DataSHIELD Community is a complex and expanding project; there is always more to learn and to do, and there will be growing pains. It's good to ask for help when you need it. Similarly, offers for help should be seen in the context of our shared goal of improving DataSHIELD Community and the non-disclosive analysis of remote and sensitive data.
When you make something for the benefit of the project, be willing to explain to others how it works and to provide documentation, so that others can build on your work to make it even better.
This community is built on mutual respect and voluntary cooperation. There will inevitably be times when you may disagree with others, or find it difficult to cooperate. Accept that, but remain respectful. Disagreement can be healthy as it provides the opportunity to understand another point of view and allows us all to improve. There is no excuse for poor behaviour or personal attacks: a community in which people feel threatened is not a healthy community. Remember to thank people if they help you to solve a problem; similarly, if you solve your own problem then say how you did it - someone else might be having similar difficulties.
DataSHIELD Community contributors have many ways that may differ from your own of reaching our common goal of creating a federated environment to analyse remote and sensitive data. Assume that other people are also working towards this goal. Note: many Contributors may not be native English speakers or share your cultural background. This is an opportunity not a problem!
Remember that what you write once will be read by hundreds of persons. Writing concisely means people can understand conversations as efficiently as possible. When a long explanation is necessary, consider adding a summary at the beginning to help signpost people through what you are trying to say.
Try to bring new information to a conversation so that each message adds something unique to the thread, keeping in mind that the rest of the thread still contains the other messages with information that has already been provided.
Try to stay on topic, especially in discussions that are already fairly large.
Communication within the DataSHIELD Community community can be public or private. As per paragraph one (Be collaborative) of the Social Contract, you should preferably use public methods of communication for DataSHIELD Community-related messages, unless posting something sensitive.
This applies to messages for help or DataSHIELD Community-related support, too; not only is a public support request much more likely to result in an answer to your question, it also makes sure that any inadvertent mistakes made by people answering your question will be more easily detected and corrected.
While this code of conduct should be adhered to by participants, we recognise that sometimes people may have a bad day, or be unaware of some of the guidelines in this code of conduct. When that happens, you may reply to them and point out this code of conduct. Such messages may be in public or in private, whichever is most appropriate. However, regardless of whether the message is public or not, it should still adhere to the relevant parts of this code of conduct; in particular, it should not be abusive or disrespectful. Assume good faith; it is more likely that participants are unaware of their bad behaviour than that they intentionally try to degrade the quality of the discussion.
Serious or persistent offenders will be temporarily or permanently banned from communicating through DataSHIELD Community systems. Complaints should be made (in private) to the administrators of the DataSHIELD forum in question. To find contact information for these administrators, please see the page on DataSHIELD's organisational structure.
If the situation cannot be rectified satisfactorily, affected parties should then apply to DataSHIELD Community Steering Committee and /or Advisory Body for further help on how to resolve the problem.