Transparency

Members should be able to see how the lights stay on.

Transparency is the practice of making the community’s structure, costs, authority, and significant changes understandable.

Operating costs

Hosting, infrastructure, software, and other meaningful operating expenses should be summarized for members.

Infrastructure

The services that materially support the community should be documented at a level that informs members without creating a security risk.

Funding

Members should understand where operating funds come from and whether any relationship could influence community priorities.

Moderation

The moderation structure, meaningful actions, and review process should be reported without exposing private member information.

Governance

Roles, decision paths, and major policy changes should be visible and explained.

Significant changes

Changes that materially affect privacy, membership, governance, or operation should be communicated plainly.

A necessary limit

Transparency should never become an excuse to publish IP addresses, authentication details, sensitive security information, private content, or confidential administrator notes.