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<!--#include virtual="/server/header.html" -->
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<title>GNU Kind Communications Guidelines
- GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title>
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<h2>GNU Kind Communications Guidelines</h2>
<address class="byline">by
<a href="http://www.stallman.org/">Richard Stallman</a></address>
<hr class="thin" />
<div class="article">
<h3>Purpose</h3>
<p>The GNU Project encourages contributions from anyone who wishes to
advance the development of the GNU system, regardless of gender, race,
ethnic group, physical appearance, religion, cultural background, and
any other demographic characteristics, as well as personal political
views.</p>
<p>People are sometimes discouraged from participating in GNU
development because of certain patterns of communication that strike
them as unfriendly, unwelcoming, rejecting, or harsh. This
discouragement particularly affects members of disprivileged
demographics, but it is not limited to them. Therefore, we ask all
contributors to make a conscious effort, in GNU Project discussions,
to communicate in ways that avoid that outcome—to avoid
practices that will predictably and unnecessarily risk putting some
contributors off.</p>
<p>These guidelines suggest specific ways to accomplish that goal.</p>
<h3>Guidelines</h3>
<ul>
<li>Please assume other participants are posting in good faith, even if
you disagree with what they say. When people present code or text as
their own work, please accept it as their work. Please do not
criticize people for wrongs that you only speculate they may have
done; stick to what they actually say and actually do.</li>
<li>Please think about how to treat other participants with respect,
especially when you disagree with them. For instance, call them by the
names they use, and honor their preferences about their gender
identity<a href="#f1">[1]</a>.</li>
<li>Please do not take a harsh tone towards other participants, and
especially don't make personal attacks against them. Go out of your
way to show that you are criticizing a statement, not a person.</li>
<li>Please recognize that criticism of your statements is not a
personal attack on you. If you feel that someone has attacked you, or
offended your personal dignity, please don't “hit back”
with another personal attack. That tends to start a vicious circle of
escalating verbal aggression. A private response, politely stating
your feelings <em>as feelings</em>, and asking for peace, may calm
things down. Write it, set it aside for hours or a day, revise it to
remove the anger, and only then send it.</li>
<li>Please avoid statements about the presumed typical desires,
capabilities or actions of some demographic group. They can offend
people in that group, and they are always off-topic in GNU Project
discussions.</li>
<li>Please be especially kind to other contributors when saying they
made a mistake. Programming means making lots of mistakes, and we all
do so—this is why regression tests are useful. Conscientious
programmers make mistakes, and then fix them. It is helpful to show
contributors that being imperfect is normal, so we don't hold it
against them, and that we appreciate their imperfect contributions
though we hope they follow through by fixing any problems in them.</li>
<li>Likewise, be kind when pointing out to other contributors that they
should stop using certain nonfree software. For their own sake, they
ought to free themselves, but we welcome their contributions to our
software packages even if they don't do that. So these reminders
should be gentle and not too frequent—don't nag.
<p>By contrast, to suggest that others run a nonfree program opposes
the basic principles of GNU, so it is not allowed in GNU Project
discussions.</p>
</li>
<li>Please respond to what people actually said, not to exaggerations
of their views. Your criticism will not be constructive if it is aimed
at a target other than their real views.</li>
<li>If in a discussion someone brings up a tangent to the topic at
hand, please keep the discussion on track by focusing on the current
topic rather than the tangent. This is not to say that the tangent is
bad, or not interesting to discuss—only that it shouldn't
interfere with discussion of the issue at hand. In most cases, it is
also off-topic, so those interested ought to discuss it somewhere
else.
<p>If you think the tangent is an important and pertinent issue,
please bring it up as a separate discussion, with a Subject field to
fit, and consider waiting for the end of the current discussion.</p>
</li>
<li>Rather than trying to have the last word, look for the times when
there is no need to reply, perhaps because you already made the
relevant point clear enough. If you know something about the game of
Go, this analogy might clarify that: when the other player's move is not
strong enough to require a direct response, it is advantageous to give
it none and instead move elsewhere.</li>
<li>Please don't argue unceasingly for your preferred course of action
when a decision for some other course has already been made. That
tends to block the activity's progress.</li>
<li>If others have irritated you, perhaps by disregarding these
guidelines, please don't excoriate them, and especially please don't
hold a grudge against them. The constructive approach is to
encourage and help other people to do better. When they are trying
to learn to do better, please give them plenty of chances.</li>
<li>If other participants complain about the way you express your
ideas, please make an effort to cater to them. You can find ways to
express the same points while making others more comfortable. You are
more likely to persuade others if you don't arouse ire about secondary
things.</li>
<li>Please don't raise unrelated political issues in GNU Project
discussions, because they are off-topic. The only political positions
that the GNU Project endorses are (1) that users should have control
of their own computing (for instance, through free software) and (2)
supporting basic human rights in computing. We don't require you as a
contributor to agree with these two points, but you do need to accept
that our decisions will be based on them.</li>
</ul>
<p>By making an effort to follow these guidelines, we will encourage
more contribution to our projects, and our discussions will be
friendlier and reach conclusions more easily.</p>
</div>
<h3 style="font-size:1.1em">Footnote</h3>
<ol>
<li id="f1">
<p>Honoring people's preferences about gender identity includes
not referring to them in ways that conflict with that identity,
and using specific pronouns for it when those exist. If you
know someone wishes to be considered male, it is best to use
the masculine pronouns for him. If you know someone wishes to
be considered female, it is best to use the feminine pronouns
for her. Otherwise, use gender-neutral pronouns, since at
least they don't conflict with anyone's gender identity. One
choice is singular use of “they,”
“them” and “their.” Another choice uses
the gender-neutral singular pronouns, “person,”
“per” and “pers,” which are used in
<a href="/prep/maintain/maintain.html#About-This-Document">
Information for Maintainers of GNU Software</a>.
Other gender-neutral pronouns have also been used in English.
</p>
</li>
</ol>
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