If you see this text included in a project, that means the owner has made a commitment that the project will adhere to the standards of M.S.E. initiatives. It is a promise to provide a more ethical environment for everyone who wishes to involve themself and to ensure their project will flourish.
If you are a project owner and wish to include it, you may copy and paste the text of this document into your code of conduct, or include this file under the name MSE (or MSE.md or MSE.txt with formatting removed) in the root directory of your project alongside your README. The text of this document is provided unencumbered of any restrictions under the Public Domain or Unlicense.
Competency talks, bullshit walks. Each man should sink or swim according to the quality of his work, not because he allows you to meet some racial quota. After all, if one were in need of a surgery, should they prefer a doctor based on his performance, or because he prefers his salad to be tossed with a vinagarette dressing? If one can't see themself in any human's struggle, it's fair to say they're too far gone for even representation to help.
All men are not created equal. Each man should be recognized in correlation to the quality of his work. A fact of life found brutal by so many is that some people are better than others. For those more talented than others, they should be awarded and praised as such, and those less capable should simply learn to appreciate what they do have, rather than trying to debase the competent.
Keep out the riff-raff. This is the foundation of freedom of association--to not only include those you find agreeable, but to exclude those who want nothing more than to see you drawn and quartered. For too long has gatekeeping been decried as evil, whilst hypocritically kicking out those who don't align perfectly with their own ideological crusades. We, instead choose to be honest with what we're doing.
The above document is provided, completely unencumbered, under the following license:
Permission to use, copy, modify, and/or distribute this software for any purpose with or without fee is hereby granted.
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED “AS IS” AND THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.