The EFA is dedicated to providing a safe and welcoming experience for everyone. We do not tolerate discrimination or harassment in any form. We’re all in this together to create a welcoming environment. Let’s treat everyone with respect. Healthy debates are natural, but kindness is required.

All of the EFA’s online and in-person spaces are also governed by our Anti-Harassment Policy.

Standards

Be respectful. We expect members to be respectful, professional, polite, and considerate at all times. This also applies to your interactions with moderators, other volunteers, and staff, both on and off EFA’s online community platforms.

Be welcoming. Remember back to when you were a brand-new freelancer and be welcoming to new members and those just getting started. Just because these members are new doesn’t mean they don’t have valuable ideas to contribute. Make them feel welcome!

Respect others’ privacy. Don’t share sensitive or personal information about others, including clients or prospective clients and their projects. Respect everyone’s right to privacy. Don’t share conversations or invite links to EFA’s member-only platforms elsewhere.

Don’t be a grammar snob. Please do not correct your fellow freelancers’ spelling, grammar, or usage.

Use your professional name. To build a professional online community that prioritizes respect, transparency, and collegiality, we require that you use the name that you use professionally in our online community platforms (rather than a username or simply your company name).

Keep responses focused. If a member posts a specific question, responses should focus on that question and, whenever possible, contain a link to or mention of an authoritative source (style guides, etc.). If a member asks for responses only from those experienced in a particular field, honor the member’s request by responding only if you have such experience.

Civility

We cannot monitor all posts and comments for content, therefore we rely on the community to let us know when an issue needs to be addressed. If you run into something or someone on our platforms that you believe is not meeting these community guidelines, let us know. While engaging in EFA’s online community platforms, please keep the following things in mind:

  • Discomfort and risk taking are required for generative conversations about equity. We honor each other’s willingness to participate with gentleness and curiosity.
  • Intent does not negate any harm we might cause to others in the group. Good intentions can still cause harm. When we cause harm, we apologize, listen, and accept. If you make a mistake, don’t delete or edit your posts. Allow others to learn from your misstep. Even with the best intentions, we may inadvertently cause harm. Please be conscious that others may read words differently than you meant, especially when they can’t see your facial expression or hear your tone of voice.
  • People are not disposable. Participating in this community means both those who cause harm and those who are harmed commit to engaging in restorative healing practices. Community moderators are available to help facilitate as needed.
  • It is not possible to (fully/completely) understand the nuance of people’s identities and experiences through an online forum, in part because we can’t experience tone of voice, facial expressions, and body language. We approach conversations with curiosity and try to avoid making assumptions.
  • Other than in exceptional circumstances, everyone deserves the benefit of the doubt. In other words, strive to not only post kindly, but read kindly by assuming positive intent.

What We Don’t Allow

  • Hate speech and discrimination. We do not tolerate speech that disparages a person or group of people on the basis of who they are, or communications or comments that are insulting, degrading, aggressive, or threatening, including but not limited to those based on race, color, culture, religion or no religion, gender identity, gender expression, age, national or ethnic origin, ancestry, citizenship, education, ability, health, neurotype, marital/parental status, socioeconomic background, sexual orientation, and/or military status.
  • Personal attacks, bullying, harassment, or abuse.
    • We do not tolerate personal attacks, bullying, harassment, abuse, or any repeated or habitual intimidation or badgering. This includes sending, posting, or sharing false or defamatory content about someone else.
    • EFA members have diverse opinions and perspectives, and it’s okay to disagree with something by making a reasoned counterargument that improves the discussion. However, please don’t insist or repeat your argument once you’ve made it, and do not attack, abuse, or be rude to a colleague—this includes insults and name-calling.
    • Remember that what you consider teasing or kidding may be perceived as insulting, aggressive, degrading, or threatening by someone else. It’s best practice to avoid the snark, sarcasm, and jokes you might hear in a bar or locker room. Or, we recommend using tone indicators.
    • Please limit discussions of policy/politics to aspects that affect freelancers or their business.
  • Sexually suggestive or explicit content and profanity. This is a professional community. Verbal, written, and nonverbal comments or communications, images, figs, memes, or actions that are sexually graphic or sexually suggestive may constitute harassment. Avoid using unnecessary profanity and vulgar language. If Merriam-Webster online notes that a word is “vulgar” or “sometimes vulgar,” it’s almost always best not to use the word. Links to sexually explicit content will be automoderated and lead to a user time-out and also possible disciplinary actions.
  • Slurs. The use of slurs within EFA online platforms is unequivocally not allowed and will be automatically filtered. Usage of these words will lead to time-outs from the platforms, and repeated offenses can lead to permanent suspension. These are automated, with the first time-out serving as the user’s warning.
  • Threats. We do not tolerate threatening remarks or aggressive or hostile behavior. In extraordinary cases, we may report threats of violence to law enforcement. This may apply to private messages through our online community platforms if we become aware of them.
  • Spam. Content that we deem spam will be removed. Spam will also be automoderated, with time-outs serving as the user’s warning. Regarding the Discord server specifically, please keep bot use within that bot’s channel (if it has one). For security reasons, attachments are not permitted on the server. If you post a message with an attachment on Discord, it will be stripped off.
  • Advertising. Advertising is not allowed, with the exception of brief one-time announcements directly relevant to a member—the publication of a member’s book or article, for instance. Reports on products, services, books, websites, and such by members who have no financial stake in them are not considered advertising and are welcome. There may be spaces within the Community Discussion Forums and the Discord server for affiliate links or self-promotion, which is allowed in the spaces as long as it is not abused.
  • Copyrighted content. As editorial professionals, we need to be particularly vigilant regarding copyright violations. Do not post copyrighted material beyond accepted fair use.
  • Issues with the organization. Our community platforms are spaces for members to connect and build community; as such, we ask that you do not use this space to complain about issues you may have with the EFA. If you have an issue you’d like to discuss, please email executive director Autumn A. Arnett at autumn.arnett@the-efa.org.

A note on job postings: One-time postings about legitimate, professional-quality jobs or opportunities are acceptable (post under the Biz & Marketing Forum or the referrals channel in Discord). However, we encourage you and your networks to make use of the EFA Job List to expand work opportunities for EFA members. When in doubt, please contact the community moderators before posting.

Moderators

If you notice content that breaks our rules, please contact the Community Discussion Forums or Discord moderators or community engagement specialist Oliver Ray at oliver.ray@the-efa.org. Our moderators evaluate each reported issue and educate members about our rules. You can opt to disengage by not replying (or by muting the channel or blocking the individual in Discord). If you feel uncomfortable reaching out to the moderators directly, please fill out this Community Moderators Contact Form.

The EFA Discord Server has a team of committed moderators who work varied office hours. Moderators are available during their office hours — if something occurs outside of these hours, it will be addressed once the moderator is logged back in. If it can’t wait, please email Oliver Ray.

Moderators respond to incidents and reports based on the circumstances of the situation and may investigate the incident and/or impose sanctions against the individual or individuals responsible for the harassment. The sanctions may include but are not limited to a formal warning or temporary or permanent suspension of access to the server. In extreme circumstances, membership in the EFA may be revoked in accordance with the EFA’s bylaws.

Moderators review each situation on a case-by-case basis, tailoring our response to meet the needs of the situation. We investigate and respond as appropriate, using this Code of Conduct to guide our decision. Depending on the situation, this may take time. We do our best to act as quickly as we can.

We strive to treat all members equally to the best of our ability. Moderators’ actions regarding individual members are confidential to protect privacy. Please do not assume the moderator team is not taking appropriate action just because it isn’t visible to you.

By participating in our online community, you are agreeing to this Online Community Code of Conduct and the EFA’s Anti-Harassment Policy.

Want to be a Discord moderator? Contact Oliver Ray at oliver.ray@the-efa.org.

Legal Notices

Both the EFA Discussion Forum and the Discord Server are benefits of EFA membership. Please don’t share conversations or invite links to EFA’s member-only platforms elsewhere. Bear in mind that there’s always the chance a message will be forwarded in violation of this Code of Conduct. No internet message is truly private, so be circumspect, especially when discussing clients.

By participating in our online community, you are agreeing to this Online Community Code of Conduct and the EFA’s Anti-Harassment Policy. The EFA retains full discretion to remove any content or impose sanctions for activity that the moderator(s), acting in good faith, deem unlawful, offensive, threatening, libelous, defamatory, pornographic, obscene, or otherwise objectionable or that violates any party’s intellectual property. This Code of Conduct describes when we will exercise that discretion.