Hello and welcome to Online Geniuses.

Online Geniuses mission is to gather digital marketers/growth hackers from around the world to network online and in-person.

The Online Geniuses Community  includes people from a wide range of cultures, languages, and experiences. This is a strength and an opportunity for all of us to learn. Please ask and explore, with an eye towards improved understanding and connection.

We require a certain level of human behavior to keep Online Geniuses a welcoming, growing, respectful, safe, and civil community. Harassment, hate, fear mongering, or similar behavior will not be allowed. Any such actions will be dealt with quickly and decisively. Refusal to comply with guidance from a moderator or admin will result in being banned.

ENCOURAGED BEHAVIOR

Even though it’s impossible to outline all the positive models and guidance for how we hope everyone will behave, here is a non-comprehensive list of some principles we hope to encourage and see in participants.

• Be Inclusive: A person is a person, with a right to exist and to expect to be treated with respect.
• Be Respectful While Giving and Receiving Feedback: Direct and constructive feedback is helpful. Being mean isn’t. Give insight, not judgment. Everybody is learning. Listen if there’s a negative response to your words.
• Be Humble: We value expertise, but we also know that we grow in expertise by listening.
• Ask & Listen: Ask when you need to know something, and listen to the answers.
• Educate: Hear what’s being asked and share what you know for the asker’s benefit, not to promote yourself. You should keep discussions public instead of taking them to DMs whenever possible.
• Do Not Take Advantage: Though participants are committed to educating and helping, please be aware that this does not extend to others doing your work for you, or others being a resource for your personal or professional profit.
• Grow Personally and Professionally: This community is a great place to practice the values we promote in our work.
• Connect: We encourage everyone to get to know everyone. Encountering and accepting people from around the world can make us better.
• Be Nice: Before you react, think about how you’d feel to receive the comment you’re about to give.

UNACCEPTABLE BEHAVIOR

Harassment: Simply put, we will not tolerate it. Harassment includes but is not limited to:

• Negative comments based on race, sex, sexuality, gender, nationality, neurotypicality, political affiliation, physical appearance, home life or history, disability — and remember that it’s not up to the speaker to dispute what is or isn’t offensive
• Threats of violence, physical or virtual
• Unwelcome sexual actions, insinuations, attentions, or remarks
• Attempts at intimidation
• Publishing personally identifying information
• Inquiring about members personal matters
• Patronizing, microaggressive, or other belittling comments
• Intolerance: In addition to what has been listed under Harassment, this can include (but is not limited to) blacklisting or freezing out other members, continued direct messages after being asked to stop, demonstration of unwillingness to listen to someone due to any or other characteristics as listed above.

General Community Rules: In order to keep our community focused and safe, we expect members to act professionally. This includes, but is not limited to: 

• Don’t use the blue checkmark by your name unless you’re a mod

• Plagiarism: Post or take credit for content that you did not create. Always give proper credit.

• • Disruptions: Continued digressions, disruptions, and derailing of someone’s conversation when asked not to. This is up to moderator’s interpretation.
  • Spamming: Do not post ads or promotions for your company/product/project/etc. Do not try to sell things, recruit customers, or harvest personal information. Do not use a spammy username. Which includes your company, what you do, or a CTA. 

• Shameless Plugging: Do not post a self promotional statement, post, direct message, ad, etc  about your own or your employer’s / client’s business, product, service, social media post, newsletter, affiliate program, etc. This includes free offers, including trials, audits, feedback, breakdowns, etc, when the purpose is to utilize those free offers to bring people into your prospect list, newsletter signups, funnels, paid service after trial, or other monetized lists. audiences, groups, etc.

• All shameless plugs should be posted in #shameless_plug. The only exception is during the official Friday Brags.

• Unsolicited Direct Messaging: Do not send direct messages to other members without some prior consent. Prior consent could be in the form of public permission in a comment or thread, previous relationships, etc. Do not send unsolicited spam or shameless plugs.

• • Backlink Swapping / Buying / Selling: Do not sell, buy, or swap backlinks in our community. Guest posting opportunities are allowed, but the purpose should be for generating quality content, not generating backlinks.

• Posting in Multiple Channels: Do not post the same message in multiple channels. Try and find the most appropriate channel for a discussion.

GRIEVANCE PROCESS/ACTIONS TO REMEDY

If you see or have experienced any unacceptable behavior, please contact a moderator as soon as you can via direct message. A moderator will let you know they’ve received your message, though be aware a response may not be immediate. (Responses are often decided after discussion among moderators.)

By default, a report or complaint will be kept anonymous to the community, though shared among moderators; if you want to remain anonymous to moderators other than the one you file a report with, please make that explicit in your initial report. In either case, we will not name reporters without consent, and even then try to avoid any mention of a reporter.

You may also use the #ask_the_mods channel when needed.

CONSEQUENCES

If a moderator contacts you and asks you to stop certain behavior, do so immediately. Failure to do so may result in the moderator banning you, at their discretion.

If your behavior has drawn attention that requires a moderator contacting you, be aware that this will be remembered. Repeating the behavior that incurs warnings will result in banning.

Depending on the severity of the behavior, you may be banned without warning.

If you have been warned, then call out or personally attack another member whom you think reported you, you will be banned.

Being banned is not up for appeal. Please, be nice.