Community Rules and Guidelines

The rules at a glance

  1. Don’t spam. We have a strict policy. Do it once, and you’re warned; twice, and you’re out.
  2. Quality posts. You’ll get a friendly warning for low-quality posts; if you do it again, you’ll be suspended. Quality comes from posting something with the audience’s best interest at heart
  3. No personal insults. This is self-explanatory.

Our Mission

To ensure every entrepreneur is supported

We are pursuing a Community-Led Growth (CLG) strategy — which means we are focused on the entrepreneurs first and foremost, and we are relying on the community itself and the value generated from it to be the primary driver of new acquisition, conversion and expansion.

How do we know if we are achieving our mission?

Valuable community = number of members in the community x the value of information being shared among members.

Building a strong community

We want people to help each other be better entrepreneurs. This is a community we build together, and we need your help to make it the best it can be.

  • Be welcoming and open-minded - Other entrepreneurs may not have the same experience level or background as you, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have good ideas to contribute. We encourage you to be welcoming to all entrepreneurs especially those just getting started.
  • Respect each other. Nothing sabotages healthy conversation like rudeness. Be civil and professional, and don’t post anything that a reasonable person would consider offensive, abusive, or hate speech. Don’t harass or bring grief to anyone. Treat each other with dignity and consideration in all interactions. You may wish to respond to something by disagreeing with it. That’s fine. But remember to criticize ideas, not people. Avoid name-calling, ad hominem attacks, responding to a post’s tone instead of its actual content, and knee-jerk contradiction. Instead, provide reasoned counter-arguments that improve the conversation.
  • Communicate with empathy - Empathy is essential to the entrepreneurship journey, practice it here. Disagreements or differences of opinion are a fact of life. Being part of a community means interacting with people from a variety of backgrounds and perspectives, many of which may not be your own. If you disagree with someone, try to understand and share their feelings before you address them. This will promote a respectful and friendly atmosphere where people feel comfortable asking questions, participating in discussions, and making contributions.

What if something or someone offends you?

If you run into something or someone on the site that you find objectionable, please let us know by messaging an Admin.

What is not allowed?

We are committed to maintaining a community where users are free to express themselves and challenge one another’s ideas, both technical and otherwise. Such discussions, however, are unlikely to foster fruitful dialog when ideas are silenced because community members are being shouted down or are afraid to speak up. That means you should be respectful and civil at all times, and refrain from attacking others on the basis of who they are. We do not tolerate behavior that crosses the line into the following:

  • Threats of violence - You may not threaten violence towards others or use the site to organize, promote, or incite acts of real-world violence or terrorism. Think carefully about the words you use, the images you post, and even the software you write, and how they may be interpreted by others. Even if you mean something as a joke, it might not be received that way. If you think that someone else might interpret the content you post as a threat, or as promoting violence or terrorism, stop.
  • Hate speech and discrimination - While it is not forbidden to broach topics such as age, body size, disability, ethnicity, gender identity and expression, level of experience, nationality, personal appearance, race, religion, or sexual identity and orientation, we do not tolerate speech that attacks a person or group of people on the basis of who they are. Just realize that when approached in an aggressive or insulting manner, these (and other) sensitive topics can make others feel unwelcome, or perhaps even unsafe. While there’s always the potential for misunderstandings, we expect our community members to remain respectful and civil when discussing sensitive topics.
  • Bullying and harassment - We do not tolerate bullying or harassment. This means any habitual badgering or intimidation targeted at a specific person or group of people. In general, if your actions are unwanted and you continue to engage in them, there’s a good chance you are headed into bullying or harassment territory.
  • Sexually obscene content - Don’t post content that is pornographic. This does not mean that all nudity, or all code and content related to sexuality, is prohibited. We recognize that sexuality is a part of life and non-pornographic sexual content may be a part of your project, or may be presented for educational or artistic purposes. We do not allow obscene sexual content or content that may involve the exploitation or sexualization of minors.
  • Gratuitously violent content - Don’t post violent images, text, or other content without reasonable context or warnings. While it’s often okay to include violent content in video games, news reports, and descriptions of historical events, we do not allow violent content that is posted indiscriminately, or that is posted in a way that makes it difficult for other users to avoid (such as a profile avatar or an issue comment). A clear warning or disclaimer in other contexts helps users make an educated decision as to whether or not they want to engage with such content.

What happens if someone breaks the rules?

There are a variety of actions that we may take when a user reports inappropriate behavior or content. It usually depends on the exact circumstances of a particular case. We recognize that sometimes people may say or do inappropriate things for any number of reasons. Perhaps they did not realize how their words would be perceived. Or maybe they just let their emotions get the best of them. Of course, sometimes, there are folks who just want to spam or cause trouble.

Each case requires a different approach, and we try to tailor our response to meet the needs of the situation that has been reported. We’ll review each abuse report on a case-by-case basis. In each case, we will have a diverse team investigate the content and surrounding facts and respond as appropriate, using these guidelines to guide our decision.

Actions we may take in response to an abuse report include but are not limited to:

  • Content Removal
  • Content Blocking
  • Account Suspension
  • Account Termination
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