Code of Conduct proposal

[louis94]

Dear Longturn players,

Following an in-game incident, we are looking into defining better the expected behavior in and around the LT games. We want everyone to feel safe in LT and this is what is reflected in the Code of conduct that we propose to adopt, Contributor Covenant 2.0, a copy of which is included in the first reply to this thread (you will find translations here). The intent of adopting a Code of Conduct is first and foremost to encourage a respectful environment. Only as a last resort will it be used as a guideline to act upon misbehavior.

Please post comments, objections or suggestions here or on Discord as usual.

Happy playing,
The admins

[louis94]

TL;DR We are playing a game - and it should be fun for all sides. Stay respectful and have a good time and make some friends.

[h]Contributor Covenant Code of Conduct[/h]

Our Pledge

We as members, contributors, and leaders pledge to make participation in our community a harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of age, body size, visible or invisible disability, ethnicity, sex characteristics, gender identity and expression, level of experience, education, socio-economic status, nationality, personal appearance, race, caste, color, religion, or sexual identity and orientation.

We pledge to act and interact in ways that contribute to an open, welcoming, diverse, inclusive, and healthy community.

Our Standards

Examples of behavior that contributes to a positive environment for our community include:

• Demonstrating empathy and kindness toward other people
• Being respectful of differing opinions, viewpoints, and experiences
• Giving and gracefully accepting constructive feedback
• Accepting responsibility and apologizing to those affected by our mistakes, and learning from the experience
• Focusing on what is best not just for us as individuals, but for the overall community

Examples of unacceptable behavior include:

• The use of sexualized language or imagery, and sexual attention or advances of any kind
• Trolling, insulting or derogatory comments, and personal or political attacks
• Public or private harassment
• Publishing others' private information, such as a physical or email address, without their explicit permission
• Other conduct which could reasonably be considered inappropriate in a professional setting

Enforcement Responsibilities

Community leaders are responsible for clarifying and enforcing our standards of acceptable behavior and will take appropriate and fair corrective action in response to any behavior that they deem inappropriate, threatening, offensive, or harmful.

Community leaders have the right and responsibility to remove, edit, or reject comments, commits, code, wiki edits, issues, and other contributions that are not aligned to this Code of Conduct, and will communicate reasons for moderation decisions when appropriate.

Scope

This Code of Conduct applies within all community spaces, and also applies when an individual is officially representing the community in public spaces. Examples of representing our community include using an official e-mail address, posting via an official social media account, or acting as an appointed representative at an online or offline event.

Enforcement

Instances of abusive, harassing, or otherwise unacceptable behavior may be reported to the community leaders responsible for enforcement at longturn.net AT gmail.com or privately on Discord. All complaints will be reviewed and investigated promptly and fairly.

All community leaders are obligated to respect the privacy and security of the reporter of any incident.

Enforcement Guidelines

Community leaders will follow these Community Impact Guidelines in determining the consequences for any action they deem in violation of this Code of Conduct:

1. Correction

Community Impact: Use of inappropriate language or other behavior deemed unprofessional or unwelcome in the community.

Consequence: A private, written warning from community leaders, providing clarity around the nature of the violation and an explanation of why the behavior was inappropriate. A public apology may be requested.

2. Warning

Community Impact: A violation through a single incident or series of actions.

Consequence: A warning with consequences for continued behavior. No interaction with the people involved, including unsolicited interaction with those enforcing the Code of Conduct, for a specified period of time. This includes avoiding interactions in community spaces as well as external channels like social media. Violating these terms may lead to a temporary or permanent ban.

3. Temporary Ban

Community Impact: A serious violation of community standards, including sustained inappropriate behavior.

Consequence: A temporary ban from any sort of interaction or public communication with the community for a specified period of time. No public or private interaction with the people involved, including unsolicited interaction with those enforcing the Code of Conduct, is allowed during this period. Violating these terms may lead to a permanent ban.

4. Permanent Ban

Community Impact: Demonstrating a pattern of violation of community standards, including sustained inappropriate behavior, harassment of an individual, or aggression toward or disparagement of classes of individuals.

Consequence: A permanent ban from any sort of public interaction within the community.

Attribution

This Code of Conduct is adapted from the Contributor Covenant homepage, version 2.0, available at https://www.contributor-covenant.org/ve ... nduct.html.

Community Impact Guidelines were inspired by Mozilla's code of conduct enforcement ladder.

For answers to common questions about this code of conduct, see the FAQ at https://www.contributor-covenant.org/faq. Translations are available at https://www.contributor-covenant.org/translations.

Lonturn-specific comment

Games are an important part of the community and this Code of Conduct also applies there. Resolutions may involve altering the game state (e.g. by changing city names or removing a player), though game disruption will be kept as minimal as possible.

[Blauwal]

[A slightly different variant of the following text was posted already in the #general channel of the Longturn Discord server, but since it is a longer, more substantial message, I am reposting it here.]

Let me share with you my 2 ¢ (well, actually a bit more than just 2 ¢ ):

I have a general reservation against codes of conduct. The typical problem with them is that they are presented as neutral tools for providing a comfortable environment, but they are so specific that they rule out certain forms of controversial discussion and other reasonable behavior and in practice have a bias towards favoring a certain kind of worldview (modern progressive or “woke”).

The proposed code of conduct exemplifies this problem. Let me just point out one of several of its issues: It asks to be “respectful of differing opinions, viewpoints, and experiences”. This would imply that I’m required to respect the communist ideas that a certain user has been spreading recently. However, I don’t respect communism but consider it a very bad thing. I can tolerate that this user might have these ideas and even spreads them, as long as this happens on #chitchat, but that’s less than showing respect.

Already without a code of conduct, people face the problem that reasonable behavior might be considered “toxic”. There is a current example of this kind of problem: Yesterday, I made a sarcastik joke on a LeagueA1-related server about the inappropriate behavior of another user. I wrote that if this user, who had renamed a former capital he had conquered into TriGayShitOldCapital, would inspire me too much, I might name the capital in my next Longturn game BlauStraightPeeNewCapital. I was thinking quite a bit whether I should really make this joke, as people who have grown up in this oversensitizing environment of today might misunderstand it as mocking people based on their sexual orientation or whatever. After I had posted it, I followed the reactions and was quite relieved that I earned several -emojis to it. This is the sort of fear we already have now as the result of general developments in our societies. Typical codes of conducts induce more fear.

This example illustrates the irony that codes of conduct like the one that is proposed for Longturn are presented as tools for making people feel safe and welcome, when in fact they make many people feel less safe and less welcome, as they are intimidating to them.

I believe that the behavior behind the incident that sparked this thread was inappropriate, but I also believe that introducing a typical code of conduct, like the one that is proposed, is an enormous overkill for solving such a problem. After all, the affected user has complained and the admins have reacted to the complaint in a very appropriate manner without a code of conduct being in place.

[louis94]

Actually, the example you have posted about feeling insecure posting a mere situational joke is part of the problem that this intended to solve. I trust that if someone would have felt offended, you would have clarified the intent, apologized if needed, and both of you would have moved on. Now imagine posting the same joke in a moderated environment. There, you have no way to know for sure where the moderators draw the line (actually, the multiple lines in different shades of red). Writing rules down, even incomplete ones, helps figuring this out.

So the purpose of this proposal is more to explain where we moderators draw the lines and what happens when you cross them. Calling this a CoC has probably been a mistake. We should rather turn it into an unilateral statement from the moderators, but then community feedback is of course different.

[Blauwal]

That’s a very good point. So I understand that what was called a code of conduct is merely a statement of the rationale behind the administrators’ moderation (and ultimately banning) decisions.

My concern is still that this policy document is too restrictive, as the guidelines laid out there prevent certain reasonable forms of discussion. Say a person makes communist remarks, another person criticizes the former for that, and than the former claims to be offended by this disrespect towards his opinion and complains with the admins. According to this policy document, the admins would rule in favor of the communist, thus hindering a productive discussion about communism.

[Blauwal]

Let me share some thoughts regarding how a better code of conduct could possibly look like. I developed these thoughts and wrote them down several weeks ago because of an event unrelated to the recent incident and to Longturn in general. I think these thoughts are relevant to this discussion, as they are of a general nature.

Rationale behind the code of conduct draft

Codes of conduct usually grant members of certain groups protection from being emotionally hurt and the like. In doing so, they define terms such as “harassment” far beyond their actual meanings, resulting in at least partial protection from criticism of attitudes, opinions, and lifestyles typical for such groups. Members of other groups are thus not only treated unequally, but in some cases directly disadvantaged, for example by “criminalizing” critical remarks about attitudes, opinions, and lifestyles of other groups, and also by suppressing criticism of the typical orientation of codes of conducts themselves. As a result, some people just do not feel welcome anymore, because they are intimidated and excluded, precisely because of codes of conduct.

From these considerations, the core characteristics of this code of conduct draft are derived:

• It demands respect for every member of the community.
• It makes it clear that respect for people does not mean refraining from criticism.
• It does not mention any specific groups, but treats all groups equally.
• It does not suppress openness and controversy, but values them for their insight-producing effect. As a result, it fosters honesty instead of hypocrisy.

However, the above considerations do not imply that rampant off-topic discussions are okay. Discussions on topics that have nothing to do with Freeciv Longturn should be moved to special places of the community, like the #chitchat Discord channel, or other platforms.

Contents of the code of conduct draft

• We believe in the dignity of every human being. Furthermore, we recognize that people make mistakes. Therefore, we advocate a combination of respect for others and openness to even controversial discussions.
• We want people to feel welcome and valued.
• People are expected to be able to take criticism. One’s own possible oversensitivity must not lead to attacking others and/or accusing them of bad attitudes or intentions.
• Conflicts should always be resolved at the level they occurred: personal conflicts should be resolved personally, and conflicts within a group should be resolved within that group. Only if that does not work should the incident be reported. We do not want a climate of fear of denunciation, but one of freedom and, yes, respect, even for the alleged or actual wrongdoers.