#Rules

Community Feedback Form

Please add your comments and thoughts to the developing guidlines.

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Please download the guidlines (PDF format)

Table of Contents

I. Community Values:

The Autonomous Collective (TAC) and its community promote inclusion, diversity, equity, collaboration, honesty, solidarity, mutual aid, curiosity, cooperation, play, and respect. We consider those values essential to maintaining this community as a “socially owned” space that we join voluntarily and govern collectively. We must work actively to balance each member’s right to express themselves with each member’s right to feel respected and valued.

These Community Guidelines aim to support a community where all people should feel safe to participate, introduce new ideas and inspire others. We especially support dialog that promotes diverse perspectives and experiences. Harassment and disrespect based on any person’s identity will not be tolerated. In the interest of equity, we want to explicitly encourage augmenting voices of historically marginalized communities on our platforms. (Offers support and encouragement for all participants.)

EG:: Criticizing the practices of an institution is acceptable and different from disrespecting an individual for their identity.

Some examples of how community members may identify themselves include: *(I)

  • Background
  • Family status
  • Gender
  • Gender identity or expression
  • Marital status
  • Sex
  • Sexual orientation
  • Native language
  • Age
  • Ability
  • Race and/or ethnicity
  • Caste
  • National origin
  • Socioeconomic status
  • Religion
  • Geographic location

In these Community Guidelines, we’ve included Encouraged and Discouraged Behaviors. These are recommendations, with the goal of setting the tone for our community, fostering healthy discussion and debate, and striving to embody our shared values. The Rules are mandatory for anyone participating in TAC community activities. Registration for any TAC-hosted event and/or participating on the TAC Discord server includes an agreement to respect these rules. “TAC Community Activities” includes: After Hours (AH), the TAC Discord Server (DS), TAC Live Recordings (LR), and any other gathering of the TAC Community that uses Zoom, Eventbrite, YouTube, or other licensed platforms.

II. Behavior

II.I. Encouraged behavior

We encourage community members to practice the following behaviors during TAC Community Activities:

  • Collaboration
  • Honesty
  • Sincere / Good-Faith Discussion
  • Respect of others, and a willingness to accept criticism.
    EG: Accepting good-faith criticism is essential to vigorous discussion and debate cannot be had while walking on eggshells.
  • Openness to Different Perspectives
  • Good-Natured Playfulness
  • Inclusiveness
  • Intellectual curiosity

II.II. Discouraged behavior

We discourage community members from practicing the following behaviors during TAC Community Activities:

  • Maliciousness or malign humor
  • Trolling, or debating/ arguing in bad faith.
  • Derogatory Language (Derogatory attacks on community members)
  • Talking over someone in a way that disrupts their ability to communicate.
  • Deliberate Provocation, baiting, trying to exclude or silence a participant.

III. Rules

III.I. General Rules

At all TAC Community Activities, we agree to respect the following Rules:

No personal recordings.

Keep swearing to a minimum.

Be respectful and mindful of the community.

Over-imbibing on alcohol or medication resulting in unruly behaviour may result in an ejection.

Please be conscious of your actions while intoxicated. Bad behaviour caused by such a state will cause an ejection, just the same as if you were sober, it is not an excuse for bad behaviour.

No interruption of others while they are speaking, unless it is for a quick clarification of meaning or a quick question relevant to the topic.

No ad hominem attacks on members of the community. Critiquing ideas, behaviors, institutions, and beliefs is encouraged, but don’t personalize or essentialize it. e.g. “You are an idiot” (not allowed) vs. “that is a bad idea and here’s why” (allowed)

No discrimination or attacks on the basis of race, ethnicity, sex, gender identity, religion, lifestyle choices, age, ability, national origin, socioeconomic status or other aspects of someone’s identity.

No bullying, harassment or spamming of individual members of the community, including TAC panelists.

No sexual harassment.

No recording without prior consent of all participants.

III.II. Specific Rules during OH Presentations

During OH Presentations, Moderators will be present to help Presenters manage the room and their time. When a Presenter prefers to handle questions/ the audience on their own, the Moderators will manage the waiting room and enforce the General Rules.

During OH Presentations, all attendees agree to respect the Presenters by raising our hands if we wish to speak. Moderators/ Presenters will ask participants to speak based on the order in which hands were raised. Moderators will mute anyone who is disruptive to the Presentation.

(Please note: Moderators will defer to Presenters to set the tone of their segment. If a Presenter doesn’t want hand raising and prefers that people jump in, Moderators aren’t going to squash that energy.)

During a Presentation, please keep questions brief and on-topic. Save more open-ended questions for Q&A at the end of the Presentation if time allows, or a one-on-one follow-up with the Presenter.

IV. Moderators and Violation policy

IV.I. The Roles of Moderators

The role of the Moderator(s) is to support Presenters and participants, and to intervene when necessary.

  • Moderators when available will support presenters and intervene when participants violate the Rules. The Moderator on duty (should) add “MOD” to their name so participants can identify them. During AH, the Moderators will give Presenters Zoom Co-Hosting privileges (muting, screen-sharing, etc) when they’re presenting.
  • When there is a Moderator on-duty, participants can contact them directly by Zoom Direct Message if they’re having issues with another participant that falls under the Rules.
  • During all other TAC Community Activities, Moderators may not be present. Participants still agree to respect the Rules, and can be held accountable for violations.
  • If there is no Moderator on duty and you have an issue that requires the attention of a Moderator, participants can contact @Moderator through discord with the relevant details.
  • Please submit any problems at the time that they are happening (as if the Moderators are in the room). The goal of Moderators intervening is to support open participation and to de-escalate disruptive situations NOT TO REFEREE PERSONAL DISAGREEMENTS.

IV.II. The Rights of Moderators

Moderators have the right to manage Zoom Host and Zoom Co-Host assignments, and to address disruptive behavior and Rule violations. That may include muting people, removing people to the waiting room, and/or temporarily banning a participant. Moderators DO NOT have the right to permanently ban people from TAC Community Activities. Anyone who repeatedly violates the Rules and does not respond to Moderators’ feedback may be banned.

The initial Moderator pool includes members of the Rules Committee who have volunteered to Moderate in shifts during AH, and to support other Moderators as they manage the room and navigate Rule violations. Any community member who’s interested in upholding the Rules and can commit to fairly moderating friends and strangers alike would be welcome as a Moderator. Submit, a direct message to @Moderator.

IV.III. Becoming a Moderator

The initial Moderator pool includes members of the Rules Committee who have volunteered to Moderate in shifts during OH, and to support other Moderators as they manage the room and navigate Rule violations. Any community member who’s interested in upholding the Rules and can commit to fairly moderating friends and strangers alike would be welcome as a Moderator. Submit a feedback form expressing interest and the Moderators will follow up.

IV.IV. Rules Violations

Any participant who violates the TAC community Rules during a TAC Community Activity will be contacted privately by the Moderator on duty. If the Moderators receive a complaint off-duty, they will contact the participant via Discord or email. The goal is not to publicly embarrass anyone. Rather, it’s to avoid disruptive or harmful behavior during community activities and to communicate clearly when behavior is a problem.

If you have been contacted by a Moderator about inappropriate behavior, please stop that behavior. We all agree to respect the Rules when we register to attend TAC Community Activities, so if the behavior continues even after warnings from a Moderator, you will be removed from the activity. Moderators aren’t looking to remove people for little missteps, so if you have been removed from an event please take this as a serious signal. Continued misconduct will be taken as a statement that you are unwilling or unable to respect our Community Guidelines, and the Moderators may ban you from future TAC Community Activities.