Ministry of Testing’s The Club Guidelines
Ministry of Testing is a community to transform your career and move the testing craft forward. These are the guidelines we expect all of our users to follow and are an extension of the Ministry of Testing Code of Conduct. Any questions can be directed towards the Moderators. We hope you will enjoy your time here, helping each other learn, connect and discover the joy of testing.
Reach out to the Moderators
The Moderators are here to keep The Club a safe & enjoyable space for everyone.
Simon Tomes (simon_tomes) – MoT employee and The Club Admin
Rosie Sherry (rosie)– MoT employee and The Club Admin
Áine McGovern (mcgovernaine) – MoT employee and The Club Admin
Diana Dromey (dianadromey) – MoT employee and The Club Admin
Andrew Morton (testingchef) – MoT employee and The Club Admin
Sarah Kitchener (sarahk) – MoT employee and The Club Admin
Sarah Deery (sarah1) – MoT employee and The Club Admin
Unacceptable conduct
Unacceptable conduct will result in disciplinary procedures and, in exceptional cases, instant removal from the Ministry of Testing community.
The following constitutes unacceptable conduct:
- Blatantly sexual content (pornography, nudity, etc.)
- Unwelcome sexual attention
- Offensive comments related to gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, mental illness, neuro(a)typicality, physical appearance, body size, race, or religion
- Unwelcome comments regarding a person’s lifestyle choices and practices, including those related to food, health, parenting, drugs, and employment
- Personal abuse
- Links to anything which would breach the guidelines if posted directly
- Posting any phone numbers or email addresses that are not your own
- Advocating criminality or violence
- Trolling (A ‘troll’ is someone who posts controversial, inflammatory or off-topic messages with the primary intent of provoking other users. These users should be reported to the Moderators immediately.)
- Posting libellous material
- Misdirection or deceiving links (such as to sites which hijack the browser, etc.)
- Defame, abuse, harass, stalk, threaten or otherwise violate the rights of others
- Deliberate misgendering or use of ‘dead’ or rejected names
- Soliciting passwords or personally identifying information for commercial or unlawful purposes
- Publication of non-harassing private communication
- Posting material that breaches copyright laws
- Posting Spam of any description, see spam policy
- Posting or soliciting any members for anything unless it is in direct response to a question asked by a member of the community that your product could genuinely help with
- False reporting, especially to retaliate or exclude
- Ignoring Admin or Moderator requests to cooperate. This includes requests to end conversations that have been deemed to breach or are close to breaching the code of conduct. The Moderators often err heavily on the side of caution.
Conduct to be mindful of
This is conduct that will not directly result in disciplinary proceedings but we would like you to be mindful of it. Continuing to ignore guidance and reminders about this conduct may result in disciplinary procedures.
- Swearing/use of curse words
- Substantially editing your post to change its meaning after others have responded to it. Sometimes you share something you didn’t mean to share, or on reflection, you changed your mind. The replies won’t make sense if you’ve substantially edited your original post. To withdraw something you’ve said, you can either strikethrough the original post or delete it.
Direct message harassment and spam
For any and all direct message harassment where it can’t be seen, we would like those who are being subjected to harassment to send screenshots of the entire chat log to a Moderator.
The Moderator in that instance will then assess the message logs and work with the parties involved to come to a resolution on the subject. If harassment has been found, it will be a strike and the offending party will be barred from communicating with that specific person. Should they re-offend with that person it will be an instant ban from the Ministry of Testing community.
Where there have been any misunderstandings happening, the Moderator will aim to help resolve any miscommunications.
For those who are making claims about someone harassing them where they have not, equal measures shall take place. The breaking of this communication ban shall be an instant ban from the Ministry of Testing community.
If you believe that you have been the target of spam via direct message, please inform one of the Moderators directly. Direct message spam will either follow the disciplinary procedure or the procedure outlined above for direct message harassment depending on the nature and frequency of the spam. Spam is considered to be:
- Sharing of irrelevant or inappropriate advertising, promotional, or solicitation content; whether or not for commercial or non-commercial purposes
- Sharing the same message across multiple categories and chat channels. If you aren’t sure what category or chat channel to ask in, ask a Moderator.
Ministry of Testing reserve the right to remove link-based posts if Ministry of Testing or the community feel that they are promotional rather than for knowledge sharing.
Disciplinary procedures
We have a “3 strikes and you’re out” ruling. You will be notified that your warning is official and on the third warning, you will be banned from The Club. Your strikes will be recorded in a shared document for Admins and Moderators to keep track of. Unless specifically requested not to, direct message conversations with Moderators may be shared with other Moderators in the discussion of a resolution or issue.
In exceptional cases, instant removal from the Ministry of Testing community may occur. You will be notified of this via email from an Admin sent to the email account associated with your The Club profile.
Disputing a strike or ban
It’s feasible that a mistake or misunderstanding can occur. If you feel that you have been unfairly affected by a Moderation decision, please contact another Moderator via a direct message to put forward your case. Admin decisions are final.
Post deletion
Posts can only be deleted by an Admin or Owner. Reasons that posts are deleted fall under the breaches of guidelines and spam policies. You will receive a notification via direct message that your post has been deleted or edited.
Surveys
As stated on the European Commission website surveys either must not collect any personally identifiable information or they must state how that information will be used, stored and destroyed and they must log the user’s consent for the storage of this information. This is a legal requirement for our users of European origin but it also provides a good basis for the protection of all of our users’ personal data and privacy. Any surveys that do not comply with this will be deleted.
Modifications to these guidelines
Ministry of Testing may amend the guidelines from time to time and your agreement to comply with the guidelines will be deemed agreement to any changes to th em. Major modifications to these guidelines will always be set out with a new topic post in the Site Feedback category.
How to join The Club?
Visit the Ministry of Testing signup page to create a free Ministry of Testing account. You only need a free account to get started. We encourage everyone who joins The Club to read the Code of Conduct and The Club Guidelines.
Get the best out of The Club
Introduce yourself
There’s a chat channel just for that, it’s Introductions. Keep it short. Let folks know why you’re here. Avoid self-promotion.
Select the most appropriate category or chat channel to post in
Post a new topic in a category for longer form discussions or add something to a chat channel for faster-paced chat. You’ll find categories and chat channels on the left-hand sidebar. Each category and chat channel has a description to help you decide if it’s the right one to post in. If you get it wrong, don’t worry, a Moderator will either message you or move it for you. Send a DM to a Moderator if you feel a category or chat channel is missing
Don’t post the same message in multiple chat channels or categories
You may link to a new category topic you recently posted in an appropriate chat channel, only if it’s relevant. And if a chat goes deep, consider turning it into a topic with the “Quote in Topic” feature. Most category topics will automatically close after 2 years. All chat channel messages are retained for 90 days
Ask questions
Provide as much context as you can and you are more likely to receive answers that address your question. Folks who answer questions do so out of their goodwill and desire for mutual development and are under no obligation to respond to any post. However, most folks will do their best to provide a helpful response if they can. MoT and/or individual contributors accept no liability for the outcomes of any advice given or suggestions made.
Self-promote in the right category
Self-promotion is allowed in the Blogs, Books, Videos & Audio category. People don’t like self-promotional stuff in the wrong category or in a chat channel. It will do your brand/reputation more harm than good.
Be mindful of client data
Anonymize and/or redact client data. MoT takes no responsibility or legal liability for any content shared that breaches any legal agreements you have signed with an employer, client or 3rd party.
Tool vendors are welcome
Tool vendors are welcome members of the testing community. If you’re a tool vendor and want to ask for feedback, be sure to state who you work for and why you’re asking for feedback. Be clear with your intentions and don’t pretend to not be a tool vendor. Be helpful and freely give back to the community without expecting anything in return.
One account per person
We’ve found that in these types of communities, it’s best if everyone only has one account. If we find that you have registered multiple accounts, we will ask that you choose one and we’ll remove all others. Ignoring this request may result in the banning of all accounts but one. Trying to create more accounts may result in a ban on all accounts. This also covers multiple people using one account.
Report an issue
An issue may be reported by directly messaging a Moderator or creating a new topic in the Site Feedback category. Alternatively, you may wish to flag a post. If enough flags accrue, action will be taken, either automatically or by Moderator intervention.
Thanks
These guidelines have been inspired by a variety of resources. We specifically note the following:
- MoT Slack Guidelines
- Irish Tech Slack Code of Conduct
- Mozilla Community Participation Guidelines
- Geek Feminism Code of Conduct
- The brilliant folks who hang out on The Club.