We’re all here to learn, share and grow. The goal of these guidelines is to encourage the kind of user experience that makes everyone feel welcome and respected.
Be nice
We’re a global community of people with many different beliefs, backgrounds, and experiences, and we all have the right to feel comfortable within this community space. Be polite and respectful in your interactions. Do not insult or put down other members. Harassment and other exclusionary behavior aren’t acceptable. A community where people feel uncomfortable is not a productive one.
Embrace dialogue
Not all of us will agree all the time. If we did, there’d be far less opportunity to learn from one another. When you disagree, use it as a chance to learn about someone else’s world view. Opt for respectful, constructive dialogue that emphasizes inquiry, listening, and understanding differences.
Respect privacy
This community is on the record. Only publicly share information you’re sure is public knowledge and isn’t proprietary or otherwise sensitive information. Honor the confidentiality of other people’s work. Remember, just because they’re comfortable sharing this information with you doesn’t necessarily mean they want it shared with others. In fact, in the business world, the decisions, strategies, and economic situations of other organizations usually isn’t public knowledge. When in doubt, or even when you’re fairly positive but not 100% certain, use good manners and ask for permission for sharing or attributing information.
Be generous
Look for opportunities to share what you’ve learned, especially with people who have less experience or fewer resources than you or your organization in your area of expertise. If you’re inspired by or learning from someone else’s work, say so. Link liberally and share credit.
Speak up
If you see behavior that violates these guidelines, consider addressing yourself on the platform. Also feel free to alert our community managers by messaging a channel’s moderator, messaging a Gather team member listed in the #announcements channel), or emailing letsgatherin@gmail.com. Let them know where to find the post and what your concern is. One of them will review the post and take it down if they find it to be in violation of our community standards. In extreme cases, users may be removed from the platform. In addition, if you notice that a community member seems to be in a state of distress, or witness an interaction you find alarming, please contact the team.
Honor inclusion
We are committed to building a participatory community that works for everyone. Although we all fail at times, we seek to treat everyone as fairly and equitably as possible. Whenever a participant has made a mistake, we expect him or her to take responsibility for it. If someone has been harmed or offended, it is our responsibility to listen carefully and respectfully, and do our best to right the wrong. Although this list cannot be exhaustive, we explicitly honor diversity in age, gender, gender identity or expression, culture, ethnicity, language, national origin, political beliefs, profession, race, religion, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and technical ability. We will not tolerate discrimination based on any of the protected characteristics above, including participants with disabilities.
Thank you
We thank you for working with us to make this community a safe, helpful, enjoyable, and friendly experience for everyone who participates.
These guidelines borrow, in word or spirit, from these communities:
- Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/help/guidelines
- Elastic: https://www.elastic.co/community/codeofconduct
- TODO Group: http://todogroup.org/opencodeofconduct/
- SRCCON: https://srccon.org/conduct/
Updated: March 2020