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Community guidelines

Like the technical community as a whole, the Solidus team and community is made up of a mixture of professionals and volunteers from all over the world, working on every aspect of the product.

Interactions in a large community such as Solidus' can sometimes lead to communication issues. To that end, we have a few ground rules that we ask people to adhere to. These guidelines apply equally to individuals in the following groups: sponsors, the Solidus stakeholders, the Solidus core team and the Solidus community.

This isn't an exhaustive list of things that you should or shouldn't do. Rather, take it in the spirit in which it's intended - a guide to make it easier to enrich all of us and the technical communities in which we participate.

These guidelines apply to all official Solidus spaces. This includes Slack, the Solidus GitHub organizations and any other online forums created by the core team which the community uses for communication.

We don't cover spaces outside of those officially managed by the Solidus team, such as Twitter, LinkedIn, unofficial Slack communities etc. This is intentional and it strikes a balance that allows us to be inclusive of all ideas and viewpoints while also creating a safe space for our community to collaborate.

If you believe someone is violating the guidelines, we ask that you report it by emailing [email protected]. For more details please see our Reporting Guidelines.

  • Be friendly and patient.
  • Be welcoming. We strive to be a community that welcomes and supports everyone. We intentionally refrain from making a list here, as we believe it would be superfluous: no matter your identity, you are welcome to contribute to Solidus and participate in its community.
  • Be considerate. Your work will be used by other people, and you in turn will depend on the work of others. Any decision you take will affect users and colleagues, and you should take those consequences into account when making decisions. 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. Members of the Solidus community should be respectful when dealing with other members.
  • Be careful in the words that you choose. We are a community of professionals, and we conduct ourselves professionally. Be kind to others. Do not insult or put down other participants. Harassment and other exclusionary behavior aren't acceptable. This is a comprehensive list of unacceptable behaviors:
    • Violent threats or language directed against another person.
    • Discriminatory jokes and language (i.e. insulting or belittling someone for their identity).
    • Posting sexually explicit or violent material.
    • Posting (or threatening to post) other people's personally identifying information ("doxing").
    • Personal insults.
    • Unwelcome sexual attention.
    • Advocating for, or encouraging, any of the above behavior.
  • When we disagree, try to understand why. Disagreements, both social and technical, happen all the time and Solidus is no exception. It is important that we resolve disagreements and differing views constructively. Remember that we're different. Different people have different perspectives on issues. Being unable to understand why someone holds a viewpoint doesn't mean that they're wrong, just like having someone disagreeing with you doesn't mean they don't understand your viewpoint. 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.

Original text courtesy of the Django Code of Conduct and the Speak Up! project.

Reporting Guidelines​

If you believe someone is violating the guidelines we ask that you report it to the Solidus team by emailing [email protected]. All reports will be kept confidential. In some cases, we may determine that a public statement will need to be made. If that's the case, the identities of all victims and reporters will remain confidential unless those individuals instruct us otherwise.

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 you are unsure whether the incident is a violation, or whether the space where it happened is covered by these guidelines, we encourage you to still report it. We would much rather have a few extra reports where we decide to take no action, rather than miss a report of an actual violation. We do not look negatively on you if we find the incident is not a violation. And knowing about incidents that are not violations can help us to improve the guidelines or the processes surrounding them.

In your report please include:

  • 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. If there is a publicly available record (e.g. Slack messages) please include a link.
  • Any extra context you believe existed for the incident.
  • If you believe this incident is ongoing.
  • Any other information you believe we should have.

We will review and act on all reports to the best of our abilities, but we will not be able to act on reports when we are not able to collect objective information and/or witnesses that can help us clarify the incident and individuals involved.

What happens after you file a report?​

You will receive an email from the Solidus Community Committee acknowledging receipt immediately. We promise to acknowledge receipt within 5 business days (and will aim for much quicker than that).

The committee will immediately meet to review the incident and determine:

  • What happened, making sure to also ask the reported person(s).
  • Whether this event constitutes a guidelines violation.
  • Who the bad actor was.
  • 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 committee'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.

Once the committee has a complete account of the events and all involved parties have been heard, they will make a decision as to how to respond. Responses may include:

  • Nothing (if we determine no violation occurred).
  • A private or public reprimand from the committee to the individual(s) involved.
  • A permanent or temporary ban from some or all Solidus spaces.

We'll respond within one week to the person who filed the report with either a resolution or an explanation of why the situation is not yet resolved.

Once we've determined our final action, we'll contact the original reporter to let them know what action (if any) we'll be taking. We'll take into account feedback from the reporter on the appropriateness of our response, but we don't guarantee we'll act on it.

What if your report concerns a possible violation by a committee member?​

If your report concerns a current member of the Community Committee, you may not feel comfortable sending your report to the committee, as all members will see the report.

In that case, you can make a report directly to any or all of the current chairs of the Community Committee. Their e-mail addresses are listed on the Community Committee page. The chairs will follow the usual enforcement process with the other members, but will exclude the member(s) that the report concerns from any discussion or decision making.

Enforcement Manual​

The Community Committee​

All responses to reports of conduct violations will be managed by a Community Committee ("the committee").

The Solidus stakeholders ("the stakeholders") will propose this committee, comprised of at least three members from the Solidus community. The stakeholders will review membership on a regular basis. The committee and any changes to the committee must be approved by the core team.

How the committee will respond to reports​

When a report is sent to the committee they will immediately reply to the report to confirm receipt. This reply must be sent within 5 days, and the committee should strive to respond much more quickly than that.

See the Reporting Guidelines for details of what reports should contain. If a report doesn't contain enough information, the committee will obtain all relevant data before acting.

The committee will then review the incident and determine, to the best of their ability:

  • what happened;
  • whether this event constitutes a guidelines violation;
  • who, if anyone, was the bad actor;
  • whether this is an ongoing situation, and there is a threat to anyone's physical safety.

This information will be collected in writing, and whenever possible the committee's deliberations will be recorded and retained (i.e. Slack transcripts, email discussions, recorded voice conversations, etc).

The committee should aim to have a resolution agreed upon within one week. In the event that a resolution can't be determined in that time, the committee will respond to the reporter(s) with an update and projected timeline for resolution.

Acting unilaterally​

If the act involves a threat to anyone's physical safety (e.g. threats of violence), any committee member may act unilaterally (before reaching consensus) to end the situation by contacting the appropriate law enforcement authorities.

In situations where an individual committee member acts unilaterally, they must report their actions to the committee for review within 24 hours.

Resolutions​

The committee must agree on a resolution by consensus. If the committee cannot reach consensus and deadlocks for over a week, the committee will turn the matter over to the stakeholders for resolution.

Possible responses may include:

  • Taking no further action (if we determine no violation occurred).
  • A private or public reprimand from the committee to the individual(s) involved.
  • A permanent or temporary ban from some or all Solidus spaces. The committee will maintain records of all such bans so that they may be reviewed in the future, extended to new Solidus forums, or otherwise maintained.

Once a resolution is agreed upon, the committee will contact the original reporter and any other affected parties and explain the resolution.

Conflicts of Interest​

If a report concerns a possible violation by a current committee member, this member should be excluded from the response process. For these cases, anyone can make a report directly to any of the committee chairs, as documented in the Reporting Guidelines.