The Cowgirl Coder

The Cowgirl Coder Forums Code of Conduct

This Code of Conduct is adapted from the Ubuntu Forums; you can visit their site here:

http://www.ubuntu.com/community/conduct

Posting to the Forums:

Section I – General Policy:

By registering and participating in The Cowgirl Coder Forums discussions you agree to the following code of conduct. If you are unable to agree you have the right not to participate in forum discussions at any time.

This is YOUR community. Most people have a common sense feel for what is and what is not appropriate in our forums and you folks generally do a great job of policing yourselves. We do, however, need to have a few set policies for everyone to refer to when the need arises.

While the administrators and moderators of this forum will attempt to remove or edit any generally objectionable material as quickly as possible where acceptable, it is impossible to review every message. Therefore you acknowledge that all posts made to these forums express the views and opinions of the author and not the administrators, moderators or web-master (except for posts by these people) and they will not be held liable.

You agree not to post any abusive, obscene, vulgar, slanderous, hateful, threatening, sexually-orientated material or any other material that may violate any applicable laws. Doing any of these may lead to you being temporarily or permanently banned from these forums (and your service provider may also be informed).

Posts which violate any part of this Code of Conduct may be edited or moved to a special holding area called “The Jail.” Posts in The Jail are only visible to staff members and the original poster.

If you were to continue to break this code of conduct your account would be reviewed and you could be banned. It is the sole discretion of the forum resolution team (currently the administrators) to ban violating accounts.

The IP addresses of all posts are recorded to aid in enforcing these conditions. You agree that the web-master, administrators and moderators of this forum have the right to remove, edit, move or close any post, topic or thread at any time they see fit following the guidelines outlined below. You agree that the web-master, administrators and moderators of this forum have the right to send a private message with a warning and/or censor any forum user who is in violation of forum policy.

1. Be respectful of all users at all times. This means please use etiquette and politeness. Treat people with kindness and gentleness. If you do this the rest of the code of conduct won’t need more than a cursory mention.
2. Respect the forum staff. We provide a service in our free time to keep the forums running efficiently. We will occasionally ask for input, but in some cases we will not, please respect our decisions. Also, we do edit for content, if you have an issue with our moderation, please open a request in the forum resolution center.
3. Profanity: Remember that the forums are used by people of all age groups and of all tolerance levels regarding profanity usage. When in the support areas of the forum, please try to keep your language polite and courteous and refrain from the usage of profanities. Explicit profanity/swearing is not allowed, and under no circumstances will we allow any profanity to be directed toward another person. Please see the Cowgirl Coder Code of Conduct’s requirements to “Be Considerate” and to “Be Respectful” and the descriptions given there for more exact specifications. A language filter is in place to catch any profanities that you may have accidentally used. Do not attempt to circumvent the language filter by using variations or slight misspellings of profanities.
4. Forum Threads and Flaming:
   • Flaming and condescending messages: Flames are messages that personally attack, call people names, or otherwise harass another forum member (or any person or group). These, along with any generally condescending posts will be moved or removed at the moderators discretion.
   • If the thread is flame-bait (appears to be intended to start an argument or is likely to cause an argument rather than enhance discussion), it will be locked or removed without notice. Individual flame-bait may be deleted or edited at the moderators’ discretion. Any users who continue to post in this manner or engage in other questionable practices, like trolling (posting in an attempt to engage people in arguments) may be subject to more serious sanctions.
   • If the thread turns into an argument, it can be locked or removed without notice. Sometimes a moderator may split the thread or delete certain portions in order to keep the discussion going, but that is not always possible.
5. If a post or thread contains spam (unsolicited advertising) it will be moved to the forum jail and the poster may be banned. Active users in good standing are allowed to have links to personal sites in their signatures, in their profile, and may post them in threads on occasion (just not often, please) as long as the content of those links does not include abusive, obscene, vulgar, slanderous, hateful, threatening, sexually-orientated material or any other material that may violate any applicable laws.
6. Adult Content/Violence/Illegal Activity: Messages containing sexually oriented/violent/illegal dialogue, images, content, or links to these things will be deleted. Messages with links to or suggesting illegal activity will also be deleted. Posting or linking to any of these could result in a ban.
7. Thread Drifting/Steering: Please keep discussions on topic. Non-technical and non-3rd party project discussions belong in the Cafe.
8. Please remember that these forums are inclusive of ALL people, and we strive to maintain accessibility to everyone.
9. Please strive to communicate with other users as effectively as possible:
   • Please try to write your posts in English unless you are participating in a Loco Forum, where you are permitted to use another language if it is in common use in that Loco Forum and understood by the Loco Forum staff. We have many users from many different countries that visit here and English is the common language of these forums.
   • When writing a post, please space paragraphs with a blank line in between them for better readability.
   • Please do not write posts in all uppercase letters, as it looks as if you are screaming at the people reading your post.
   • Please refrain from using “leet” speak or slang.
   • Please do not shorten your words to acronyms or abbreviations. It is very difficult to read and understand.
   • Please use color and font properties for highlighting portions of your text, and not for all of the text in your post.
   • Typos and other errors can cause miscommunication between users on the forums, please preview your text before posting.
   • Please do not cross post, or post the same thing in multiple locations.
10. If you have found a post that you feel is inappropriate or that violates the forum code of conduct, please use the report post function. Do not attempt to moderate discussions or correct other users yourself.
11. Please be prudent in your use of images; they may help to explain something more clearly or indicate a problem you are experiencing better but you have to remember that not everyone has the same bandwidth. If an image is the best way of handling the information, please keep your image to less than 100kb.
12. Forum signatures are limited to three lines of text, 10pt maximum font size. Signatures are also not a place for inappropriate material such as attacks, slander, harassment, political or religious remarks. We regret that users are not allowed to use images in their signatures (see staff signature guidelines below in Section III for an exception to this policy). The use of political images in avatars is also prohibited.
13. If you feel someone has violated the Cowgirl Coder Code of Conduct you may open a complaint with the Community Council. However, forum related issues will need to be dealt with in the forums’ resolution center. The Community Council will refer all forum-specific issues back to the forums’ resolution center.
14. The 3rd Party section of the forums is an gift to individuals and groups who have created valuable tools for The Cowgirl Coder. The 3rd party forums are provided to those running them out of gratitude for their work. Users are still expected to follow the forum and The Cowgirl Coder codes of conduct when posting in these forums.
15. The web-master, administrators and moderators of this forum will preserve forum content when possible. However editing, locking and deleting content may be necessary and if so will be done at the discretion of the web-master, administrators and moderators when the forum code of conduct has been violated.
16. Private Messaging users for support is strongly discouraged. It is also unlikely that users will respond to these requests.
17. Users should only have one active account. If you feel you have justification for requiring a new account, please contact an administrator to discuss your situation. Users who have multiple accounts without approval of an administrator may be subjected to infractions or bans without notice.
18. The Thanks plug-in is a way for users to find useful content from the large amount posted to the forums. Asking forum users for thanks reduces the usefulness of this tool. Doing anything that falsely increase your Thanks count is not allowed, and can result in warning, infractions or banning from the Ubuntu Forums.

Section II – Technical Support Policies:

When asking for technical support:
1. There are no stupid questions. You’re not a stupid person simply because you do not know how to do something, or do not have the answer to a question. Everyone was a green user at one point in time.
2. Try to give information in the title of your post. Instead of using a title like “it’s broken,” use a title that is specific, such as, “Unable to get sound to play in Firefox.” A clear title will attract more views to your thread, as it gives a clear indication of the content of the post to the people that are willing to help you. Ultimately this will allow you to get more help of a better quality. Also, please resist the urge to use a sensationalist, extreme, and flame-baiting title like “I’ve had it with Cowgirl Coder!” “I bet you can’t solve my problem” or “Cowgirl Coder sucks”. Your problem is important, but so are other people’s problems. The best way to get good help is to be specific and unemotional in your original post and its title, as you describe the problem.
3. Searching the Cowgirl Coder Forums is a quick way to see if someone has had your issue and if it has been answered. In a forum as large and active as this one, there’s a good chance your question has been answered before, and you can get the information you want quickly.
4. When requesting help, please include as many details as you can. Include as much information as you know. If you do not know how to find out the information that a user is requesting of you, you might want to ask them how to find the information they have requested. Attach screen shots or other files if you think it might be useful.
5. It’s always nice to let the people that help you know that you appreciate their help. It’s extra nice if you then share that information to another user that has the same question you just had. If your question is resolved (which is hopefully always the case!), it would be helpful for other users and the people helping you to label which procedure worked for you by quoting or clearly referring to it. Giving feedback as to what procedures worked not only makes the person helping you feel a sense of accomplishment, you will also be helping any other user with your same issue searching for an answer.
6. While we are happy to serve as a resource for hints and for asking questions when you get stuck and need a little help, the Cowgirl Coder Forums should not be thought of as a homework service. Please do not post your homework assignments expecting someone else to do it for you. Any such threads will be taken offline and warnings or infractions may be issued.

When answering technical support issues:

7. Be considerate to the person asking the question. We were all a green user at one point. Yes, some users are harder to help than others, but please be respectful to all users.
8. Try to avoid acronyms and jargon when giving instructions. New, or “green” users may not be able to follow you, and many will not ask you for an explanation in order to avoid looking stupid. RTFM, “Go look on google” are two inappropriate responses to a question. If you don’t know the answer or don’t wish to help, please say nothing instead of brushing off someone’s question. Politely showing someone how you searched or obtained the answer to a question is acceptable, even encouraged.
9. If the users’ question has been covered in one of the community documents, please give them a description and the links. You can also show the user how to search the forums or tell them about the forum search utility. If you wish to remind a user to use search tools or other resources when they have asked a question you feel is basic or common, please be very polite. Any replies for help that contain language disrespectful towards the user asking the question, i.e. “STFU” or “RTFM” are unacceptable and will not be tolerated.
10. Always assume the user is genuine and serious in the questions they are asking, and respond with courtesy.
11. Always assume that the user is a new user unless you’re certain the user is not. Please remember to give detailed instructions.
12. If an image speaks a thousand words and can show exactly what you mean, by all means, include an image.
13. Please wrap long outputs from commands or other text to prevent users from needing to scroll through the content inside [CODE] tags.
14. Please remember to do things the Cowgirl Coder way. There are always more than one solution to a problem, choose the one you think will be the easiest for the user. Try to think as a green user and choose the simplest solution.
15. Explain each step of the solution. If possible, try to teach the user while giving a solution to them. Teaching begets more teaching.
16. If you’re uncertain if a procedure is correct, please tell users so. If your procedure has inherent risks, please tell users what they are.  Also, please make sure all information and assistance you give is accurate to the best of your knowledge, will give the intended outcome, and is not based on guesswork.

Section III – Forum Staff Policies and Expectations:

Staff duties are based upon the following:

1. Dealing with Profanity:
   Mild profanity/swearing is allowed in the context of general speech. Explicit profanity/swearing is not allowed, and under no circumstances will we allow any profanity to be directed toward another person. If you feel a user is out of line please contact an administration with the details, they will issue a warning to the user.
2. Dealing with spam and potential “jailed” posts:
   If its a user trying to advertise something move the post to the jail and issue a spam infraction. Posts that are used to flame, harass or harm another person should be reported to an administrator asap. We do not encourage staff to partake in conversation in these types of situations and the administration will handle the issue.
3. Editing of posts:
   When a post breaks guidelines and requires editing in order to bring it back under compliance with the rules, the moderator should generally copy the un-edited post to the jail first or issue an infraction which will keep a copy of the original post in the staff area. Only then should the original post be edited after the original content was preserved as evidence. In the private message automatically sent when the infraction is issued the moderator should specify or describe which guideline(s) the post did not follow.
4. Thread Closing:
   If a thread has run it’s course and posts have begun repeating themes a thread may be closed – if possible, announce that the thread has run it’s course before closing so that people may add closing statements – don’t forget to thank all users involved in the discussion. If a thread has become a situation where people are simply too personally involved in the issue a thread may be closed and / or jailed. If a thread is a duplicate of another thread, it may be closed (please provide a link to another open thread on the same topic.) It is always a good idea to post an explanation in a thread that is closed.
5. Jailing of posts/thread:
   If a post/thread would require a lot of work to bring it into compliance, or if editing the violations would result in a nearly blank post/thread, the post/thread should be moved to the jail instead.
6. User signatures, avatars and custom user titles:
   No images or advertising in the signatures unless it is a user’s personal site which does not violate the guidelines stated above. If you see a signature that needs moderating, contact an administrator so they can edit it and contact the user via private message. Avatars should be kept clean and inclusive of all people. No porn, racist images, or rtfm types of images. If the user has one of these, send them a private message and ask them to remove the avatar. If the user does not voluntarily remove their avatar contact an administrator to have the avatar removed and possibly issue an infraction. There are a select, small group of users on the forums who have been given the special privilege of creating for themselves a custom user title. This is to thank them for their long-standing commitment to the community and for their consistent, positive contributions. Users receiving this privilege are requested to keep their custom user title light-hearted, advertising-free, and clean…although those who have received this privilege are probably the sort of users who don’t need to be told this.
7. Adult Content/Violence/Illegal Activity:
   Messages containing offensive / sexually oriented / violent / illegal dialog, images, content, or links to such should be jailed, depending on the information contained. Use your best judgment. Messages with links to or suggesting illegal activity will soft deleted by an administrator. Any of these actions could result in a ban for the user.
8. Religion/Politics threads:
   Conversations about religion are disallowed at all times, as are all political discussions that are not directly related to free and open source software concerns.
9. Discriminatory/manhating threads
   We need to make sure we can try to steer these conversations into a positive discussion, however in many cases these threads will only end in hurt feelings and will be locked. If the thread cannot be steered into a clean discussion the staff member who locks it needs to be fully supported by staff.
10. Thread Steering:
    It will become necessary to steer threads away from becoming damaging towards the poster and other users. Our policy is that we do not allow threads to veer too far off topic, even in community chat, to areas where it would be very easy to get ugly fast. Please do your best to keep posters from getting too personal during heated debates.
11. Keeping an open mind:
    Sometimes you will be faced with a thread you might not agree with. It’s imperative you keep an open mind towards all inclusive people, and keep a neutral focus when replying. It is our duty to steer the conversations back into a positive nature without engaging in negative behavior.
12. Posting and moderating in the same thread:
    This is generally discouraged. If you have participated in a discussion and later find there is a problem in the thread contact the other staff and have someone else who is uninvolved moderate. The exception would be if no one is available, you can close the thread temporarily with a post stating that it will be looked at by a non-involved staff member as soon as possible. If you aren’t sure what to do, get an administrator.
13. Signatures:
    While we do not have guidelines for staff signatures, please try to keep them moderate and within reason.

Staff are chosen by the site administrators. Users who have demonstrated a consistent attitude of friendliness and kindness and who have shown a pattern of helpfulness in their posts may be contacted and invited to serve in an even more official manner. Recommendations can be made by current staff in the staff forums or other users by private message. All recommendations are considered. Due to time constraints and privacy issues the administrators are unlikely to comment publicly on these recommendations.

It should be noted that, like all things, this code of conduct will continue to change and evolve with constructive feedback from users and from experience. It is our hope that these policies will create open, honest, and civil discussion. As always, we welcome feedback about any concerns that you may have so feel free to post in the forum feedback section of the forums. It is the users’ responsibility to check this page for updates.

We require that the forum code of conduct be followed at all times since this is an official Ubuntu resource.

Public forum data is released under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Last Updated 03/09/2010 by Tarah Wheeler