Compass/web/public/md/constitution.md

Constitution of the Compass Community

Preamble

We, the community of Compass, commit to building and maintaining this project in the public interest, ensuring it remains open, collaborative, and resistant to centralized capture. We adopt this constitution to govern ourselves democratically, protect the integrity of the project, and ensure fair participation.

Article I: Purpose and Values

1. Purpose — To develop and maintain Compass as an open-source project for the benefit of its users and contributors.
2. Core Values — Openness, transparency, collaboration, democratic participation, anti-capture safeguards.

Article II: Membership Levels

1. Definition —
   1. A Member is any individual who has an account.
   2. A Volunteer is a member with voting rights (also known as voting member).
   3. An Administrator is a specific type of Volunteer which has more power and write access to the code.
2. Eligibility —
   1. To become a Volunteer, an individual must:
      • Have a 1:1 with a current volunteer.
      • Contribute meaningfully to the project (code, documentation, design, outreach, community moderation) for a minimum of 5 hours.
      • Be approved by the Membership Committee (see Article IV) by a supermajority vote.
      • To become an Administrator, all current Administrators must unanimously vote for them to have the role.
3. Provisional Volunteers — New participants can join discussions but cannot vote until they have met the criteria.
4. Loss of Membership — Volunteers may be removed for:
   • Sustained inactivity (e.g., less than 10 hours of contribution for 12 months).
   • Proven bad-faith conduct (vote manipulation, harassment, sabotage). Removal requires a 2/3 vote of Volunteers.

Current volunteers and administrators

Article III: Governance Structure

Section 1: Interim Governance

• Until the community reaches 5 voting members, governance decisions shall be made by the Founding Maintainer.
• The Founding Maintainer may appoint temporary coordinators for specific tasks.
• Once the community reaches 5 voting members, leadership positions will be filled via community election as described below.

Section 2: Democratic Governance

1. Voting Power — One Volunteer = one vote.
2. Quorum — At least 40% of active Volunteers must participate for a vote to be valid.
3. Decision Thresholds:
   • Simple majority (50%+1) — Day-to-day operational decisions.
   • Supermajority (2/3) — Constitutional amendments, membership approvals/removals, major funding decisions, and changes to project scope.
4. Deliberation Period — All proposals must be open for discussion for at least 7 days before voting begins.
5. All administrators have veto power on votes.
6. Members can submit feedback and vote on our Feedback Form but this is not an official vote, it is for Volunteers and Administrators to consider.

Article IV: Committees

1. Membership Committee — Reviews volunteer applications, handles disputes over eligibility.
2. Technical Committee — Oversees code quality, ensures open-source compliance.
3. Governance Committee — Maintains the constitution, moderates community votes, investigates governance concerns.
4. Elections — Committees are elected annually by Volunteers once the community reaches 5 voting members.

Article V: Anti-Capture Safeguards

1. Contribution Thresholds — Voting rights are earned through sustained contribution, not just joining.
2. Probation Period — New Volunteers gain voting rights only after 1 month.
3. Identity Verification — Each Volunteers must have a unique, verifiable identity to prevent sockpuppets.
4. Conflict of Interest Disclosure — Any Volunteers with a direct financial interest in a competing or controlling entity must disclose before voting.

Article VI: Transparency

1. Public Records — All meeting minutes, code changes, and governance votes must be publicly available.
2. Open Deliberations — Discussions take place in accessible public channels.

Article VII: Amendments

1. Proposal — Amendments require co-signature by at least 10% of Volunteers.
2. Approval — A 2/3 majority vote in favor. Any administrator can veto the vote.
3. Deliberation — A minimum 7-day discussion period before voting.

Article VIII: Dissolution

If the project is dissolved, the platform will be shut down and made unavailable. The source code will always be publicly available on GitHub. The funds will be donated to a charity voted by the Members.

Adopted on: August 11, 2025
Founding Maintainer: Martin Braquet