coc.html

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title: Code of Conduct
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<h2>Speak Up! Community Code of Conduct</h2>
<p>
Like the technical community as a whole, the Speak Up! team and community is
made up of a mixture of professionals and volunteers from all over the world,
working on every aspect of the mission - including mentorship, teaching and
connecting people.</p>

<p>Diversity is one of our huge strengths, but it can also lead to
communication issues and unhappiness. To that end, we have a few ground rules
that we ask people to adhere to when they're participating within this
community and project. These rules apply equally to founders, mentors and those
seeking help and guidance.</p>

<p>This isn't an exhaustive list of things that you can't do.
Rather, take it in the spirit in which it's intended - a guide to make it
easier to enrich all of us, the technical community and the conferences and
usergroups we hope to guide new speakers to.
</p>

<p><i>This code of conduct applies to all communication: this includes IRC, the
mailing list, and other forums such as Skype, Google+ Hangouts, etc.</i></p>

<ul>
    <li>Be welcoming, friendly, and patient.</i>

    <li>Be considerate. Your work will be used by other people, and you in
    turn will depend on the work of others. Any decision you make will
    affect users and colleagues, and you should take those consequences
    into account when making decisions.</li>

    <li>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. Members of the Speak Up! community should be respectful when
    dealing with other members as well as with people outside the Speak Up!
    community and with user groups/conferences, usergroup/conference
    organizers.</li>

    <li>Be careful in the words that you choose. Remember that sexist,
    racist, and other exclusionary jokes can be offensive to those around
    you. Be kind to others. Do not insult or put down other participants.
    Behave professionally. Remember that harassment and sexist, racist, or
    exclusionary jokes are not appropriate for the community.</li>

</ul>


<p>
When we disagree, we try to understand why. Disagreements, both social and
technical, happen all the time and Speak Up! is no exception. It is important
that we resolve disagreements and differing views constructively. Remember
that we're different. The strength of Speak Up! comes from its varied community,
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, rather offer to help
resolving issues and to help learn from mistakes.
</p>

<p><i>Credits for the sources and inspiration of this code of conduct go to the
<a href="http://fedoraproject.org/code-of-conduct">Fedora Project</a>, as well
as the <a href="http://pythonmentors.com/">Python Mentorship Project</a> and
many others.</i></p>
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