XEP-0458: Community Code of Conduct

This document describes the XMPP Standard Foundation's Code of Conduct
Dave Cridland
© 1999 – 2021 XMPP Standards Foundation. SEE LEGAL NOTICES.


NOTICE: This Procedural document proposes that the process or activity defined herein shall be followed by the XMPP Standards Foundation (XSF). However, this process or activity has not yet been approved by the XMPP Council and/or the XSF Board of Directors and is therefore not currently in force.
0.2.0 (2021-06-29)
Document Lifecycle
  1. Experimental
  2. Proposed
  3. Active

1. Introduction

The XMPP Standards Foundation provides a number of venues, both physical and virtual, for discussion and community activity. These include mailing lists, chatrooms, Summits, and so on. It also produces much output designed for the general public, such as the XEPs themselves, the website, and kiosks or stands at actual events. Collectively, these are the XMPP Standards Foundation Activities.

The Members of the Foundation, and the wider community of participants in the XSF Activities, are diverse in viewpoints and goals. We see this as a benefit - we wish the maximize the applicability and quality of our protocols, and therefore we wish to maximize the pool of potential participants who might offer their unique viewpoints and help us reach new goals.

It makes sense that there is a Code of Conduct that applies to the behaviour we expect both of ourselves and any other community members when participating in discussions or producing that public output.

2. The Code of Conduct

2.1 Welcome

You are welcome. Ensure that you are also welcoming. We want everyone to feel welcome no matter what the colour of their skin, where they live, or where their ancestors came from. We want to welcome people from all cultures, and religions, and of all sizes and shapes. We want people to be welcome no matter their sexual identity or orientation. We want you to feel welcome no matter your level of experience or ability. And we want you to help us make everyone else feel welcomed, too.

2.2 Assume Good Faith

We are a diverse community, working often to multiple goals. We assume the best intent from each other, and do not ascribe malice. Assume that if someone is complaining about your conduct, it is because they either genuinely feel it is exclusionary to them, or they genuinely believe it is exclusionary to others - in the first instance, take it as a learning experience, correct your conduct and move on. If possible, assume, too, that bad conduct from others may derive from a misunderstanding or a lack of that learning experience rather than a deliberate attempt to exclude - in the first instance, correct them and move on. Do not, however, use this as an excuse for bad conduct or a reason to ignore it.

2.3 Pick Your Words

A small amount of effort in ensuring your words are professional and polite, and avoiding subjects and expressions that may offend, goes a long way. Humour is not a mitigating factor here.

It's often useful to limit your comments to the point you wish to make if you're unsure.

Examples of what to avoid:

2.4 Be Respectful

Disagreements are normal and common. Sometimes, the different goals we have in our shared endeavour conflict, and it is important that we are able to explain why. Criticism is essential to find the best solutions to the problems that face us. However, it is vital that while we are open and honest in our criticism, we do so with the calm respect we expect of others.

Examples of what to avoid:

2.5 Be Friendly and Supportive

We are, fundamentally, a community of people working to share technology with each other. We should be friendly toward each other, and act to support each other's efforts.

Examples of what to avoid

As a rule of thumb, if you find yourself dividing the community into an "us" and a "them", you are risking breaking this Code of Conduct.

2.6 About the Examples

The examples in this document of what not to do are intended to be just that - examples. They are not intended to be exhaustive. Many of these examples have formal definitions, either in law or elsewhere - in general, if you are reliant on such a definition to argue why your behaviour might be acceptable, you have already lost the argument.

Instead, please try to follow the spirit of this document, perhaps more so than its words.

3. Governing Principles

The governing principle of this Code of Conduct is that all participation in XSF Activities is solely by permission of the XMPP Standards Foundation. No person has any automatic right to join a XSF chatroom or mailing list, or contribute to XSF documents such as the XEP series.

Ordinarily, the XMPP Standards Foundation welcomes and encourages participation in XSF Activities, but this guiding principle allows the XSF to partially or completely exclude anyone from any activity, for any reason.

The final decision on such exclusions is made by the Board, who may from time to time appoint a Work Team, called the Conduct Team, to act on their behalf. If the Work Team has not been appointed, the Conduct Team is the Board.

There are exceptions to this - in particular any right of elected members of the Foundation under the Bylaws cannot be curtailed by the Board, though the Board (or any other any member) could start the process to eject a member. This means that members are trusted by the other members to a higher degree than other participants; something that should be considered during elections.

4. Who This Applies To

This Code of Conduct applies to anyone who:

4.1 Acting in a capacity

The first case may seem extremely broad. The intent here is that while good behaviour which might be associated with the XSF and its community reflects well on us, the opposite is also true. By explicitly stating that this Code of Conduct applies this allows the XSF to sanction bad behaviour outside of XSF Activities should the need arise.

Note also that this is not intended to mean that any XMPP developer's behaviour will be scrutinised constantly - using, for example, racist language in a talk about your XMPP project would be problematic here, but using sexualised language in your erotic fiction hobby is likely to be irrelevant to this Code of Conduct.

However, higher standards may be applied to those seen as representative of the community, such as Members and in particular members of Board or Council.

5. How We Handle Bad Conduct

5.1 Reporting

If you witness bad conduct by somebody - that is, if you feel someone's behaviour does not live up to this Code of Conduct - please do express your concern (calmly and gently) to that person at the time, but only if you feel able. This allows the person to recognise their behaviour may be problematic an correct it at the time without undue escalation. If you feel uncomfortable to do so that is perfectly fine and will not affect further handling of the incident.

Whether or not you called it out, do one of the following:

Who you report it might depend on who was involved in the incident - you may feel that members of the Conduct Team or the Board were involved or present and wish to report to others.

It may also be in some cases people may prefer to report informally; while reporting "properly" is preferred, the Conduct Team should strive to handle informal reports in the same way if possible.

Importantly, even if someone else called it out or said to you they would report it, report it anyway. This ensures the Conduct Team have a clear understanding of what happened and who saw the conduct, and allows the Conduct Team to identify any longer term patterns.

When you report it, include the place, date and time, and report it as calmly as possible.

5.2 Consideration

The Conduct Team will then discuss the incident. This should be done quickly, and in private.

The Conduct Team may ask for further information from you, the person accused of bad conduct, or others who were present.

Finally, the Conduct Team will make a decision on sanctions or other action.

5.3 Sanctions and Actions

The purpose of a Code of Conduct is to ensure our community is as welcoming and inclusive as possible. Sanctions are by their nature exclusionary, and many Actions are unlikely be to welcoming to those involved. Therefore the Conduct Team must consider how to ensure the Actions they take and the Sanctions they impose resolve the concerns proportionally, balancing the needs of the community with the individuals that form it, with the goal of maximizing inclusion and promoting positive behaviours.

The Conduct team will normally have its authority to make decisions delegated to it by the Board. In some cases the Conduct Team may choose to hand its recommendation on Sanctions or other Actions to the Board even if authority has not been delegated. The Board will discuss and vote on these "in camera" (ie, not in public and not minuted).

Finally, the result will normally be explained to the person accused on bad conduct, and may be explained to the complainant.

Any announcement of Actions or Sanctions is an Action in and of itself, and should be considered carefully. In general terms, any announcement should be proportionate to the bad conduct and the size of the audience which witnessed it. In high profile cases, therefore, the Conduct Team may decide the result will be announced publicly in order to restore trust.

Sanctions may consist of having the ability to participate reduced or removed from some or all XSF Activities. Actions may include discussion with the Conduct Team. These are non-exhaustive.

Many minor incidents will, therefore, not be reported publicly at all, and - even if there is an agreement that bad conduct occurred - may not result in any visible actions at all.

5.4 Appeal

If you disagree with the decision made by the Board and you were either the subject of bad conduct or subject to the actions or sanctions, you may appeal in writing by sending an email to the Board. The Board will consider your argument as written and will normally respond. The Board's decision after appeal is, however, final.

6. Security Considerations

It is possible for almost any behaviour to have some argument why it is not, in fact, exclusionary, and why it's just someone taking offence too easily. It also is possible for the Code of Conduct to be weaponised for exclusionary purposes, by using the complaints mechanism to stall or silence valid debate. Both of these are cases where the very existence of a Code of Conduct is used for exclusionary purposes, perverting its very intent. Obviously, don't do either.

"Assume Good Faith", in particular, holds the risk of an endless argument over how far to go with that assumption, and where the burden lies - the phrasing is intended to minimize the wiggle room there.

There are no simple answers to these concerns. Future Boards and Conduct teams are advised to be wary of both cases.

7. IANA Considerations

This document has no considerations for IANA.

8. XMPP Registrar Considerations

This document has no considerations for the XMPP Registrar.


Appendix A: Document Information

XMPP Standards Foundation
Last Updated
Approving Body
XSF Board of Directors
Superseded By
Short Name
Source Control

This document in other formats: XML  PDF

Appendix B: Author Information

Dave Cridland





Disclaimer of Warranty


Limitation of Liability


IPR Conformance


Visual Presentation


Appendix D: Relation to XMPP


Appendix E: Discussion Venue


Discussion by the membership of the XSF might also be appropriate (see <https://mail.jabber.org/mailman/listinfo/members> for details).

Errata can be sent to <editor@xmpp.org>.

Appendix F: Requirements Conformance


Appendix G: Notes

Appendix H: Revision History


  1. Version 0.2.0 (2021-06-29)
    Integrate various comments from various sources
  2. Version 0.1.0 (2021-06-10)
    Accept as Experimental after unanimous approval by Board of the ProtoXEP draft for discussion within the community.
    XEP Editor (jsc)
  3. Version 0.0.1 (2021-06-01)
    And so it began.

Appendix I: Bib(La)TeX Entry

  title = {Community Code of Conduct},
  author = {Cridland, Dave},
  type = {XEP},
  number = {0458},
  version = {0.2.0},
  institution = {XMPP Standards Foundation},
  url = {https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0458.html},
  date = {2021-06-01/2021-06-29},