Code of Conduct

TL;DR

• Treat everyone with respect and kindness.
• Be thoughtful in how you communicate.
• Don’t be destructive or inflammatory.
• If you encounter an issue, please mail conduct@afnom.net

Why do we have a Code of Conduct?

AFiniteNumberOfMonkeys’ community includes people from many different backgrounds. We are committed to providing a friendly, safe, and welcoming environment for all, regardless of age, disability, gender, nationality, race, religion, sexuality, or similar personal characteristic.

The first goal of the Code of Conduct is to specify a baseline standard of behaviour so that people with different social values and communication styles can communicate effectively, productively, and respectfully.

The second goal is to provide a mechanism for resolving conflicts in the community when they arise.

The third goal of the Code of Conduct is to make our community welcoming to people from different backgrounds. Diversity is critical in order for us to build a thriving community; for AFNOM to be successful, it needs hackers from all backgrounds.

With that said, a healthy community must allow for disagreement and debate. The Code of Conduct is not a mechanism for people to silence others with whom they disagree. We value diverse opinions, but we value respectful behaviour more.

Where does the Code of Conduct apply?

If you join in or contribute to the AFNOM ecosystem in any way, you are encouraged to follow the Code of Conduct while doing so. By ‘member’ we therefore refer to any person engaging with the society, in any capacity (e.g. visitor, event attendee, Discord lurker, etc).

Explicit enforcement of the Code of Conduct applies to all official AFNOM meetings and events, both in-person and online, including:

• The Discord server
• The Twitter account
• The Club Meetings (hacking sessions)
• The Social Meetings (Pub)
• Any event (e.g. CTF, lightning talks), run in-person or on any platform, as necessary (e.g. Zoom, Jitsi, YouTube streams)
• The GitLab projects

AFNOM Values

These are the values to which people in the AFNOM community should aspire.

Hacker Values

Be ethical

The single most important value when it comes to the object of our activities is being ethical. Any illegal, unauthorised hacking is prohibited, and if we do become aware of any of our members engaging in such behaviour we reserved the right to remove them from our community without notice.

All our community participants agree to adhere to all relevant local, national and international laws governing computer misuse and hacking. Notably, The Computer Misuse Act 1990, Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 and Serious Crime Act 2015. Our society’s spaces are not the place to brag about your illegal hacking of friends/teachers/enemies.

Be responsible

At AFNOM, we will provide you with safe, secure and isolated resources to practice various offensive security techniques and tools. Remember, it is up to you to exercise the knowledge and skills we share with you responsibly and lawfully. AFNOM will not be taken responsible for any actions undertaken with the tools or techniques explained during any of our society’s activities.

Ethical Hacking is a fun and rewarding activity, but it is important to realise the potentially devastating effects your actions may inadvertently have if penetration testing skills are used negligently.

Social Values

Be friendly and welcoming

Be patient

• Remember that people have varying communication styles and that not everyone is using their native language (meaning and tone can be lost in translation).

  Be thoughtful

• Productive communication requires effort. Think about how your words will be interpreted.
• Remember that sometimes it is best to refrain entirely from commenting.

  Be respectful

• In particular, respect differences of opinion.

  Be charitable

• Interpret the arguments of others in good faith, do not seek to disagree.
• When we do disagree, try to understand why.

  Avoid destructive behaviour:

• Derailing: stay on topic; if you want to talk about something else, start a new conversation.
• Unconstructive criticism: don’t merely condemn the current state of affairs; offer—or at least solicit—suggestions as to how things may be improved.
• Snarking (pithy, unproductive, sniping comments)
• Discussing potentially offensive or sensitive issues; this all too often leads to unnecessary conflict.
• Microaggressions: brief and commonplace verbal, behavioural, and environmental indignities that communicate hostile, derogatory or negative slights and insults to a person or group.

People are complicated. You should expect to be misunderstood and to misunderstand others; when this inevitably occurs, resist the urge to be defensive or assign blame. Try not to take offence where no offence was intended. Give people the benefit of the doubt. Even if the intent was to provoke, do not rise to it. It is the responsibility of all parties to de-escalate conflict when it arises.

Unwelcome behaviour

These actions are explicitly forbidden in AFNOM spaces:

Expressing or provoking:

• Insulting, demeaning, hateful, or threatening remarks;
• Discrimination based on age, nationality, race, (dis)ability, gender (identity or expression), sexuality, religion, or similar personal characteristic;
• Bullying or systematic harassment;
• Unwelcome sexual advances, including sexually explicit content.
• Trolling, insulting/derogatory comments, and personal or political attacks

Publishing others’ private information, such as a physical or electronic address, without explicit permission

Excessive advertisement for unnecessary or non-beneficial commercial products and services.

Posting spam-like content that disrupts the environment of the community.

Enforcement Responsibilities

Please understand that speech and actions have consequences, and unacceptable behaviour will not be tolerated. When you participate in areas where the code of conduct applies, you should act in the spirit of the “AFNOM values”. If you conduct yourself in a way that is explicitly forbidden by the Code of Conduct, you will be warned and asked to stop, and your messages may be removed. As AFNOM does not necessarily have a hierarchical structure, it is all our members’ responsibility to maintain our values and standards. Please be aware that repeated offences may result in a temporary or permanent ban from the community.

Reporting and Resolving Issues

Instances of abusive, harassing, or otherwise unacceptable behaviour may be reported to any of the root role members on Discord, or by sending an email to conduct@afnom.net. All reports will be treated confidentiality, in order to respect the privacy and security of the reporter of any incident.

As we are an open community, we will strive to have an open discussion with all our members about any issues arising, unless they are blatantly against our Code of Conduct, and could be considered harmful to our members, in which case the content will be removed without notice.

Note that the goal of our community is to resolve conflicts in the most harmonious way possible. We hope that in most cases issues may be resolved through polite discussion and mutual agreement. Bans and other forceful measures are to be employed only as a last resort.

Enforcement Guidelines

The following Community Impact Guidelines in determining the consequences for any action they deem in violation of this Code of Conduct:

1. Correction

Community Impact: Use of inappropriate language or other behaviour deemed unprofessional or unwelcome in the community.

Consequence: A private, written warning from community leaders, providing clarity around the nature of the violation and an explanation of why the behaviour was inappropriate. A public apology may be requested.

2. Warning

Community Impact: A violation through a single incident or series of actions.

Consequence: A warning with consequences for continued behaviour. No interaction with the people involved, including unsolicited interaction with those enforcing the Code of Conduct, for a specified period of time. This includes avoiding interactions in community spaces as well as external channels like social media. Violating these terms may lead to a temporary or permanent ban.

3. Temporary Ban

Community Impact: A serious violation of community standards, including sustained inappropriate behaviour.

Consequence: A temporary ban from any sort of interaction or public communication with the community for a specified period of time. No public or private interaction with the people involved, including unsolicited interaction with those enforcing the Code of Conduct, is allowed during this period. Violating these terms may lead to a permanent ban.

4. Permanent Ban

Community Impact: Demonstrating a pattern of violation of community standards, including sustained inappropriate behaviour, harassment of an individual, or aggression toward or disparagement of classes of individuals.

Consequence: A permanent ban from any sort of public interaction within the community.

Code of Conduct Changes

Changes to the AFNOM Code of Conduct should be proposed by creating an issue or making a pull request to this document.

Acknowledgements

This document was adapted from Hacker Club’s Code of Conduct. It was, in turn, adapted from Go’s Code of Conduct, which is based on Contributor Covenant, the Code of Conduct for Open Source Projects. We also adapted some of the ideas from Sheffield Ethical Student Hackers Society’s Code of Conduct.