San Diego Digital Designers

Code of Conduct

The San Diego Digital Designers community is dedicated to providing a fun and harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of ability, origin, or identity.

1. Purpose

A primary goal of San Diego Digital Designers (SDDD) is to be inclusive to the largest number of contributors, with the most varied and diverse backgrounds possible. As such, we are committed to providing a friendly, safe and welcoming environment for all, regardless of gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, mental illness, neuro(a)typicality, physical appearance, pregnancy status, veteran status, political affiliation, marital status, body size, age, race, national origin, ethnic origin, nationality, immigration status, language, religion or lack thereof, or other identity marker..

We do not tolerate harassment of participants in any form.

The people most affected by harassing or assaulting behavior tend to be in the minority and are less likely to be visible. Sadly, the occurrence of these incidents is high.

An easy way to begin addressing this problem is to be overt in our openness, welcoming all people to contribute, and pledging in return to value them as human beings and to foster an atmosphere of kindness, cooperation, and understanding. This Code of Conduct is a way to express those values.

A Code of Conduct does not necessarily stop all poor behavior, in much the same way that establishing laws don't necessarily stop people from breaking them. A code of conduct lays the ground rules and notifies both bad actors as well as the people at the receiving end of that behavior that there are consequences for those actions. A Code of Conduct helps by signaling that community participants should trust that the community will respond appropriately should a report be made.

This code of conduct outlines our expectations for all those who participate in our community, as well as the consequences for unacceptable behavior.

We invite all those who participate in SDDD to help us create safe and positive experiences for everyone.

2. Citizenship

A supplemental goal of this Code of Conduct is to increase open culture citizenship by encouraging participants to recognize and strengthen the relationships between our actions and their effects on our community.

Communities mirror the societies in which they exist and positive action is essential to counteract the many forms of inequality and abuses of power that exist in society.

If you see someone who is making an extra effort to ensure our community is welcoming, friendly, and encourages all participants to contribute to the fullest extent, we want to know.

3. Expected behavior

The following behaviors are expected and requested of all community members:

  • Show empathy towards other community members

  • Use welcoming and inclusive language

  • Be respectful of differing viewpoints and experiences

  • Gracefully accept constructive criticism

  • Focus on what is best for the overall community

  • Participate in an authentic and active way; in doing so, you contribute to the health and longevity of this community.

  • Exercise consideration and respect in your speech and actions

  • Attempt collaboration before conflict

  • Be mindful of your surroundings and of your fellow participants; alert community leaders if you notice a dangerous situation, someone in distress, or violations of this Code of Conduct, even if they seem inconsequential

  • Remember that community event venues may be shared with members of the public; please be respectful to all patrons of these locations

4. Unacceptable behavior

The following behaviors are considered harassment and are unacceptable within our community:

  • Offensive comments related to gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, mental illness, neuro(a)typicality, physical appearance, pregnancy status, veteran status, political affiliation, marital status, body size, age, race, national origin, ethnic origin, nationality, immigration status, language, religion or lack thereof, or other identity marker, including anti-Indigenous/Nativeness and anti-Blackness.

  • Unwelcome comments regarding a person’s lifestyle choices and practices, including those related to food, health, parenting, relationships, drugs, and employment

  • Deliberate misgendering, using inappropriate pronouns, or use of “dead” or rejected names

  • Gratuitous or off-topic sexual images or behavior in spaces where they’re not appropriate

  • Physical contact and simulated physical contact (eg, textual descriptions like “hug” or “backrub”) without consent or after a request to stop

  • Threats of violence

  • Incitement of violence towards any individual or group, including encouraging a person to commit suicide or to engage in self-harm

  • Deliberate intimidation

  • Stalking or trackingfollowing – online or in the physical world, including logging or researching online or offline activity for harassment purposes for (example contacting people through private means like their cell phone or home address without their explicit invitation to do so).

  • Harassing photography or recording, including logging online activity for harassment purposes

  • Sustained disruption of discussion, or disregard of the topics intrinsic to San Diego Digital Designers (that is: San Diego, and the practice of design for digital media).

  • Unwelcome sexual attention.

  • Patterns of inappropriate social contact, such as requesting/assuming inappropriate levels of intimacy with others.

  • Continued one-on-one communication after requests to cease.

  • Deliberate “outing” or doxxing of any aspect of a person’s identity without their consent except as necessary to protect vulnerable people from intentional abuse.

  • Publication of non-harassing private communication.

  • Jokes that resemble the above, such as ‘hipster racism’, still count as harassment even if meant satirically or ironically.

If you have questions or concerns about these issues please feel free to message an admin (see section 6).

5. Weapons policy

No weapons will be allowed at SDDD events, community spaces, or in other spaces covered by the scope of this Code of Conduct. Weapons include but are not limited to guns, explosives (including fireworks), and large knives such as those used for hunting or display, as well as any other item used for the purpose of causing injury or harm to others. Anyone seen in possession of one of these items will be asked to leave immediately, and will only be allowed to return without the weapon. Community members are further expected to comply with all state and local laws on this matter.

6. Reporting

If you are being harassed by a member of our community, notice that someone else is being harassed, or have any other concerns, please contact one or more people on the CoC Committee:

The committee member(s) will respond to any complaint as promptly as possible. If you do not get a timely response then please put your personal safety and well-being first, and contact lee@cozy.es.

Whether by Slack or email, please include:

  • Contact information for the reporter

  • Names of all people involved, if known

  • When and where it happened

  • What happened

  • Any additional context

  • Is it ongoing?

This code of conduct applies to our community’s spaces, but if you are being harassed by a member of our community outside our spaces, we still want to know about it. We will take all good-faith reports of harassment by our members, especially the administrators, seriously. This includes harassment outside our spaces and harassment that took place at any point in time. The abuse team reserves the right to exclude people from the community based on their past behavior, including behavior outside of our spaces and behavior towards people who are not in this Slack.

In order to protect volunteers from abuse and burnout, we reserve the right to reject any report we believe to have been made in bad faith. Reports intended to silence legitimate criticism may be deleted without response.

Admins will not participate in adjudicating in cases involving themselves.

7. Enforcement process

Every code of conduct violation report will be treated with seriousness and care. If a member’s immediate safety and security is threatened, an individual admin may take any action that they deem appropriate, up to and including temporarily banning the offender from the community. In less urgent situations, an admin will discuss the offense and arrive at a suitable response, which will be shared with the offender privately. Whatever the resolution that they decide upon, the decision of the admin(s) involved in a violation case will be considered final.

We will respect confidentiality requests for the purpose of protecting victims of abuse. At our discretion, we may publicly name a person about whom we’ve received harassment complaints, or privately warn third parties about them, IF we believe that doing so will increase the safety of our members or the general public. We will not name harassment victims without their affirmative consent.

8. Consequences

Participants asked to stop any harassing behavior are expected to comply immediately. If a participant engages in harassing behavior, the administrators may take any action they deem appropriate, up to and including expulsion from the community and identification of the participant as a harasser to other members. At the discretion of the admins, or by request, one or more of the parties involved may request to discuss the violation and how to avoid similar situations in the future.

9. Scope

We expect all community participants (contributors, paid or otherwise; sponsors; and other guests) to abide by this Code of Conduct in all community venues — online and in-person — as well as in all one-on-one communications pertaining to community business.

This code of conduct and its related procedures also applies to unacceptable behavior occurring outside the scope of community activities when such behavior has the potential to adversely affect the safety and well-being of community members.

10. Acknowledgements

Portions of text derived from: