Title: Apache Community Etiquette Guidelines
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The Apache Software Foundation (ASF) and our many Apache projects welcome all 
participants who are willing to respect our community guidelines.  There are 
many behavior or etiquette guides for online communities out there; we have a few 
Apache-specific tips below.

# Code of Conduct # {#coc}

The ASF has adopted a [Code of Conduct][1] which covers interactions in 
all the online spaces that Apache projects use - email, issue trackers, wikis, 
websites, IRC, and the like.  Apache projects are made up of volunteers, and 
we work to ensure that all productive contributions are welcomed.  Every 
Apache PMC is expected to ensure their project's lists show 
proper behavior.

# Distributed, Archived, Worldwide Online Communities # {#worldwide}

Apache projects are made up of communities of volunteers from around the 
world.  When you are sending email to an Apache project mailing list, there may 
be software developers in this country, marketing managers in that country, and 
homemakers in another country reading your email.  They will be reading your 
mail at all hours of the day, and both at work, at home, and on the go.  If you 
want a response to your questions or suggestions, be sure to be polite and 
sensible when writing.

There are many amazing people helping out on Apache project mailing 
lists - but they are all volunteers.  Being respectful of the time and 
culture of others on the list is a key start to making productive contributions.

# One Member's Participation Guidelines # {#member}

The ASF as a corporation is run by several hundred Members, who have deep and lasting experience 
in helping to build and run long-term successful open source projects here 
at Apache.  This is just one member's take on how to approach 
communicating in any particular Apache project.


**Some General Guidelines**

  * Assume that the other party agrees more than disagrees with you. We
tend to leave out agreements and focus on differences. Sometime this is
forgotten and escalation becomes absurd for no rational reason.

  * When in doubt, assume that you are interpreting the message wrongly
and kindly ask for verification that you understood a particular topic well.

  * When writing, assume that every sentence will be misinterpreted.
Review and try to reformulate to be as clear as possible.

  * Use a submissive tone in all writing. Instead of the strong "In my
opinion, we must..." or the quite neutral "I think we should...", try to
use "Maybe we should consider..." or "Another idea that we could..."

  * If you disagree strongly with an email sent, tag it Important, then
put it aside. Read it half a day later again. Put it aside. Read it again
next day, and then it is easier to write a balanced and inviting response,
instead of the initial vitriol that flows through us when we get upset. I
found that sometimes a response wouldn't be necessary, as the importance
was actually much lower than originally perceived, and I would be able to
work "with", instead of "against", a given change.

  * Be forgiving and accept different priorities. The other person is not
out to get you or attack your work. More often than not, it is one of the
above (a-d) that are failing, or that the other person prioritize some
aspect higher than you do. Sometimes, this requires compromises, sometimes
not and the different priorities can co-exist.

  * Remember that everyone works on Apache projects as a volunteer.
People have jobs and lives outside of their Apache projects, and may need 
more time to even read messages on the list or respond.  Be patient.

**Most communities at Apache consists of level-headed, reasonable people**, who
have a strong vested interest in their Apache project. This interest, often
passion, is both the source of tension, but it is also what unites the
people within the community. It is easy to forget the vast amount of
agreement that exists, and get upset over relatively small disagreements.
Ability to put that aside, or downplay the importance, will ensure a
harmonious project.

**Face-to-Face** is excellent way to eliminate disagreements, but that is often
not practical. Consider Skype or Google Hangout, just for the social aspect
of being part of this community. It should not be formal, and the
invitation should go out to everyone, perhaps someone want to make a short
presentation of what he/she is doing, to have some "structure", but that
might not be needed either. Once we have a face to the words, and a general
idea how that person is socially, we are much more capable to interact by
email.

**Project decisions must always be made on mailing lists**.  
It's great to have a synchronous online chat to work through some questions, but 
be sure to bring the results of the chat - and any proposals for the 
project community to consider - back to the mailing list.  People who 
weren't able to attend the chat or call might also have ideas on the topic.
Be sure to allow at least 72 hours for others to read the proposals and 
comment before closing out the issue.

# Other Apache Etiquette Guidelines # {#other}

 - [Official Apache-wide Code of Conduct][1]
 - [Email Etiquette Guidelines - writing good emails](http://www.apache.org/dev/contrib-email-tips)
 - [How To Ask Smart Questions](http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html)
 - [Building Consensus in a community](http://community.apache.org/committers/consensusBuilding.html)




  [1]: http://www.apache.org/foundation/policies/conduct.html