Code of Conduct/Committee/Tenure April2018/Resolution regarding CoC presence on MediaWiki

The Code of Conduct Committee believe it is not our authority to enforce the presence or absence of CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md in the many repositories that are hosted in environments subject to the CoC. We emphasize that the CoC applies to those environments (e.g. Diffusion, Gerrit, MediaWiki, relevant GitHub repositories, etc.) whether or not the CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md file is there.

That said, we:

1. Strongly recommend the file to be kept in the root directory of the flagship code bases (such as MediaWiki core and Pywikibot).
2. Encourage all other projects in Wikimedia to maintain the file in the root directory of their project as well.
3. Remind the project maintainers that removing the file is not violating CoC, but it is obviously expected that discussions around this topic themselves are subject to CoC. Removing the files with an unconstructive commit message, or debating its removal in confrontational ways is not acceptable.

As a next step, we also suggest an amendment to the CoC itself, in which the mandatory addition of the CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md file to every project is proposed, and the larger community of users are allowed to reach a consensus on that amendment.

FAQ

• Is it the formal opinion of the Code of Conduct Committee that the code of conduct should be advertised by means of a file in the root directory of repositories hosted on Wikimedia wikis?

  A: We highly recommend using a file in root directory of repositories as a means to advertise the CoC.

• Would the Code of Conduct Committee agree that the exact filename used, the technical means of enforcement, and the code review details for automatically adding such files falls outside their scope?

  A: We believe we don’t have the authority to enforce adding this file.

• Is it acceptable for a maintainer to modify the Code of Conduct file in the repository to indicate some more nuanced policy depending on the means by which someone contributes?

  A: We advise against it, but do not consider it a violation of code of conduct. We emphasize that such removals and all discussions surrounding them should be conducted in a civil and constructive manner.

• Is it acceptable for a maintainer to remove the code of conduct file entirely, merely on the basis of repository ownership?

  A: As it is not a violation of the CoC, we leave the decision to keep or remove the file to the people who own the space. However, it is worth noting that all discussion regarding removal or adding the file falls under the CoC, regardless of the file being present in the repository or not. Discussions around adding or removing it should avoid confrontational language, personal attacks or any other type of unacceptable behavior listed in the CoC.

  Also, we would like to reiterate that the CoC applies regardless of whether the file is present in the repository, as long as development happens in Wikimedia technical spaces.