How to submit a report
If you believe someone is violating the code of conduct, we ask you to report a complaint to the Code of Conduct Committee at this private mail address: conduct@documentfoundation.org. All reports will be kept confidential. If you are unsure whether the incident is a violation, or whether the space where it happened is covered by the Code of Conduct, we encourage you to still report it. We are fine with receiving report where we decide to take no action for the sake of creating a safer space. And knowing about incidents that are not violations, or happen outside our spaces, can also help us to improve the Code of Conduct or the processes surrounding it.
If you believe anyone is in physical danger, please notify appropriate law enforcement first.
Note that some lists are not covered by our Code of Conduct, these are:
where the Code of Conduct is available here https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/CodeOfConduct/
Also the Certification Committee has its own Code of Conduct here https://www.documentfoundation.org/assets/Certification/tdf-certificationcodeofconduct.pdf
Report Data
In your report, be it via email or phone or direct chat, please include:
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Your contact info (so we can get in touch with you if we need to follow up)
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Names (real, nicknames or pseudonyms) of any individuals involved. If there were other witnesses besides you, please try to include their names as well.
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When and where the incident occurred. Please be as specific as possible.
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Your account of what occurred. If there is a publicly available record (e.g. a mailing list archive or a public IRC logger) please include a link.
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Any extra context you believe existed for the incident
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If you believe the incident is ongoing.
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Any other information you believe we should have.
Confidentiality
All reports will be kept confidential. When we discuss incidents with people who are reported, we will anonymize details as much as we can to protect reporter privacy.
However, some incidents happen in one-on-one interactions, and even if the details are anonymized, the reported person may be able to guess who made the report. If you have concerns about retaliation or your personal safety, please note those in your report. We still encourage you to report, so that we can support you while keeping our conference attendees safe. We may be able to find means to work on the case anyway. In some cases, we can compile several anonymized reports into a pattern of behavior, and take action on that pattern.
In some cases we may determine that a public statement will need to be made. If that’s the case, the identities of all victims and reporters will remain confidential unless those individuals instruct us otherwise.
What happens after you file a report?
You will receive an email from the Code of Conduct Committee acknowledging the receipt immediately. We promise to acknowledge receipt within 24 hours (and will aim for much quicker than that).
The committee will immediately meet to review the incident and determine:
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What happened
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Whether this event constitutes a code of conduct violation
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Who the reported person was
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Whether this is an ongoing situation, or if there is a threat to anyone’s physical safety
If this is determined to be an ongoing incident or a threat to physical safety, the committee’ s immediate priority will be to protect everyone involved. This means we may delay an “official” response until we believe that the situation has ended and that everyone is physically safe.
Once the committee has a complete account of the events they will make a decision as to how to response. Responses may include:
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Nothing (if we determine no violation occurred).
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A private reprimand from the committee to the individual(s) involved.
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A public reprimand.
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An imposed vacation (i.e. asking someone to “take a week off” from a mailing list or Discourse or IRC or Telegram or Matrix).
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A permanent or temporary ban from some or all The Document Foundation and its projects spaces (mailing listes, IRC, etc.)
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A request for a public or private apology.
We’ll respond within one week to the person who filed the report with either a resolution or an explanation of why the situation is not yet resolved.
Once we’ve determined our final action, we’ll contact the original reporter to let them know what action (if any) we’ll be taking. We’ll take into account feedback from the reporter and the reported person on the appropriateness of our response, but we don’t guarantee we’ll act on it.
Finally, the Committee will make a report on the situation.
What if your report concerns a possible violation by a committee member?
If your report concerns a current member of the Code of Conduct Committee, you may not feel comfortable sending your report to the committee, as all members will see the report.
In that case you can make a report directly to any of the Committee member. Their e-mail addresses are listed on the Code of Conduct Committee page. The usual enforcement process will be followed by the concerned members, but will exclude the member(s) that the report concerns form any discussion or decision making.
If your report concerns all current members of the Committee, please send your report directly to The Document Foundation Board of Directors at directors@documentfoundation.org
Reconsideration
Any of the parties directly involved or affected can request reconsideration of the Committee’s decision. To make such a request, contact The Document Foundation Board of Directors at directors@documentfoundation.org with your request and motivation and the Board of Directors will review the case.