The Recurse Center

Field	technology
Scope	online, offline
Source	https://www.recurse.com/code-of-conduct
Related	Geek Feminism

Social rules

RC has four social rules. They help create a friendly, intellectual environment where you can spend as much of your energy as possible on programming.

The social rules are:

• No well-actually’s
• No feigned surprise
• No backseat driving
• No subtle -isms

One thing that often confuses people about the social rules is that we expect people to break them from time to time. This means they’re different and totally separate from our code of conduct.

No well-actually’s

Alice: I just installed Linux on my computer! Bob: It’s actually called GNU/Linux.

A well-actually is when you correct someone about something that’s not relevant to the conversation or tangential to what they’re trying to say.1 They’re bad because they aren’t helpful, break the flow of conversation, and focus attention on the person making the well actually.

This rule can be a bit tricky because there isn’t a clear line between relevant to the conversation and not. Sometimes your correction might actually be necessary, and it could still come off as annoying when you make it. The best rule of thumb is, if you’re not sure whether something needs to be said right now, hold off and see what happens. You can always say it later if it turns out there’s no way for the conversation to move forward without your correction.

No feigning surprise

Dan: What’s the command line? Carol: Wait, you’ve never used the command line?

Feigned surprise is when you act surprised when someone doesn’t know something. Responding with surprise in this situation makes people feel bad for not knowing things and less likely to ask questions in the future, which makes it harder for them to learn.

No feigning surprise isn’t a great name. When someone acts surprised when you don’t know something, it doesn’t matter whether they’re pretending to be surprised or actually surprised. The effect is the same: the next time you have a question, you’re more likely to keep your mouth shut. An accurate name for this rule would be no acting surprised when someone doesn’t know something, but it’s a mouthful, and at this point, the current name has stuck.

No backseat driving

Bob: What’s the name of the string copy function? Alice: Strncpy. Eve: (from across the room) You should use strlcpy. It’s safer.

Backseat driving is when you lob advice from across the room (or across the online chat) without really joining or engaging in a conversation. Because you haven’t been participating in the conversation, it’s easy to miss something important and give advice that’s not actually helpful. Even if your advice is correct, it’s rude to bust into a conversation without asking. If you overhear a conversation where you could be helpful, the best thing to do is to ask to join.

No subtle -isms

Carol: Windows is hard to use. Bob: No way. Windows is so easy to use that even my mom can use it.

Subtle -isms are subtle expressions of racism, sexism, ageism, homophobia, transphobia and other kinds of bias and prejudice. They are small things that make others feel unwelcome, things that we all sometimes do by mistake. Subtle -isms make people feel like they don’t belong at RC. We want to create an environment where everyone can focus all their energy on programming. It’s hard to do that if you’re regularly being made to wonder whether you belong.

Subtle -isms can also be things that you do instead of say. This includes things like boxing out the only woman at the whiteboard during a discussion or assuming someone isn’t a programmer because of their race or gender.

The fourth social rule is more complicated than the others. Not everyone agrees on what constitutes a subtle -ism. Subtle -isms are baked into society in ways that can make them hard to recognize. And not everyone experiences subtle -isms in the same way: subtle homophobia won’t hurt someone who’s straight in the same way it hurts someone who’s gay.

There’s another part of no subtle -isms: If you see racism, sexism, etc. outside of RC, please don’t bring it in. For example, please don’t start a discussion about the latest offensive comment from Random Tech Person Y. Everyone who comes to RC should have the same opportunity to focus on programming, and people from oppressed groups often find discussions of racism, sexism, etc. particularly hard to tune out. There are many places to discuss and debate these issues, but there are few where people can avoid them. RC is one of those places.2

How do they work?

The social rules are lightweight. You should not be afraid of breaking a social rule. These are things that everyone does, and breaking one doesn’t make you a bad person. If someone says, "hey, you just feigned surprise," or "that’s subtly sexist," don’t worry. Just apologize, reflect for a second, and move on.

The social rules aren’t for punishing people. They help make RC a pleasant environment where you are free to be yourself, tackle things outside your comfort zone, and focus on programming.

Code of conduct

The social rules don’t cover harassment or discrimination. For that, we have a separate code of conduct enforced by the RC faculty. All members of the RC community are expected to abide by our code of conduct.

As far as we know, Miguel de Icaza coined the term well-actually.↩

It is ok to have these conversations in private or opt-in spaces (e.g. the feminism stream on Zulip). The goal is to make the default RC experience free of outside -isms.↩

Code of conduct

last updated May 2019

Why have a code of conduct?

Our goal is to create the best community in the world for becoming a better programmer. We want every member of the RC community to be able to focus their full attention on becoming a better programmer, both at RC and as a part of our community. This is impossible to do if you are being harassed, stalked, or discriminated against.

Accordingly, all Recursers, as well as guests and visitors, are expected to show respect and courtesy to each other in all interactions, whether at RC, in our online community, or in other contexts.

To make sure that everyone has a common understanding of “show respect and courtesy to each other,” we have adopted the following code of conduct. The code of conduct is enforced by the RC faculty.

Unacceptable behavior

The following types of behavior are unacceptable at RC, both online and in-person, and constitute code of conduct violations.

Abusive behavior

• Harassment—including offensive verbal comments related to gender, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, or religion, as well as sexual images in public spaces, deliberate intimidation, stalking, following, harassing photography or recording, inappropriate physical contact, and unwelcome sexual or romantic attention.
• Threats—threatening someone physically or verbally. For example, threatening to publicize sensitive information about someone’s personal life.

Unwelcoming behavior

• Blatant -isms—saying things that are explicitly racist, sexist, homophobic, etc. For example, arguing that some people are less intelligent because of their gender, race or religion. Subtle -isms and small mistakes made in conversation are not code of conduct violations. However, repeating something after it has been pointed out to you that you broke a social rule, or antagonizing or arguing with someone who has pointed out your subtle -ism is considered unwelcoming behavior, and is not allowed at RC.
• Maliciousness towards other Recursers—deliberately attempting to make others feel bad, name-calling, singling out others for derision or exclusion. For example, telling someone they’re not a real programmer or that they don’t belong at RC.
• Being especially unpleasant—for example, if we’ve received reports from multiple Recursers or faculty of annoying, rude, or especially distracting behavior.
• Bringing guests into the RC space—as per our guest policy, you may not bring non-Recurser guests into the space except in very specific contexts. It’s important that everyone can trust that only other Recursers will be in the space—it allows people to speak freely, feel comfortable leaving their belongings unattended, and trust that everyone is being held to the expectations in this code of conduct. This is different from all the rest, but is nevertheless a code of conduct violation.

Behavior that jeopardizes RC's existence

• Entering parts of 397 Bridge Street other than the 4th or 5th floor, including the roof—This one is even more different than all the rest, but still something we have to take very seriously. If Recursers trespass on the roof or other floors, if someone is hurt, or if there's damage to the building, this opens us up to consequences ranging from us having to move out of our space to legal action being brought against us. The costs of either of these outcomes would jeopardize the existence of RC and very likely cause us to go out of business.

While RC is a professional community, it's also a community of friends. We ask you to be aware of the fact that conversations that may be appropriate within the context of a specific friendship or relationship with another Recurser may be inappropriate in the RC space or in a group conversation with Recursers you don't know well.

Scope

Recursers are held to the standards outlined in this code of conduct when interacting in the physical RC space, at RC-run events, and online on RC’s internal tools like Zulip, Community, the Wiki, and Issue Tracker.

In addition, the RC community and experience often extends outside those spaces—Recursers go on walks together to get lunch near the space, attend meetups or conferences as a group, and communicate on social media. Abusive or unwelcoming behavior between Recursers still has a profound impact on individuals and on the community when it happens beyond our walls. RC faculty will use our discretion when deciding whether to enforce this code of conduct and potentially remove someone from the RC community after reports of such behavior happening outside of RC, taking into account the impact on the individual Recursers involved as well as the impact on the community at large.

When in doubt, please report unacceptable behavior to us. If someone’s behavior outside of RC makes you feel unsafe at RC, that is absolutely relevant and actionable for us.

Enforcement

We’ve categorized unacceptable behavior into abuse, unwelcoming behavior, and behavior that jeopardizes RC's existence in the section above.

If we witness or receive a report about abusive behavior, we will contact the perpetrator to have a conversation with them and verify what has transpired, and they will be removed from the RC community. Their recurse.com, Community, and Zulip accounts will be deactivated, and they will not be welcome in the physical RC space or at RC events.

If we witness or receive a report about unwelcoming behavior or behavior that jeopardizes RC's existence, we will contact the Recurser involved to explain why their behavior was unacceptable, and warn them that a second code of conduct violation will result in us removing them from the RC community.

This is the protocol that the faculty will use to respond to reports of code of conduct violations.

Reporting

If you see a violation of our code of conduct, please report it to the RC faculty.

Why should I report?

• You are responsible for making RC a safe and comfortable space for everyone. Everyone in our community shares this responsibility. RC faculty are not around the RC space or at RC events all the time, so we cannot enforce the code of conduct without your help.
• The consequences for the RC community of not reporting bad behavior outweigh the consequences for one person of reporting it. We sometimes hear “I don’t want X person to meet consequences because I told someone about their bad behavior.” Consider the impact on everyone else at RC of letting their behavior continue unchecked.
• RC only works as a self-directed, community-driven community because of shared trust between Recursers. Reporting code of conduct violations helps us identify when this trust is broken, to prevent that from happening in the future.

Where and how to report

Please report all code of conduct violations using our reporting form. If you would rather discuss the matter in person with a faculty member, book office hours with one of us on the calendar, or email us to schedule a time to talk.

In your report, please include:

• Your name—this is incredibly helpful for us to be able to follow up with you, and ask questions to better understand the situation. The form allows you to report anonymously. Please only use this option if you really need to, and know that we might not be able to take action without knowing who you are. In any case, provide an email address so we can correspond with you about the report. The third-party reporting tool we’re using anonymizes communication, so we never see the email address you provide if you chose to submit anonymously.
• A detailed description of what happened
  • If the violation happened online, please link to or send us the relevant text.
  • If the violation happened in person, please detail what exactly the other person said or did. In order to take action, we need to know the concrete actions that someone took.
  • Where and when the incident happened
  • Any other relevant context. Do you have examples of a pattern of similar behavior from this person before? Do you have a relationship with this person outside of RC?
  • If/how you’ve already responded—this lets us know the current state of the situation.

Confidentiality

We will keep all reports confidential, except if we've discussed with you and agreed otherwise. 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, and do not want us to share the details of your report with anyone (including the perpetrator) please let us know explicitly in your report. Unfortunately, in that situation we will not be able to take any action.

In some cases we may decide to share an update about a major incident with Recursers currently at RC, or with the entire RC community. If that's the case, the identities of all victims and reporters will remain confidential unless those individuals instruct us otherwise.

Social rules

In addition to having a code of conduct, we have four lightweight social rules. The social rules are different and separate from the code of conduct. They help us create a better learning environment by giving names to counterproductive behavior and acting as a release valve so that frustration doesn't build up over time. We expect people to unintentionally break the social rules from time to time. Doing this doesn't make you a bad person or a bad Recurser. When this happens, it's not a big deal. Just apologize and move on.

The enforcement provisions in this code of conduct do not apply to the social rules. We definitely won't give you a strong warning or expel you from the RC community just for breaking a social rule.

If you have any questions about any part of the code of conduct or social rules, please reach out to any RC faculty member.

How we developed the code of conduct

We arrived at these policies by a combination of:

• Listening to feedback and suggestions we've heard from Recursers over many years, both in person and in exit surveys
• Reading the codes of conduct of other organizations we find to be thoughtful
• Considering how we've handled instances of unacceptable behavior in the past

Other things that don’t fit in to the code of conduct

When to seek help immediately

Instead of filling out a code of conduct violation report, please contact law enforcement (call 911) directly to report criminal activity (e.g. physical assault, sexual assault, theft), or to report a dangerous physical situation (e.g. fire, serious injury, fear that someone will hurt themselves or someone else).

Contact an RC faculty member by phone if there are urgent problems with the space (e.g. if the space is flooding).

Sleeping in the space

Sleeping in the space is not allowed. You may take a quick nap at RC, but do not sleep here overnight—this puts RC at risk legally. Please reach out to the RC faculty in person or over email if you notice someone sleeping in the space, or if you or someone else at RC needs help finding housing.

Getting help

If you or someone else at RC is struggling and needs help, don’t hesitate to reach out to the RC faculty in person or over email. We also maintain a list of mental health resources that might be helpful to Recursers.

License

The RC code of conduct is available under the terms of the CC0 license.

Parts of it are based on the !!Con Code of Conduct, the PyCon 2013 Code of Conduct, and the example conference anti-harassment policy on the Geek Feminism Wiki, created by the Ada Initiative and other volunteers.

The !!Con Code of Conduct and the Geek Feminism conference anti-harassment policy are available under the terms of the CC0 license. The PyCon 2013 Code of Conduct is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.