2025 Code of Conduct

Effective January 2025, NumFOCUS will implement a new Community Code of Conduct to further support inclusivity and respect within our scientific community. These revisions reinforce our commitment to creating a safe, equitable, and welcoming environment for all participants, regardless of background or identity.

These changes emphasize respect for all forms of identity and outline clearer definitions of unacceptable behavior. Additionally, a comprehensive structure has been established for handling violations, with event-specific Code of Conduct Response Teams and a centralized Working Group to provide strategic oversight.

These updates will help create a respectful and positive experience for everyone at NumFOCUS events. More information is available with the links below.

The 2025 Code of Conduct

NumFOCUS welcomes and encourages participation in our community by people of all backgrounds and identities. We believe in the inherent worth and dignity of each person, and our goal is to create a more inclusive and equitable scientific community. 

We are committed to promoting and sustaining a culture that values mutual respect, acceptance, and empowerment. We work together as a community to help each other live out these values.

 

Thank you for helping make this a welcoming, friendly community for everyone.

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Our Community

Members of the NumFOCUS community value kindness, inclusivity, transparency, curiosity, and collaboration. Behaviors that reinforce these values contribute to a positive environment including:

  • Being open to collaboration
  • Focusing on what is best for the community
  • Acknowledging time and effort
  • Being respectful of differing viewpoints and experiences
  • Showing empathy towards other community members 
  • Being considerate
  • Being respectful 
  • Being courteous when disagreeing or raising issues
  • Using welcoming and inclusive language

Every member of our community has the right to have their identity respected. The NumFOCUS community is dedicated to providing a positive experience for everyone, regardless of age, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, ethnicity, nationality, race, religion (or lack thereof), education, or socio-economic status.

Inappropriate Behavior

Examples of unacceptable behavior by participants include:

  • Harassment of participants in any form
  • Deliberate intimidation, stalking, or following
  • Logging or taking screenshots of online activity for harassment purposes
  • Publishing others’ private information, such as a physical or electronic address, without explicit permission
  • Violent threats or language directed against another person
  • Incitement of violence or harassment towards any individual, including encouraging a person to commit suicide or to engage in self-harm
  • Creating additional online accounts to harass another person or circumvent a ban
  • The use of sexualized language or imagery
  • Posting sexually explicit or violent material
  • Sexist, racist, or otherwise discriminatory jokes and language
  • Insults, put-downs, or jokes that are based upon stereotypes, that are exclusionary, or that hold others up for ridicule
  • Excessive use of profanity or swearing
  • Unwelcome sexual attention or advances
  • Unwelcome physical contact, including simulated physical contact (e.g., textual descriptions like “hug” or “backrub”) without consent or after a request to stop
  • Patterns of inappropriate social contact, such as requesting/assuming inappropriate levels of intimacy with others
  • Written or verbal comments that exclude people based on membership in a specific group, including level of experience, gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, neurotype, personal appearance, body size, race, ethnicity, age, religion, or nationality
  • Trolling or insulting and derogatory comments
  • Sharing confidential content without consent unless needed in discussions as part of the CoC process.
  • Sustained disruption of community discussions or events
  • Continuing to initiate interaction (such as photography, recording, messaging, or conversation) with someone after being asked to stop
  • Other conduct that is inappropriate for a professional audience, including people of many different backgrounds
  • Advocating for or encouraging any of the above behaviors

Community members asked to stop any inappropriate behavior are expected to comply immediately.

Weapons Policy

No weapons are allowed at NumFOCUS events. The term “weapon” encompasses any object or substance designed to inflict a wound, incapacitate, or cause injury, and includes, but is not limited to, the following: firearms, explosives (including fireworks), large knives such as those used for hunting or display, other dangerous weapons, and replicas of dangerous weapons. Anyone seen in possession of one of these items will be asked to leave immediately and will only be allowed to return without the weapon.

Consequences

If a participant engages in behavior that violates this code of conduct, the Code of Conduct Working Group or a Code of Conduct Event Response Team may recommend or take any action they deem appropriate, including warning the offender or expulsion from the community and community events with no refund of event tickets. Lists of examples of consequences for inappropriate behavior are available in the CoC Event Response Team Manual and NumFOCUS Code of Conduct Working Group Response Procedures.

Scope

NumFOCUS Events

This Code of Conduct applies to all individuals participating in, attending, or interacting with in-person or online events hosted by NumFOCUS and events hosted by NumFOCUS projects 

choosing to use this Code of Conduct. The Code of Conduct Event Response Team and Working Group will address reports only for those projects choosing to use the NumFOCUS Code of Conduct. 

The Code of Conduct applies to all event spaces, including off-site social activities.

The Code of Conduct applies to interactions with official event accounts on social media spaces and communication platforms, including:

  • comments made on official conference apps
  • comments made on event video hosting services
  • comments made on the official event hashtag or panel hashtags

Event organizers will enforce this code throughout the event. Each event is required to provide a Code of Conduct Event Response Team that receives, evaluates, and acts on incident reports. It is recommended that all Response Team members review the Code of Conduct resources found here prior to the event. Each event is required to provide contact information for the Response Team to attendees and the NumFOCUS Code of Conduct Working Group. The event Code of Conduct Event Response Team may (but is not required to) ask for advice from the NumFOCUS Code of Conduct Working Group, which can be reached by emailing .

Event participants can report incidents to a Code of Conduct Event Response Team member or the NumFOCUS Code of Conduct Working Group (Report Form).

The CoC Event Response Team Manual provides information on forming a Code of Conduct Event Response Team.

NumFOCUS Online Spaces (excluding online Events)

This Code of Conduct applies to the following online spaces and all community members participating in these spaces:

  • All mailing lists hosted by NumFOCUS or NumFOCUS projects
  • NumFOCUS or project-hosted discussion platforms
  • NumFOCUS or project-hosted phone or video conferencing
  • Code repositories, issue trackers, and pull requests made against any NumFOCUS or project-controlled GitHub organization
  • Any other online space administered by the NumFOCUS or NumFOCUS projects

Each online space listed above is encouraged to provide the following information to community members:

The NumFOCUS Code of Conduct Working Group will receive and evaluate incident reports from the online communities listed above. 

Procedure for Handling Incidents

The procedure for a particular case differs depending on whether the report is submitted to the NumFOCUS Code of Conduct Working Group or one of the Code of Conduct Event Response Teams.

Code of Conduct Events Response Teams are created to serve particular events. They are the first contact for potential time-sensitive incidents and/or those occurring during an in-person or online event.

The NumFOCUS Code of Conduct Working Group was created to address potential time-sensitive online incidents or advise NumFOCUS projects and events groups.

The detailed procedures can be found below.

How to report?

[Online Spaces] Procedure For Reporting Code of Conduct Incidents

[Events] Events – Procedure For Reporting Code of Conduct Incidents 

How will a report be handled? 

CoC Event Response Team Manual

NumFOCUS Code of Conduct Working Group Response Procedures

Definitions

NumFOCUS Code of Conduct Working Group (NF CoC WG) – A working group established by NumFOCUS to receive, explore, debate, decide, and respond to potential Code of Conduct violation reports submitted to it. 

  • By the nature of this committee, the group will work primarily on asynchronous cases that don’t require quick, real-time interventions. 
  • The group will also have an advisory role toward other Code of Conduct Committees in the NumFOCUS ecosystem, as well as a supportive role for NF projects and events that request the group’s support, including decision-making and responding to potential CoC violation reports. 
  • In all cases, the group will be using NF CoC.

Code of Conduct Event Response Team (CoC ERT) – The group of individuals at a particular event or meetup responsible for responding to Code of Conduct violation reports. 

  • The group should be established and announced before an event. 
  • By its nature, a group is responsible for receiving, debating, deciding on, and responding to potential Code of Conduct violations during an event.
  • The group can request advice or support from the NF CoC WG.

NumFOCUS projects (NF projects) – NumFOCUS sponsored or affiliated projects.

CoC violation – any behavior forbidden by the Code of Conduct.

Report—Any form of informing the NumFOCUS Code of Conduct Working Group or Code of Conduct Event Response Teams of potential violations of the Code of Conduct and documenting this action. Reports are usually submitted via email, form, or verbally.

Report Form –  https://numfocus.typeform.com/to/ynjGdT 

Reporter – Person reporting a potential Code of Conduct violation.

Reported person – A person whose action has been reported as a potential violation of the Code of Conduct.

Incident responder  – Any person or group receiving a Code of Conduct report.

Incident – A behavior, action, situation, or factual state reported as a potential violation of the Code of Conduct. 

License

This Code of Conduct is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Attributions

This Code of Conduct was forked from the Python Software Foundation Community Code of Conduct, available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

The language was incorporated from the following:

Events – Procedure For Reporting Code of Conduct Incidents

This section is created to guide you through the process of submission of potential violations of the NF Code of Conduct that have happened during or in connection with NumFOCUS Events, described in the section NumFOCUS Events. 

If you believe someone is in immediate physical danger, including from themselves, please contact local emergency services and local police before making a report. 

If you believe someone has violated the NumFOCUS Code of Conduct, we encourage you to report it. If you are unsure whether the incident is a violation or whether the Code of Conduct covers the space where it happened, we encourage you to report it. We are fine with receiving reports where we decide that the CoC has not been violated and no action is needed.

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Event Reporting Procedure

Each NumFOCUS event should have a  Code of Conduct Event Response Team (CoC RT). The event organizers should provide information about the members of a CoC RT and the best way to approach them before the event. If you are unsure who or how to contact the CoC RT for a particular event, please contact the organizers. 

If there is a potential conflict of interest or for any other reasons you’d rather not submit your report to the CoC ERT or the event organizers, you can submit it to the NumFOCUS Code of Conduct Working Group (NF WG) using the Report Form. You can access the form using the following link or Report button, which will be directly sent to the NumFOCUS Code of Conduct Working Group: https://numfocus.typeform.com/to/ynjGdT?typeform-source=numfocus.org 

The Code of Conduct Working Group members who monitor this alias are listed here. ADD LINK

Report Data

When you make a report, the form asks for the information below. Although all details are not required, please include as much as possible or feel comfortable providing. 

  • Your contact information
    • This will only be used by the Working Group to contact you with any follow-up questions and inform you about decisions and actions made by the Working Group in conjunction with your report. Your information will not be shared.
  • If you decide not to provide your contact information, your report will still be processed.
  • Date and time of the incident
  • Location of incident
  • Whether the incident is ongoing
  • Description of the incident
  • Identifying information of the reported person: name, GitHub handle, email address, physical appearance, height, clothing, voice accent, identifying badge information such as company name, ribbons, or badge number
  • Additional circumstances surrounding the incident
  • Other people involved in or witnesses to the incident and their contact information or description

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 safety, please note those in your report. We still encourage you to report so that we can support you while keeping our community members safe. In some cases, we can compile several anonymized reports into a pattern of behavior and take action on that pattern.

If a public statement is necessary, the identities of all individuals involved will remain confidential unless those individuals instruct us otherwise.

Report Handling Procedure

When you make a report to an incident responder (any person or group of people receiving your report in any form), they will gather information about the incident according to the enforcement procedure link. 

Code of Conduct Code of Conduct Event Response Team

If you submit your report to the Code of Conduct Event Response Team (CoC ERT) for the event you are attending, the CoC ERT might choose to investigate, decide on, and react to your report independently. This option is most likely used when a situation is urgent and requires an immediate response or when an incident can be quickly resolved. 

If the incident is ongoing and needs to be immediately addressed, any lead incident responder may take appropriate action to ensure the safety of everyone involved. If required, this may be a referral to an appropriate non-NumFOCUS agency, including the local police. NumFOCUS is not equipped to handle emergencies.

CoC ERT might also request further investigation, consultation, decision-making, or a response from the NumFOCUS Code of Conduct Working Group. 

If you would like to submit a report to any of the Code of Conduct Event Response Team members, you may do so in person or online in a private conversation or message during the event. Event organizers will ensure contact information is easily accessible to all attendees.

Any Code of Conduct Event Response Team member should accept your report verbally or in writing.

NumFOCUS Code of Conduct Working Group

If the incident is not urgent, or you believe a conflict of interest exists, please submit your report using the Report Form <LINK>. In this case, the report will be discussed by the Code of Conduct Working Group, which will meet to determine an appropriate response. Examples of possible incident responses are outlined in the NumFOCUS Procedure For Incident Response.

Following Up With Reporters

Within one week of an incident report, a member of the Code of Conduct Working Group or Code of Conduct Event Response Team will follow up with the person who made the report if they provided their contact information. The follow-up may include:

  • An acknowledgment that the Code of Conduct responders discussed the situation
  • Whether or not the report was determined to be a violation of the Code of Conduct
  • What actions (if any) were taken to correct the reported behavior

Conflicts of Interest

If an incident responder has a conflict of interest regarding a report, they will recuse themselves from discussing and handling the incident. They will not have access to the incident documentation, and they will excuse themselves from any conversations involving handling the incident.

In addition, the NumFOCUS Code of Conduct Working Group can vote to remove a committee member from a case if the committee feels that the member has a conflict of interest.

Attribution

This procedure was adapted from the Python Software Foundation Community Member Procedure For Reporting Code of Conduct, which was itself adapted from the PyCon US reporters’ guide, the Ada Initiative’s guide titled “Conference anti-harassment/Responding to Reports,” and the Django Project reporting guidelines (CC BY 3.0), with additions by Otter Tech.

Online Spaces*- Procedure For Reporting Code of Conduct Incidents

*excluding online events

This section is created to guide you through the process of submitting potential violations of the NF Code of Conduct that have happened in online spaces such as Github repositories, discussion groups, Slack channels, and other online spaces created by NumFOCUS, NumFOCUS Sponsored, or Affiliated projects using this Code of Conduct. The exact types of online spaces are listed in the NumFOCUS Online Spaces section. 

Please refer to the [Events] Community Member Procedure For Reporting Code of Conduct Incidents procedure for online events, such as webinars or online workshops.

If you believe someone is in immediate physical danger, including from themselves, please contact local emergency services and/or local police before making a report. 

If you believe someone has violated the NumFOCUS Code of Conduct, we encourage you to report it. If you are unsure whether the incident is a violation or whether the Code of Conduct covers the space where it happened, we encourage you to report it. We are fine with receiving reports where we decide that the CoC has not been violated and no action is needed.

NumFOCUS Reporting Procedure

If you find you need to make a report, you can access the form using the following link or Report button, which will be sent directly to the NumFOCUS Code of Conduct Working Group: https://numfocus.typeform.com/to/ynjGdT?typeform-source=numfocus.org 

If you have a question or comment regarding an incident or the Code of Conduct, please email the NumFOCUS Code of Conduct Working Group at . The Code of Conduct Working Group members who monitor this alias will be listed here.

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Report Data

When you make a report, the form asks for the information below. Although all details are not required, please include as much as possible or feel comfortable providing. 

  • Your contact information
    • This will only be used by the Working Group to contact you with any follow-up questions and inform you about decisions and actions made by the Working Group in conjunction with your report. Your information will not be shared.
  • If you decide not to provide your contact information, your report will still be processed.
  • Date and time of the incident
  • Location of incident
  • Whether the incident is ongoing
  • Description of the incident
  • Identifying information of the reported person: name, GitHub handle, email address, physical appearance, height, clothing, voice accent, identifying badge information such as company name, ribbons, or badge number
  • Additional circumstances surrounding the incident
  • Other people involved in or witnesses to the incident and their contact information or description

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 safety, please note those in your report. We still encourage you to report so that we can support you while keeping our community members safe. In some cases, we can compile several anonymized reports into a pattern of behavior and take action on that pattern.

If a public statement is necessary, the identities of all individuals involved will remain confidential unless those individuals instruct us otherwise.

Report Handling Procedure

All reported incidents will be processed according to the NumFOCUS Code of Conduct Working Group Response Procedure. 

The Code of Conduct Working Group will discuss the report and meet to determine an appropriate response. The NumFOCUS Summary of the Process section outlines examples of possible incident responses.

Following Up With Reporters

Within one week of an incident report, a Code of Conduct Working Group member will follow up with the person who made the report if contact information has been provided. The follow-up may include:

  • An acknowledgment that the Working Group has discussed the situation
  • Whether or not the report was determined to be a violation of the Code of Conduct
  • What actions (if any) were taken to correct the reported behavior

In some cases, a member of the Working Group may need to ask additional questions about the incident to identify the reported person.

Conflicts of Interest

If a member of the Working Group has a conflict of interest regarding a report, they will recuse themselves from discussing and handling the incident. They will not have access to the incident documentation, and they will excuse themselves from any conversations involving handling the incident. Additional details can be found in the NumFOCUS Code of Conduct Working Group Response Procedure. 

Attribution

This procedure was adapted from the Python Software Foundation Community Member Procedure For Reporting Code of Conduct, which was itself adapted from the PyCon US reporters’ guide, the Ada Initiative’s guide titled “Conference anti-harassment/Responding to Reports,” and the Django Project reporting guidelines (CC BY 3.0), with additions by Otter Tech.

Submit Report

NumFOCUS Code of Conduct Working Group Charter

The Code of Conduct Working Group is established under Article 5, Sections 1-2 of the NumFOCUS Bylaws.

Purpose and Goals 

The working group aims to foster an open, kind, diverse, and inclusive community by enforcing the NumFOCUS Code of Conduct and providing guidance and recommendations to the community based on the Code of Conduct. This work supports the NumFOCUS mission and vision of an inclusive scientific and research community that utilizes actively supported open source software to make impactful discoveries for a better world.

*We work toward this common goal in the following ways: 

  1. Review and advise on policies relating to the NumFOCUS code of conduct, which applies to but is not limited to events hosted by NumFOCUS or those using the NumFOCUS Code of Conduct, NumFOCUS program or project communication channels, email lists, and code repositories.
  2. Evaluate reports of behavior relevant to the Code of Conduct, determine how to react, and communicate recommended responses to reported behaviors to the administrators/moderators of the online community, event organizers, or designated project representatives for approval.
  3. Enforce recommended responses in the following cases: 1) for reports made directly to the NumFOCUS Code of Conduct WG 2) if a conflict of interest arises between the reporter and the administrators/moderators of the online community, event organizers, or designated project representatives who would normally approve and enforce measures, and 3) for reports escalated or presented to the Working Group by a project or event organizer due to an extenuating circumstance.  
  4. Other actions determined by the NumFOCUS CoC.

*The above list summarizes the processes and procedures detailed in the NumFOCUS Code of Conduct. 

The working group is a standing committee and will exist as long as the NumFOCUS Board of Directors determines it is necessary.

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Committee Composition

Members

  • Membership should reflect the NumFOCUS Diversity Statement and our global community – NumFOCUS welcomes and encourages participation in our community by people of all backgrounds and identities. We are committed to promoting and sustaining a culture that values mutual respect, tolerance, and learning. We work together as a community to help each other live out these values. 
  • Members of this group must be involved in NumFOCUS as leaders of individual projects, active contributors to the NF ecosystem, or volunteers from the wider scientific ecosystem.
  • Members must complete a Code of Conduct enforcement training course before making decisions regarding a reported incident.
  • The working group should consist of at least 5 members serving a one-year term with an option to renew. Terms are limited to 5 years. 
  • General Members
    • Responsibilities
      • Code of Conduct Working Group members must confirm participation on an annual basis. The chair and co-chairs will lead this outreach. If no response is received within one month, the individual is automatically removed.
      • A member can step down anytime and be replaced by the working group.
      • If a member fails to attend more than 50% of meetings over a term, they will be moved to the Past Members list unless they make arrangements with the Workgroup in advance. They are welcome to rejoin at the discretion of the working group.
      • Members will fulfill duties as stated in the NumFOCUS CoC <link the CoC>
    • Elections
      • The initial members of the Working Group will be chosen by the NumFOCUS Board of Directors after an open call for volunteers is announced through NumFOCUS communication channels. Thereafter WG members will vet future volunteers on an annual basis.

Officers  

  • Vice President or Chair(s)
    • Board appointed or elected by working group members for a one-year term with an option to serve an additional one-year term upon member approval.
      •  May be submitted to the board for approval as part of a new committee proposal (one-year term)
    • Responsibilities:
      • Calls for scheduled meetings
      • Sets the agenda for meetings
      • Chairs the meetings according to Robert’s Rules of Order
  • Secretary
    • Selected by the Board of Directors or elected by committee members for a one-year term
    • Responsibilities:
      • Record all meeting minutes
      • Submits quarterly reports to the board of directors

Meetings

  1. Frequency – As established by the committee and on an as-needed basis
  2. A majority of the committee members shall constitute a quorum. 
  3. Voting
    1. Conflict of Interest – Some Working Group members may have a conflict of interest and may be excluded from discussions of a particular incident report. Excluding those members, decisions on the behavioral modification plans and consequences will be determined by a two-thirds majority vote of the NumFOCUS Code of Conduct Working Group.

Committee Reports

  1. Reports will be submitted to the board quarterly on or before the 15th of March, June, September, and December.
  2. Reports should include the following metrics:
    • Overview of activities and challenges, if any
    • Budget update, including spending for that quarter – if applicable
  3. Annual reports of activity will be made public. The reports will not contain details about any specific incident but will list the number of cases handled and the number of cases where a violation of the CoC was found.

Code of Conduct

  1. The Working Group adopts the NumFOCUS Code of Conduct (link). Any actions made against the principles in the Code of Conduct (found by a simple majority vote) will result in the acting person being removed from the group.

* The committee will review its charter annually and recommend any proposed changes to the board for review. If needed, the committee may update the charter before the annual review and will only be required to submit changes involving the purpose or mission to the board prior to the annual review and recommendation.

NumFOCUS Code of Conduct Working Group Response Procedures

This document summarizes the procedures used by the NumFOCUS Code of Conduct Working Group to enforce the Code of Conduct.

Summary of processes

When the Working Group receives a report of a possible Code of Conduct violation from or involving a NumFOCUS Project, someone attending an event or meetup, or in a NumFOCUS online forum, it will:

  1. Acknowledge the receipt of the report.
  2. If necessary, gather more information directly from the reporting person by speaking/texting with the reporter. 
  3. Evaluate conflicts of interest.
  4. Call a meeting of Working Group members without a conflict of interest.
  5. Evaluate the reported incident.
  6. Suggest a specific modification of behavior or course of action to prevent the inappropriate behavior from being repeated. 
  7. Propose consequences for the reported behavior.
  8. Vote on the proposed modified behavior or course of action and consequences for the reported person.
  9. Follow up with the reported person.
  10. Decide further responses.
  11. Follow up with the reporter.
    1. Keep the reporter informed throughout the process, particularly in situations when it takes a significant amount of time.
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Acknowledging the report

Reporters will receive an emailed acknowledgment of the receipt of their report within 24 hours.

Assessing Conflicts of Interest

A Code of Conduct Working Group member with a conflict of interest will withdraw from the incident discussion and from voting on a response to the report.

Examples of conflicts of interest include:

  • The reporter or reported person is a manager of a Working Group member.
  • If a member has a romantic or platonic relationship with either the reporter or the reported person, it’s fine to participate if they are acquaintances.
  • The reporter or reported person is a member’s metamour. (This is a term used in the poly community; the short definition is here, and a longer description is here).
  • The reporter or reported person is a Working Group member’s family member.
  • The reporter or reported person is a member’s direct client.
  • The reporter or reported person works closely with a Working Group member. This could be someone on their team or working on the same project.
  • The reporter or reported person is a maintainer who regularly reviews the member’s contributions.

Working Group members do not need to state why they have a conflict of interest, only that one exists. Other Working Group members should not ask why the person has a conflict of interest.

Evaluating the report

The Working Group will evaluate the report by assessing the following criteria:

Scope 

  • Is this a Code of Conduct violation? Is this behavior on our list of inappropriate behavior? Is it borderline inappropriate behavior? Does it violate our community norms?
  • Did this occur in a space within our Code of Conduct’s scope? 
  • Was the impact direct or indirect?

If the incident occurred outside the community but negatively impacts a community member’s mental health or physical safety, the incident may be in scope if no action is taken. 

Private conversations in community spaces are also in scope.

Risk

  • Does this incident include sexual harassment?
  • Does this pose a safety risk? Does the behavior put a person’s physical safety at risk? Will this incident severely negatively impact someone’s mental health?
  • Is there a risk of this behavior being repeated? Does the reported person understand why their behavior was inappropriate? Is there an established pattern of behavior from past reports?

Proposing a course of action or modification of behavior

The Working Group will strongly suggest a specific modification of behavior or course of action to prevent the inappropriate behavior from being repeated. The Working Group will also discuss what actions may be taken if the reported person disagrees with the suggestions.

What follows are examples of possible courses of action or modifications of behavior towards the reported person for incidents that occur under the scope of the Code of Conduct. This list is not all-inclusive.

  • The reported person does not use specific language
  • The reported person does not join in on specific types of discussions
  • The reported person does not send private messages to a community member
  • The reported person does not join specific communication channels 

Proposing consequences

If warranted, the Working Group will propose appropriate consequences in response to the reported incident. What follows are examples of possible consequences. This list is not all-inclusive.

  • Nothing, if the behavior was determined not to be a Code of Conduct violation
  • A verbal or emailed warning
  • A final warning
  • Temporarily removing the reported person from the online community
  • Removing the reported person from administrator or moderator rights to community infrastructure
  • Removing a reported volunteer from their duties and responsibilities
  • Removing a reported person from the leadership of relevant organizations
  • Removing a reported person from membership of relevant organizations

Voting

Some Working Group members may have a conflict of interest and may be excluded from discussions of a particular incident report. Excluding those members, decisions on modifications of behavior or courses of action, as well as consequences, will be determined by a two-thirds majority vote of the NumFOCUS Code of Conduct Working Group. 

Following up with the reported person

The NumFOCUS Code of Conduct Working Group will work to draft a response to the reported person. The email should contain:

  • A description of the person’s behavior in neutral language
  • The negative impact of that behavior
  • Any suggested modifications of behavior or courses of action 
  • Any consequences of their behavior

The working group should not state who reported this incident. They should attempt to anonymize any identifying information from the report. The reported person should be discouraged from contacting the reporter to discuss the report. If they wish to apologize to the reporter, the working group can accept the apology on behalf of the reporter.

Determining further action

If the reported person provides additional context, the NumFOCUS Code of Conduct Working
Group may need to re-evaluate the modifications of behavior or consequences.

Following up with the reporter

A person who makes a report will receive a follow-up email stating what action was taken in response to the report. If the working group decided no response was needed, they should provide an email explaining why it was not a Code of Conduct violation. 

The follow-up email should be sent no later than one week after receiving the report. If deliberation or follow-up with the reported person takes longer than one week, the Working Group should send a status email to the reporter.

Documentation and Privacy Policies

There may be different places where information about Code of Conduct reports may be accessible:

  • Personal email of NumFOCUS Code of Conduct Working Group members
  • Archives of committee mailing lists
  • Logs from committee online chats
  • Shared online documents, such as Google Docs or Next Cloud documents

In all cases, documents and notes should only be available to working group members without conflict of interest in the report. This requires communities to choose documentation tools that will meet their privacy needs.

NumFOCUS Code of Conduct Working Group shared email address

 The NumFOCUS Code of Conduct Working Group should be reached through a single email address. It is recommended that the committee use an alias that forwards emails to individual members.

Using a mailing list is not recommended. Mailing lists typically archive all emails, which means new committee members gain access to all past archives. They can deliberately or accidentally see past reports where they have a conflict of interest. To prevent potential conflicts of interest, it is recommended not to have a mailing list archive.

NumFOCUS Code of Conduct Working Group online discussion

A  NumFOCUS Code of Conduct Working Group may have an online, real-time discussion forum like Slack, Zulip, or IRC. If the online chat platform allows, it is recommended to set the committee channel so history is unavailable to new committee members who join the channel.

When a report comes in and a discussion needs to happen online, the Working Group must avoid conflicts of interest. In the chat channel, state, ‘We have a report that involves [REPORTED PERSON].’ Refrain from saying who the reporter or witnesses were if the report was sent to an individual Working Group member. Ask which members do not have a conflict of interest and add those members to a group discussion separate from the working group channel. If a working group member does not respond, do not add them to the new group discussion. If a member finds a conflict of interest exists because of who reported or witnessed the incident, they should recuse themselves from the discussion.

CoC Working Group members should not use bots or IRC bouncers to log the group discussions. All discussions and decisions documentation should be in online, shared documentation.

If no online real-time discussion forum is used, working group members without a conflict of interest will discuss the case in a separate email thread. If no member has a conflict of interest, and the working group email is an alias, the working group may reply to the alias to discuss the issues.

Shared Documentation

The  NumFOCUS Code of Conduct Working Group should keep two types of shared documents:

  • A spreadsheet with the status of open and closed cases
  • A separate document for each report

Status Spreadsheet

The spreadsheet with the status of open and closed cases should have the following format:

Safety risk?

Risk of repeating?

Status

Code Name

Date & Time

Actions needed

Resolution

Yes

Yes

Ongoing

home shelf

07/07 8:30am and 07/08 12:30pm

Team is on the lookout for reported person

Temporary ban for the remainder of the event, reevaluate attendance for next year

No

Maybe

Resolved

stunned bulb

07/07 8:00pm

–

Verbal warning

 

Resolutions and notes should be vague enough that enforcement team members with a conflict of interest don’t know the details of the incident. Use gender-neutral language when describing the reported person in the spreadsheet.

Report Documentation

Each report should be assigned a code name using an online random phrase generator. The code name should be used in the document’s title. Only working group members without a conflict of interest should have access to the report documentation.

Report documents should include:

  • A summary of a verbal report or the text of an emailed report. Use neutral, nonjudgmental words to describe the behavior. Where possible, separate the behavior of the reported person from the impact on the reporter.
  • A summary of committee discussions, including whether the report is in scope
  • Proposed behavioral modification plan
  • Proposed consequences for the reported behavior
  • A summary of verbal discussions or the text of email discussions with community moderators, administrators, registration, or other event organizers about the proposed consequences and behavioral modification plan
  • A summary of verbal discussions or the text of email discussions with the reported person
  • The text that was sent to follow up with the reporter

All discussion summaries should include the dates they took place.

Privacy Concerns

Online tools like Google Docs have some common privacy pitfalls. Instead of turning link sharing on, always share the document with committee members who don’t have a conflict of interest. This prevents people outside of the committee from accessing the documents.

Another common issue is that when a folder is shared with the whole committee, even if a person doesn’t have edit or view access to an individual report, they can still see the document’s title. This can give information away, such as the person who made the report. Some communities use initials in the report title instead. That can still reveal information, making it hard to discuss report status in public spaces (such as an event). The working group may want to assign a code name to each report and reference that name in the report title and status spreadsheet. You can use an online random phrase generator to create the code name.

When onboarding new working group members, they should be provided with a list of names of people who have been reported in a Code of Conduct incident. The new member should state whether they have any conflicts of interest in reviewing documentation for those cases. If not, they will be given edit access to the report documents.

Changes to the Code of Conduct

When discussing a change to the NumFOCUS Community Code of Conduct or enforcement policies, the NumFOCUS Code of Conduct Working Group will follow this decision-making process:

  • Brainstorm options. Working Group members should discuss any relevant context and brainstorm possible options. Providing constructive feedback without getting sidetracked from the main question is important. Brainstorming should be limited to 3-7 days at most.
  • Vote. Proposed changes to the Code of Conduct Working Group will be decided by a two-thirds majority of all voting members. The current members can always be found on the NF website in the Code of Conduct and on the Code of Conduct page
  • Board Vote. Once a working draft of the Code of Conduct and procedures is in place, the Code of Conduct Working Group shall provide the NumFOCUS board with a draft of the changes. The NumFOCUS Board will vote to accept or reject the changes.

Current list of voting members

TBA

Attribution

This procedure was adapted from the Python Software Foundation Code of Conduct Working Group Enforcement Procedures, which was itself derived from:

Otter Tech created the Code of Conduct template under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

Code of Conduct Event Response Team Manual

This document summarizes the CoC Event Response Teams’ procedures to enforce the Code of Conduct.

Each NumFOCUS Event organizer must establish and inform event participants about the CoC Event Response Team members and how to approach them. Each CoC Event Response Team is created to serve a particular event. 

See More

Establish a response team

Every NumFOCUS event organizer should establish a Code of Conduct Event Response Team before the event. In many cases, this team will consist of the primary event/meetup organizers and volunteers. Each CoC Event Response Team is created to serve a particular event. 

We also encourage you to solicit volunteers from your local community specifically to serve as CoC responders. It is helpful to have a large CoC response team so that the community a) is easily able to locate a team member to make a report and b) has multiple options for reporting in case of conflict of interest or personal discomfort. The CoC of Conduct Event Response Team should have at least one person available to receive a report at all times during the event. This person(s) should be available, accessible, and not burdened by other commitments. The event organizers are responsible for communicating to the community how they can locate a CoC Response Team member at any time during the event.  

Summary of processes

The following summary of the response process is designed to address a variety of incidents from low risk and low impact to high risk and high impact. In practice, that indicates potential procedure simplification for low-risk and low-impact.

When the CoC Event Response Team receives a report of a possible Code of Conduct violation from someone attending an event or meetup, it will:

  1. Take the report.
  2. Assess the Situation and Formulate a Response
    1. Identify Needed Resources.
    2. Assessing Conflicts of Interest.
    3. Evaluate the reported incident.
    4. Communicate with the Reported Person about the Incident.
    5. Proposing a Course of Action or modification of behavior 
    6. Proposing consequences
    7. Vote or reach a consensus in other ways on the proposed behavior modification or course of action and the proposed consequences for the reported person.
  3. Follow up with the reported person.
  4. Follow up with the reporter.
  5. Document the incident
  6. Follow up with NumFOCUS Code of Conduct Working Group and Event/Organization Leaders

Taking the report

Any CoC Event Response Team member can receive a report on a potential CoC violation in person during an event, online in a private message, or by any means indicated by the organizers. 

If the report is not made in person, the reporter will receive an acknowledgment of the receipt of their report within 24 hours.

Assess the Situation and Formulate a Response

Identify Needed Resources

Possibilities include:

  • Gather more information directly from the reporting person.
  • Other Code of Conduct Event Response Team members
  • NumFOCUS Code of Conduct Working Group input
  • Building/venue staff
  • Security officers
  • Police officers
  • Emergency medical response
  • Past incident reports to verify previous issues and responses
  • Help from a crisis line
  • Online safety resources

Assessing Conflicts of Interest

A CoC Event Response Team member with a conflict of interest will remove themselves from the incident discussion and vote on a response to the report.

Examples of conflicts of interest include:

  • The reporter or reported person is a manager of a CoC Event Response Team member.
  • If a member has a romantic or platonic relationship with either the reporter or the reported person, it’s fine to participate if they are acquaintances.
  • The reporter or reported person is a member’s metamour. (This is a term used in the poly community; the short definition is here, and a longer description is here).
  • The reporter or reported person is a member of an Event Response Team member’s family.
  • The reporter or reported person is a member’s direct client.
  • The reporter or reported person works closely with a CoC Event Response Team member. This could be someone on their team or working on the same project.
  • The reporter or reported person is a maintainer who regularly reviews the member’s contributions.

CoC Event Response Team members do not need to communicate why they have a conflict of interest, only that one exists. Other CoC Event Response Team members should not ask why the person has a conflict of interest.

Communicate with the Reported Person about the Incident

As soon as possible, inform the reported person of a complaint about them (before the response team meeting mentioned below). This conversation should be before and separate from the meeting in which you communicate the consequences of the CoC violation to the reported person.

Ensure the reported person is given an opportunity to speak with someone on the CoC Event Response Team to tell their side of the story. The member receiving the information should be prepared to convey it at the response team meeting.

Evaluating the report

The CoC Event Response Team member will evaluate the report by assessing the following criteria:

Scope 

  • Is this a Code of Conduct violation? Is this behavior on our list of inappropriate behavior? Is it borderline inappropriate behavior? Does it violate our community norms?
  • Did this occur in a space within our Code of Conduct’s scope? 
  • Was the impact direct or indirect?

If the incident occurred outside the community but negatively impacts a community member’s mental health or physical safety, if no action is taken, the incident may be in scope. 

Private conversations in community spaces are also in scope.

Risk

  • Does this incident include sexual harassment?
  • Does this pose a safety risk? Does the behavior put a person’s physical safety at risk? Will this incident severely negatively impact someone’s mental health?
  • Is there a risk of this behavior being repeated? Does the reported person understand why their behavior was inappropriate? Is there an established pattern of behavior from past reports?

The CoC Event Response Team can request an opinion, investigation, decision, and/or response from the NumFOCUS Code of Conduct Working Group. 

Proposing a Course of Action or modification of behavior

The CoC Event Response Team will strongly suggest a specific modification of behavior or course of action to prevent the inappropriate behavior from being repeated. The team will also discuss what actions may be taken if the reported person disagrees with the suggestions.

What follows are examples of possible courses of action towards the reported person for incidents that occur at NumFOCUS events under the scope of the Code of Conduct. This list is not all-inclusive.

  • The reported person does not use specific language
  • The reported person does not join specific presentations
  • The reported person does not send private messages to a community member
  • The reported person does not join specific networking sessions
  • The reported person will no longer participate in their moderation duties 
  • The reported volunteer will no longer participate in duties and responsibilities connected to the event

Proposing consequences

If warranted, the CoC Event Response Team will propose appropriate consequences in response to the reported incident.

What follows are examples of possible consequences. This list is not all-inclusive, and The CoC Event Response Team reserves the right to take any action it deems reasonable and necessary.

The notion of a ‘ladder’ is that each time we take action (ban, warning, etc.), the individual (reported person) is made aware of future consequences. That’s not to say that someone cannot jump to a permanent ban or that we can’t jump ‘two’ steps on the ladder. Instead, it’s a way of communicating escalation.

Sample Consequence Ladder:

Level 0: No Action

For example, if the Code of Conduct Event Response Team determines the complaint has not been substantiated or if it is deemed to be outside the purview of the NumFOCUS Code of Conduct, you may decide not to act on reports if you feel they are being made in bad faith and/or in an attempt to harass or intimidate other community members.

Level 1: Private Warning Issued

A private warning from event/meetup leadership clearly stating the violation and the consequences of continued behavior. Boundaries for further action are set (next time x happens). You may have already issued a private warning when initially communicating with the reported person about the incident (i.e., stop this behavior).

Level 2: Warning + Mandatory Cooling Off Period (during the event)

A private warning from the event/meetup leadership clearly states the violation and continued behavior consequences. Require that the reported person have no further interaction with the people involved during the event/meetup, including unsolicited interaction with those enforcing the Code of Conduct. This includes avoiding interactions in digital or online channels like social media (including ‘following/liking/retweeting’) or text messages.

Level 3: Extended Ban

Imposed temporary break (few weeks or months).

Accounts deactivated/banned temporarily.

Require that the reported person has no further interaction with the people involved during the event/meetup, including unsolicited interaction with those enforcing the Code of Conduct. This includes avoiding interactions in digital or online channels like social media (including ‘following/liking/retweeting’) or text messages. All community leadership roles are suspended (including volunteering positions). No attendance at NumFOCUS/PyData/Project events during the ban period. At the end of the ban period, reiterate warnings from event/meetup leadership, with clarity of violation and consequences of continued or repeated behavior. 

Level 4: Permanent Ban

No attendance at NumFOCUS/PyData/Project events going forward.

All accounts are deactivated permanently.

All community leadership roles are permanently suspended.

The goal should be able to be communicated to the reported person: “The action we will be taking as a result of this incident is X, but if it happens again or the behavior continues, we will escalate the consequences to Y.”

Enforcing a Ban: 

When someone not permitted to attend the event attempts to register or enter the event space:

  • Tell them that they are not permitted to participate in the event
  • Do not provide additional details or explanation
  • Ask them to leave 
  • Call on-site support for assistance if the person does not leave
  • If they still do not leave, call the police non-emergency line to report trespassing

Following up with the reported person

As soon as possible, after evaluating the report, let the reported person know what action is being taken. Give them a place to appeal to if there is one, but in the meantime, the action stands. “If you’d like to discuss this further, please contact <designated Code of Conduct Event Response Team>, but in the meantime, you must <whatever the determined consequences/limitations are>.”

When communicating with the reported person:

  • Emphasize that the impact of their behavior is more important than their intent
  • Make sure that they have a concrete behavior modification plan
  • Call them in: “I want you to help us make this community as inclusive as possible.” 
  • Don’t reassure them:
    • “We need to ensure this doesn’t happen again” instead of “I’m sure you just made a mistake.”
    • “This behavior is not appropriate at our event/meetup.” 
    • “We need everyone to uphold the standards of behavior for our community.”

This is NOT a teaching moment for the reported person. They can have the teaching moment later, but your focus should be resolving the incident and ensuring it doesn’t happen again.

Following up with the reporter

A person who makes a report will receive a follow-up email or message or be verbally informed stating what action was taken in response to the report. If the CoC Event Response Team decides no response is needed, they should explain why it was not considered a Code of Conduct violation. 

The follow-up email should be sent no later than one week after receiving the report. If deliberation or follow-up with the reported person takes longer than one week, the CoC Event Response Team should send a status email to the reporter.

If the report was submitted anonymously, the reporter communicated that they didn’t want to receive the follow-up information, or in any case, reaching out to the reporter was not possible; the CoC Event Response Team would not follow up with the reporter.

Document the incident

Be sure to record the incident details (including any additional information beyond what was recorded in the initial report) and the resolution. Keep the documentation secure, ensuring that it cannot be easily accessed by anyone outside the CoC Event Response Team and NumFOCUS Code of Conduct Working Group.

Follow up with NumFOCUS CoC Working Group and Event/Organization Leaders

Send the incident documentation to the NumFOCUS Code of Conduct Working Group (). The working group must be kept informed to monitor any ongoing patterns of behavior, respond appropriately to potential legal issues, and use the (anonymized) situation details to ensure consistent and equitable outcomes across events and meetups. 

You should also ensure that the leadership of the event/meetup/project is informed of the incident and your response so that any appropriate follow-up action can be taken. For example, leadership may need to:

  • Monitor the reported person’s behavior after the incident or event (there may be an ongoing pattern of behavior)
  • Make a public statement (depending on the severity or public nature of an incident, a formal and public response from leadership may be appropriate)
  • Enforce a ban (whether temporary or permanent)
  • Learn from the incident and train future event response teams to better handle or prevent similar scenarios.

In case of a potential conflict of interest, you will send the documentation to members of the NumFOCUS CoC Working Group and Event/Organization Leaders without a conflict of interest. 

Attribution

This procedure was adapted from the Python Software Foundation Code of Conduct Working Group Enforcement Procedures, which was itself derived from:

Otter Tech created the Code of Conduct template under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.