Stella Ops Code of Conduct

Contributor Covenant v2.1 + project‑specific escalation paths

We pledge to make participation in the Stella Ops community a harassment‑free experience for everyone, regardless of age, body size, disability, ethnicity, sex characteristics, gender identity and expression, level of experience, education, socio‑economic status, nationality, personal appearance, race, religion, or sexual identity and orientation.

0 · Our standard

This project adopts the Contributor Covenant v2.1 with the additions and clarifications listed below.
If anything here conflicts with the upstream covenant, our additions win.

1 · Scope

Applies to	Examples
All official spaces	Repos under `git.stella-ops.org/stella-ops.org/`, Matrix rooms (`#stellaops:`), issue trackers, pull‑request reviews, community calls, and any event officially sponsored by Stella Ops
Unofficial spaces that impact the project	Public social‑media posts that target or harass community members, coordinated harassment campaigns, doxxing, etc.

2 · Reporting a violation ☎️

Channel	When to use
`conduct@stella-ops.org` (PGP key `keys/#pgp`)	Primary, confidential – anything from micro‑aggressions to serious harassment
Matrix `/msg @coc-bot:libera.chat`	Quick, in‑chat nudge for minor issues
Public issue with label `coc`	Transparency preferred and you feel safe doing so

We aim to acknowledge within 48 hours (business days, UTC).

3 · Incident handlers 🛡️

Name	Role	Alt‑contact
Alice Doe (`@alice`)	Core Maintainer • Security WG	`+1‑555‑0123`
Bob Ng (`@bob`)	UI Maintainer • Community lead	`+1‑555‑0456`

If any handler is the subject of a complaint, skip them and contact another handler directly or email conduct@stella-ops.org only.

4 · Enforcement ladder ⚖️

Private coaches / mediation – first attempt to resolve misunderstandings.
Warning – written, includes corrective actions & cooling‑off period.
Temporary exclusion – mute (chat), read‑only (repo) for N days.
Permanent ban – removal from all official spaces + revocation of roles.

All decisions are documented privately (for confidentiality) but a summary is published quarterly in the “Community Health” report.

A sanctioned individual may appeal once by emailing appeals@stella-ops.org within 14 days of the decision.
Appeals are reviewed by three maintainers not involved in the original case and resolved within 30 days.

6 · No‑retaliation policy 🛑

Retaliation against reporters will not be tolerated and results in immediate progression to Step 4 of the enforcement ladder.