FluConf is a tech conference premised on the notion that all technology is inherently political. While we aim to provide an inclusive atmosphere, we acknowledge that not all political philosophies can coexist. We hold that mutual tolerance is a social contract, and that it is thoroughly justified to exclude those who promote bigotry.
We reserve the right to unceremoniously remove individuals from spaces we moderate on the basis of their speech or behaviour. Many bigots are capable of restraining themselves in such spaces while continuing to promote bigotry elsewhere. We reserve the right to take action in such cases as well.
Reporting violations
Violations to the policies outlined below can be reported by email to Aaron MacSween via:
We recommend including:
- your contact information
- identifying information of the individuals involved in the incident
- a description of the behaviour that was in violation and its surrounding context
- where and when the incident occurred
- whether the incident is ongoing
- if there is a publicly available record
- any additional information
You won't be asked to confront anyone, you will not be left alone, and all reports will be handled with discretion. Reports of violations of our code of conduct will be treated as highly sensitive information, with all details archived offline on encrypted disks to reduce the risk of a future data breach.
We will do our best to limit the risk of retribution for reporting violations, primarily by attempting to address reports in a manner that preserves the anonymity of those who submitted them. In cases where this may not be possible, such as if the offending behaviour occurred in a one-to-one chat, we will attempt to discuss our intended response with the affected individual(s) before proceeding.
Enforcement
Actions we may take to enforce this code include but are not limited to:
- keeping a detailed record of the incident for posterity
- asking the offending party to stop or adjust their behaviour immediately
- asking anyone to leave contexts governed by our code, either temporarily, for the remainder of the event, or permanently
- forcefully removing anyone from our online spaces and revoking future access where relevant
- communicating to participants to remind them of our code to reinforce expectations for acceptable behaviour, possibly as a public announcement
- communicating to participants that an incident has occurred and how we have responded, either to assist with enforcing any actions we may take or to solicit further reports concerning related or similar incidents
- reporting violations of our code to relevant organizations, including the offender's employer if they are attending in a professional capacity
- immediately suspending access or removing offenders from our own organizing team, if they contributed to the incident
- supporting affected individuals by corroborating their account of the incident should they wish to report it elsewhere
Our policies
Broadly unacceptable behaviour
Examples of inexcusable behaviour include, but will not necessarily be limited to discrimination based on:
- race, ethnicity, or appearance
- gender identity and expression
- sex or sexual orientation
- disability or neurodivergence
- national origin, immigration status, or linguistic ability
- social and economic class or caste
- age or educational level
- family status or religion
Likewise, we will not tolerate any harassment, which includes:
- deliberate intimidation, stalking, or following
- posting, or threatening to post other people's personally identifying information ("doxing")
- spamming, trolling, or similarly disruptive behaviour
- unwelcome sexual attention
Since FluConf is intended as an online event, these policies are largely geared towards behaviour in digital spaces. That said, our goal is to ensure the comfort and psychological safety of our community, and we will consider harassment in other contexts as sufficient justifation for removal from spaces we moderate.
On inclusive and non-normative language
We recognize that many patterns of discrimination are systemic and engrained into unconscious behaviours. There are many well-established terms, words, or phrases in "tech culture" which are rooted in or associated with colonialism, fascism, eugenics, or other forms of oppression. We don't expect everyone to know the entire history of every word they use, however, we do expect a willingness to move beyond them, especially if another term would convey the same meaning.
In the event a specific term or phrase is highlighted as having such an association, we expect participants to take the information as a constructive critique rather than a personal attack.
Inclusive language is often regarded as a set of words that can be easily substituted, however, sometimes it may require challenging more complex systemic power structures. For instance, some who hold positions of significant influence in the FOSS ecosystem are fond of the belief that their social structure is a pure meritocracy. While there's some appeal to the notion of ideas standing purely on their own validity, meritocracy is very often interpreted retroactively to justify the status quo, conveniently ignoring the injustices that might have led to it. Again, we expect participants to be willing to reexamine their biases when presented with different perspectives, and to engage respectfully.
On tone policing
Slang and coarse language are sometimes used in bad taste, but the distinction varies by culture, and allegations of an unpleasant tone are often leveraged against marginalized people to silence their protests. We expect some degree of overlap between professional and personal topics in computing. That said, FluConf is intended as a somewhat casual event, and we encourage participants to communicate in their own voice provided it does not violate the other terms of this document.
On personal boundaries
We expect participants to respect one another's boundaries. Unwanted contact, including ban, block, or mute evasion, excessive replies without response, unsolicited DMs without prior contact, or contact after another person has requested that you stop will be considered harassment and will be dealt with accordingly.
On privacy
Our privacy policy details the strict standards with which we will treat the data related to participants of FluConf. We expect participants to afford each other a certain amount of privacy in spaces that we moderate as well.
Communication in semi-public contexts like our IRC channel are to be treated as essentially private between the members of that context unless they provide explicit consent.
On giving credit
A naive response to our privacy requirements might involve simply redacting participants' names from discussions before sharing them in other contexts. While this could be done with the best of intentions, it can also have an unintended side-effect of depriving our prospective community members of credit for their contributions, or worse, giving the impression that it was somebody else's contribution entirely.
In the interest of fostering an environment in which our community feels comfortable voicing their opinions, we will have a general expectation that participants also ask for explicit consent when summarizing discussions for other contexts. This will allow the relevant individuals to indicate how they would like to be attributed, or if they would prefer to remain anonymous.
On pseudoscience and grifts
Given that FluConf is organized in response to insufficient regard for public health, it is worth mentioning that we are opposed to scientific misinformation and disinformation. Not everything in life needs to be justified with rigorous scientific studies, however, we will remove dangerous rhetoric like anti-vaccine conspiracies, pandemic minimization, climate change denial, and related pseudoscience.
For the purposes of this code of conduct, climate change denial includes any advocacy for power intensive software that does not explicitly seek to address that problem (e.g. large language models or cryptocurrency). Please see our AI use policy for further guidance.
On participation by government agents
Because we aim to provide an environment conducive to our community's psychological safety we do not welcome those who are employed as agents, contractors, or collaborators with law enforcement, military, or intelligence agencies.