New: CodeMash Code of Conduct

[Jim Holmes]

Folks,

I'd like to announce our new CodeMash Code of Conduct. This is an iteration from our previous Anti-Harassment Policy and is meant to clarify how every person at CodeMash should treat each other. It also outlines our resolution/escalation steps.

In order to make sure everyone's aware of it, every speaker, attendee, and staff member will get a copy of this during the registration process.

As always, thanks for making CodeMash the most awesome conference around!

Regards,

Jim Holmes

President, CodeMash Board of Directors

CodeMash Code of Conduct

CodeMash is dedicated to providing an outstanding conference experience for all our attendees, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, religion, financial status, hair color (or hair amount), platform preference, or text editor of choice.

We do not tolerate harassment of conference participants in any form, and we would like to take this opportunity to remind all attendees of the basic premise CodeMash was founded on: passionate, but respectful dialog between our attendees. Please treat your fellow attendees with respect, regardless of the context you’re interacting with each other.

Harassment is not appropriate for any conference venue. Conference participants violating these rules may be sanctioned or expelled from the conference, without a refund, at the discretion of the conference organizers.

Attendees must remember that CodeMash staff members are not trained conflict resolution specialists, nor are they security or law enforcement. CodeMash staff will immediately escalate issues around safety, violence, or similar situations to Kalahari staff or law enforcement.

For the protection of both attendees and our organization, CodeMash will never put its staff members in the position of trying to assess whether or not an incident merits escalation. If there is any doubt, we will escalate incidents to the appropriate agency immediately.

Incident Resolution

• Attendees should follow Bill and Ted's advice: "Be excellent to each other." Treat other attendees with respect, regardless of whether you are in a session room or at one of the Kalahari's facilities.
  
• Simple disagreements should be resolved between the individuals concerned.
  
• Harassment or more serious issues should be escalated to a CodeMash Staff member. That staff member will immediately contact a CodeMash Board member who has the responsibility to assist in resolution.
  
• Attendees suffering outright assault or extreme harassment should contact the Kalahari staff immediately, or a CodeMash staff member if they're nearby. CodeMash staff will immediately escalate to the Kalahari staff or law enforcement as appropriate.
  

[Jim Holmes]

I've had someone raise a concern via e-mail that I think absolutely merits some discussion here: The mailer felt the Code of Conduct left them in the position of having to resolve issues themselves, or see things escalated to the cops if CodeMash staff didn't feel like they were able to resolve the issue.

We the Board have created this Code of Conduct to meet how we feel CodeMash attendees should interact with people. It pushes some responsibility back to individuals; something that is DESPERATELY lacking in some other approaches, IMO. Can you imagine how differently things would have played out at PyCon had Adara Richards simply turned around and said "Please knock it off, OK?"

That said, if the individuals aren't able to get it sorted, then we'll help out.

We. Will. Help. Out.

Period.

Folks also need to be clear that I will not ever put my staff in the position of having to try and figure out when to get professionals involved. I'll save everyone the "How I Treat My Teams" speech. Just know that I'll never, EVER do that. It's non-negotiable. Sorry.

I hope everyone takes the Code of Conduct for what it's intended: to remind people that Bill & Ted's advice is the best way to roll at CodeMash, or any other conference.

Jim

[Duane Collicott]

If a person's behavior gets to the point where somebody else has to even consider whether or not law enforcement or on-site security should be called, it's probably already past the point of whether or not he should remain at the conference. In my mind, this includes loud, alcohol-fueled hallway parties at 2am. But then, I'm an old fuddy-duddy.

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[Greg Malcolm]

Great wording. I love the use of the Bill and Ted clause!

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[Onorio Catenacci]

Kudos Jim for saying in plain language what everyone should already be doing anyway.  Sadly there will always be some jerks in large crowds.

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Onorio