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Code of Conduct

Be a postive contributing member

Our Pledge​

We pledge to make our community welcoming, safe, and equitable for all.

The open source and medical research communities are centered around inclusion. COSMIIC is committed to growing a successful open source ecosystem consisting of a diverse base of contributors and users. In pursuit of this goal, it is of utmost importance that we provide an experience that promotes the dignity, rights, and contributions of all community members, regardless of ethnicity, nationality, age, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, religion or other status. The same privileges of participation are extended to everyone who participates in good faith and in accordance with this Code of Conduct.

Scope​

This Code of Conduct applies within all community spaces, and also applies when an individual is officially representing the community in public or other spaces. Examples of representing our community include using an official email address, posting via an official social media account, or acting as an appointed representative at an online or offline event.

Encouraged Behaviors​

While acknowledging differences in social norms, we all strive to meet our community's expectations for positive behavior. We also understand that our words and actions may be interpreted differently than we intend based on culture, background, or native language.

With these considerations in mind, we agree to behave mindfully toward each other and act in ways that center our shared values, including:

1. General Forum Courtesy​

Participate! However, participate responsibly by following these tips:

  • Search the forum for similar topics before posting.
  • Stay on-topic. Keep discussions relevant to the forum or documentation. Off-topic conversations should be directed to appropriate channels.
  • Use the forum's built-in tools (bookmarks, likes, flags, replies, edits, watching) to improve your experience.
  • Avoid posting spam and opt to use 'likes' rather than short replies that do not add content.

2. General Open Source Etiquette​

  • When contributing to documentation or the forum, be constructive and provide meaningful contributions. Respect maintainers' decisions and follow project guidelines.
  • You may not post anything that belongs to someone else without permission.
  • Maintain attribution and citation of others' work.

3. Be Civil​

  • Treat all community members with kindness and respect. Personal attacks, harassment, discrimination, or hate speech of any kind will not be tolerated.
  • If you disagree with someone's post, you may disagree. That’s fine. But remember to criticize ideas, not people. If responding, provide thoughtful insights that seek to improve the conversation.
  • Communicate directly and professionally.
  • Respect privacy. Do not share private or personal information of yourself or others without consent.
  • Do not post content that is obscene, illegal, or otherwise inappropriate for a public forum.

Restricted Behaviors​

We agree to restrict the following behaviors in our community. Instances, threats, and promotion of these behaviors are violations of this Code of Conduct.

  1. Harassment. Violating explicitly expressed boundaries or engaging in unnecessary personal attention after any clear request to stop.
  2. Character attacks. Making insulting, demeaning, or pejorative comments directed at a community member or group of people.
  3. Stereotyping or discrimination. Characterizing anyone’s personality or behavior on the basis of immutable identities or traits.
  4. Sexualization. Behaving in a way that would generally be considered inappropriately intimate in the context or purpose of the community.
  5. Violating confidentiality. Sharing or acting on someone's personal or private information without their permission.
  6. Endangerment. Causing, encouraging, or threatening violence or other harm toward any person or group.
  7. Behaving in other ways that threaten the well-being of our community.

Other Restrictions​

  1. Misleading identity. Impersonating someone else for any reason, or pretending to be someone else to evade enforcement actions.
  2. Failing to credit sources. Not properly crediting the sources of content you contribute.
  3. Promotional materials. Sharing marketing or other commercial content in a way that is outside the norms of the community.

Report Issues Responsibly​

  • When you see bad behavior, don’t reply, don't waste your time. Just flag it on the forum or report it. As flags accrue, a review will take place, either automatically or by moderator intervention. Do not engage in public shaming or hostility. Let moderators review and take action.
  • Community Moderators take reports of violations seriously and will make every effort to respond in a timely manner. They will investigate all reports of code of conduct violations, reviewing messages, logs, and recordings, or interviewing witnesses and other participants. Community Moderators will keep investigation and enforcement actions as transparent as possible while prioritizing safety and confidentiality. In order to honor these values, enforcement actions are carried out in private with the involved parties, but communicating to the whole community may be part of a mutually agreed upon resolution.
  • In order to maintain our community, moderators reserve the right to remove any content and any user account for any reason at any time. Moderators do not preview new posts; the moderators and site operators take no responsibility for any content posted by the community.
  • If you encounter an issue, report it promptly to admin@cosmiic.org.

Addressing and Repairing Harm​

If an investigation by the Community Moderators finds that this Code of Conduct has been violated, the following enforcement ladder may be used to determine how best to repair harm, based on the incident's impact on the individuals involved and the community as a whole. Depending on the severity of a violation, lower rungs on the ladder may be skipped.

  1. Warning
    1. Event: A violation involving a single incident or series of incidents.
    2. Consequence: A private, written warning from the Community Moderators.
    3. Repair: Examples of repair include a private written apology, acknowledgement of responsibility, and seeking clarification on expectations.
  2. Temporarily Limited Activities
    1. Event: A repeated incidence of a violation that previously resulted in a warning, or the first incidence of a more serious violation.
    2. Consequence: A private, written warning with a time-limited cooldown period designed to underscore the seriousness of the situation and give the community members involved time to process the incident. The cooldown period may be limited to particular communication channels or interactions with particular community members.
    3. Repair: Examples of repair may include making an apology, using the cooldown period to reflect on actions and impact, and being thoughtful about re-entering community spaces after the period is over.
  3. Temporary Suspension
    1. Event: A pattern of repeated violation which the Community Moderators have tried to address with warnings, or a single serious violation.
    2. Consequence: A private written warning with conditions for return from suspension. In general, temporary suspensions give the person being suspended time to reflect upon their behavior and possible corrective actions.
    3. Repair: Examples of repair include respecting the spirit of the suspension, meeting the specified conditions for return, and being thoughtful about how to reintegrate with the community when the suspension is lifted.
  4. Permanent Ban
    1. Event: A pattern of repeated code of conduct violations that other steps on the ladder have failed to resolve, or a violation so serious that the Community Moderators determine there is no way to keep the community safe with this person as a member.
    2. Consequence: Access to all community spaces, tools, and communication channels is removed. In general, permanent bans should be rarely used, should have strong reasoning behind them, and should only be resorted to if working through other remedies has failed to change the behavior.
    3. Repair: There is no possible repair in cases of this severity.

This enforcement ladder is intended as a guideline. It does not limit the ability of Community Managers to use their discretion and judgment, in keeping with the best interests of our community.

Attribution​

This Code of Conduct is adapted from the Contributor Covenant, version 3.0, permanently available at https://www.contributor-covenant.org/version/3/0/.

Contributor Covenant is stewarded by the Organization for Ethical Source and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

For answers to common questions about Contributor Covenant, see the FAQ at https://www.contributor-covenant.org/faq. Translations are provided at https://www.contributor-covenant.org/translations. Additional enforcement and community guideline resources can be found at https://www.contributor-covenant.org/resources. The enforcement ladder was inspired by the work of Mozilla’s code of conduct team.