Ragtag

Code of Conduct

 

The Ragtag Code of Conduct

Our Pledge

In the interest of fostering an open and welcoming environment, we as contributors, maintainers, volunteers, and community members pledge to make participation in our projects and our community a harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of age, body size, disability, ethnicity, gender identity and expression, level of experience, nationality, personal appearance, race, religion, or sexual identity and orientation.

Be Empowering

Consider what you can do to encourage and support others. Make room for quieter voices to contribute. Offer support and enthusiasm for great ideas. Leverage the low cost of experimentation to support your teammates’ ideas, and take care to acknowledge the original source, not just the most recent or loudest contributor. When someone offers something unexpected, look for ways you can contribute and collaborate. Share your knowledge and skills. Prioritize access for and input from those who are traditionally excluded from the civic and political process.

Boundaries

Create boundaries to your own behavior and consider how you can create safe space that helps prevent unacceptable behavior by others. We do not seek to list all cases of unacceptable behavior, but provide examples to help guide our community in thinking through how to respond when we experience these types of behavior, whether directed at ourselves or others.

If you are unsure if something is appropriate behavior, it probably isn’t. Each person you interact with can define where that line is for them. Impact matters more than intent. Ensuring that your behavior does not have a negative impact is your responsibility. Problems happen when we assume that our way of thinking or behaving is the norm or ok with everyone. This is particularly problematic when we are in a position of power or privilege.

Examples

Examples of behavior that contributes to creating a positive and empowering environment include:

  • Using welcoming and inclusive language

  • Being respectful of differing viewpoints and experiences, including being respectful about where people are, and where they are coming from, in their activism

  • Gracefully accepting constructive feedback

  • Showing empathy and kindness towards other community members, and the organizers and activists we work with.

Examples of unacceptable behavior include:

  • The use of sexualized language or imagery and unwelcome sexual attention or advances

  • Negative or offensive remarks based on race, religion, color, sex (with or without sexual conduct and including pregnancy and sexual orientation involving transgender status/gender identity, and sex-stereotyping), national origin, age, disability (physical or mental), genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity, parental status, marital status, gender expression, mental illness, socioeconomic status or background, neuro(a)typicality, physical appearance, body size, or clothing. Consider that calling attention to differences can feel alienating

  • Touching people without their affirmative consent

  • Sustained disruption of meetings, talks, or discussions, including chatrooms

  • Patronizing language or behavior

  • Aggressive and micro-aggressive behavior, such as unconstructive criticism, providing corrections that do not improve the conversation (sometimes referred to as “well actually”s), repeatedly interrupting or talking over someone else, feigning surprise at someone’s lack of knowledge or awareness about a topic, or subtle prejudice (for example, comments like “That’s so easy my grandmother could do it.”)

  • Referring to people in a way that misidentifies their gender and/or rejects the validity of their gender identity; for instance by using incorrect pronouns or forms of address (misgendering)

  • Trolling, insulting, or derogatory comments, and personal attacks

  • Public or private harassment

  • Publishing others' private information, such as a physical or electronic address, without that person’s explicit permission

  • Publishing of non-harassing private communication

  • Unsolicited explanations under the assumption that someone doesn’t already know it. Ask before you teach! Don’t assume what people’s knowledge gaps are

  • Any of the above even when presented as “ironic” or “joking”

  • Bringing any data, information, or intellectual property into Ragtag that you do not have a legal right to share with the team

  • Collecting en masse personal or contact information from team members for outside personal or business use, including recruiting, adding to email lists, etc. without their explicit permission.

  • Retaliating against anyone who files a formal complaint that someone has violated this Code of Conduct

  • Other conduct which could reasonably be considered inappropriate in a professional setting.

Our Responsibilities

The Community Moderators and the leadership team are responsible for clarifying the standards of acceptable behavior and are expected to take appropriate and fair corrective action in response to any instances of unacceptable behavior.

The Community Moderators team and the leadership team 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, or to ban temporarily or permanently any contributor for other behaviors that they deem inappropriate, threatening, offensive, or harmful.

Scope

This Code of Conduct applies both within team spaces and in public spaces when an individual is representing a project or this community. Examples of representing a project or community include using an official project e-mail address, posting via an official social media account, or acting as an appointed representative at an online or offline event. Representation of a project may be further defined and clarified by the Community Moderators team.

Depending on the violation, the admins may decide that violations of this code of conduct that have happened outside of the scope of the community may deem an individual unwelcome, and take appropriate action to maintain the comfort and safety of its members.
 

Enforcement

Instances of abusive, harassing, or otherwise unacceptable behavior may be reported by contacting the Community Moderators team at code_of_conduct@ragtag.org, or by using the Slack slash command "/admin". All complaints will be reviewed and investigated and will result in a response that is deemed necessary and appropriate to the circumstances. The Community Moderators team is obligated to maintain confidentiality with regard to the reporter of an incident. Further details of specific enforcement policies may be posted separately.

Community Moderators team members or leadership team members who do not follow or enforce the Code of Conduct in good faith may face temporary or permanent repercussions as determined by other members of the Community Moderators and leadership teams.

Attribution

This Code of Conduct is adapted from:

 

All Ragtag members are required to agree to and abide by this code of conduct.