Code of Conduct

The purpose of our Code of Conduct is to ensure that all participants in the Refresh Miami community have the best possible experience. We are all here to help each other learn, grow, and connect. 

The Refresh Miami Code of Conduct covers our behavior as members of the Refresh community interacting on the platform in any forum, group, private correspondence, or public meeting or event.

As a community, diversity is one of our vast strengths. To avoid any miscommunication and foster an inclusive and supportive platform, the team has established a few guidelines to communicate, collaborate, and contribute.

We expect the following guidelines to be followed in spirit as much as in the written word.

  • Be considerate. Other people will use your work, 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.
  • Be patient. This mostly applies to forums, group discussions, and code contributions (i.e., asynchronous forms of communication). Communities are often built on volunteer time both from participants and organizers. It is possible that your question or code contribution or suggestion might not receive an immediate response. Be patient and consider the norms of the community. One reminder ping is welcome; many reminder pings in rapid succession are not a good display of patience. Similarly, posting the same question in multiple threads is frowned upon.
  • Be respectful. Not all of us will agree all the time, but disagreement is no excuse for poor behavior and poor manners. We might all experience some frustration, 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. We expect members of the Refresh community to be respectful when communicating with other members and people outside the Refresh community.
  • Be inclusive. Everyone in the Refresh community should feel welcome, regardless of their background. Please be courteous, respectful, and polite to fellow community members. No offensive comments related to gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, or religion.
  • Use appropriate content:  Please use your discretion on public-facing content and images; no sexual images in public spaces. No images with real or implied violence, or hate-driven content.  
  • Appropriate behavior: Be mindful of content or behavior that conveys intimidation, oppression, stalking, or harassment. 
  • In-person events: Be respectful of the speaker and the audience. Avoid disruption of talks or other events, inappropriate physical contact, or unwelcome sexual attention.
  • Communicate effectively. We don’t all speak the same language at the same skill level. Clear communication can help avoid misunderstandings and remember that our interpretations of words can be different depending on our backgrounds. Having context is important. It’s better to ask for clarification than to make assumptions. Disagreements, social and technical, are normal, but we expect participants in the project to resolve disagreements constructively — so please avoid flamewars, trolling, personal attacks, and repetitive arguments. 
  • Ask for help when unsure. Nobody is expected to be perfect in this community. Asking questions early avoids many problems later. Questions are encouraged, though they may be directed to the appropriate forum. Those who are asked should be responsive and helpful.

In addition to this Code of Conduct, all Refresh events are governed by the following policy. All attendees, speakers, sponsors, and volunteers, including the event organizing team, are required to adhere to the following policy. Organizers are expected to enforce this policy throughout the event. We expect cooperation from all participants to help ensure a safe and cooperative environment for everyone.

Policy

Harassment includes offensive verbal comments related to gender, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, religion, sexual images in public spaces, deliberate intimidation, stalking, following, harassing photography or recording, sustained disruption of talks or other events, inappropriate physical contact, and unwelcome sexual attention.

Participants asked to stop any harassing behavior are expected to comply immediately. Failure to comply immediately will result in being banned from Refresh Miami platform as well as any events organized by Refresh Miami. Sponsors are also subject to the anti-harassment policy. In particular, sponsors should not use sexualized images, activities, or other material. Meetup organizing staff and other volunteer organizers should not use sexualized clothing/uniforms/costumes, or otherwise create a sexualized environment.

If a participant engages in harassing behavior, the meetup organizers may take any action they deem appropriate, including warning the offender or expulsion from the event.

If you are being harassed, notice that someone else is being harassed, or have any other concerns, please follow the directions in the “If You Need Help” section, directly below this policy.

Organizers will be happy to help participants contact security or local law enforcement, provide escorts to an alternate location, or otherwise assist those experiencing harassment to feel safe for the duration of the meetup. We value your attendance.

We expect participants to follow these rules at all of our event venues and event-related social events.

If You Need Help

Instances of abusive, harassing, or otherwise unacceptable behavior may be reported by contacting [email protected]. As a company, we take our community’s health and safety seriously and want to ensure everyone has a good experience, so please contact us if there is an issue so we can help address it immediately.

The Refresh Code of Conduct is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 license. Our Code of Conduct was inspired by and borrowed from Codes of Conduct of other open-source projects, including: