Community Guidelines

The Firefighter Resource Network is a place to ask questions, work through any challenges, and share ideas and best practices.

The following guidelines are intended to make the community easier and more enjoyable to use.

By joining the Firefighter Resource Network, you agree that you have read and will follow this Code of Conduct, and that you are at least 18 years old.

  1. Getting Started

  2. A Few Details

  3. Code of Conduct

Getting Started

  1. Set up your profile. Upload a photo and create a short bio.

  2. Introduce yourself and tell the room a little about what you do.

  3. This is a multi-channel Slack. Please use the correct channel for the topic you’re posting. If you’re unsure which one to use, feel free to ask.

  4. We make heavy use of threads to keep conversations organized.

  5. If your favorite topic isn’t being discussed, bring it up!

  6. All are welcome to contribute regardless of their experience. If you want to hang back and lurk, that’s cool, too.

  7. We expect that we’ll treat others with respect. We encourage debate; we ask for patience, and we remind you that you’re here to learn and that means being open a diverse set of ideas. See the Code of Conduct below.

A Few Details

  • To foster more accountability for what people post, no anonymous display names are allowed.

  • If you want to publicly disclose anything discussed here, use Chatham House Rule as the guideline (“participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant, may be revealed”).

  • Membership in this Slack Team is a privilege, not a right, and you can be kicked out at any time. See the Code of Conduct below.

Code of Conduct

The Short Version

Be respectful of other people, respectfully ask people to stop if you are bothered and if you can’t resolve an issue contact the administrators. If you’re being a problem, you can be kicked out of the Slack channel.

The Long Version

RESPECT

The Firefighter Resource Network is an inclusive environment, based on treating all individuals respectfully, regardless of gender or gender identity (including nonbinary or transgender status), sexual orientation, age, disability, nationality, native language, ethnicity, religion (or lack thereof), or career path.

We value respectful behavior above individual opinions. Respectful behavior includes:

  • Be considerate, kind, constructive, and helpful.

  • Avoid demeaning, discriminatory, harassing, hateful, or physically threatening behavior, speech, and imagery.

  • If you’re not sure, ask someone instead of assuming. No, really. Just ask the administrators. We’d rather hear from you than hear about something you said or did after the fact, and we are here to help.

  • Don’t be a bystander. Role model respectful behavior, but also help to address disrespect when you see it.

INCLUSION

We believe that you end up with the community that you deserve.

As a community, we may disagree on things like whether or not 24 on 48 off shifts are good, or what the best engine is. This is normal and healthy.

However, racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and other forms of bigotry and intolerance have no place in our community. If you hold these views, you cannot join the Firefighter Resource Network.

RESOLVE PEACEFULLY

We believe peer-to-peer discussions, feedback, and corrections can help build a stronger, safer, and more welcoming community.

If you see someone behaving disrespectfully, we urge you to respectfully dissuade them from such behavior. Expect that others in the community wish to help keep the community respectful, and welcome your input in doing so.

If you experience disrespectful behavior toward yourself or anyone else and feel in any way unable or unwilling to respond or resolve it respectfully (for any reason), please immediately bring it to the attention of an administrator. We want to hear from you about anything that you feel is disrespectful, threatening, or just something that could make someone feel distressed in any way.

If that person in question is one of the administrators, please bring the issue to the attention of one of the others. Their job is to hold each other accountable and ensure that everyone feels safe and welcome.

We will listen and work to resolve the matter.

APOLOGIZE FOR MISTAKES

Should you catch yourself behaving disrespectfully, or be confronted as such, listen intently, own up to your words and actions, and apologize accordingly.

No one is perfect, and even well-intentioned people make mistakes. What matters is how you handle them and that you avoid repeating them in the future.

CONSEQUENCES

If the administrators determine that someone is behaving disrespectfully, the administrators may take any action they deem appropriate within this Slack community up to and including expulsion and exclusion from the Team.

As administrators, we will seek to resolve conflicts peacefully and in a manner that is positive for the community.

We can’t foresee every situation, and thus if in the administrator’s judgment the best thing to do is to ask a disrespectful individual to leave, we will do so.

ADMINISTRATORS

The administrator(s) of the Firefighter Resource Network Community as of February 11, 2021:

  • Blake Skola - skola@ndri-usa.org