Guidelines
1. Preamble

The use of the DevOpsChat group with Slack constitutes acceptance and agreement to our Code of Conduct and Slack's User Agreement. If you violate the Code of Conduct or Slack's User Agreement, we reserve the right to terminate all accounts belonging to you without prior notice.
We prefer to advise users of inappropriate behaviour, however, flagrant and repeated violations of our CoC will result in an immediate ban. Our failure to enforce this policy, for whatever reason, shall not be construed as a waiver of our right to do so at any time.

2. Guidelines

We created the Code of Conduct to provide a basic understanding of what's allowed and not allowed in our channels. The following are the principle guidelines for the establishment of our CoC:
  • Ensure a friendly atmosphere for all our members
  • Ensure the privacy of our members and that of others
  • Comply with existing laws
  • Encourage responsible use of our channels and discourage activities which disrupt our community and reduce the value of our services to others
  • Encourage the freedom of expression and exchange of information in a mature and responsible manner 

3. Regarding a human being's right to free speech

While we promote the principles of free speech, some statements can be construed and heated debates can arise in a programming community. Any misuse of our channels and the harassment of other members will result in an action defined by our Violations Policy. As a member of our growing community, you must participate responsibly. If you have any questions regarding our CoC, please contact any of our team members via direct message.

4. Violations of our Code of Conduct

It is considered important for you to understand that this section of our Code of Conduct is not designed to cover everything. We may take action — issue a warning, ban your account(s) if your conduct on DevOpsChat is counterproductive to the Code of Conduct’s principle guidelines.

5. Advertising

It is strictly prohibited to carry out any advertising in our community without prior authorization. If you want to advertise your product or service, contact us at partnerships(at)codelabs.ca and see our options.

In regards to advertising/sponsorship we encourage the approach to come from an teaching/support standpoint, this community is smart and doesn’t need to be sold to, but they can be given details on what makes a product interesting for a DevOps professional and the membership can make the decision to proceed or not.

6. Ad Hominem

Ad Hominem comments/personal attacks towards anyone who is likely to view it on the channel - is subject to action taken against the user, regardless of how pertinent or thoughtful the rest of the message might be.

7. Spamming

You may not spam. Spam includes, but is not limited to, the following:
  • Excessive off-topic threads;
  • Posting nonsensical messages;
  • "Flooding" a channel or direct messaging someone with similar meaning messages;
  • Inciting a channel war or riot;
  • Blatant advertising in excess;
  • Fraudulent activity (Pyramid schemes, chain letters, etc.);
  • Freebie links (i.e. Free iPods, Free PSP, etc. etc.) If you wish to be a sponsor for DevOpsChat, please contact partnerships(at)codelabs.ca;
  • Asking members to create Upwork accounts. 

We have zero-tolerance for spam either in slack or via email addresses scraped from slack, and we will never sell or share your email addresses with anyone. We're a community for people to share what they know and hone their craft.

8. Profanities

As stated we will not censor you. But please be courteous to other members and their preferences. The excessive use of profanity is strongly discouraged.

9. Harassment

You may not use terms or audio/visual materials referring to ethnic/national origin, ideological/religious beliefs, gender, or sexual preference in a demeaning context. We have no tolerance for discrimination. You are in violation of this rule if the nature of your post discriminates, promotes hate, promotes violence or advocates hatred or discrimination against individuals, groups, races, cultures or organizations because of their ethnic/national origin, skin colour or culture. However, feel free to remain opinionated about code. We all want to learn more but keep criticisms to constructive rather than derogatory.

10. Derogatory Terms

If you use any terms in an offensive context against a person, race, culture, group or organization, as determined by our moderators, you are in violation of this rule. Please note that words carry different meanings in different cultures and that while a word may be acceptable use in one part of the world, it may not be in another. In addition, anyone can invent their own derogatory terms, unfortunately. Because of those factors, we will evaluate the context in which the term was used to determine whether a violation has occurred.

11. Porn/Sexually Offensive Materials

Please do not post or link to pornography or sexually offensive materials in public channels. We all like to chat at work and it just makes it that much harder.

12. Offensive Images / Shock Sites

You may not post or link to shock sites, or any such excessively obscene material. Blatant violations of this rule may result in a permanent ban on your access. Be sensible people.

13. Illegal Use

You may not use our channels for illegal purposes, in support of illegal activities, or encourage conduct that would constitute a criminal offence, as determined by the laws of Canada and the province of British Columbia. Such activities will guarantee a ban. We reserve the right to cooperate with legal authorities and/or injured third parties in the investigation of any suspected crime or civil wrongdoing.

14. Privacy

You may not post any form of real-life information of a member or person unless the member or person has first permitted it by express consent. Examples of real-life information include name, address, IP addresses, and phone numbers. You may not disclose a member's unpublicized email address unless the member has first permitted it, either by actual consent or previously releasing said information. You may not post any form of real-life information if you are 13 or under.

15. Email Addresses

You may not harvest email addresses from our channels for any purpose. You may direct message to another member if you wish to contact them but any mining of email addresses for unauthorized promotional activity is strictly prohibited.

16. Miscellaneous

We're all a bunch of developers trying to build the best code we can. Be kind, if someone asks for help, help them. If someone posts a new project, don't belittle them. If you have critiques inform them politely.

Important!

17. Be generous and patient

If someone is doing something you don't understand or agree with, give them the benefit of the doubt and talk it over. There is zero tolerance for toxic, destructive behaviour.

18. Be careful with the self-promotion.

If you wrote or are organizing something that's relevant to the current discussion in a channel, then add to the conversation and explain why it's interesting. Don't just post your links everywhere.
Not sure if you should post something? Just ask an admin via private message (if in doubt, talk to @smayzes). We're super friendly, and we promise to help you any way we can.

19. Pick one channel.

When posting pick one channel - don't post the same thing across multiple channels. The channels are there for a reason - to allow our audience to choose what they want to see - so pick the most appropriate one (almost never #general) and only post your message there. Posting in multiple channels won't get you more responses - just more upset community members.

If you aren't following these House Rules, and are making it difficult to create an awesome community, you may be asked to leave.
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