Swift Summit Code of Conduct

This code of conduct outlines our expectations for staff and attendees at Swift Summit, as well as steps to reporting unacceptable behavior. We are committed to providing a welcoming and inspiring community for all and expect our code of conduct to be honored. Anyone who violates this code of conduct may be removed from the conference, or given an event 'Desist, Apologize, Refrain, and Avoid' option (see 'consequences' section below), at the organizer's discretion.

Our conference community strives to:

Be friendly and patient.
Be welcoming: We strive to be a community that welcomes and supports people of all backgrounds and identities. This includes, but is not limited to members of any race, ethnicity, culture, national origin, colour, immigration status, social and economic class, educational level, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, age, size, family status, political belief, religion, and mental and physical ability.
Be considerate: Your work will be used by other people, and you in turn will depend on the work of others. Any decision you take will affect users and colleagues, and you should take those consequences into account when making decisions. Remember that we’re a world-wide community, so you might not be communicating in someone else’s primary language.
Be respectful: Not all of us will agree all the time, but disagreement is no excuse for poor behavior 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.
Be careful in the words that we choose: we are a community of professionals, and we conduct ourselves professionally. Be kind to others. Do not insult or put down other participants. Harassment and other exclusionary behavior aren’t acceptable.
Try to understand why we disagree: Disagreements, both social and technical, happen all the time. It is important that we resolve disagreements and differing views constructively. Remember that we’re different. The strength of our community comes from its diversity, 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. Instead, focus on helping to resolve issues and learning from mistakes.

Definitions

Harassment includes, but is not limited to:

Offensive comments related to gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, mental illness, neuro(a)typicality, physical appearance, body size, race, age, regional discrimination, political or religious affiliation
Unwelcome comments regarding a person’s lifestyle choices and practices, including those related to food, health, parenting, drugs, and employment
Deliberate misgendering. This includes deadnaming or persistently using a pronoun that does not correctly reflect a person’s gender identity. You must address people by the name they give you when not addressing them by their username or handle
Physical contact and simulated physical contact (eg, textual descriptions like “hug” or “backrub”) without consent or after a request to stop
Threats of violence, both physical and psychological
Incitement of violence towards any individual, including encouraging a person to commit suicide or to engage in self-harm
Deliberate intimidation
Stalking or following
Harassing photography or recording, including logging online activity for harassment purposes
Sustained disruption of discussion
Unwelcome sexual attention, including gratuitous or off-topic sexual images or behaviour
Pattern of inappropriate social contact, such as requesting/assuming inappropriate levels of intimacy with others
Continued one-on-one communication after requests to cease
Deliberate “outing” of any aspect of a person’s identity without their consent except as necessary to protect others from intentional abuse
Publication of non-harassing private communication

Our open source community prioritizes marginalized people’s safety over privileged people’s comfort. We will not act on complaints regarding:

‘Reverse’ -isms, including ‘reverse racism,’ ‘reverse sexism,’ and ‘cisphobia’
Reasonable communication of boundaries, such as “leave me alone,” “go away,” or “I’m not discussing this with you”
Refusal to explain or debate social justice concepts.
Communicating in a ‘tone’ you don’t find congenial.

Diversity Statement

We encourage everyone to participate and are committed to building a community for all. Although we will fail at times, we seek to treat everyone both as fairly and equally as possible. Whenever a participant has made a mistake, we expect them to take responsibility for it. If someone has been harmed or offended, it is our responsibility to listen carefully and respectfully, and do our best to right the wrong.

Although this list cannot be exhaustive, we explicitly honor diversity in age, gender, gender identity or expression, culture, ethnicity, language, national origin, political beliefs, profession, race, religion, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and technical ability. We will not tolerate discrimination based on any of the protected characteristics above, including participants with disabilities.

Reporting Issues

If you experience or witness unacceptable behavior—or have any other concerns—please report it by contacting us via Beren@SwiftSummit.com , or by approaching a member of staff at the event and submitting a written report. All reports will be handled with discretion. In your report please include:

Your contact information.
Names (real, nicknames, or pseudonyms) of any individuals involved. If there are additional witnesses, please include them as well. Your account of what occurred, and if you believe the incident is ongoing. If there is a publicly available record (e.g. a mailing list archive or a public IRC logger), please include a link.
Any additional information that may be helpful.

After filing a report, a representative will contact you personally, review the incident, follow up with any additional questions, and make a decision as to how to respond. If the person who is harassing you is part of the response team, they will recuse themselves from handling your incident. If the complaint originates from a member of the response team, it will be handled by a different member of the response team. We will respect confidentiality requests for the purpose of protecting victims of abuse.

Consequences for Breaching this code

Adherance to this Code of Conduct is a condition of entry, and tickets to the conference may be canceled without refund if attendees are in breach of the Code of Conduct, at the organizer's discretion. The organizers may also, at their discretion, choose to offer an alternative option to immediate removal from the event: 'Desist, Apologize, Refrain, and Avoid', (DARA). The DARA alternative exists because we acknowledge that sometimes a breach of the code can happen without malicious intent, and in that case the organizers will explain what happened and why it was a breach of the code, and then ask the one at fault to: Desist from the action which caused the breach, Apologize to the person or people affected by the breach, Refrain from breaching the code again, and Avoid contentious discussion about the breach itself (i.e, once an apology has been made in good faith, get on with the conference in a professional manner without dwelling on the issue, without trying to justify bad behaviour, and without keeping the issue 'alive' once it has been resolved according to this Code of Conduct). Those offered the DARA alternative who fail to adhere to all four points will be ejected from the event without refund.

Expected response from those affected by a breach of the Code of Conduct

We respectfully ask that those who have been affected by a breach of the code of conduct to accept either the DARA alternative (see above point, 'consequences for Breaching this Code') including an apology to them made in good faith by the breacher, or removal of the breacher from the event, as a final 'end' to to matter, without seeking to publicly embarrass or making public comment about the individual who breached the code, which would itself be harassment and a breach of the code. Two wrongs do not make a right, and if a breach has occured, it does NOT give the greenlight to 'Harrass back'.

Attribution & Acknowledgements

We all stand on the shoulders of giants across many open source communities. We’d like to thank the communities and projects that established code of conducts and diversity statements as our inspiration: