Code of Conduct

We have no desire to police our users. We also live in a society, and we're not going to lie to you and say "no rulez lol" when certain kinds of content can get us taken offline. Below you'll find minimum common-sense rules to keep our community and admins safe, and discussions orderly. These rules are not an immediate ban necessarily, however this is a good guide to follow and breaking these rules in rooms/spaces that specifically follow these or similar rules will likely be grounds for account termination.

By agreeing to the Pain.Agency Code Of Conduct you agree to...

• Be welcoming of all walks of life: We strive to be a community that welcomes and supports people of all backgrounds and identities. This includes, but is not limited to members of any race, ethnicity, culture, national origin, colour, immigration status, social and economic class, educational level, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, age, size, family status, political belief, religion, and mental and physical ability.


• Be considerate: Your work will be used by other people, and you in turn will depend on the work of others. Any decision you take will affect users and colleagues, and you should take those consequences into account when making decisions. Remember that we're a world-wide community, so you might not be communicating in someone else's primary language.


• Be respectful: Not all of us will agree all the time, but disagreement is no excuse for poor behaviour and poor manners. We might all experience some frustration now and then, but we cannot allow that frustration to turn into a personal attack. It's important to remember that a community where people feel uncomfortable or threatened is not a productive one.


• Be ethical: Avoid deliberately misinforming or misleading others, especially after receiving clarification. It is understandable to get things wrong from time to time, but deliberately sharing information with the intention to mislead users, or willfully ignoring the incorrectness of shared information is not something that is okay.


• Try to understand why we disagree: Disagreements, both social and technical, happen all the time. It is important that we resolve disagreements and differing views constructively. Remember that we're different. The strength of our community comes from its diversity, people from a wide range of backgrounds. Different people have different perspectives on issues. Being unable to understand why someone holds a viewpoint doesn't mean that they're wrong. Don't forget that it is human to err and blaming each other doesn't get us anywhere. Instead, focus on helping to resolve issues and learning from mistakes.


• Be careful in the words that we choose: Be kind to others. Do not insult or put down other participants. Harassment and other exclusionary behaviour aren't acceptable. Although this list cannot be exhaustive, we explicitly honour diversity in age, gender, gender identity or expression, culture, ethnicity, language, national origin, political beliefs, profession, race, religion, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and technical ability. We will not tolerate discrimination based on any of the protected characteristics above, including participants with disabilities. Harassment includes, but is not limited to:
  
  • Offensive comments related to gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, mental illness, neuro(a)typicality, physical appearance, body size, race, age, regional discrimination, political or religious affiliation
  
  
  • Unwelcome comments regarding a person's lifestyle choices and practices, including those related to food, health, parenting, drugs, and employment
  
  
  • Deliberate misgendering. This includes deadnaming or persistently using a pronoun that does not correctly reflect a person's gender identity. You must address people by the name they give you when not addressing them by their username or handle
  
  
  • Physical contact and simulated physical contact (eg, textual descriptions like "hug" or "backrub") without consent or after a request to stop
  
  
  • Threats of violence, both physical and psychological
  
  
  • Incitement of violence towards any individual, including encouraging a person to commit suicide or to engage in self-harm
  
  
  • Deliberate intimidation
  
  
  • Stalking or following
  
  
  • Harassing photography or recording, including logging online activity for harassment purposes
  
  
  • Sustained disruption of discussion
  
  
  • Unwelcome sexual attention, including gratuitous or off-topic sexual images or behaviour
  
  
  • Pattern of inappropriate social contact, such as requesting/assuming inappropriate levels of intimacy with others
  
  
  • Continued one-on-one communication after requests to cease
  
  
  • Deliberate "outing" of any aspect of a person's identity without their consent except as necessary to protect others from intentional abuse
  
  
  • Publication of non-harassing private communication

While free speech is a right, it's also subject to certain limitations, especially in private spaces like our community chat rooms. In the context of a government or authoritative body, censorship is seen as a way to control the narrative or keep certain views from being expressed. However, in our community spaces, actions taken to remove content are not about suppressing dissenting opinions but about maintaining a focused and respectful discussion environment. While we wish to hold space for differing opinioins and views, we have to keep operations orderly, and at the end of the day you can always go elsewhere to say what you need to. Free speech is the right to speak freely, not the right to have someone hold a space for you to be heard.

If you come across anything that violates the Code of Conduct that we should know about, please let us know by reaching out to jjj333.p.1325@gmail.com by email, @jjj333:pain.agency on matrix, +1 (740) 481 - 1253 by sms or Whatsapp, or @jjj333_p on Snapchat.

Due to the federated nature of matrix, we can not do anything about users not using our server, however we do maintain a list of users we notice violating our COC over at #coc-bl:pain.agency