Wikimedia Österreich’s Code of Conduct

This is the English translation of the original document Verhaltenskodex von Wikimedia Österreich, which is written in German. The only legally binding version of this document is the one in German, approved by the Board of Wikimedia Österreich.

Introduction

We believe in empowering as many people as possible to actively participate in Wikimedia projects and spaces, to reach our vision of a world in which everyone can share in the sum of all human knowledge. We believe our communities of contributors should be as diverse, inclusive, and accessible as possible. We want these communities to be positive, safe and healthy environments for anyone who joins (and wants to join) them. We are committed to ensuring that it remains so, including by embracing this Code of Conduct and revisiting for updates as needed. Also, we wish to protect our projects against those who damage or distort the content.

In line with the Wikimedia mission, all who participate in Wikimedia projects and spaces will:

• Help create a world in which everyone can freely share in the sum of all knowledge
• Be part of a global community that will avoid bias and prejudice, and
• Strive towards accuracy and verifiability in all its work.

This Code of Conduct defines a minimum set of guidelines for expected and unacceptable behaviour. It applies to anyone who interacts and contributes to online and offline Wikimedia Österreich projects and spaces. This includes new and experienced contributors, functionaries within the projects, event organizers and participants, employees and board members of affiliates as well as employees and board members of the Wikimedia Foundation. It applies in the following instances:

• in-person, online, and hybrid events organized by Wikimedia Österreich,
• websites operated by Wikimedia Österreich (including wikis),
• other technical communication channels operated or managed by Wikimedia Österreich (including mailing lists and social media channels),
• the conduct of and towards functionaries, officials, and employees of Wikimedia Österreich in the course of their official duties,
• all other cases in which application of the Code of Conduct is announced by Wikimedia Österreich.

Wikimedia Österreich’s Code of Conduct is based on the Universal Code of Conduct that provides a baseline of behaviour for collaboration on Wikimedia projects worldwide. It maintains the criteria listed there as a minimum standard. It adds to this to policies that take account of our local and cultural context.

The Code of Conduct applies equally to all Wikimedians without exception. Any action that breaches the Code of Conduct or gives rise to reasonable suspicion of unlawful behaviour can result in sanctions. Sanctions can be imposed by functionaries specifically authorised to do so (depending on the space or project) and/or by Wikimedia Österreich. No individual provision of the Code of Conduct should be interpreted in a way that runs counter to the overarching goal of enabling the active engagement of as many people as possible.

Expected behaviour

Every Wikimedian, whether they are a new or experienced editor, a community functionary, an affiliate or Wikimedia Foundation board member or employee, is responsible for their own behaviour.

In all Wikimedia projects, spaces and events, behaviour will be founded in respect, civility, collegiality, solidarity and good citizenship. This applies to all contributors and participants in their interaction with all contributors and participants, without exceptions based on age, mental or physical disabilities, physical appearance, national, religious, ethnic and cultural background, caste, social class, language fluency, sexual orientation, gender identity, sex or career field. Nor will we make exceptions based on standing, skills or accomplishments in the Wikimedia projects or movement.

Mutual respect

We expect all Wikimedians to show respect for others. In communicating with people, whether in online or offline Wikimedia environments, we will treat each other with mutual respect.

This includes but is not limited to:

• Practice empathy. Listen and try to understand what Wikimedians of different backgrounds want to tell you. Be ready to challenge and adapt your own understanding, expectations and behaviour as a Wikimedian.
• Assume good faith, and engage in constructive edits. Your contributions should improve the quality of the project or work. Provide and receive feedback kindly and in good faith. Criticism should be delivered in a sensitive and constructive manner. Those who are subject to criticism should be given a reasonable opportunity to respond, if they become aware of such criticism and wish to react. All Wikimedians should assume unless evidence otherwise exists that others are here to collaboratively improve the projects, but this should not be used to justify statements with a harmful impact.
• Respect the way that contributors name and describe themselves. People may use specific terms to describe themselves. As a sign of respect, use these terms when communicating with or about these people, where linguistically or technically feasible. Examples include:
  • Ethnic groups may use a specific name to describe themselves, rather than the name historically used by others;
  • People may have names that use letters, sounds, or words from their language which may be unfamiliar to you;
  • People who identify with a certain sexual orientation or gender identity using distinct names or pronouns;
  • People having a particular physical or mental disability may use particular terms to describe themselves.
• During in-person meetings, we will be welcoming to everyone, and we will be mindful and respectful of each other's preferences, boundaries, sensibilities, traditions and requirements.

Civility, collegiality, mutual support and good citizenship

We strive towards the following behaviours:

• Civility is politeness in behaviour and speech amongst people, including strangers.
• Collegiality is the friendly support that people engaged in a common effort extend to each other.
• Mutual support and good citizenship mean taking active responsibility for ensuring that the Wikimedia projects are productive, pleasant and safe spaces, and contribute to the Wikimedia mission.

This includes but is not limited to:

• Mentorship and coaching: Helping newcomers to find their way and acquire essential skills.
• Looking out for fellow contributors: Lend them a hand when they need support, and speak up for them when they are treated in a way that falls short of expected behaviour as per the Code of Conduct.
• Recognize and credit the work done by contributors: Thank them for their help and work. Appreciate their efforts and give credit where it is due.
• Do not push beyond the limits of capacity: Help ensure that the other participants can engage enjoyably and without facing harmful workloads. Do not place excessive or unreasonable demands on the performance of others or expect constant availability, even in a presumed friendly relationship.
• Respect the wish to be undisturbed: Everyone participating in our projects and spaces has the right to opt out of communication, to withdraw, and to be left in peace if they wish. This should apply unless there are serious reasons to the contrary, particularly any related to enforcing the Code of Conduct.
• Respect the personal space of others: Physical proximity can make people, including acquaintances, feel uncomfortable, even when it is the social norm, such as for greeting rituals.
• Neurodiversity: Empower people with atypical neurological developments to participate in a way that suits their needs and abilities. This may include carefully allowing for a higher tolerance threshold for potential violations of this Code of Conduct.

Unacceptable behaviour

The Code of Conduct aims to help identify situations of bad behaviour. The following behaviours are considered unacceptable within the Wikimedia movement:

Harassment

This includes any behaviour intended primarily to intimidate, outrage or upset a person, or any behaviour where this would reasonably be considered the most likely main outcome. Behaviour can be considered harassment if it is beyond what a reasonable person would be expected to tolerate in a global, intercultural environment. Harassment often takes the form of emotional abuse, especially towards people who are in a vulnerable position, and may include contacting workplaces or friends and family members in an effort to intimidate or embarrass. In some cases, behaviour that would not rise to the level of harassment in a single case can become harassment through repetition. Harassment includes but is not limited to:

• Insults: This includes name calling, using slurs or stereotypes, and any attacks based on personal characteristics. Insults may refer to perceived characteristics like intelligence, appearance, ethnicity, race, religion (or lack thereof), culture, caste, sexual orientation, gender, sex, disability, age, nationality, political affiliation, or other characteristics. In some cases, repeated mockery, sarcasm, or aggression constitute insults collectively, even if individual statements would not. Insults are unacceptable, even when directed at individuals or groups who are not present.
• Sexual harassment: Sexual attention or advances of any kind towards others where the person knows or reasonably should know – through words, facial expressions, or body language – that the attention is unwelcome or in situations where consent cannot be communicated.
• Threats: Explicitly or implicitly suggesting the possibility of physical violence, unfair embarrassment, unfair and unjustified reputational harm, or intimidation by suggesting gratuitous legal action to win an argument or force someone to behave the way you want.
• Encouraging harm to others: This includes encouraging someone else to commit self-harm or suicide as well as encouraging someone to conduct violent attacks on a third party.
• Collecting personal data: Failing to ensure greatest possible data minimisation, beyond what is legally required, when collecting and storing the personal data of other participants. This also applies to personal interactions.
• Disclosure of personal data (Doxing): Sharing other contributors' private information, such as name, place of employment, physical or email address without their explicit consent either on the Wikimedia projects or elsewhere, or sharing information concerning their Wikimedia activity outside the projects. In addition, the handling of personal data is also subject to the relevant legal regulations.
• Unauthorised visual and audio recordings: Recording images or audio of other participants without their consent. If such recordings are planned, they must be clearly announced in advance. For an event, the organizer’s approval is required. People who do not wish to be recorded or filmed should not be excluded from participation for that reason, unless there is no reasonable alternative.
• Identity deception: Creating the impression of being a specific other person or falsely claiming to represent certain individuals or organizations.
• Hounding: Following a person and repeatedly critiquing their work mainly with the intent to upset or discourage them.
• Disruptive communication: Communicating in a way that destructively undermines the stated purpose of Wikimedia projects or spaces. This includes, in particular:
  • flooding with irrelevant content,
  • persistently or repeatedly interrupting other speakers,
  • interfering in ongoing conversations with the intent to provoke.

Abuse of power, privilege, or influence

Abuse occurs when someone in a real or perceived position of power, privilege, or influence engages in disrespectful, cruel, and/or violent behaviour towards other people. In Wikimedia environments, it may take the form of verbal or psychological abuse and may overlap with harassment.

• Abuse of office by functionaries, officials and staff: Use of authority, knowledge, or resources at the disposal of designated functionaries, as well as officials and staff of the Wikimedia Foundation or Wikimedia affiliates, to intimidate or threaten others.
• Abuse of seniority and connections: Using one's position and reputation to intimidate others. We expect people with significant experience and connections in the movement to behave with special care because hostile comments from them may carry an unintended backlash. People with community authority have a particular privilege to be viewed as reliable and should not abuse this to attack others who disagree with them.
• Psychological manipulation: Maliciously causing someone to doubt their own perceptions, senses, or understanding with the objective to win an argument or force someone to behave the way you want.

Content vandalism and abuse of the projects

Deliberately introducing biased, false, inaccurate or inappropriate content, or hindering, impeding or otherwise hampering the creation (and/or maintenance) of content. This includes but is not limited to:

• The repeated arbitrary or unmotivated removal of any content without appropriate discussion or providing explanation
• Systematically manipulating content to favour specific interpretations of facts or points of view (also by means of unfaithful or deliberately false rendering of sources and altering the correct way of composing editorial content
• Hate speech in any form, or discriminatory language aimed at vilifying, humiliating, inciting hatred against individuals or groups on the basis of who they are or their personal beliefs
• The use of symbols, images, categories, tags or other kinds of content that are intimidating or harmful to others outside of the context of encyclopedic, informational use. This includes imposing schemes on content intended to marginalize or ostracize.
• Glorifying or praising the goals, institutions, or measures of the NSDAP, as well as denying, grossly trivializing, condoning, or attempting to justify the Nazi genocide or other Nazi crimes against humanity
• Knowingly or negligently spreading content that could damage the technical infrastructure of Wikimedia or other participants.

Enforcement

Report

You can report violations of the Code of Conduct that you have personally experienced or observed. The following reporting channels are available to you:

(1) Contact the authority directly responsible, if applicable in the individual case.

1. In-person events organized by Wikimedia Österreich: a Wikimedia Österreich employee present on-site; if the event is not attended by any employees, the on-site organizers,
2. Online events organized by Wikimedia Österreich: a Wikimedia Österreich employee attending as a designated technical “host” with extended technical rights; if the event is not attended by any employees, an organizer designated as the technical “host” in the online event,
3. Hybrid events: depending on the circumstances, the authorities responsible for in-person or online events,
4. Website https://oesterreichwiki.org/: the website "bureaucrats" who can be reached via oesterreichwikiwikimedia.at,
5. Mailing list vereinat-llists.wikimedia.org: the mailing list "owners" who can be reached via vereinat-l-ownerlists.wikimedia.org erreichbaren.

(2) Alternatively, or if none of the above apply, you can contact the Wikimedia Österreich office via meldungwikimedia.at. If you choose this option, please note that processing your request may take some time due to the working hours of the individual employees.

(3) If you wish to report the behaviour of a Wikimedia Österreich employee, please contact the executive director directly. If you wish to report the behaviour of the executive director, please reach out to the Wikimedia Österreich Board via vorstandwikimedia.at.

Action and decision-making hierarchy

The authority handling the report may take any necessary action, including the exclusion of individuals and the disclosure of relevant information to other authorities. Any action taken must align with the overarching goals and specific provisions of the Code of Conduct. Action to enforce the Code of Conduct may also be taken without a prior report.

Under certain circumstances, decisions to enforce the Code of Conduct may be modified or overturned by the Wikimedia Österreich office or the Wikimedia Österreich Board. These authorities will take action either on their own initiative or in response to a request for review. The following paragraphs explain how you can request the review of a decision.

Complaints channel – Wikimedia Österreich office

As the person filing a report or as the person subject to a report, you have the right to file a complaint regarding the handling of a report. To do so, contact the Wikimedia Österreich office via meldungwikimedia.at, providing as much and as detailed information about the circumstances as you can. Your complaint will be reviewed, and you will receive a response within a reasonable timeframe. Each case only needs to be reviewed once.

Appeal body – Board

After exhausting the complaints channel, you, as the person filing a report or the person subject to a report, can bring an appeal before the Wikimedia Österreich Board against decisions made. Notify the Wikimedia Österreich office about the appeal in the next step, for example, via meldungwikimedia.at. If you wish to request a personal hearing with a board member, please let us know as well. The Board will consider your appeal, and you will receive the decision within a reasonable timeframe. Each case only needs to be reviewed once. Decisions made by the Board in this matter are final.

Special cases: Violations of the law and breaches of the Good Governance Code

If your report provides reasonable grounds to suspect a legal violation related to certain websites of Wikimedia Österreich, you may alternatively or additionally consider submitting a report through the notice and action mechanism provided by Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 of the European Parliament and the Council of 19 October 2022 on a Single Market for Digital Services and amending Directive 2000/31/EC (Digital Services Act). Further details can be found on the respective websites.

If your report provides reasonable grounds to suspect a breach of the principles of responsible organizational culture outlined in the Good Governance Code for Wikimedia Österreich, you may alternatively or additionally consider submitting a report to the Good Governance Committee. Further details and contact information are available at https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_%C3%96sterreich/Good_Governance_Kodex.