We want a productive, happy and agile community that can welcome new ideas in a complex field, improve every process every year, and foster collaboration between groups with very different needs, interests and skills.
We gain strength from diversity, and actively seek participation from those who enhance it. This code of conduct exists to ensure that diverse groups collaborate to mutual advantage and enjoyment. We will challenge prejudice that could jeopardize the participation of any person in the community.
The Code of Conduct governs how we behave in public or in private whenever the community will be judged by our actions. We expect it to be honored by everyone who represents the community officially or informally, claims affiliation with the community, or participates directly.
Our work will be used by other people, and we in turn will depend on the work of others. Any decision we take will affect users and colleagues, and we should consider them when making decisions.
Disagreement is no excuse for poor manners. We work together to resolve conflict, assume good intentions and do our best to act in an empathic fashion. We don't allow frustration to turn into a personal attack. A community where people feel uncomfortable or threatened is not a productive one.
We can all make mistakes; when we do, we take responsibility for them. If someone has been harmed or offended, we listen carefully and respectfully, and work to right the wrong.
Internally and externally, we celebrate good collaboration. Wherever possible, we work closely with upstream projects and others in the free software community to coordinate our efforts. We prefer to work transparently and involve interested parties as early as possible.
Disagreements, social and technical, are normal, but we do not allow them to persist and fester leaving others uncertain of the agreed direction. We expect participants in the community to resolve disagreements constructively. When they cannot, we escalate the matter to structures with designated leaders to arbitrate and provide clarity and direction.
Nobody is expected to be perfect in this community. Asking questions early avoids many problems later, so questions are encouraged, though they may be directed to the appropriate forum. Those who are asked should be responsive and helpful.
When somebody leaves or disengages from the community, we ask that they do so in a way that minimizes disruption. They should tell people they are leaving and take the proper steps to ensure that others can pick up where they left off.
We all lead by example, in debate and in action. We encourage new participants to feel empowered to lead, to take action, and to experiment when they feel innovation could improve the community. Leadership can be exercised by anyone simply by taking action, there is no need to wait for recognition when the opportunity to lead presents itself.
Responsibility for the community starts with the "the presenters", who delegate specific responsibilities and the corresponding authority to a series of moderators, and individuals. The moderators will arbitrate in any dispute.
We are a meritocracy; we delegate decision making, governance and leadership from senior bodies to the most able and engaged candidates.
Nominations to the moderators are at the discretion of the presenters, however we do seek the input of the community when making appointments.
Leadership is not an award, right, or title; it is a privilege, a responsibility and a mandate. A leader will only retain their authority as long as they retain the support of those who delegated that authority to them.
We gather opinions, data and commitments from concerned parties before taking a decision. We expect leaders to help teams come to a decision in a reasonable time, to seek guidance or be willing to take the decision themselves when consensus is lacking, and to take responsibility for implementation.
The poorest decision of all is no decision: clarity of direction has value in itself. Sometimes all the data are not available, or consensus is elusive. A decision must still be made. There is no guarantee of a perfect decision every time - we prefer to err, learn, and err less in future than to postpone action indefinitely.
We recognize that the community works better when we trust the people closest to a problem to make the decision for the community. If we learn of a decision that we disagree with, we can engage the relevant people to find common ground, and failing that, we have a governance structure that can review the decision. None of us expects to agree with every decision, and we value highly the willingness to stand by the community and help it deliver even on the occasions when we ourselves may prefer a different route.
We invite anybody, to participate in any aspect of the community. Our community is open, and any responsibility can be carried by any contributor who demonstrates the required capacity and competence.
A leader's foremost goal is the success of the team.
"A virtuoso is judged by their actions; a leader is judged by the actions of their team." A leader knows when to act and when to step back. They know when to delegate work, and when to take it upon themselves.
A good leader does not seek the limelight, but celebrates team members for the work they do. Leaders may be more visible than members of the team, good ones use that visibility to highlight the great work of others.
Leadership occasionally requires bold decisions that will not be widely understood, consensual or popular. We value the courage to take such decisions, because they enable the community as a whole to move forward faster than we could if we required complete consensus. Nevertheless, boldness demands considerateness; take bold decisions, but do so mindful of the challenges they present for others, and work to soften the impact of those decisions on them. Communicating changes and their reasoning clearly and early on is as important as the implementation of the change itself.
We expect leaders to be aware when they are conflicted due to employment or other communities they are involved in, and abstain or delegate decisions that may be seen to be self-interested. We expect that everyone who participates in the community does so with the goal of making life better for its users.
When in doubt, ask for a second opinion. Perceived conflicts of interest are important to address; as a leader, act to ensure that decisions are credible even if they must occasionally be unpopular, difficult or favorable to the interests of one group over another.
This Code is not exhaustive or complete. It is not a rulebook; 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.
If a member of the community feels there has been a violation of the Code of Conduct, they are encouraged to bring it forward to the moderators for review.
The presenters are responsible for enforcing the Code of Conduct. Some of that responsibility is delegated to platform moderators to ensure quick and tailored response.
The Code of Conduct defines our standards of behavior, but it should not be used as a rulebook to resolve every disagreement. We value a collaborative environment where everyone works to resolve conflict constructively. What follows describes the process to follow when individual attempts to resolve conflict have failed, or are infeasible.
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First try to sum up the problem in a neutral and objective way. Try to identify the problems that led to the situation and any possible flaws in processes.
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If applicable, get in touch with members of the platform moderators and describe the situation.
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If they were not able to help you sufficiently, talk directly to the presenters. You can contact them by sending an email to
show@linuxmatters.sh. Include the neutral description of what is going wrong. -
The presenters will investigate the matter and decide on the appropriate action. We will respect the privacy and security of the reporter at all times.
To ensure the privacy and safety of everyone involved, we generally does not publicly communicate about investigations and actions.
The Linux Matters Code of Conduct is derived from the [Ubuntu Code of Conduct v2.0](https://documentation.ubuntu.com/project/community/ethos/code-of-conduct/) and licensed under the [Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 license](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/). You may re-use it for your own community, and modify it as you wish, just please allow others to use your modifications and give credit to the Ubuntu community!