Code of Conduct

The Open Lighting Project is a collection of individuals who work together to build and support free software for the entertainment lighting industry. The project community includes of members from around the globe with a diverse set of skills, personalities, and experiences.

The Project aims to provide a fun, welcoming, and professional environment for people – regardless of age, race, gender identity or expression, background, disability, appearance, sexuality, walk of life, or religion – to contribute and learn about lighting control systems and the free software available to operate them.

We ask that all contributors and users who engage with the Open Lighting Project team and its services, such as mailing lists, wikis, web sites, IRC channels or public meetings, adopt the principles outlined in this document. We value your participation and appreciate your help in realising this goal.

The community acts according to the standards in this document and will defend these standards for the benefit of the community. Leaders of the project will exercise the right to suspend access to any person who persistently breaks our shared Code of Conduct.

We ask that all participants of the Open Lighting Project are:

Respectful

Members of the community are respectful of others, their positions, their skills, their commitments, and their volunteer efforts which the community is built on. Personal attacks, racism, sexism or any forms of discrimination, intimidation and harassment will not be tolerated.

Disagreement is inevitable, but respect for the views of others will go a long way to winning respect for your own view. If you disagree, be courteous when raising your issues.

Considerate

Your actions and work will affect and be used by other people and you in turn will depend on the work and actions of others. Be thoughtful when addressing the efforts of others, keeping in mind that often times the labor was completed simply for the good of the community.

As a contributor, ensure that you give full credit for the work of others and consider how your changes will affect others. It is also expected that you follow the development guidelines.

As a user, remember that our contributors work hard on and take great pride in the Open Lighting Project. If you are frustrated your problems are more likely to be resolved if you can give accurate and well-mannered information to all concerned.  Poorly thought out comments can cause pain and the demotivation of other community members, but considerate discussion of problems can bring positive results.

Collaborative

Collaboration is central to the Open Lighting Project and to the larger free software community. It helps limit duplication of effort while improving the quality of the software produced.

In order to avoid misunderstandings, try to be clear and concise when requesting help or giving it. Remember it is easy to misunderstand emails, especially when they are not written in your native language. If you don’t understand, ask for clarification and remember the first rule — assume that people mean well.

Work should be done transparently and should involve as many interested parties as early as possible. If we decide on an approach that affects other participants, we will let them know early, document our work, and inform others regularly of our progress.

Pragmatic

Finally, we value tangible results over having the last word in discussions. Don’t let arguments about minor issues get in the way of achieving more important results. We are open to suggestions and welcome solutions regardless of their origin. When in doubt, support a solution which helps to get things done over one which has theoretical merits, but isn’t being worked on. Let the decisions be made by those who do the work.

This document is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution – Share Alike 3.0 License.