What is the Code of Conduct?

Code of Conduct is a series of guidelines that define what we can do and what we should do within a community, like a open source project.

Why we need the Code of Conduct?

First of all, in an open-source project, the primary and fundamental function of a Code of Conduct is to drive the project forward. In such projects, it is never just one person handling everything alone—collaboration is essential. The presence of a Code of Conduct helps create an efficient development environment, ensuring effective collaboration, clear communication, and open knowledge sharing, among other benefits.

Second, from a cultural perspective, a Code of Conduct does more than just enhance efficiency—it also fosters a more inclusive development environment. It enables people from diverse backgrounds, cultures, and perspectives to work together harmoniously, driving development of technologies forward.

Three Samples of how the Code of Conduct works

1. Go Project
   The Code of Conduct for the Go Project follows one of the most widely adopted code of conduct, the Contributor Covenant, which sets clear expectation for how members should interact. What’s more, it has a well-defined Code of Conduct that ensures a respectful and inclusive community, based on what they call-Gopher Values, including friendly,patient, respectful, charitable, constructive, and responsible. It enforces community members to share ideas and contribute to the project in a respectful and understanding way.

2. Sugar Lab
   The Code of Conduct for Sugar Lab is a bit differ from previous project. While respecting and understanding others, Sugar Labs places a stronger emphasis on community-oriented enforcement, such as coherance and learning.
3. Blender
   The Code of Conduct for Blender is much more complex than the former ones. The reason is that it covers several sections, each specifying different functions within the Blender Foundation. It includes distinct codes of conduct for Blender Foundation members, developers, contributors, and other stakeholders. These different sections ensure that all participants comply with the community’s values while engaging in their respective roles.

A video that clarify how it works in detail

How to Drive Consensus & Transparency in OpenSource COmmunities - Jill Lovato & Trishan de Lanerolle. The video discusses the importance of communication and provides examples from various perspectives. I think the section on empathy is particularly important because it reminds us that this is a community, not a single-person project. While we work to unite the efforts of others, we also need to understand and embrace each other.