Code of Conduct Violation Reporting and Follow-Up Procedures

This page describes the process for reporting a Code of Conduct violation, and the procedures that we (Our Flag Means Community) will follow when responding to a report.

How to Report Code of Conduct Violations

First Things First: If you believe someone is in physical danger, including from themselves, the most important thing is to get that person help. Please contact the appropriate crisis number, non-emergency number, or police number. At The Wee Con, you can consult with any volunteer or staff member (including the Pleasance’s duty manager) for help.

If you believe someone has violated the Code of Conduct, we encourage you to report it. If you are unsure whether the incident is a violation, or whether the space where it happened is covered by the Code of Conduct, we encourage you to still report it. We are fine with receiving reports where we decide to take no action for the sake of creating a safer space ship.

If you find that you need to make a report, and you cannot find the appropriate Code of Conduct reporting contact, you may report to the Our Flag Means Community Code of Conduct email alias below, or via the web form. Our CoC Team will handle your report. If this happens, please also mention that you could not find specific reporting information so that we can improve.

General Reporting Procedure

  • Email: You can contact the Code of Conduct team by email at ourflagmeanscommunity@gmail.com. This email address will be monitored by the CoC team members listed below.

  • Website: You can make a report online at the Wee Con website: https://ourflagmeans.community/code-of-conduct-violation-report-form Entries into this form will go to the main email address above.

  • Discord: You can message a member of the Code of Conduct Team on Discord.

  • In Person: Every Wee Con volunteer and staff member will receive instruction on what to do if someone brings a Code of Conduct violation to them. All volunteers on duty and staff members will be wearing colored sashes so they are easy to spot.

In the event of a potential conflict of interest, you may directly contact any of the CoC team members.

Code of Conduct Team Members

(direct contact info to come soon)

What to Report

When you make a report, please include:

  • Your contact info (so we can get in touch with you if we need to follow up)

  • Date and time of the incident

  • Location of incident

  • Whether the incident is ongoing

  • Description of the incident

  • Identifying information of the reported person: name, physical appearance, height, clothing, voice accent, other identifying info

  • Additional circumstances surrounding the incident

  • Other people involved in or witnesses to the incident and their contact information or description

Please provide as much information as possible.

Confidentiality

All reports will be kept confidential. When we discuss incidents with people who are reported, we will anonymize details as much as we can to protect reporter privacy.

However, some incidents happen in one-on-one interactions, and even if the details are anonymized, the reported person may be able to guess who made the report. If you have concerns about retaliation or your personal safety, please note those in your report. We still encourage you to report, so that we can support you while keeping our crew safe. In some cases, we can compile several anonymized reports into a pattern of behavior, and take action on that pattern.

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.

How We Handle Reports

When you make a report, the Code of Conduct team will respond to the incident according to the Our Flag Means Community Procedure For Incident Response (below).

After a CoC team member takes the report, they will immediately consult with the rest of the Code of Conduct Team, unless there is a conflict of interest, in which case any non-interested parties will be contacted.

If the incident is ongoing and needs to be immediately addressed, any CoC team member may take appropriate action to ensure the safety of everyone involved. If the situation requires it, this may take the form of a referral to an appropriate outside agency, including the local police. Our Flag Means Community is not equipped to handle emergency situations.

If the incident is less urgent, the report will be discussed by the Code of Conduct Team, who will meet to determine an appropriate response. Examples of possible incident responses are outlined in the Procedure For Incident Response below.

Before The Wee Con or any future in-person event, staff will have a mandatory meeting where incident response procedures will be outlined. After the event, all CoC team members will debrief to discuss all incidents and determine any necessary follow-up actions.

Following Up With Reporters

Within one week of an incident report, a member of the Code of Conduct Team will follow up with the person who made the report and provided their contact information. The follow up may include:

  • An acknowledgment that the Code of Conduct responders discussed the situation

  • Whether or not the report was determined to be a violation of the Code of Conduct

  • What actions (if any) were taken to correcting the reporter’s behavior

  • In some cases, the CoC Team may need to ask additional questions about the incident in order to identify the reported person.

Conflicts of Interest

If a Code of Conduct Team member has a conflict of interest for a report, they will recuse themselves from the discussion and handling of the incident. The incident documentation will not be available to them, and they will excuse themselves from any conversations involving handling the incident.

Procedure for Incident Response

Outline of Procedures

When an incident is reported, the Code of Conduct Team will:

  1. Acknowledge the receipt of the report.

  2. Determine whether there are any conflicts of interest.

  3. Gather Code of Conduct Team members without a conflict of interest.

  4. Evaluate the reported incident.

  5. If warranted, propose a behavioral modification plan and/or consequences for the reported behavior.

  6. Decide on any behavioral modification plan and consequences for the reported person.

  7. If needed, contact online community administrators/moderators to approve the behavioral modification plan and consequences.

  8. Follow up with the reported person.

  9. Decide further responses.

  10. Follow up with the reporter.

Evaluating a Report

When the Code of Conduct team evaluates a report, we’ll look at the following:

Jurisdiction

  • Is this a Code of Conduct violation? Is this behavior on our list of inappropriate behavior? Is it borderline inappropriate behavior? Does it violate our community norms?

  • Did this occur in a space that is within our Code of Conduct's scope? If the incident occurred outside the community, but a community member's mental health or physical safety may be negatively impacted if no action is taken, the incident may be in scope. Private conversations in community spaces are also in scope.

Impact

  • Did this incident occur in a private conversation or in a public space? Incidents that all community members can see will have more negative impact.

  • Does this behavior negatively impact a marginalized group in our community? Is the reporter a person from a marginalized group in our community? How is the reporter being negatively impacted by the reported person's behavior? Are members of the marginalized group likely to disengage with the community if no action was taken on this report?

  • Does this incident involve an event staff member or volunteer? Community members often look up to these people to set the standard of acceptable behavior at events.

Risk

  • Does this incident include sexual harassment?

  • Does this pose a safety risk? Does the behavior put a person's physical safety at risk? Will this incident severely negatively impact someone's mental health?

  • Is there a risk of this behavior being repeated? Does the reported person understand why their behavior was inappropriate? Is there an established pattern of behavior from past reports?

  • Reports which involve higher risk or higher impact may face more severe consequences than reports which involve lower risk or lower impact.

Proposing a Behavioral Modification Plan

Where applicable, the CoC Team will determine a concrete behavioral modification plan that ensures the inappropriate behavior is not repeated. The CoC Team will also discuss what actions may need to be taken if the reported person does not agree to the behavioral modification plan.

What follows are examples of possible behavioral modification plans for incidents that occur in spaces under the scope of theis OFMC Code of Conduct. This list is not exhaustive, and the OFMC Code of Conduct Team reserves the right to take any action it deems necessary.

  • Requiring that the reported person not use specific language

  • Requiring that the reported person not join in on specific types of discussion

  • Requiring that the reported person not send private messages to a community member (online) or otherwise engage with them directly (online or in person)

  • Requiring that the reported person not join specific communication channels

  • Removing the reported person from administrator or moderator rights

  • Removing a volunteer from their duties and responsibilities

  • Removing a panelist or presenter from their duties

  • Removing a person from event staff

Proposing Consequences

What follows are examples of possible consequences of an incident report. This consequences list is not exhaustive, and the Code of Conduct Team reserves the right to take any action it deems necessary, where applicable.

Possible responses to an incident include:

  • Nothing, if the behavior was determined to not be a Code of Conduct violation

  • A verbal or emailed warning

  • A final warning

  • Temporarily removing the reported person from our online community or an in-person event

  • Permanently removing the reported person from our online community

  • Banning the reported person from future in-person events

  • Publishing or presenting an account of the incident

Getting Administrator, Moderator, or Other Leader Approval

As appropriate, once the CoC Team has approved the behavioral modification plans and consequences, they will communicate the recommended response to the administrators/moderators of the online community, or the staff/leadership of an event. The CoC Team should not state who reported this incident, and should attempt to anonymize any identifying information from the report.

Administrators/moderators and event leaders are required to respond back with whether they accept the recommended response to the report. If they disagree with the recommended response, they should provide additional context as to why they disagree.

Following Up with the Reported Person

The Code of Conduct Team will discuss a response to the reported person, including identifying who should take the lead on the response. This response may be verbal or written, but its contents should be recorded for documentation purposes.

The response should contain:

  • A description of the person's behavior in neutral language

  • The negative impact of that behavior

  • A concrete behavioral modification plan

  • Any consequences of their behavior

The CoC Team should not state who reported this incident, and should attempt to anonymize any identifying information from the report. The reported person should be discouraged from contacting the reporter to discuss the report. If they wish to apologize to the reporter, the CoC Team can accept the apology on behalf of the reporter.

Deciding Further Responses

If the reported person provides additional context, the CoC Team may need to re-evaluate the behavioral modification plan and consequences.

Following Up with the Reporter

A person who makes a report should receive a follow-up communication stating what action was taken in response to the report. It is best to provide this response in writing (email, DM, or similar) but it should always be documented in writing even if it is given verbally.

If the CoC Team decided no response was needed, they should provide an email explaining why it was not a Code of Conduct violation. Reports that are not made in good faith may receive no response.

The follow-up should be sent within a week after the CoC Team discusses the report, and following acknowledgment of the report. If deliberation or follow-up with the reported person takes longer than such period, the CoC Team should send a status update to the reporter to inform them of this.

Acknowledgments

This procedure was adapted from the Python Software Foundation Community Member Procedure For Reporting Code of Conduct Incidents, which was itself adapted from the PyCon US reporters guide, which was itself adapted from the Ada Initiative's guide titled "Conference anti-harassment/Responding to Reports” and the Django Project reporting guidelines (CC BY 3.0), with additions by Otter Tech.

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