to others,
*   when we disagree, try to understand why, and
*   recognize when progress has stopped, and take a step back.

This list isn't exhaustive. Rather, take it in the spirit in which it’s
intended—a guide to make it easier to communicate and participate in the
community.

This code of conduct applies to all spaces managed by the Carbon project. This
includes chat systems, forums, emails (on lists or between members), issue
trackers, events, and any other spaces that the community uses for
communication. It applies to all of your communication and conduct in these
spaces, including emails, chats, things you say, slides, videos, posters, signs,
or even t-shirts you display in these spaces. In rare cases, violations of this
code _outside_ of these spaces may affect a person’s ability to participate
_within_ these spaces.

All community members should help support our standards of acceptable behavior.
Everyone is encouraged to speak up in response to any behavior that they deem
inappropriate, threatening, offensive, or harmful. If you believe someone is
violating the code of conduct, please report it to the
[conduct team](#conduct-team).

More detailed guidance on how to participate effectively in our community
spaces:

*   **Be welcoming.** We strive to be a community that welcomes and supports
    people of all backgrounds and identities. This includes, but is not limited
    to, members of any race, ethnicity, culture, national origin, color,
    immigration status, social and economic class, educational level, sex,
    sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, physical appearance,
    age, size, family status, relationship status, political belief, religion or
    lack thereof, and mental and physical ability.

*   **Be friendly and patient.** We want to encourage people to participate in
    our community by keeping its atmosphere friendly and positive. This is
    especially important because many of our communication tools on the Internet
    are low-fidelity and make it difficult to understand each other. Be patient,
    assume good intent, and stay supportive so that we can learn how to
    collaborate effectively as a group.

*   **Be considerate.** Your work will be used by other people, and you in turn
    will depend on the work of others. Any decision you make will affect users
    and colleagues, and you should take those consequences into account.
    Remember that we’re a world-wide community, so you might not be
    communicating in someone else’s primary language.

*   **Be respectful.** Not all of us will agree all the time, but disagreement
    is no excuse for poor behavior and poor manners. We might all experience
    some frustration now and then, but we cannot allow that frustration to turn
    into a personal attack. It’s important to remember that a community where
    people feel uncomfortable or threatened is not a productive one. Members of
    our community should be respectful when dealing with other members as well
    as with people outside the Carbon community.

*   **Be careful in the words that you choose and be kind to others.** Do not
    insult or put down other participants. Harassment and other exclusionary
    behaviors aren’t acceptable. This includes, but is not limited to:

    *   Violent threats or language directed against another person.
    *   Discriminatory jokes and language.
    *   Posting sexually explicit or violent material.
    *   Posting (or threatening to post) other people’s personally identifying
        information ("doxing") without their explicit permission.
    *   Personal insults, especially those using racist or sexist terms.
    *   Unwelcome sexual attention.
    *   Advocating for, or encouraging, any of the above behavior.
    *   In general, if someone asks you to stop, then stop. Persisting after
        being asked to stop is considered harassment.

*   **When we disagree, try to understand why.** Disagreements, both social and
    technical, happen all the time, and Carbon is no exception. It is important
    that we resolve disagreements and differing views constructively. Remember
    that we’re different. The strength of the project comes from its varied
    community: people from a wide range of backgrounds. Different people have
    different perspectives on issues. Being unable to understand why someone
    holds a viewpoint doesn’t mean that they’re wrong. Don’t forget that it is
    human to err and blaming each other doesn’t get us anywhere. Instead, focus
    on helping to resolve issues and learning from mistakes.

*   **Recognize when progress has stopped, and take a step back.** Regardless of
    whether you're trying to resolve a disagreement or anything else, think
    about whether you're making progress. Sometimes messaging doesn't give time
    to think about a situation fully, and repeating positions can make people
    defensive. Step back for a few minutes or hours to think through the issue
    before responding again. Consider pulling in another community member to
    give a fresh perspective. Maybe meet over VC instead. Switching approaches
    can help resume progress.

If you have questions, please feel free to ask on our Discourse Forum, Discord
Chat, or contact any member of the conduct team directly.

# Conduct team

At present, the [core team](docs/project/evolution.md#core-team) will serve as
the conduct team. We expect to establish a dedicated conduct team if and when
the project grows, along with more communication systems for reports.

## Reporting conduct

If you believe someone is violating the code of conduct, you can always report
it to the conduct team by emailing all members of the conduct team. **All
reports will be kept confidential.**

If your report concerns a member of the conduct team, you can make a report
directly to any individual member of the conduct team. They will follow the
usual enforcement process with the other members of the conduct team, but will
exclude the member(s) that the report concerns from any discussion or decision
making.

If you believe anyone is in **physical danger**, please notify appropriate law
enforcement first. If you are unsure what law enforcement agency is appropriate,
please include this in your report and we will attempt to notify them.

If the violation occurs at an event and requires immediate attention, you can
also reach out to any of the event organizers or staff. Event organizers and
staff will be prepared to handle the incident and be able to help. If you cannot
find one of the organizers, the venue staff can locate one for you. Specific
event information will include detailed contact information for that event. In
person reports will still be kept confidential exactly as above, but also feel
free to (anonymously if needed) email the conduct team.

## Filing a report

Reports can be as formal or informal as needed for the situation at hand. If
possible, please include as much information as you can. If you feel
comfortable, please consider including:

*   Your contact info (so we can get in touch with you if we need to follow up).
*   Names (real, nicknames, or pseudonyms) of any individuals involved. If there
    were other witnesses besides you, please try to include them as well.
*   When and where the incident occurred. Please be as specific as possible.
*   Your account of what occurred, including any private chat logs or email.
*   Links for any public records, e.g., Discourse Forum links.
*   Any extra context for the incident.
*   If you believe this incident is ongoing.
*   Any other information you believe we should have.

## What happens after contacting the conduct team?

You will receive a reply from the conduct team acknowledging receipt within 1
business day (and we will aim to respond much quicker than that).

The conduct team will review the incident as soon as possible and try to
determine:

*   What happened and who was involved.
*   Whether this event constitutes a code of conduct violation.
*   Whether this is an ongoing situation, or if there is a threat to anyone’s
    physical safety.

If this is determined to be an ongoing incident or a threat to physical safety,
the conduct team's immediate priority will be to protect everyone involved. This
means we may delay an "official" response until we believe that the situation
has ended and that everyone is physically safe.

The conduct team will try to contact other parties involved or witnessing the
event to gain clarity on what happened and understand any different
perspectives.

Once the conduct team has a complete account of the events they will make a
decision as to how to respond. Responses may include:

*   Nothing, if no violation occurred or it has already been appropriately
    resolved.
*   One or more [enforcement actions](#enforcement-actions).
*   Involvement of relevant law enforcement if appropriate.

If the situation is not resolved within one week, we’ll respond to the original
reporter with an update and explanation.

Once we’ve determined our response, we will separately contact the original
reporter and other individuals to let them know what actions (if any) we’ll be
taking. We will take into account feedback from the individuals involved on the
appropriateness of our response, but we don’t guarantee we’ll act on it.

After any incident, the conduct team will make a report on the situation to the
core team (currently the same team). The core team may choose to make a public
statement about the incident. If that’s the case, the identities of anyone
involved will remain confidential unless instructed otherwise by those
individuals.

## Appealing

Only permanent resolutions (such as bans) or requests for public actions may be
appealed. To appeal a decision of the conduct team, contact the
[arbiters](docs/project/evolution.md#arbiters) with your appeal and the arbiters
will review the case.

In general, it is **not** appropriate to appeal a particular decision in public
areas of Discourse Forums or Discord Chat. Doing so would involve disclosure of
information which should remain confidential. Disclosing this kind of
information publicly may be considered a separate and (potentially) more serious
violation of the Code of Conduct. This is not meant to limit discussion of the
Code of Conduct, the conduct team itself, or the appropriateness of responses in
general, but **please** refrain from mentioning specific facts about cases
without the explicit permission of all parties involved.

# Enforcement action guidelines

The conduct team, moderators, and event organizers have the right and
responsibility to remove, edit, or reject comments, commits, code, wiki edits,
issues, and other contributions that are not aligned to this Code of Conduct.
They will communicate reasons for moderation decisions when appropriate.

The conduct team may take additional action they deem appropriate for any
violation of this Code of Conduct using these guidelines based on the behavior
involved:

1.  **Correction**
    *   **Behavior:** Use of inappropriate language or other minor violations
        the code of conduct.
    *   **Action:** A private, written message providing clarity around the
        nature of the violation and an explanation of why the behavior was
        inappropriate. A public apology may be requested.
1.  **Warning**
    *   **Behavior:** A code of conduct violation through a single moderate
        incident, or a series of minor violations.
    *   **Action:** In addition to the correction action, a temporary
        restriction barring interaction with the people involved for a specified
        period of time, including unsolicited interaction with the conduct team.
        Violating these terms may lead to a ban.
1.  **Temporary ban**
    *   **Behavior:** A serious violation of the code of conduct, including
        sustained inappropriate behavior.
    *   **Action:** In addition to the warning action, a temporary ban from use
        of Carbon's community spaces for a specified period of time. External
        channels (e.g., social media) should not be used to bypass these
        restrictions during the temporary ban. Violating these terms may lead to
        a permanent ban.
1.  **Permanent ban**
    *   **Behavior:** Demonstrating a pattern of violation of the code of
        conduct.
    *   **Action:** A permanent ban from use of Carbon's community spaces.

# Acknowledgements

This code is based on the
[LLVM Code of Conduct](https://llvm.org/docs/CodeOfConduct.html), the
[Django Project Code of Conduct](https://github.com/django/code-of-conduct), the
[Speak Up! project](http://web.archive.org/web/20141109123859/http://speakup.io/coc.html),
and the
[Contributor Covenant version 2.0](https://www.contributor-covenant.org/version/2/0/code_of_conduct/).
Many thanks to all of these projects for their work helping build effective
tools for open source communities.