Community Guidelines

Sass is more than a technology; Sass is driven by the community of individuals that power its development and use every day. As a community, we want to embrace the very differences that have made our collaboration so powerful, and work together to provide the best environment for learning, growing, and sharing of ideas. It is imperative that we keep Sass a fun, welcoming, challenging, and fair place to play.

As such, the Sass Community Guidelines states our ideals as a community. It’s meant to be a guide on how we work together and conduct ourselves, not a specific rulebook. It is a way to communicate our existing values to the entire community, and share our values with the ‘verse.

We strive to:We strive to: permalink

Be considerateBe considerate permalink

Our work will be used by other people, and we in turn will depend on the work of others. Any decision we take will affect users and colleagues, and we should consider them when making decisions.

Be open and invitingBe open and inviting permalink

Our community has grown immensely because of the diversity that is found within the community. We welcome all individuals regardless of, but not limited to, their gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, preferred relationship model, disability, physical appearance, body size, age, race, or religious affiliation. We take pride in the the richness of experiences that have come to help develop Sass, and want to continue growing our community. In short, everyone is welcome, except those who are unwelcoming.

Be respectfulBe respectful permalink

Disagreement is no excuse for poor manners. We work together to resolve conflict, assume good intentions and do our best to act in an empathetic fashion. We treat those who don’t use Sass with respect; they understand their own needs better than anyone else. We don’t allow frustration to turn into a personal attack. A community where people feel uncomfortable or threatened is not a productive one. Harassment of anyone, either within the Sass community or outside of it, is never okay.

Take responsibility for our words and our actionsTake responsibility for our words and our actions permalink

We can all make mistakes; when we do, we take responsibility for them. If someone has been harmed or offended, we listen carefully and respectfully, and work to right the wrong.

Be collaborativeBe collaborative permalink

What we produce is a complex whole made of many parts; it is the sum of many dreams. Collaboration between teams that each have their own goal and vision is essential; for the whole to be more than the sum of its parts, each part must make an effort to understand the whole.

Collaboration reduces redundancy and improves the quality of our work. Internally and externally, we celebrate good collaboration. Wherever possible, we work closely with upstream projects and others in the free software community to coordinate our efforts. We prefer to work transparently and involve interested parties as early as possible.

Value decisiveness, clarity and open communicationValue decisiveness, clarity and open communication permalink

Disagreements, social and technical, are normal, but we do not allow them to persist and fester leaving others uncertain of the agreed direction.

We expect participants in the project to resolve disagreements constructively. When they cannot, we escalate the matter to either designated leaders at the event or within the community to arbitrate and provide clarity and direction.

Be responsive and helpfulBe responsive and helpful permalink

All of us started as new and inexperienced. Even the most experienced of us may forget things. Nobody is expected to be perfect in this community. Questions are encouraged and those who are asked should endeavor to be responsive, courteous, and helpful. When off topic, please direct to the appropriate forum. Even when the question is common and repeatedly asked, even when the documentation explains it, remember that they have only asked it once and they may have read, but not understood. Ultimately, it is better to give no answer than an unfriendly one.

Step down consideratelyStep down considerately permalink

When somebody leaves or disengages from the community, we ask that they do so in a way that minimizes disruption to the projects using their published work. They should tell people they are leaving and take the proper steps to ensure that others can pick up where they left off.

LicenseLicense permalink

Our friends at Ubuntu and Drupal have already worked hard to develop their own community guidelines, and we borrow heavily from them. However, we have made modifications for our specific needs as a community.

The Sass Community Guidelines are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 license. You may re-use it for your own project, and modify it as you wish; just please allow others to use your modifications and give credit to Sass, Ubuntu and Drupal.

Adherence to these Community GuidelinesAdherence to these Community Guidelines permalink

We ask that all in-person and virtual gatherings of the Sass Community adhere to this code of conduct and take appropriate steps to create a safe and accessible space for all attendees. This should include the publication of a Code of Conduct that includes clear anti-harassment procedures. Please consult with us if you feel the need to significantly deviate from these guidelines by sending an email to: sass.organizers@gmail.com.

We understand and acknowledge that the "Sass Community" is a loosely defined group of people who identify as Sass enthusiasts. We have no power to actively remove someone from the community. Ultimately, we can only use our voice to publicly declare that we do not agree with or endorse people or organizations who don’t act in the spirit of these guidelines.