kind-communication.html (10904B)
1 <!--#include virtual="/server/header.html" --> 2 <!-- Parent-Version: 1.96 --> 3 <!-- This page is derived from /server/standards/boilerplate.html --> 4 <!--#set var="TAGS" value="essays upholding action" --> 5 <!--#set var="DISABLE_TOP_ADDENDUM" value="yes" --> 6 <title>GNU Kind Communications Guidelines 7 - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title> 8 <!--#include virtual="/philosophy/po/kind-communication.translist" --> 9 <!--#include virtual="/server/banner.html" --> 10 <!--#include virtual="/philosophy/ph-breadcrumb.html" --> 11 <!--GNUN: OUT-OF-DATE NOTICE--> 12 <!--#include virtual="/server/top-addendum.html" --> 13 <div class="article reduced-width"> 14 <h2>GNU Kind Communications Guidelines</h2> 15 16 <address class="byline">by 17 <a href="https://www.stallman.org/">Richard Stallman</a></address> 18 19 <h3>Purpose</h3> 20 21 <p>The GNU Project encourages contributions from anyone who wishes to 22 advance the development of the GNU system, regardless of gender, race, 23 ethnic group, physical appearance, religion, cultural background, and 24 any other demographic characteristics, as well as personal political 25 views.</p> 26 27 <p>People are sometimes discouraged from participating in GNU 28 development because of certain patterns of communication that strike 29 them as unfriendly, unwelcoming, rejecting, or harsh. This 30 discouragement particularly affects members of disprivileged 31 demographics, but it is not limited to them. Therefore, we ask all 32 contributors to make a conscious effort, in GNU Project discussions, 33 to communicate in ways that avoid that outcome—to avoid 34 practices that will predictably and unnecessarily risk putting some 35 contributors off.</p> 36 37 <p>These guidelines suggest specific ways to accomplish that goal.</p> 38 39 <h3>Guidelines</h3> 40 41 <ul> 42 <li>Please assume other participants are posting in good faith, even if 43 you disagree with what they say. When people present code or text as 44 their own work, please accept it as their work. Please do not 45 criticize people for wrongs that you only speculate they may have 46 done; stick to what they actually say and actually do.</li> 47 48 <li>Please think about how to treat other participants with respect, 49 especially when you disagree with them. For instance, call them by the 50 names they use, and honor their preferences about their gender 51 identity<a href="#f1">[1]</a>.</li> 52 53 <li>Please do not take a harsh tone towards other participants, and 54 especially don't make personal attacks against them. Go out of your 55 way to show that you are criticizing a statement, not a person.</li> 56 57 <li>Please recognize that criticism of your statements is not a 58 personal attack on you. If you feel that someone has attacked you, or 59 offended your personal dignity, please don't “hit back” 60 with another personal attack. That tends to start a vicious circle of 61 escalating verbal aggression. A private response, politely stating 62 your feelings <em>as feelings</em>, and asking for peace, may calm 63 things down. Write it, set it aside for hours or a day, revise it to 64 remove the anger, and only then send it.</li> 65 66 <li>Please avoid statements about the presumed typical desires, 67 capabilities or actions of some demographic group. They can offend 68 people in that group, and they are always off-topic in GNU Project 69 discussions.</li> 70 71 <li>Please be especially kind to other contributors when saying they 72 made a mistake. Programming means making lots of mistakes, and we all 73 do so—this is why regression tests are useful. Conscientious 74 programmers make mistakes, and then fix them. It is helpful to show 75 contributors that being imperfect is normal, so we don't hold it 76 against them, and that we appreciate their imperfect contributions 77 though we hope they follow through by fixing any problems in them.</li> 78 79 <li>Likewise, be kind when pointing out to other contributors that they 80 should stop using certain nonfree software. For their own sake, they 81 ought to free themselves, but we welcome their contributions to our 82 software packages even if they don't do that. So these reminders 83 should be gentle and not too frequent—don't nag. 84 85 <p>By contrast, to suggest that others run a nonfree program opposes 86 the basic principles of GNU, so it is not allowed in GNU Project 87 discussions.</p> 88 </li> 89 90 <li>Please respond to what people actually said, not to exaggerations 91 of their views. Your criticism will not be constructive if it is aimed 92 at a target other than their real views.</li> 93 94 <li>If in a discussion someone brings up a tangent to the topic at 95 hand, please keep the discussion on track by focusing on the current 96 topic rather than the tangent. This is not to say that the tangent is 97 bad, or not interesting to discuss—only that it shouldn't 98 interfere with discussion of the issue at hand. In most cases, it is 99 also off-topic, so those interested ought to discuss it somewhere 100 else. 101 102 <p>If you think the tangent is an important and pertinent issue, 103 please bring it up as a separate discussion, with a Subject field to 104 fit, and consider waiting for the end of the current discussion.</p> 105 </li> 106 107 <li>Rather than trying to have the last word, look for the times when 108 there is no need to reply, perhaps because you already made the 109 relevant point clear enough. If you know something about the game of 110 Go, this analogy might clarify that: when the other player's move is not 111 strong enough to require a direct response, it is advantageous to give 112 it none and instead move elsewhere.</li> 113 114 <li>Please don't argue unceasingly for your preferred course of action 115 when a decision for some other course has already been made. That 116 tends to block the activity's progress.</li> 117 118 <li>If others have irritated you, perhaps by disregarding these 119 guidelines, please don't excoriate them, and especially please don't 120 hold a grudge against them. The constructive approach is to 121 encourage and help other people to do better. When they are trying 122 to learn to do better, please give them plenty of chances.</li> 123 124 <li>If other participants complain about the way you express your 125 ideas, please make an effort to cater to them. You can find ways to 126 express the same points while making others more comfortable. You are 127 more likely to persuade others if you don't arouse ire about secondary 128 things.</li> 129 130 <li>Please don't raise unrelated political issues in GNU Project 131 discussions, because they are off-topic. The only political positions 132 that the GNU Project endorses are (1) that users should have control 133 of their own computing (for instance, through free software) and (2) 134 supporting basic human rights in computing. We don't require you as a 135 contributor to agree with these two points, but you do need to accept 136 that our decisions will be based on them.</li> 137 </ul> 138 139 <p>By making an effort to follow these guidelines, we will encourage 140 more contribution to our projects, and our discussions will be 141 friendlier and reach conclusions more easily.</p> 142 <div class="column-limit"></div> 143 144 <h3 class="footnote">Footnote</h3> 145 146 <ol> 147 <li id="f1"> 148 <p>Honoring people's preferences about gender identity includes 149 not referring to them in ways that conflict with that identity, 150 and using specific pronouns for it when those exist. If you 151 know someone wishes to be considered male, it is best to use 152 the masculine pronouns for him. If you know someone wishes to 153 be considered female, it is best to use the feminine pronouns 154 for her. Otherwise, use gender-neutral pronouns, since at 155 least they don't conflict with anyone's gender identity. One 156 choice is singular use of “they,” 157 “them” and “their.” Another choice uses 158 the gender-neutral singular pronouns, “person,” 159 “per” and “pers,” which are used in 160 <a href="/prep/maintain/maintain.html#About-This-Document"> 161 Information for Maintainers of GNU Software</a>. 162 Other gender-neutral pronouns have also been used in English. 163 </p> 164 </li> 165 </ol> 166 </div> 167 168 </div><!-- for id="content", starts in the include above --> 169 <!--#include virtual="/server/footer.html" --> 170 <div id="footer" role="contentinfo"> 171 <div class="unprintable"> 172 173 <p>Please send general FSF & GNU inquiries to 174 <a href="mailto:gnu@gnu.org"><gnu@gnu.org></a>. 175 There are also <a href="/contact/">other ways to contact</a> 176 the FSF. 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