Crafting a Safe and Respectful Space

The Long Version

Overview

NomadSphere is an inclusive and mutually supportive community of digital nomads, remote workers, and location-independent workers who aim to practice responsible travel and tourism around the world. We have diverse backgrounds, skills, talents, experiences, cultures, and opinions. We are respectful of local cultures and the environment wherever we go, and we are also respectful and empathetic of others’ experiences.

The following is what we expect within our NomadSphere community:

• We aim to be considerate, kind, constructive, and friendly

• We try to express humility and aim to be self-aware of our presence within the community

• We model respectful behavior, but also address and report harmful behavior when we see it.

• We try to resolve peacefully and have constructive disagreements, and avoid engaging in hostility

• We understand that politics is embedded in our lives wherever we travel, and we try to have healthy, constructive discussions about political topics. Disparagement and personal attacks are not accepted. Cool-down tactics will be leveraged whenever a political conversation gets unproductive or hostile

• We aim to leave room for others to speak and we try to move ongoing discussions between a few individuals into a thread

Respect for Diverse Opinions

We are lucky to have a wonderfully diverse community, with members from different cultures and backgrounds. Please consider how your posts might be interpreted before commenting. We aim to avoid making assumptions or stereotypes about others based on their backgrounds or experiences, and to listen and learn from others.

We live in an age of misinformation, and reserve the right to remove content or messages that we believe are detrimental to the community. Additionally, we as a community value respectful behavior above individual opinions.

Out of Bounds Topics and Behaviors

Some topics are “out of bounds” in this community and will not be tolerated. As members of this community, we commit not to engage in harmful speech, such as racism, xenophobia, sexism/misogyny, pickup art, homophobia, and transphobia.

Unacceptable behaviors include, but are not limited to:

• Harassment of any type

• Objectification of people regardless of whether they’re internal or external to the community

• Actively provoking other users

• Lack of empathy for others’ perspectives or opinions

• Self-promotion, advertisements, sales pitches, and anything of the like

• Derogatory or slanderous communication

• Discrimination, threats, and/or hate speech

Additionally, in order to align with the mission and values of NomadSphere, the following activities are not tolerated:

• Irresponsible tourism and exploitative practices that take advantage of locals (e.g., “begpacking”)

• “Get rich quick” schemes

• Sex tourism

Bringing awareness and discussing why we don’t condone the above topics is permitted, but any act of promoting them and/or dismissing their negative impact on society will not be tolerated.

If you experience harmful behavior toward yourself or anyone else and feel in any way unable or unwilling to respond or resolve it respectfully (for any reason), please immediately bring it to the attention of the admins who will listen and work to resolve the matter. If you see someone else behaving harmfully, we urge you to contact one of the admins.

NomadSphere prioritizes marginalized people’s safety over privileged people’s comfort and the perspective of victims over offenders. The administrators will not act on complaints regarding:

• “Reverse”-isms, including “reverse racism,” “reverse sexism,” and “cisphobia”

• Reasonable communication of boundaries, such as “leave me alone,” “go away,” or “I’m not discussing this with you.”

• Criticism of racist, sexist, cissexist, or otherwise oppressive behavior or assumptions

COVID Considerations

We take the pandemic seriously and expect our members to do the same. This is not a suitable place for anti-mask, anti-vaxxing, or covid denialism. To better understand the precautions recommended for exercising during the pandemic, we recommend referring to the guidelines provided by public health institutes around the world, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), World Health Organization (WHO), and others. Please refer to their websites for additional information and guidance.

Apologize for Mistakes

Should you catch yourself behaving harmfully, or if someone calls you out on harmful behavior, please listen intently, own up to your words and actions, and apologize accordingly. No one is perfect, and even well-intentioned people make mistakes. What matters is how you handle them and that you avoid repeating them.

If you should need to craft an apology, consider having someone review your draft before you post it, preferably someone who will give you a candid opinion (like an admin here). Also, this article suggests what to include (and what to leave out). 

Consequences

We strongly oppose discrimination, harassment/stalking, and bullying in all forms. We will take immediate action to permanently remove community members who engage in these behaviors. If you observe anyone engaging in these behaviors, please report it to the Admins as soon as possible.

Participants asked to stop any harassing behavior are expected to comply immediately.

If the admins determine that someone is behaving harmfully, the admins may take any action they deem appropriate within NomadSphere, from a warning up to and including expulsion and exclusion from the community. Potential responses from admins are as follows:

• Gentle Nudge: a quick reach out; opportunity for an individual to self-reflect and improve communications

• Warning: a specific and on-record warning to correct out-of-line behavior

• Time-Out: used for inappropriate behavior and/or de-escalation; the individual will not be able to communicate within public channels for some duration of time

• Permanent Removal from the Community: used only in severe situations or for repeated offenses

Lastly, this is a close-knit community and the admins are responsible for maintaining an atmosphere for comfortable discussion among the members. The Admins will seek to resolve conflicts peacefully and in a manner that is positive for the community.

This Code of Conduct cannot cover all situations and we will not hesitate to address situations where a member may not be the right fit for this community. If in the admin's judgment the best thing to do is remove an individual, they will do so.

Getting in Touch with Admins

If you need to flag an admin because a member isn’t abiding by the community’s Code of Conduct, or have any other concerns, please contact the admins by sending a message with /admin command. Just /admin Hey, I have an issue I’d love to discuss is enough!