Code of Conduct (Read First)

GWJ Code of Conduct

This Code of Conduct was last updated on February 26th, 2018.

Our Pledge

In the interest of fostering an open and welcoming environment, we as posters and moderators pledge to making participation in our community a harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of age, body size, disability, ethnicity, gender identity and expression, level of experience, nationality, personal appearance, race, religion, or sexual identity and orientation.

Our Standards

Examples of behavior that contributes to creating a positive environment include:

  • Using welcoming and inclusive language
  • Being respectful of differing viewpoints and experiences
  • Gracefully accepting constructive criticism
  • Focusing on what is best for the community
  • Showing empathy towards other community members

Examples of unacceptable behavior by participants include:

  • The use of sexualized language or imagery and unwelcome sexual attention or advances
  • Trolling, insulting/derogatory comments, or personal attacks
  • Public or private harassment
  • Publishing others' private information, such as a physical or electronic address, without explicit permission
  • Posting links or requests for pirate or warez sites

Our Responsibilities

Moderators are responsible for clarifying the standards of acceptable behavior and are expected to take appropriate and fair corrective action in response to any instances of unacceptable behavior.

Moderators have the right and responsibility to remove, edit, or reject posts, comments, profile information, and other contributions that are not aligned to this Code of Conduct, or to ban temporarily or permanently any contributor for other behaviors that they deem inappropriate, threatening, offensive, or harmful.

Scope

This Code of Conduct applies to both public and private communications on the GWJ forums. Public and private behavior outside the bounds of these forums is more difficult to adjudicate, but harassment or publication of members’ private information by other members outside the bounds of the forum will not be tolerated.

Enforcement

Instances of abusive, harassing, or otherwise unacceptable behavior may be reported by contacting the moderation team using the Report Post button (flag icon), or by sending a message using the “Contact Us” link in the “More” menu at the top of every page. All complaints will be reviewed and investigated and will result in a response that is deemed necessary and appropriate to the circumstances. The moderation team is obligated to maintain confidentiality with regard to the reporter of an incident. Find further details of specific enforcement policies below.

Moderators who do not follow or enforce the Code of Conduct in good faith may face temporary or permanent repercussions as determined by other forum moderators and administrators.

Attribution

This Code of Conduct is adapted from the Contributor Covenant, version 1.4, available at http://contributor-covenant.org/version/1/4.


Additional Guidelines

Do be descriptive with your thread titles

It’s best when people can tell at a glance what your thread is about. You may also wish to be more specific about what you want to discuss in your opening post.

This can make the difference between a thread titled “Best Thing Ever!” which will quickly trail off into uselessness and a thread titled “My New Frobnitz: Best Thing Ever!” which will drawn in people interested in talking about their frobnitzim.

Avoid posting advertisements

This is another place where some leeway is given to members who have been around a while and wish to mention their own personal projects, online stores, etc.

It is especially discouraged when people join the forums and immediately post advertisements—these are highly likely to be treated as spam and dealt with on that basis.

Avoid “mini-moderation”

If someone is breaching the Code of Conduct or you feel their behavior is inappropriate please report it to the moderation team for review. It’s what we’re here for!


Enforcement

Reporting methods

Moderators regularly read the forums and will often find and handle problems themselves. However, these forums are very large and we can’t be everywhere at once. If you see a problem that the moderators don’t seem to have noticed, please report it.

If you are involved in a private communication with someone who is being abusive, threatening, or otherwise violating the Code of Conduct, please report that as well.

You may report a problem using the Report Post button (flag icon), or by using the “Contact Us” link in the “More” menu at the top of every page.

If a problem involves a moderator or administrator, you may directly contact one of the other moderators or administrators listed below. As with any report, the remaining moderators will maintain confidentiality in such a situation.

Moderator response

Reports of spam will be handled immediately and silently.

Once a report of any other violation is received, a member of the moderation staff will review it. This should happen within 24 hours of the report, and optimally much sooner. Often, posts are flagged which do not require moderator intervention, either because community members self-corrected or the post in question does not breach the code of conduct.

If the flagged incident requires action, the moderator or moderators will then review the incident, examining any public record of the problem described and asking additional questions to clarify the problem if necessary.

If the problem is complex, the moderators may discuss it amongst themselves before taking action. In the case of simple and clear violations of the Code of Conduct, moderators are empowered to act alone.

All moderation actions will be recorded in a location readable by all moderators and administrators. When possible, discussion of the issues involved will occur in this same location.

Immediate action

Spam is deleted immediately when found or reported.

If a problem is ongoing or particularly injurious (for example active harassment or posting of private information without consent), moderators will move to solve the ongoing problem as quickly as possible and follow up with discussion and looking into the details. This may involve deletion of posts and other content, as well as temporary bans (pending confirmation after all the details are known.)

Resolutions

The following minor responses are among those available to the moderators without discussing the issue with the entire moderation staff:

  • Reprimanding an offender in private
  • Deleting or editing posts (leaving a note where the edit occurred) to remove material that violates the Code of Conduct

If a minor response is made to a violation that was reported by a forum member, that member will be informed by private message about the resolution.

The following major responses require the moderation staff to reach a consensus about the action to be taken (although temporary bans may be instated in order to prevent immediate harm from continuing):

  • Reprimanding an offender in public in the same location in which the violation occurred
  • Requesting that an offender “take a vacation” and voluntarily absent themselves from the forum or a subforum for a while
  • Temporarily banning an offender in order to enforce a vacation
  • Permanently banning an offender such that they may not return to the site

If a major response is made to a violation that was reported by or directly affected other forum members, the moderators will contact the affected parties to explain the proposed resolution. If the reporter or other parties are unsatisfied with the resolution, their comments will be recorded but the moderators are not required to act on this feedback.

Conflicts of interest

In the event of any conflict of interest a moderator must immediately notify the other moderators and recuse themselves from decisions if necessary.

Deleting Accounts

GWJ will disable or rename a user's account at their request. Due to creating gaps in threads and causing confusion GWJ will not delete old account posts unless there are personal safety reasons for doing so.


Staff

Administrators:

Moderators:

Moderators are accountable to the administrators for their moderation actions, as recorded in a location visible to the administrators and moderation staff.