Gsmart Code of Conduct

0. About Gsmart Hub

Gsmart is an inclusive long-form discussion board community. We're united by a passion for creating on the web and supporting our industry community.

0.1. We welcome members from all around the world, however Gsmart is an English-language platform and all posts must be in inteligable (not neccesarily perfect!) English.

1. Our Pledge

We, the Gsmart community and leaders pledge to make participation in our community a harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of age, body size, visible or invisible disability, ethnicity, sex characteristics, gender identity and expression, level of experience, education, socio-economic status, nationality, personal appearance, race, religion, or sexual identity and orientation.

We pledge to act and interact in ways that contribute to an open, welcoming, diverse, inclusive, and healthy community.

2. Our Standards

2.1. Examples of behavior that contributes to a positive environment for our community include:

• 2.1.1. Demonstrating empathy and kindness toward other people
• 2.1.2. Being respectful of differing opinions, viewpoints, and experiences
• 2.1.3. Giving and gracefully accepting constructive feedback
• 2.1.4. Accepting responsibility and apologizing to those affected by our mistakes, and learning from the experience
• 2.1.5. Focusing on what is best not just for us as individuals, but for the overall community

2.2. Examples of unacceptable behavior include:

• 2.2.1. The use of sexualized language or imagery, and sexual attention or advances of any kind
• 2.2.2. Trolling, insulting or derogatory comments, and personal or political attacks
• 2.2.3. Public or private harassment
• 2.2.4. Publishing others' private information, such as a physical or email address, without their explicit permission
• 2.2.5. Other conduct which could reasonably be considered inappropriate in a professional setting

3. Self-promotion Guidelines

In general, the web community is a community of creators and the Gsmart platform aims to create a space where members are able to show off their hard work. However, there must be some limitations to this to prevent abuse of this openness and keep the community healthy.

• 3.1 Members are free to post (in an appropriate forum) their own educational, thought-provoking, discussion-worthy or entertaining content that provides value to the community.
• 3.2 Members are free to post directly about their own projects for the purposes of promotion and community input in the 'Project Showcase' forum. This is limited to one thread per project (up to one additional thread allowed to announce a launch of a previous thread marked in development).
• 3.3. When posting for the sole purpose of selling products or services, this must only be done in the 'For Hire & Marketplace' forum. Posting in this forum requires at least 10 posts elsewhere.
• 3.4. Posting in somebody elses thread to promote your own commercial services is not allowed unless the thread owner has specifically requested it.
• 3.5. Contacting users directly via direct message or their listed social details for commercial purposes is STRICTLY PROHIBITED unless they have asked you specifically to do so.
• 3.6. Medium and other centralised/paywalled blog platform links are discouraged but not strictly disallowed.
• 3.7. We kindly ask that you do not specfically promote 'competing' forum communities on the platform.

4. Forum Etiquette

• 4.1. Do not 'cross-post' the same thread in to multiple categories, just pick the one you think fits best (there are no infractions for posting in an incorrect category).
• 4.2. Be aware that everything posted on Gsmart is public, search engine indexed and may be archived by internet archives.
• 4.3. Read threads before contributing to ensure you have the best context.
• 4.4. Self-promotion is welcomed as per the above guidelines, but please make an effort to join in with our community and provide value to other members. When asking a question, think about the context of your problem and provide as much supporting information as you can (what have you tried? what exactly are you trying to achieve? etc).
• 4.5. If you post a question that you later find the answer to off-site, please update your thread with that answer if possible for the next person in need who finds it.
• 4.6. If you receive help or feedback on your thread, please ensure you respect our other community members by recognising their effort and kindness with a reply or a reaction and updating us on your progress. Users that sign up only to post a promotion thread and leave risk having content removed.
• 4.7. Avoid clickbait thread titles
• 4.8. Avoid bringing politics in to unrelated threads
• 4.9. We are fortunate to welcome users from all over the world, many who speak English as a second language, be kind if pointing out spelling or grammar mistakes and only do so if you believe it affects the message of the post.
• 4.10. Do not try to police other users, use the report functionality for any behaviour you are unhappy with or violates this CoC
• 4.11. Avoid double posting in a thread unless it is to add new information.
• 4.12. Avoid bumping an old 'dead' thread to the top of the listings by posting in it if a new thread could be more appropriate.

5. Enforcement Responsibilities

5.1. Community administrators and moderators are responsible for clarifying and enforcing our standards of acceptable behavior and will take appropriate and fair corrective action in response to any behavior that they deem inappropriate, threatening, offensive, or harmful.

5.2. Community administrators and moderators have the right and responsibility to remove, edit, or reject threads, posts, code, issues and other contributions that are not aligned to this Code of Conduct, and will communicate reasons for moderation decisions when appropriate.

6. Scope

This Code of Conduct applies within all community spaces, and also applies when an individual is officially representing the community in public spaces. Examples of representing our community include using an official e-mail address, posting via an official social media account, or acting as an appointed representative at an online or offline event.

7. Enforcement

Instances of abusive, harassing, or otherwise unacceptable behavior may be reported to the community leaders responsible for enforcement by using the forums 'report' functionality. All complaints will be reviewed and investigated promptly and fairly.

All community leaders are obligated to respect the privacy and security of the reporter of any incident.

Community leaders will follow these Community Impact Guidelines in determining the consequences for any action they deem in violation of this Code of Conduct:

7.1. Correction

Community Impact: Use of inappropriate language or other behavior deemed unprofessional or unwelcome in the community.

Consequence: A private, written warning from community leaders, providing clarity around the nature of the violation and an explanation of why the behavior was inappropriate. A public apology may be requested.

7.2. Warning

Community Impact: A violation through a single incident or series of actions.

Consequence: A warning with consequences for continued behavior. No interaction with the people involved, including unsolicited interaction with those enforcing the Code of Conduct, for a specified period of time. This includes avoiding interactions in community spaces as well as external channels like social media. Violating these terms or repeat warnings may lead to a temporary or permanent ban.

7.3. Temporary Ban

Community Impact: A serious violation of community standards, including sustained inappropriate behavior.

Consequence: A temporary ban from any sort of interaction or public communication with the community for a specified period of time. No public or private interaction with the people involved, including unsolicited interaction with those enforcing the Code of Conduct, is allowed during this period. Violating these terms may lead to a permanent ban.

7.4. Permanent Ban

Community Impact: Demonstrating a pattern of violation of community standards, including sustained inappropriate behavior, harassment of an individual, or aggression toward or disparagement of classes of individuals.

Consequence: A permanent ban from any sort of public interaction within the community.