How to Respond to Code of Conduct Reports
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License and attribution Written by Valerie Aurora, based on a short guide written by Mary Gardiner Edited by Annalee Flower Horne https://www.flowerhorne.com/ Copyright © 2019 Valerie Aurora https://valerieaurora.org/ Copyright © 2012 Mary Gardiner https://mary.gardiner.id.au/ Cover image © 2018 Mary Gardiner https://mary.gardiner.id.au/ CC BY-SA 4.0 Valerie Aurora, Mary Gardiner, Annalee Flower Horne, DjangoCon EU, Write the Docs EU 2016, PyGotham 2017 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ Published by Frame Shift Consulting LLC https://frameshiftconsulting.com ISBN: 9781386922575 Version history 2018-09-15: Version 0.9: Draft release for review 2018-11-26: Version 0.99: Pre-release version for review 2018-11-28: Version 1.0: First edition 2019-01-08: Version 1.1: Fix typos, simplify formatting for better ebook conversion, add/remove links, add email sign-up link, add more incident response guide examples, add ISBN Table of contents Introduction If you are in a hurry How to use this guide About the authors Terminology Chapter 1: Code of conduct theory Purpose of a code of conduct What a code of conduct should contain How a code of conduct works Education Norm-following Attraction and repulsion Deterrence Boundary setting The Paradox of Tolerance What a code of conduct can't do Codes of conduct govern community spaces Violations must have meaningful consequences Codes of conduct must apply to powerful people Visible enforcement is required Summary Chapter 2: Preparing to enforce a code of conduct Publicizing the code of conduct Identifying community members The code of conduct committee Choosing code of conduct committee members Communicating with each other and the public Choosing a decision method Adopting an incident response guide Record-keeping Training the committee Training report-takers Avoiding or mitigating higher-risk activities Make arrangements for legal advice Updating code of conduct materials Summary Chapter 3: Responding to a report Start the response deadline clock Check to see if everyone is safe Write down the report if necessary Make a preliminary announcement if appropriate Ask for recusals Organize a committee meeting Do additional research Meet as a committee Choose a response Take any actions necessary to implement the response Inform the target and harasser of the response Communicate the response to others Respond to criticism Summary Chapter 4: Discussion What does not belong in a code of conduct List of unacceptable behaviors Transformative justice and codes of conduct Recusing committee members When individual safety conflicts with community safety Protecting the community's reputation Safety is more important than privacy and confidentiality Responses not to use Do not ask for apologies or forgiveness Do not ask the target to decide the response Do not mediate Do not guard the harasser or the victim Do not ask the harasser to stay away from the target Holding powerful people accountable Putting legal concerns into context Responding to incomplete or late reports Investigating the incident Impact is more important than intent Distinguishing good intent from bad intent DARVO: Deny, Attack, Reverse Victim and Offender Judging competing claims of marginalization Social awkwardness and harassment Mental health and harassment Children, caregivers, and harassment Sexual behavior and communities Alcohol and drugs Choosing a proportional response If a harasser refuses to follow the code of conduct Responding to protest from the alleged harasser Communicating the response to others Responding to criticism Dealing with attacks on the committee or community Summary Chapter 5: Examples of responding to reports Wikimania 2012 sexualized presentation DjangoCon EU 2017 transparency report Denial of validity of code of conduct Harmful question during a talk Sexist comment on clothing Photographer creates awkward situation Write the Docs EU 2016 transparency report Attendee uses derogatory term Inappropriate joke in talk PyGotham 2017 transparency report Self-report of an ambiguous joke Attendee denies making off-color joke Volunteer overwhelmed by requests Attendee makes unwelcome advance Bad-faith code of conduct report Racist comments at a conference Oppressive comments in online chat Anonymized conference transparency report Attendee invites women to hotel room under pretext Inappropriate touch reported after conference ended Unwanted sexual advance Inappropriate touch Inappropriate pulling on clothing Drupal community incident Background Precipitating incident Response Analysis Conclusion Summary Learn more Acknowledgements Appendix 1: Additional resources Appendix 2: Report-taking form Introduction Enforcing a code of conduct is difficult without the right training and knowledge. Most people enforcing a code of conduct for the first time make mistakes, and sometimes those mistakes have major consequences for their community. Unfortunately, few communities have people who have experience enforcing a code of conduct, and only a few communities can afford professional code of conduct training or consultants. As code of conduct experts with practical experience in responding to code of conduct reports, we wrote this guide to enforcing codes of conduct so that every community can have access to the current best practices in handling code of conduct reports. This guide is not legal advice. If you need legal advice, please contact a qualified lawyer. If you are in a hurry If you are reading this guide after you have already received a code of conduct report and need to respond quickly, we recommend reading these parts of the guide: ● Introduction ● Chapter 1: Code of conduct theory ● Chapter 3: Responding to a report Then follow the links from within those sections to go into more depth in the areas that are relevant to your current situation. We strongly recommend scheduling time to read through this guide in its entirety at a later time. How to use this guide We recommend that everyone involved in enforcing the code of conduct read this guide from beginning to end, including this introduction. This guide is organized into the following topics: ● Chapter 1: Code of conduct theory ● Chapter 2: Preparing to enforce a code of conduct ● Chapter 3: Responding to a report ● Chapter 4: Discussion ● Chapter 5: Examples of responding to reports Each chapter is divided into sections, roughly in chronological order of when you will use the information in each section. At the end of each section, we include a list of related sections in this guide. At the end of each chapter, we include a brief summary of what you should have learned from that chapter and a list of outside resources referenced in the chapter. All of these outside resources are collected in Appendix 1 for easy reference. Chapter 3: "Responding to a report" is designed to be usable as a standalone guide to responding to reports of code of conduct violations in your community. Appendix 2 is a one-page guide to taking code of conduct reports for sharing with people in your community who are likely to take reports. Everyone in community leadership should read at least this introduction and Chapter 1: "Code of conduct theory" so that community leadership and the code of conduct committee have a common set of terminology and principles to use when working together. This guide assumes your community has already adopted a code of conduct and has a governance structure that allows it to be enforced. If you want help with writing and adopting a code of conduct, see Appendix 1 for additional resources. If your community can afford it, we highly recommend formal code of conduct training and engaging expert code of conduct consultants, which you can find at: https://frameshiftconsulting.com/code-of-conduct-training/ About the authors This guide is written by Valerie Aurora, based on a short guide written by Mary Gardiner, with editing and other contributions from Annalee Flower Horne. It includes quotes by permission from the conference transparency reports written by DjangoCon EU 2017, Write the Docs EU 2016, and PyGotham 2017. In 2010, Aurora and Gardiner were the lead authors of the Ada Initiative anti-harassment policy, which became the basis of thousands of codes of conduct in use today. For more than four years, they directly handled or gave advice on handling code of conduct reports at conferences or in online forums. Aurora has consulted for several organizations on codes of conduct as part of her work at Frame Shift Consulting, and taught and wrote a code of conduct training based on more than 7 years of professional experience writing and implementing codes of conduct. Flower Horne wrote and contributed to several codes of conduct for both volunteer and professional communities, and offers code of conduct consulting in multiple areas, including writing and adopting codes of conduct and responding to code of conduct reports. This guide represents the collected knowledge and experience of Aurora, Gardiner, and Flower Horne and the many people who advised us along the way. Any comments using "I" or "me" are from Aurora personally; those using "we" or "us" refer to Aurora, Gardiner, and Flower Horne. All errors and mistakes are the responsibility of the lead author, Valerie Aurora. If you would like to learn about new books, classes, and resources from Frame Shift Consulting, please sign up for our low-traffic mailing list here: https://frameshiftconsulting.com/join-the-mailing-list/ You can also