Code of Conduct - MSPGeek Inc.

Please note that the below is not an exhaustive list but is an indication of how members and vendors are expected to behave within our community. There may well be periodic changes made to ensure we maintain the integrity of our community.

Violations of the Code of Conduct can result in Warnings, temporary removal from the Community, or outright permanent Banning by the Community Admin Team - depending on the severity of the issue and the number of complaints logged already.

MSPGeek is a community for MSPs, TSPs and other Solutions Providers. Members who do not fall into this category will be subject to removal after review.

Members

Support the MSPGeek mission of open communication, collaboration, learning and sharing with other members and vendors.
Be respectful and courteous to all members, staff and vendors.
Share your knowledge and experience with others.
You are fully responsible for your own content. You need to make sure you have relevant permission to post any information or material on our public-facing platforms.
If you utilize someone else’s work and improve on it, you should share this back to the community as well as recognizing the author of the original work.
Do not post private information about individuals without their explicit consent.
We strongly suggest that users who wish to post files, scripts, solutions etc. do so in the MSPGeek forums and then link to it from within the Slack or Discord channels.
Do not post anything that a reasonable person would consider offensive, abusive, or hate speech. Admin's decisions on this are final.
Members should not send other members direct messages for commercial reasons (IE: trying to sell or advertise something) unless specifically invited to.
Raise concerns of inappropriate behavior to the Community Admins.
We require all members of the community to register using verifiable work-related e-mail addresses and to provide real names when requested. While members are free to keep their public anonymity, we reserve the right to remove any member who doesn't wish to identify themselves privately in compliance with this policy.
If you promote a paid product or service, that you have a direct involvement with, you will be classified as a vendor and will be expected to also adhere to the Vendor Code of Conduct as laid out below in the Vendors Section.
If you are representing MSPGeek addressing the community in a public talk, podcast, webinar, or anything that requires public speaking, you are expected to also adhere to the Speakers Code of Conduct laid out below in the Public Speakers section.
If you are representing MSPGeek in an official capacity such as Direct Employee, Board Member, Volunteer, or otherwise affiliated with the MSPGeek, Inc. Not for Profit organization you are expected to also adhere to the Employees Code of Conduct laid out below in the MSPGeek Employees section.

Vendors

MSPGeek is primarily a community for open communication collaboration, learning and sharing and we expect vendors to have the same values.
Where vendors have had a channel created for them, they agree to staff it and answer queries in a reasonable amount of time. Where vendors periodically abandon their channel, the channel will be removed.
Vendors should not advertise their services or products in any of the general channels.
Vendors should not solicit members via direct message unless specifically invited to
Vendors should prefix/suffix their display names in Slack and Discord with their company/product name so as to identify themselves as a vendor.
Vendors are encouraged to engage with members in the general channels. If members are actively discussing your product/service, then you can enter into conversation about it in that general channel.
Vendors are free to advertise their own services in their own channel.
Vendors are free to set their own description for their own channel.
Vendors who want to advertise something to the wider community because they feel the community would value from it, should approach the Admin team who will take a decision on it. Otherwise, the #vendor-announcements channel can be utilized to make public announcements to the wider community regarding webinars, in person events, and other exciting news.
Vendors should not utilize member information outside of the community for the purpose of advertising or communication unless commercially engaged by a member.

Public Speakers

This primarily applies to community members (MSPGeek Employees or otherwise) who will be addressing the public community at large on behalf of MSPGeek. Examples include MSPGeekCon speakers, MSPGeek Hangout or Geekcast presenters, or any other kind of event where the speaker can be seen as being representative of MSPGeek.

MSPGeek is a vendor neutral community that has a strict no-bashing policy. Vendors are just as much part of the MSP Community as anyone else and should be treated as such. The no-bashing policy applies to both MSPs and Vendors. Be respectful.
In addition to the above, any mention or call-out of a specific person, Vendor or otherwise needs to come from what the Speaker has personally experienced and cannot come from hearsay or secondhand knowledge. Gossiping and/or Slander ruins reputations and discussing (regardless of bashing or not) unconfirmed statements about individuals or companies is not tolerated on an open platform.
MSPGeek does not grant the right to Public Speakers for abuse of product or platforms, especially those where the Vendor is an active partner of MSPGeek. Any demonstration of a platform that has the potential to step into legal realms (such as vulnerabilities, security flaws, or bypassing intended use of code) needs to be brought up ahead of time with the relevant Vendor, and written permission needs to be obtained ahead of time. MSPGeek can attempt to facilitate these conversations if you like, which you can request by reaching out to the Admin Team.
MSPGeek has a mission to drive education, growth, and improvement across the community and as such it is the Speakers responsibility to ensure to the best of your ability that presentations or other content provided is factually accurate and does not mislead the audience. If speculation or opinion is included, it should be clearly stated as such.
As part of our Member Code of Conduct, Speakers should be extra diligent to not include language, jokes or analogies that could alienate or exclude parts of the audience. This includes encouraging open participation and respecting differing perspectives during open discussions/Q&A.
As part of our Vendor Code of Conduct, vendors who are presenting need to clearly disclose their affiliations and avoid unsanctioned sales pitches. Sessions should focus on content valuable to the community regardless of platform or product in use and should not be focused on your own product - unless the session is clearly intended for demonstration or discussions around your product.

MSPGeek Employees

This primarily applies to community members who are associated with the MSPGeek brand or name in an official capacity. Examples include Volunteers, Board Members, direct employees.

As a member who is engaged in an Official Capacity for MSPGeek, the actions you take regardless as part of MSPGeek or as another entity still reflects on MSPGeek. Therefore, your behavior must reflect the Code of Conduct expected while engaging inside of MSPGeek as outlined above (in all capacities, if you're a Vendor, Public Speaking, or just engaging in a community).
MSPGeek is an organization built around Community and as such decisions need to be transparent and clearly communicated especially when it comes to enforcement of policy.
If an MSPGeek Employee has a financial or personal interest in a topic, vendor, or discussion it should be clearly disclosed when relevant. MSPGeek Employees should avoid using their position for unfair influence (e.g. promoting their own services or companies without approval).
When acting in an official capacity, MSPGeek Employees should uphold professionalism and respect in all direct messages and private interactions.
It is expected that to the best of their ability MSPGeek Employees should be maintaining the MSPGeek culture of vendor neutrality in all aspects. This includes not granting special privileges to certain members, or vendors beyond established agreements.
Vendors who are engaging in an official capacity of MSPGeek Employees (such as volunteers or board members) are expected to follow community guidelines ensuring fairness.