Code of Conduct

Approved 2023-11-02 by GCM Board of Directors

Greene County Makers (GCM) is committed to fostering a friendly, safe, fair, welcoming, and inclusive community space. This Code of Conduct aims to ensure that GCM maintains a setting where people can collaborate and work together productively. The Code of Conduct standards are designed to promote a supportive, productive, and fun learning environment.

This code of conduct is not exhaustive or complete. It is an ongoing effort to summarize our shared understanding. We understand that keeping a living document relevant and patched involves sustained effort. Should you have suggestions, please submit them to conduct@gcmakers.org

Our Standards

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 mistakes and learning from the experience.

Focusing on what is best not just for us as individuals, but for the overall community.

To maintain an environment where groups can work together. If there is a class, please respect the group by keeping side conversations quiet to not disturb the class.

Respect and return materials and equipment to where you found them once your activity is complete.

Our Values

curiosity,
experimentalism,
respect,
accountability,
openness & transparency,
inclusiveness,
fairness,
generosity & gratitude.

We commit to acting in accordance with these values, and we ask that all those who engage with us do the same.

What is a Code of Conduct?

A “code of conduct” is a statement that specifically addresses the expected standards of behavior for a community. It is not intended to stifle healthy disagreements, but rather to allow productive conversation to proceed in an inclusive manner. We also believe it is important to create an explicit social contract to define our shared values, and — perhaps more importantly — describe what happens when those values are breached.

Reporting

The following procedure is laid out for addressing formal reports from individuals who have concerns regarding potential violations of this Code of Conduct. Formal reports are beneficial for documenting patterns of abuse and ongoing discussions of ethics and compliance that help protect and empower our community, as well as our decision-making for incident resolution.

1. Incident reporting. To report an incident, please email conduct@gcmakers.org. To support anonymous reporting, name and contact information is optional. However, contact information may be helpful to confirm a report, and is required to receive a Report Response from the Conduct Review Committee after review and determination.
2. Incident review. The report and incident will be reviewed by the Conduct Review Committee, who will review any evidence related to the reported violation. If the documentation is unclear, they will meet with the parties involved (separately) and hear all sides.
3. Incident resolution. Resolution will be dependent on the nature of the event. Whenever possible, this will include a plan to (a) keep behavior from happening again and (b) keep folks in the group. The parties involved will be notified of the result privately in writing if contact information was provided.

Sometimes complaints are made that do not point to an actual violation of this Code of Conduct. If this is true, then no disciplinary action may be required, only communication and clarification. If, however, it is found that a complaint does not point to an actual violation of this Code AND seems to be made with malicious intent or to otherwise undermine this Code (particularly if done repetitively), then the above disciplinary resolutions may apply to the complainant.

Revising this Policy

Revisions to the policy must be approved by the GCM Board of Directors. If you have a suggestion for a revision, please submit it to conduct@gcmakers.org.

Acknowledgements

This Code of Conduct has been created using the wisdom of many codes that have come before us, so some verbiage may seem familiar. GCM would like to thank the following organizations for their leadership and allowing us to borrow language from their own codes of conduct.

ARDC
Contributor Covenant
TOR
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
GNU
Geek Feminism
Technology Alliance Group for Northwest Washington
Ashe Dryeden
Invest in Open
Rust

In turn, we also grant permission for other organizations to use and modify the GCM Code of Conduct for their own purposes.