2021:Friendly space policy
Friendly space policy for Wikimedia Foundation events
Friendly Space Policy
Introduction
The Wikimania organizing team is dedicated to providing a harassment-free space and experience for everyone, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability, physical appearance, age, race, ethnicity, political affiliation, national origin, or religion—and not limited to these aspects. We do not tolerate any form of harassment of conference participants. Sexual language and imagery is not appropriate for any conference space or talks. Any participants violating these rules may be sanctioned or expelled from the conference at the discretion of the conference organisers.
Participation guidelines
The organising team is committed to offer a great experience for all participants. Therefore, we will be particularly careful about how participants behave on the online platforms that we will monitor during the event. We strongly encourage a positive and benevolent collaboration between participants, and we are also ready to limit or cancel the participation of people who are not willing to follow these guidelines.
Expected behaviour
Encourage a positive and friendly atmosphere Value each other's ideas, styles and viewpoints. Be aware that people may have different levels of knowledge, different skills and background than you. Be open to different possibilities and to being wrong. Be respectful in all interactions and communications. Be aware of your impact and how your contribution (messages, discussion, comments) may be affecting people. Before sending a message (especially a joke or criticism), take a minute to wonder if other people will feel hurt or annoyed by your message. Be direct, constructive and positive.
Respect people’s privacy and anonymity Some participants use a pseudonym and keep it distinct from their real identity. Never disclose private information about a person (real name, place of residence, family situation, sexual orientation, pictures…) without their explicit consent. Accept that people may not want to answer private questions.
Be mindful of the space you take During a discussion or in a working group, make sure that you're not the only one speaking or writing. Make sure that you leave enough space for others to participate, and encourage discussions rather than monologue. Actively encourage the participation of all attendees, especially from groups that may be under-represented in the crowd (women*, non-native speakers, newcomers).
Ask for help if needed The conference will cover a wide range of topics involving a lot of different tools, technologies, areas of knowledge. No one knows everything, and it's perfectly OK to have questions or to need help with something. Please ask for help when needed!
Help others If you have knowledge about a specific topic, or if you have this special skill of being able to find documentation even when it's well hidden, then please help others. Helping doesn't mean doing the work for them: you can point to useful documentation, answer questions, suggest workarounds.
Behaviour that will not be tolerated
The organising team will be especially careful about the following areas and can make the decision of temporarily or completely banning participants whose behaviour is considered harmful for others.
Harassment This includes, among other things, offensive statements about gender, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance such as physique, ethnicity or belief, representations of a sexual nature, conscious intimidation, stalking, persecution, unwanted photography or recording, repeated disruption of lectures and other events, undesirable physical Contact and unwanted sexual attention. People who are warned about such behaviour must stop it immediately.
Violence and Threats of Violence Violence and threats of violence are not acceptable - online or offline. This includes incitement of violence toward any individual, including encouraging a person to commit self-harm. This also includes posting or threatening to post other people’s personally identifying information ("doxxing") online.
Personal Attacks Conflicts will inevitably arise, but frustration should never turn into a personal attack. It is not okay to insult, demean or belittle others. Attacking someone for their opinions, beliefs and ideas is not acceptable.
Unwelcome Sexual Attention This includes comments, jokes or imagery in interactions of a sexual nature, communications or presentation materials, as well as sexual images or text. Simulated physical contact (such as emojis like "kiss") without affirmative consent is not acceptable.
Unwanted content Posting content, pictures or links that have nothing to do with the current topic. Repeatedly posting content, pictures on link about a topic that no one asked for. Promote repeatedly a specific opinion, medium, tool or project without being asked. This also includes: asking several times the same question after other participants tried to answer, asking very general questions that are not directly related to projects people are working on, calling out people asking for their opinion about a specific topic.
Get some support/help
We will have a group of designated people who will monitor the chat and discussion areas to ensure that the policy outlined here is adhered to. They will have the ability to remove those violating the policy from comment sections, pads, and any other discussion areas under the control of the conference team. They will also have the ability to permanently ban anyone who clearly and/or persistently violates the policy.
If you feel uncomfortable during the event or feel that the above policies are being broken, please use the contact information specific to the event published on the Help page.