Code of Conduct

Members of the Mahara community need to work together effectively, and this code of conduct lays down the ground rules for our cooperation. In the free software world, we collaborate freely on a volunteer basis to build software for everyone's benefit. We improve on the work of others, which we have been given freely, and then share our improvements on the same basis. That collaboration depends on good relationships between developers. To this end, we've agreed on the following code of conduct to help define the ways that we think collaboration and cooperation should work. This code of conduct covers our behaviour as members of the Mahara Community, in any forum, mailing list, wiki, website, Internet relay chat (IRC) channel, public meeting or private correspondence.

Be considerate

Our work will be used by other people, and we in turn will depend on the work of others. Any decision we take will affect users and colleagues, and we should take those consequences into account when making decisions. Mahara has many of users and contributors. Even if it's not obvious at the time, our contributions to Mahara will impact the work of others. For example, changes to code, infrastructure, policy, documentation and translations during a release may negatively impact others' work.

Be respectful

The Mahara community and its members treat one another with respect. Everyone can make a valuable contribution to Mahara. We may not always agree, but disagreement is no excuse for poor behaviour and poor manners. We might all experience some frustration now and then, but we cannot allow that frustration to turn into a personal attack. It's important to remember that a community where people feel uncomfortable or threatened is not a productive one. We expect members of the community to be respectful when dealing with other contributors as well as with people outside the project and with users of Mahara.

Be collaborative

Collaboration is central to Mahara and to the larger free software community. We encourage individuals and teams to work together whether inside or outside the Mahara Project. This collaboration reduces redundancy, and improves the quality of our work. Internally and externally, we should always be open to collaboration. Wherever possible, we should work closely with upstream projects that we are involved with and others in the free software community to coordinate our efforts in all areas whether they be technical, advocacy or documentation. Our work should be done transparently and we should involve as many interested parties as early as possible. If we decide to take a different approach than others, we will let them know early, document our work and inform others regularly of our progress.

When we disagree, we consult others

Disagreements, both social and technical, happen all the time and the Mahara community is no exception. It is important that we resolve disagreements and differing views constructively and with the help of the community and community processes. We have a governance group which help to decide the right course for Mahara. There are also several project teams and team leaders, who may be able to help us figure out the best direction for Mahara. When our goals differ dramatically, we encourage the creation of feature branches, so that the community can test new ideas and contribute to the discussion.

When we are unsure, we ask for help

Nobody knows everything, and nobody is expected to be perfect in the Mahara community. Asking questions avoids many problems down the road, and so questions are encouraged. Those who are asked questions should be responsive and helpful. However, when asking a question, care must be taken to do so in an appropriate forum.

Step down considerately

Members of every project come and go and Mahara is no different. When somebody leaves or disengages from the project, in whole or in part, we ask that they do so in a way that minimises disruption to the project. This means they should tell people they are leaving and take the proper steps to ensure that others can pick up where they left off.

About this Code of Conduct

The Mahara code of conduct is based upon the Ubuntu Code of Conduct, which is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 licence. You may re-use it for your own project, and modify it as you wish, just please allow others to use your modifications and give credit to the Mahara and Ubuntu Projects! Mailing lists and web forums are an important part of the Mahara community platform. This code of conduct applies to your behaviour in those forums too. Please follow these guidelines in addition to the general code of conduct:

• Please use a valid email address to which direct responses can be made.
• Please avoid flamewars, trolling, personal attacks, and repetitive arguments.