We as members, contributors, and leaders pledge to make participation in our community a harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of age, body size, visible or invisible disability, ethnicity, sex characteristics, gender identity and expression, level of experience, education, socio-economic status, nationality, personal appearance, race, caste, color, religion, or sexual identity and orientation.
We pledge to act and interact in ways that contribute to an open, welcoming, diverse, inclusive, and emotionally healthy community.
This project prioritizes emotional safety and developer well-being as core values, not afterthoughts.
We track and optimize for low-anxiety, high-experimentation environments:
| Metric | Target | Measurement |
|---|---|---|
| Anxiety Reduction | -31% | Self-reported pre/post contribution |
| Experimentation Rate | +43% | Number of experimental PRs/month |
| Reversibility Confidence | >80% | "I can easily undo my changes" (Likert 1-5) |
| Time to First Contribution | <7 days | New contributor onboarding |
| Contributor Retention | >70% | 6-month active contributor rate |
- Reversibility by Default: All changes are reversible via Git, no permanent damage possible
- Sandbox Environments: TPCF Perimeter 3 allows risk-free experimentation
- Gentle Feedback: Code review comments focus on learning, not judging
- Anxiety Acknowledgment: "I'm not sure" and "I need help" are celebrated, not stigmatized
- Imposter Syndrome Support: Explicit welcome for beginners and first-time contributors
- ✅ Using welcoming and inclusive language
- ✅ Being respectful of differing viewpoints and experiences
- ✅ Gracefully accepting constructive criticism
- ✅ Focusing on what is best for the community
- ✅ Showing empathy towards other community members
- ✅ Acknowledging uncertainty: "I don't know" is a valid answer
- ✅ Sharing knowledge generously, even if "obvious" to you
- ✅ Celebrating failures as learning opportunities
- ✅ Normalizing mental health breaks and self-care
- ❌ The use of sexualized language or imagery, unwelcome sexual attention or advances
- ❌ Trolling, insulting/derogatory comments, and personal or political attacks
- ❌ Public or private harassment
- ❌ Publishing others' private information without explicit permission
- ❌ Other conduct which could reasonably be considered inappropriate in a professional setting
- ❌ Gatekeeping: "You should already know this" or "That's a dumb question"
- ❌ Dismissing anxiety or mental health concerns
- ❌ Shaming contributors for mistakes or "obvious" oversights
- ❌ Performative criticism without constructive feedback
This Code of Conduct applies within all community spaces, including:
- Project repositories (code, issues, pull requests, discussions)
- Communication channels (chat, email, forums)
- Events (virtual or physical conferences, meetups)
- Social media when representing the project
This Code of Conduct also applies when an individual is officially representing the community in public spaces.
Our community uses a graduated trust model to reduce anxiety and enable safe experimentation:
- Who: Anyone with a GitHub/GitLab account
- Access: Fork, clone, open issues, submit PRs
- Anxiety Level: ⬇️ Low - reversible changes only
- Experimentation: ⬆️ High - encouraged to break things
- Review Process: Mandatory maintainer approval before merge
- Who: 3+ merged PRs, 30+ days active
- Access: Direct commit to feature branches, triage issues
- Anxiety Level: ⬇️ Medium - still reversible via Git
- Experimentation: ⬆️ Medium - balance stability and innovation
- Review Process: Peer review recommended, not required
- Who: Elected by community, maximum 5 people
- Access: Merge to main, release management, security
- Anxiety Level: ⬆️ Higher - production impact possible
- Experimentation: ⬇️ Lower - stability focus
- Review Process: Self-review okay, second opinion recommended
Key Principle: Start at Perimeter 3, earn trust through contributions, never skip levels.
Community leaders (Perimeter 1 Maintainers) are responsible for clarifying and enforcing our standards of acceptable behavior and will take appropriate and fair corrective action in response to any behavior that they deem inappropriate, threatening, offensive, or harmful.
Community leaders 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, and will communicate reasons for moderation decisions when appropriate.
Instances of abusive, harassing, or otherwise unacceptable behavior may be reported to the community leaders responsible for enforcement at:
- Email: conduct@example.com
- Anonymous Form: https://example.com/report (coming soon)
- Direct Message: @maintainer on GitHub/GitLab
All complaints will be reviewed and investigated promptly and fairly.
All community leaders are obligated to respect the privacy and security of the reporter of any incident.
Community leaders will follow these Community Impact Guidelines in determining the consequences for any action they deem in violation of this Code of Conduct:
Community Impact: Use of inappropriate language or other behavior deemed unprofessional or unwelcome in the community.
Consequence: A private, written warning from community leaders, providing clarity around the nature of the violation and an explanation of why the behavior was inappropriate. A public apology may be requested.
Emotional Support: Opportunity to discuss anxiety or misunderstanding that led to behavior.
Community Impact: A violation through a single incident or series of actions.
Consequence: A warning with consequences for continued behavior. No interaction with the people involved, including unsolicited interaction with those enforcing the Code of Conduct, for a specified period of time (typically 7-30 days). This includes avoiding interactions in community spaces as well as external channels like social media.
Emotional Support: Optional mediation session to understand triggers and prevent recurrence.
Community Impact: A serious violation of community standards, including sustained inappropriate behavior.
Consequence: A temporary ban from any sort of interaction or public communication with the community for a specified period of time (typically 30-90 days). No public or private interaction with the people involved, including unsolicited interaction with those enforcing the Code of Conduct, is allowed during this period.
Emotional Support: Path to reinstatement with required training or counseling.
Community Impact: Demonstrating a pattern of violation of community standards, including sustained inappropriate behavior, harassment of an individual, or aggression toward or disparagement of classes of individuals.
Consequence: A permanent ban from any sort of public interaction within the community.
Appeal Process: May appeal after 1 year with evidence of changed behavior.
We don't just punish bad behavior—we celebrate good behavior:
- 🌟 Contributor of the Month: Recognize helpful community members
- 🎖️ First PR Badge: Celebrate first-time contributors
- 📚 Knowledge Sharing Award: Acknowledge excellent documentation or tutorials
- 🤝 Emotional Support Champion: Thank those who help reduce anxiety
This Code of Conduct is adapted from:
- Contributor Covenant v2.1
- Django Code of Conduct
- Rust Code of Conduct
- Original: Emotional Temperature Metrics (CHASE 2024 paper)
- Original: TPCF Tri-Perimeter Framework (CHI/CSCW 2024 paper)
Community Impact Guidelines were inspired by Mozilla's code of conduct enforcement ladder.
For answers to common questions about this code of conduct, see the FAQ.
If you're experiencing anxiety, burnout, or other mental health challenges:
- Crisis Hotline: 988 (US Suicide & Crisis Lifeline)
- OSMI: Open Sourcing Mental Illness - https://osmihelp.org/
- Burnout Index: Self-assessment tool - https://burnoutindex.org/
- Take a Break: It's okay to step away. Your health > code.
- General Questions: conduct@example.com
- Incident Reports: conduct@example.com (private, confidential)
- Maintainers: See MAINTAINERS.md
Last Updated: 2024-01-15 Version: 2.0 (includes Emotional Safety Metrics) Next Review: 2024-07-15