Guidelines for Professional Conduct

The following are guidelines when it comes to maintaining a "professional demeanor" within the D Community.

Goals

These guidelines are not a set of rules to be rigidly followed to the letter, but rather, general advice on how to behave in a professional manner. With that, a set of goals has been included to represent the "spirit of the guidelines" in that, each guideline should help the community achieve one of these goals. If a guideline contradicts one of these goals in a particular case then defer to the goal rather than the guideline.

• Foster a positive community where people feel "safe" to share their thoughts and ideas without being ridiculed

Guidelines

With these goals in mind, here are the guidelines that we believe will help achieve them:

• Avoid personal attacks. Avoid insulting another's intelligence, competence or mental stability.

Tips

This last section is a list of "tips" for how to achieve a professional demeanor and foster positive interaction within the community.

• Try to target/address all readers of the post, not just the person you are replying to. Trying to "win the argument" with the person you are replying to is almost always a waste of time.
• If something seems contentious, consider postponing it for a time and reading it back later to make sure you really want to submit it.
• Avoid posting when you are angry. Consider taking time to "cool down" to avoid saying something you may regret later.
• Always be polite even when someone is being gratuitously rude and insulting
• Give people the benefit of the doubt. Thinking someone is being vindictive or has an agenda should be the last thought in your mind.