Code of Conduct

This Code of Conduct describes how members of the MetaBrainz communities should interact and behave. The purpose is not so much to define a standard that everybody must follow, but to explicitly describe all the previously unwritten rules that make up good behavior in the MetaBrainz communities.

Be polite. Remember that there's a real person on the receiving end of any communication. Treat people as you'd wish to be treated yourself.
Remember that everyone was new at some point and a polite nudge in the right direction is sometimes all that it takes to set them on the right path.
Don't get into flame wars, and try to remain as neutral as possible. Do not attack someone personally because you don't agree with them.
MetaBrainz projects have global communities. Be mindful and respectful of different languages, habits and cultures.
Share knowledge freely. New members should not be embarrassed about ignorance.
Respectfully suggest other options. Not everyone wants to reconfigure their directories, change their OS or switch players and formats.
Try not to pick fights by nit-picking other contributors. Asking for a source or reason (if not provided by the contributor in a contribution) is OK; otherwise, you can always submit your own edit to fix small errors or omissions. This is more productive.
Use gender-neutral language whenever possible. Unless actually talking about genders or specific people, there is no reason to use gendered language. As we touch older work that is not gender-neutral, we should make an effort to make it gender-neutral.
Do not abuse or game any of our projects. All of our projects are community maintained and abusive actions negatively affect other users. Do not use or create sockpuppets, unauthorised bots, or any other means of circumventing the intent or integrity of our projects.

Each project may also define a Code of Conduct of its own that builds on the MetaBrainz social contract. For instance, have a look at the MusicBrainz Code of Conduct. Should you encounter a Code of Conduct violation and want to find out how we deal with infractions, please take a look at our conflict resolution policy.