Community Guidelines

Note: This English version is a translation provided for your convenience. The German version is the authoritative and legally binding original.

Our principles

UnitEd is run by a volunteer team from all over the world – different countries, languages, cultures, and time zones. This diversity is exactly what makes us strong. To ensure everyone feels welcome and safe, these guidelines apply to all UnitEd community spaces: on GitHub, on our social media channels, at events, in exchange formats, and wherever people communicate on behalf of UnitEd.

• Respect first – Treat everyone the way you would like to be treated. We do not tolerate the disparagement of people or groups.
• Assume good intent – Our team comes from many cultural backgrounds; misunderstandings happen, including linguistic ones. English is our shared working language – be patient with people writing in a language that is not their mother tongue.
• Stay constructive – Criticism is welcome when it is factual and aims to make things better.

What we encourage

• friendly, respectful language and a benevolent tone,
• constructive feedback on content, ideas, and materials,
• sharing experiences and materials – ideally with attribution of sources,
• supporting new members as they get started,
• consideration for time and cultural differences (we work asynchronously across time zones),
• asking friendly questions when something is unclear.

What we do not tolerate

• harassment, discrimination, and hate speech – for example on the basis of origin, skin color, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, or age,
• personal attacks, insults, threats, or deliberate provocation (trolling),
• publishing other people's personal data without their consent (doxxing) – this includes names, photos, or contact details,
• spam, unsolicited advertising, and self-promotion without prior arrangement,
• unlawful content and copyright infringements,
• deliberately spread misinformation, especially within educational content,
• sexually explicit content or unwanted advances.

Especially important: protecting learners

Many people in our community work with children and young people. Never disclose personal data of students in community spaces – neither names, photos, or videos, nor performance or behavioral data. Only share teaching materials and experiences in anonymized form.

Content and rights

Only post content for which you hold the necessary rights, and cite your sources. Contributions you deliberately release for UnitEd are published by us under our open license (CC BY-NC 4.0) – details on the Copyright & Licensing page.

Reporting violations

If you notice a violation of these guidelines, please report it to hello@uniteducation.net – if possible with a link or screenshot and brief context. We treat reports confidentially, follow up on every report, and will inform you of the outcome on request. Misusing the reporting channel (e.g. false accusations) is itself a violation of these guidelines.

Enforcement

Depending on severity and repetition, violations can have different consequences:

1. a friendly notice or a warning,
2. removal of content,
3. temporary exclusion from individual or all community spaces,
4. permanent exclusion.

For severe violations (e.g. threats, hate speech, or endangering minors), we may exclude someone immediately and without warning. We make decisions at our reasonable discretion and will explain them on request.

Scope and changes

These guidelines apply to all community spaces operated by UnitEd. We may adjust them as needed; the current version date is shown at the top of this page. Our Terms of Service apply in addition.