Code of Conduct

This code of conduct outlines our expectations for employees, subcontractors and anyone who represents Infinite Sidequests Limited, as well as steps to reporting unacceptable behaviour. We are committed to providing a productive, welcoming and inspiring environment for all and expect our code of conduct to be honoured. Anyone who violates this code of conduct can expect a formal review and potential reprimand.

Our community strives to:

  • Be friendly and patient: Remember, listening is more than simply not talking.
  • 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, colour, immigration status, social and economic class, educational level, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, age, size, family status, political belief, religion, and mental and physical ability.
  • 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 behaviour 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.
  • 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 behaviour aren't acceptable. This includes, but is not limited to:
    • Violent threats or language directed against another person.
    • Discriminatory jokes and language.
    • Sharing sexually explicit or violent material.
    • Posting (or threatening to post) other people's personally identifying information ("doxing").
    • Personal insults, especially those using racist or sexist terms.
    • Unwelcome sexual attention.
    • Advocating for, or encouraging, any of the above behaviour.
    • Repeated harassment of others. In general, if someone asks you to stop, then stop.
  • When we disagree, try to understand why: Disagreements, both social and technical, happen all the time. It is important that we resolve disagreements and differing views constructively. Remember that we’re different. The strength of our community comes from its diversity, 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. We ask that in times of disagreement you treat others as you would like to be treated and to be open to seeing your own contribution to the situation. Disagreements are often catalysts for learning about the world, ourselves and each other - we encourage you to familiarise yourself with Chris Argyris' Model II approach to double loop learning. Help and support is available.
  • Be useful: We are a community of engineers - people who work to create a better future through research, design, implementation and experimentation given partial information with limited time and resources. If you think you are working on something that isn't useful, stop and find out what's going on.

    "My dad always said be useful". ~ Arnold Schwartzenegger

  • Be accountable for your actions: Creating positive change requires thought, action and decision making. Sometimes things do not turn out as well as we had expected or hoped, despite our best intentions. Often we have only a partial role or stake in the outcome and the circumstances that contributed to it, but we must still be accountable - to ultimately being answerable for our own actions. Knowledge of this helps us look for alternative options and identify potential ethical concerns when we consider candidate solutions.
  • Avoid conflicts of interest: We do not tolerate bribery, we do not trade on inside information and we adhere to relevant privacy laws. If you feel you are approaching a situation which may contain a conflict of interest, stop and talk to us.

This code is not exhaustive or complete. It serves to distill our common understanding of a collaborative, shared environment, and goals. We expect it to be followed in spirit as much as in the letter.

Diversity Statement

We encourage everyone to participate and are committed to building a community for all. Although we may not be able to satisfy everyone, we all agree that everyone is equal. Whenever a participant has made a mistake, we expect them to take responsibility for it. If someone has been harmed or offended, it is our responsibility to listen carefully and respectfully, and do our best to right the wrong.

Although this list cannot be exhaustive, we explicitly honour diversity in age, gender, gender identity or expression, culture, ethnicity, language, national origin, political beliefs, profession, race, religion, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, and technical ability. We will not tolerate discrimination based on any of the protected characteristics above, including participants with disabilities.

Reporting Issues

If you experience or witness unacceptable behaviour—or have any other concerns—please report it by contacting us via email. All reports will be handled with discretion. In your report please include:

  • Your contact information.
  • Names of any individuals involved. If there are additional witnesses, please include them as well. Your account of what occurred, and if you believe the incident is ongoing. If there is a publicly available record (e.g. a mailing list archive or a public IRC logger), please include a link.
  • Any additional information that may be helpful.

After filing a report, a representative will contact you personally. If the person who is harassing you is part of the response team, they will recuse themselves from handling your incident. A representative will then review the incident, follow up with any additional questions, and make a decision as to how to respond. We will respect confidentiality requests for the purpose of protecting victims of abuse.

Anyone asked to stop unacceptable behaviour is expected to comply immediately. If an individual engages in unacceptable behaviour, the representative may take any action they deem appropriate, up to and including a permanent ban from our community without warning.

Thanks

This code of conduct is based on the Open Code of Conduct from the TODOGroup and the Twitter Code of Conduct.

We are thankful for their work and all the communities who have paved the way with code of conducts.