last updated Feb 22, 2020.

All participants of Hello Potential are required to comply with this Code of Conduct.

tl;dr: Treat others how they want to be treated.

The details

Not For Profit

While this community is designed to help aspects of careers, and that frequently benefit whatever company or individual a member is currently working for, this is not a place for obvious commercial activities such as recruiting, marketing, or other solicitation, except in specific channels on our Slack community. At no time is commercial activity allowed on other mediums such as LinkedIn. Explicitly, the Slack channels are:

  • #available-for-work
  • #hiring
  • #i-made-this

Even channels dedicated to commercial purposes are dedicated to a specific aspect of commercial purpose; it is just as unwelcome to post an unrelated commercial offering there as it is to post in non-commercial channels.

Non-obvious commercial activity includes things such as well-intentioned user surveys of a specific channel or responding to a request for tools or services with information about what your company provides. In these situations, we ask that you:

  • Ask permission of the channel before posting the solicitation or information
  • State clear intent for the purpose
  • Listen to the response of your peers

We believe the above protocol is generally useful and should be used when there are any doubts.

If you join this community simply to take value rather than contribute, the community will quickly notice and react. If you are wondering whether a specific action is commercial or not, please ask and calibrate in one of the the channels dedicated to helping people find their way (#the-hello-potential-way).

Respect

The Hello Potential community is an intentionally positive online community dedicated to developing career skills. We recognize and celebrate the creativity and collaboration of our independent members and the diversity of skills, talents, experiences, cultures, and opinions that they bring to your community.

Our community is an inclusive environment, based on treating all individuals respectfully, regardless of gender or gender identity (including transgender status), sexual orientation, age, disability, nationality, ethnicity, religion (or lack thereof), political affiliation, or career path.

We value respectful behavior above individual opinions. Respectful behavior includes but is not limited to:

  • Be considerate, kind, constructive, and helpful.
  • Avoid demeaning, discriminatory, harassing, hateful, or physically threatening behavior, speech, and imagery.
  • If you’re not sure, ask someone instead of assuming. No, really. Just ask the Administrators. We’d rather hear from you than hear about something you said or did after the fact, and we are here to help.
  • Don’t be a bystander. Role model respectful behavior, but also help to address disrespect when you see it.

Disrespectful behavior outside this community may be considered a violation of this code of conduct at the discretion of the Administrators.

Privacy

This community is not a public space. However, no one has signed an non-disclosure agreement (“NDA”) to participate, and you should not presume anything you say here will remain private, so act accordingly. Protect IP and legally-protected information.

If you want to publicly disclose anything discussed here, use the Chatham House Rule as the guideline.

Participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant, may be revealed.

For attribution of specific content found within our community, we ask that you ask the originator of the content for permission. If you don’t receive consent in a reasonable period of time, we ask that you credit Hello Potential.

Resolve Peacefully

We believe peer-to-peer discussions, feedback, and corrections can help build a stronger, safer, and more welcoming community.

If you see someone violating any part of this Code of Conduct, we urge you to respectfully dissuade them from such behavior. Expect that others in the community wish to help keep the community respectful and welcome your input in doing so.

If you experience disrespectful behavior toward yourself or anyone else and feel in any way unable or unwilling to respond or resolve it respectfully (for any reason), please immediately bring it to the attention of an Administrator. We want to hear from you about anything that you feel is disrespectful, threatening, or just something that could make someone feel distressed in any way. We will listen and work to resolve the matter.

Apologize for Mistakes

Should you catch yourself behaving disrespectfully, or be confronted as such, listen intently, own up to your words and actions, and apologize accordingly. No one is perfect, and even well-intentioned people make mistakes. What matters is how you handle mistakes and that you avoid repeating them in the future.

Consequences

If the Administrators determine that a human is violating any part of this Code of Conduct, the Administrators may take any action they deem appropriate for the community, up to and including expulsion and exclusion from events and the online community.

As Administrators, we will seek to resolve conflicts peacefully and in a manner that is positive for the community. We can’t foresee every situation, and thus if in the Administrator's judgment the best thing to do is to ask a disrespectful individual to leave, we will do so.

Administrators

If you need assistance, please contact an organizer immediately. You can also find help in #the-hello-potential-way on Slack.