Code of Conduct for Summit Writing Academy Forums

Updated September 17, 2018

Our Expectations

Be clear and constructive when giving feedback, and be open when receiving it.

Be kind and friendly.
Avoid sarcasm and be careful with jokes — tone is hard to decipher online. If a situation makes it hard to be friendly, stop participating and move on.

Only post things you've written.
Posting writing that is written by someone else, claiming it to be your own is called plagiarism and is wrong.

Don't share personal information.
The internet can be a strange place. Don't share your personal email address or other personal details (like your home address or phone number) with anyone you meet on the internet. While most people are well-intentioned, there are dangers that can be avoided by not sharing this information.

Unacceptable Behavior

No subtle put-downs or unfriendly language.
- Even if you don’t intend it, this can have a negative impact on others.
No name-calling or personal attacks.
- Focus on the content, not the person. This includes terms that feel personal even when they're applied to content (e.g. “lazy”).
No bigotry.
- We don’t tolerate any language likely to offend or alienate people based on race, gender, sexual orientation, or religion — and those are just a few examples. When in doubt, just don’t.
No harassment.
- This includes, but isn’t limited to: bullying, intimidation, vulgar language, direct or indirect threats, sexually suggestive remarks, patterns of inappropriate social contact, and sustained disruptions of discussion.

Be Friendly!

Unfriendly	Friendly
“You could Google this in 5 seconds.”	“This is called writing for meaning. If you Google it, you might some find tutorials that can give you more detail.”
“Are you speaking English? If so, I can’t tell.”	“I’m having trouble understanding your writing. Can you clarify your feedback?”
“I came to get help, not to get my writing edited.”	“Thanks for trying to help, but your edit isn’t what I meant.”

Reporting

Every person contributes to building a kind, respectful community. If you find unacceptable behavior directed at yourself or others, you can:

Flag the harmful content.

Depending on the content, flagging will alert moderators or trigger an automatic deletion.

Contact us

We take your reports seriously. Those who don’t follow the Code of Conduct in good faith may face repercussions deemed appropriate by our moderation team.

This is how moderators generally handle misconduct:

1 Warning
For most first-time misconduct, moderators will remove offending content and send a warning. Most issues are resolved here.

2 Account Suspension
For repetitive misconduct or behavior containing harassment, bigotry, or abuse, moderators will impose a temporary suspension (one day or more, depending on the violation).

3 Account Expulsion
For very rare cases, moderators will expel people who display a pattern of harmful destructive behavior toward our community.

All actions will be taken on a case-by-case basis at the discretion of our moderators. If you have concerns about how a moderator has handled a situation, contact us directly.

This Code of Conduct is inspired by Stack Overflow's Code of Conduct, with portions taken directly from https://stackoverflow.com/conduct, which is licensed under cc-by-sa 3.0