Community Interaction

The Florete project builds technology and community. These guidelines articulate how we work together, balancing three core principles.

Our promise: we'll invest as much in making the Florete project a great place to work as we invest in making it great software to use.

Our Principles

Open Source & Hacker Ethics

We are here to build excellent software in an open manner. This common basis produces our shared ethics, which is expressed in the Open Source Principles of our Project Charter. Repeating them here:

Respect for Diverse Personal Beliefs

We recognize that people hold strong, diverse opinions on sensitive matters such as politics and personal relationships. We do not require everyone to unite under a single "common ground" or impose a specific ethical framework - we require separation of concerns.

We do not take a stance on social or moral issues and do not judge your life outside the community. This principle is inspired by the incident involving Brendan Eich and Mozilla, where a founder and valuable contributor was expelled for personal political views that were not even expressed within the community.

We explicitly build a community that respects diverse opinions. You may hold and support any belief system, but you are not allowed to discuss, promote, or express non-technical opinions within the Florete community. You are free to pursue your political goals elsewhere.

Contribution and Teamwork Climate

As a contributor or maintainer, you are highly valued. However, this does not grant you the right to be toxic to your colleagues or others in the community.

We are committed to maintaining a professional and warm climate within our team. This means we will carefully investigate conflicts in the community where you're affected, aiming to solve the root causes and restore harmonious working conditions.

We acknowledge that conflicts are a normal part of group dynamics and may arise from issues such as power struggles or miscommunication. We are committed to monitoring these dynamics and addressing issues constructively, for example, by implementing clear delegation of areas of responsibility.

We are prepared to involve external, independent mediators and psychologists to support our teamwork when necessary.

Putting Principles into Practice

For Everyone

• Technical focus: keep all project communications (issues, PRs, chats) focused on technical matters
• Assume good intent: interpret others' technical critiques as attempts to improve the work, not personal attacks
• Escalate constructively: if you feel uncomfortable, approach a maintainer privately before reacting publicly

For Maintainers

• Model the standard: exemplify technical focus and professional respect
• Monitor team health: watch for patterns, not just incidents
• Utilize resources: engage psychologist/mediator early, not as last resort

Conflict Resolution Process

1. Private conversation: involved parties discuss with a neutral maintainer
2. Clarify context: identify whether issue is technical, interpersonal, or structural
3. Professional facilitation: if needed, external mediator joins to help find resolution
4. Structural adjustments: modify roles, processes, or communication patterns as needed
5. Follow-up: check in to ensure resolution is working

Last Resort Measures

We aim to preserve every valuable contributor. However, if after professional mediation someone:

• Repeatedly violates technical-focus boundary after clear warnings
• Actively sabotages team cohesion despite intervention
• Engages in verifiable harassment or abuse

...they may be asked to leave. This decision requires consensus among maintainers and is always accompanied by transparent reasoning (respecting privacy boundaries).