We pledge to make participation in the Behaviour Lab project a respectful, ethical, and 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.
Additionally, we pledge to:
- Prioritize human welfare above all other considerations
- Maintain rigorous ethical standards in all project activities
- Act with transparency about intentions and methods
- Respect autonomy of all individuals
- Prevent misuse of behavior engineering techniques
We encourage:
-
Ethical Responsibility
- Considering welfare implications of all contributions
- Strengthening (not weakening) safeguards
- Reporting potential misuse
- Acting with integrity
-
Respectful Communication
- Being welcoming and inclusive
- Using kind and professional language
- Respecting differing viewpoints and experiences
- Accepting constructive criticism gracefully
-
Constructive Collaboration
- Focusing on what's best for the community
- Showing empathy toward others
- Being patient with newcomers
- Helping others learn
-
Transparency
- Being honest about intentions
- Disclosing conflicts of interest
- Admitting mistakes and learning from them
- Openly discussing tradeoffs and risks
-
Evidence-Based Discussion
- Citing sources for claims
- Acknowledging uncertainty
- Updating views based on evidence
- Distinguishing fact from opinion
We prohibit:
-
Ethical Violations
- Attempting to enable manipulation or exploitation
- Weakening ethical safeguards
- Ignoring or dismissing welfare concerns
- Deliberately facilitating misuse
- Removing ethical warnings or requirements
-
Harassment
- Trolling, insulting, or derogatory comments
- Personal or political attacks
- Public or private harassment
- Publishing others' private information without permission
- Sexual attention or advances (unwelcome)
-
Dishonesty
- Misrepresenting research or evidence
- Plagiarism or improper attribution
- Hiding conflicts of interest
- Making false claims
- Sockpuppeting or astroturfing
-
Disruption
- Deliberately derailing discussions
- Spamming or excessive self-promotion
- Repeatedly ignoring maintainer decisions
- Bad faith arguments
- Wasting community time
-
Harmful Content
- Promoting exploitation or manipulation
- Sharing dark patterns or coercive techniques
- Enabling attacks on vulnerable populations
- Doxxing or threatening behavior
- Content that violates laws or regulations
This Code of Conduct applies:
- In project spaces (GitHub repository, Discussions, Issues, PRs)
- In community spaces (mailing lists, social media, events)
- When representing the project (talks, papers, interviews)
- In private when affecting the community
It applies to:
- Project maintainers
- Contributors
- Community members
- Anyone engaging with the project
If you experience or witness unacceptable behavior:
-
Report it to project maintainers via:
- Private Discussion message
- Email: [To be added]
- Subject: "Code of Conduct Violation"
-
Include:
- Your contact information (if you want follow-up)
- Description of the incident
- Links/screenshots (if applicable)
- Any other relevant context
-
We will:
- Acknowledge receipt within 24-48 hours
- Investigate thoroughly
- Maintain confidentiality
- Take appropriate action
- Follow up with you (if you provided contact info)
Maintainers will follow these Community Impact Guidelines:
Community Impact: Use of inappropriate language or unprofessional behavior.
Consequence: Private written warning with clarity about the violation and why it was inappropriate. Public apology may be requested.
Community Impact: Violation through a single incident or series of actions.
Consequence: Warning with consequences for continued behavior. No interaction with involved parties for specified period. Violating these terms may lead to temporary or permanent ban.
Community Impact: Serious violation including sustained inappropriate behavior or ethical violations.
Consequence: Temporary ban from any interaction or public communication with the community for a specified period. Violating these terms may lead to permanent ban.
Community Impact: Pattern of violations, severe ethical violations, harassment, aggression, or attempts to enable harmful use.
Consequence: Permanent ban from all project interaction.
For ethical violations specifically:
- Minor (e.g., forgetting ethical warning): Correction + guidance
- Moderate (e.g., weakening safeguard): Warning + required revision
- Serious (e.g., enabling manipulation): Temporary ban + community discussion
- Severe (e.g., actively causing harm): Permanent ban + potential legal action
- Do no harm with this knowledge
- Obtain consent before influencing behavior
- Respect autonomy of individuals
- Be transparent about methods and intentions
- Report misuse if you see it
- Strengthen safeguards rather than weaken them
- Review ethical implications of contributions
- Add safeguards where needed
- Document risks honestly
- Test for misuse potential
- Improve ethical framework continuously
- Model ethical behavior in all decisions
- Enforce standards consistently and fairly
- Protect the community from harm
- Be transparent about enforcement
- Continuously improve ethical framework
- Respond to misuse quickly and decisively
- Assume good faith initially
- Clarify misunderstandings before escalating
- Focus on issues, not people
- Seek common ground
- Agree to disagree when needed
- Involve maintainers if unresolved
- Prioritize welfare over other considerations
- Cite evidence for positions
- Consider multiple perspectives
- Err on the side of caution
- Consult ethics experts if needed
- Document reasoning for decisions
Ask first! Open a Discussion or contact maintainers.
Better to ask before contributing than to violate guidelines.
That's okay! We welcome constructive discussion.
- Open a Discussion explaining your concerns
- Provide evidence and reasoning
- Listen to community feedback
- Accept maintainer decisions on project direction
If you fundamentally disagree, this may not be the right project for you.
Report it! See MISUSE_REPORTING.md (to be created).
We take misuse seriously and will:
- Investigate
- Contact violators
- Update safeguards
- Share lessons learned
Be honest!
- Acknowledge it
- Correct it
- Learn from it
- Move forward
We all make mistakes. Honesty and learning are what matter.
This Code of Conduct is a living document.
We commit to:
- Reviewing regularly (quarterly)
- Incorporating feedback from community
- Updating as needed based on experience
- Maintaining transparency about changes
- Learning from incidents to prevent recurrence
This Code of Conduct is adapted from:
- Contributor Covenant v2.1 (https://www.contributor-covenant.org/)
- Mozilla Community Participation Guidelines
- Ethical frameworks from research ethics boards
With additional ethical requirements specific to behavior engineering research.
For questions about this Code of Conduct:
- Open a Discussion
- Email maintainers: [To be added]
For reporting violations:
- Email: [To be added]
- Private Discussion message
- Subject: "Code of Conduct Violation"
By participating in this project, you acknowledge that:
- You've read this Code of Conduct
- You understand the standards and expectations
- You agree to follow these guidelines
- You understand the ethical responsibilities
- You'll report violations if you see them
- You accept that violations have consequences
We're building ethical behavior engineering together.
Thank you for being part of a responsible community. 🧠
Last Updated: 2025-12-02 Version: 1.0 Next Review: 2025-03-02