Foundation/Local Chapters/United States/Code of Conduct Committee/ModerationProcess

Process for Moderation

If you believe someone has violated the Code of Conduct (CoC), we ask that you report it to OpenStreetMap US Governance Committee by emailing governance@openstreetmap.us [[1]]. All reports will be kept confidential. In some cases we may determine that a public statement will need to be made. If that's the case, the identities of all victims and reporters will remain confidential unless those individuals instruct us otherwise.

If you are unsure whether the incident is a violation, or whether the space where it happened is covered by this Code of Conduct, we encourage you to still report it. We will accept any complaint made in good faith. We would much rather have a few extra good-faith reports where we decide to take no action, rather than miss a report of an actual violation. We do not look negatively on you if we find the incident is not a violation. And knowing about incidents that are not violations, or happen outside our spaces, can also help us to improve the Code of Conduct or the processes surrounding it.

If you feel you have experienced a CoC violation but you do not want the Governance Committee to take immediate action, you may report a complaint and specify “No Action”. If the Governance Committee receives multiple “No Action” complaints about an individual’s behavior, it may contact the reporters to inform them and ask if they would like to escalate the incidents for moderation.

In your report please include:

• Your contact info (so we can get in touch with you if we need to follow up)
• Names (real, nicknames, or pseudonyms) of any individuals involved. If there were other witnesses besides you, please try to include them as well
• When and where the incident occurred. Please be as specific as possible
• Your account of what occurred. If there is a publicly available record (e.g. Slack or a Github ticket), please include a link
• Any extra context you believe existed for the incident
• If you believe this incident is ongoing
• Any other information you believe we should have
• Optional: You may specify that you do not want the Governance Committee to take action

What happens after you file a report?

You will receive an email from the Governance Committee acknowledging receipt. We promise to acknowledge receipt within 24 hours (and will aim for much quicker than that).

The Governance Committee will seek additional information and meet as soon as possible to review the incident to determine:

• What happened
• Whether this event constitutes a code of conduct violation
• Whether this is an ongoing situation, or if there is a threat to anyone's physical safety
• Warnings and actions to take

If this is determined to be an ongoing incident or a threat to physical safety, the Committee’s immediate priority will be to protect everyone involved. This means we may delay an "official" response until we believe that the situation has ended and that everyone is physically safe.

Once the Governance Committee has a complete account of the events they will make a decision as to how to respond. Responses may include:

• Nothing (if we determine no violation occurred)
• A private reprimand from the Governance Committee to the individual(s) involved
• A public reprimand
• An imposed vacation (i.e. asking someone to "take a week off" from a mailing list or Slack)
• A permanent or temporary ban from some or all OpenStreetMap US spaces (mailing lists, Slack, etc.)
• A request for a public or private apology
• Sanctioning or expelling conference or event participants from the event without a refund, at the discretion of the conference organizers

We'll respond within one week to the person who filed the report with either a resolution or a status update and accompanying explanation of why the situation is not yet resolved.

Once the situation is resolved, the Committee will make a report on the situation to the OpenStreetMap US Board & Executive Director.

What if your report concerns a possible violation by a Committee member?

If your report concerns a current member of the Governance Committee, we understand you may not feel comfortable sending your report to the committee, as all members will see the report. In that case, you can make a report directly to a different Committee member, an OpenStreetMap US Board member, or the OpenStreetMap US Executive Director. Their names are listed on the Governance Committee page and all members are available individually through the OSM-US Slack. They will follow the usual enforcement process with the other members, but will exclude the member(s) that the report concerns from any discussion or decision making.

If your report concerns all current members of the Committee, please send your report directly to the OpenStreetMap US Board or Executive Director instead.

Reconsideration

Any of the parties directly involved or affected can request reconsideration of the Committee’s decision. To make such a request, appeal to the Committee within one week of the decision and the OpenStreetMap US Board will convene to review the case.