Community guidelines

1. What this is

These guidelines cover how members interact with one another: in the Common Room, in connection requests and messages, in chapters, and at Society events.

They form part of the Fellowship terms and the University participation terms. Where something goes seriously wrong, those terms set out what the Society can do.

They are short on purpose. Everyone here was recognised for a contribution, and what follows is what a room of such people would expect of one another.

2. The whole of it, in one line

Take part as you would in a room with the person you are writing to.

3. Real names

Everyone posts under their own name, and every name on the platform has been checked. A Fellow's honorary doctorate has been confirmed with the University that awarded it, and University staff have been appointed to their chapter by their institution.

That is what makes the platform worth reading. Please post as yourself, and keep your account to yourself.

When a member closes their account, their posts stay in the room under "A former Fellow" so that the conversations still make sense. Those posts can still be flagged, and the Society can remove them.

4. In the Common Room

There is one room for the whole Society. A chapter is a tag on a post, and anyone can read anything.

What works here:

• introduce yourself. A note saying who you are and what you are working on is the most useful thing a new Fellow can post
• ask the question you actually have. Somebody in this room has done the thing you are about to do
• answer where you can add something. A short answer from the right person beats a long one from anyone else
• mark the reply that helped. It closes the question and tells the next person where to look
• star what is good. Stars are the only signal here, and there is nothing to vote down

What does not work here:

• selling. This is not the place to pitch a company, a consultancy or a product. If somebody asks what you do, tell them
• recruitment advertising and bulk approaches
• party political campaigning
• posting a person's contact details, or anything told to you in confidence
• anything that would embarrass a University if it were read by its Principal, unless it is a fair criticism made in a way you would make it to their face

5. Disagreeing

Disagreement is most of the value here. A room of senior people who all agree is a room that has stopped thinking.

Argue with the point. Say what you think is wrong and why. Leave the person out of it.

If a conversation stops being useful, stop replying. You do not owe anyone the last word.

6. Confidentiality

Some of what you will read is not yours to repeat.

• what a chapter discusses stays in the chapter unless the chapter says otherwise
• a challenge shared with the network with the institution's name removed stays that way. The institution is not named, on the platform or off it
• what a member tells you in confidence stays with you

7. Contact details and connections

Accepting a connection exchanges email addresses and mobile numbers. Treat them as you would a business card handed to you in person.

A mailing list, a newsletter or a CRM is an ask, not an assumption. Their details are for what they agreed to.

You can send up to 20 connection requests a day. The cap sits well above a considered approach and is only there to stop the network being worked at volume.

8. Discrimination and harassment

Nobody here should have to put up with harassment, bullying, or abuse on the basis of race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, disability, age, pregnancy or maternity, marriage or civil partnership, nationality, or anything else about who they are.

This applies in posts, in replies, in messages, and at Society events.

9. Flagging something

Every post, reply and profile has a three dot menu with one option: flag it.

• a flag comes to the Society
• a flag about anyone holding an office or a staff appointment in a chapter comes to the Society alone, and never to that chapter
• nobody sees or decides a flag about themselves
• we will not tell the person who raised a flag who else was involved, and we will not tell the person flagged who raised it unless they need to know to answer it

It is for something that needs attention, and not for a view you disagree with.

10. If something goes wrong

Most things are settled with a quiet word.

Where more is needed we may:

• ask you to change or remove something
• remove a post or a reply ourselves, and tell you we have
• suspend an account while we look into something
• end a Fellowship or a staff appointment

We will tell you what has been raised and give you a chance to answer, unless the matter is serious enough that we have to act first. You can ask us to look at a decision again, and the Fellowship terms say how.

Removing a post removes the replies to it. We take that into account before removing anything with a conversation under it.

11. If something happens to you

Tell us. Write to info@societyofhonorarydoctors.org or flag the post. You will get a person, and you will get an answer.

If something has happened that the police should know about, tell them, and tell us so that we can act on the platform straight away.

12. Changes

We will update these guidelines as the Society grows and as members tell us what is missing. The version and date are at the top.