OFE Community Participation Guidelines

OpenForum Europe aisbl (OFE) is an independent think tank committed to achieving an open and competitive market for the ICT user, based on the OFE Openness Principles of user centricity, competition, flexibility, sustainability and community. Together with the community, we want to use our fora to bring openness forward through policy; as such, our fora are not the place to engage in sales activities, or to debate the virtues of individual products and services. Community is both a goal and a process, and we believe that the openness community is essential to achieving our mission and vision.

We are committed to fostering an open and welcoming community. As an organisation, we want to provide open fora for the community to exchange, coordinate and discuss openness and policy. Everyone should feel free to voice their opinions, while at the same time no one should feel there is a risk of being subjected to personal attacks. To maintain these objectives, our hosted fora are covered by the following Community Participation Guidelines.

The Contributor Covenant is a tested and trusted agreement within communities – that’s why we have adapted it for our Community Participation Guidelines below.

Our Pledge

We pledge to make participation in our community a harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of age, body size, disability, ethnicity, sex characteristics, gender identity and expression, level of experience, education, socio-economic status, nationality, personal appearance, race, religion, or sexual identity and orientation.

Our Standards

Examples of behaviour that contributes to creating a positive environment include:

  • 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

Examples of unacceptable behaviour by participants include:

  • The use of sexualised language or imagery and unwelcome sexual attention or advances
  • Trolling, making insulting/derogatory comments, and personal or political attacks
  • Public or private harassment
  • Publishing others’ private information, such as a physical or electronic address, without explicit prior permission
  • Other conduct which could reasonably be considered inappropriate in a professional setting

Our Responsibilities

OFE is responsible for clarifying the standards of acceptable behaviour and is expected to take appropriate and fair corrective action in response to any instance of unacceptable behaviour.

OFE has the right and responsibility to remove, edit, or reject comments, commits, code, wiki edits, issues, and other contributions that are not aligned to these Community Participation Guidelines, or to ban temporarily or permanently any participant for other behaviour that OFE deems inappropriate, threatening, offensive, or harmful.

Scope

These Community Participation Guidelines apply within all project spaces, and they also apply when an individual is representing the organisation or its community in public spaces. Examples of representing the organisation or its 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 OFE.

Enforcement

Instances of abusive, harassing, or otherwise unacceptable behaviour may be reported by contacting the OFE team at info@openforumeurope.org. All complaints will be reviewed and investigated and will result in a response that is deemed necessary and appropriate to the circumstances. The OFE team is obligated to maintain confidentiality with regard to the reporter of an incident. Further details of specific enforcement policies may be posted separately.

Attribution

These Community Participation Guidelines are adapted from the Contributor Covenant, version 1.4, available at https://www.contributor-covenant.org/version/1/4/code-of-conduct.html

For answers to common questions about the Contributor Covenant, see https://www.contributor-covenant.org/faq