The following policy includes sections on Why We’re Here, Who We Are, our expectations for In-Person Events, and Guidelines for Building a Better Online Community Together.If you have any questions about this policy, please write to office@sfwa.org.
1. Why We’re Here
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA®) hosts conversations between SFWA members and with the general public on a few platforms.
On SFWA’s project management software, staff and volunteers collaborate to develop our organization’s many services, programs, and projects.
On Discord, we cultivate general conversation among SFWA members to promote our work, network in community, share industry news, and explore related interests as writers in genre.
On Discord, we also have private affinity channels for BIPOC, LGBTQ+, disabled, and neurodivergent members, along with a cancer support channel, which you may join by sending an email to discord@sfwa.org, stating which channel(s) you would like to be added to.
We also have localized discussion spaces, like chat logs for SFWA events and comment threads for specific resource pages, on our websites. These may include Board of Directors communications with the membership and general public, such as town halls and open calls.
In person, we extend the spirit of professional dialog through panels and special presentations, networking events, and conference booths and hospitality suites.
In all of our community spaces, SFWA aims to create a professionally uplifting environment, where we can work with fellow creators to make our slice of publishing more effective, respectful, and responsive to creator needs, even in the face of significant industry challenges.
Discussion will often involve differences in opinion, and these are expected to be handled professionally, with care and respect not only for the other party, but also for everyone else who wishes to make use of the platform for professional ends. Remember the human.
2. Who We Are (the Online Moderators)
Online Moderators are fellow creators, and volunteers, acting under the guidance of our staff team at SFWA Operations. When we are called upon to address a concern, it is always with the aim of restoring safety and professional courtesy in this shared industry workspace.
Moderators can be reached by typing @SFWA Moderator in Discord, writing to discord@sfwa.org, or direct-messaging a self-identified moderator on our online platforms. Unless the situation is deemed an emergency, moderators will issue a warning before taking further action.
Moderator decisions are final, because our focus is on creating opportunities to take distance from a difficult situation, regroup, and start over from a place of stronger professional courtesy.
Moderation decisions are generally made as a group, with discussion between all who are available at the time. In the rare case that a moderator acts on their own, it will be because of a flagrant violation that warrants an immediate response, with or without membership prompts.
All moderation decisions are documented in the private Moderators channel.
If there is a concern about the moderators’ own conduct, we encourage members to write to operationsdirector@sfwa.org or executivedirector@sfwa.org for next steps.
3. In-Person Events
SFWA believes that an environment of mutual respect and consideration is essential for the growth of our individual members and our writing community. Every attendee, online and in-person, has the right to feel emotionally and physically safe at a SFWA event. Behavior that interferes with an attendee’s experience or disrupts an event is not allowed. This includes but is not limited to harassment or discrimination, as detailed in our Harassment Policy.
All attendees are required to comply with city, state, and venue health and safety regulations, as well as the expectations detailed in our Harassment Policy and below, and on relevant event websites or physical on-site signage. Violations may result in an attendee being barred from future SFWA events and may be reported to authorities. SFWA reserves the right to remove any attendee from any event at any time, without refund of registration fees.
If at any time you feel unsafe at an in-person SFWA event, please speak to the representative at our on-site Help Desk or SFWA Office, or email office@sfwa.org. Then fill out the initial incident report form supplied to you and submit to office@sfwa.org.
Please describe as much as you can about the incident, including names of offending individual(s), descriptions, time, date, location, and anything else you wish to detail. You are welcome to submit this anonymously. Thank you for contributing to the creation of a safer environment for fellow and future attendees.
4. Guidelines for Building a Better Online Community Together
- We strive to uphold relevant copyright laws, so we do not post text for which we do not have legal or ethical ownership. When we quote text, it is always in a fair-use context, or with the approval of the copyright owner.
- We do not share conversations from member-only spaces (via screen captures, copied documents, audio and video records, or cut-and-paste) with anyone outside of SFWA platforms. These communication spaces are a membership benefit, and also an opportunity for people to ask questions and test out articulating difficult issues. We create a space where it is safe for members to be in dialog with one another, for the constructive resolution of any number of professional concerns.
- IF IN DOUBT: Any time SFWA shares a report on Discord that is meant for public consumption, it will contain a link to a mirrored report on the main SFWA website. If you don’t see a link, feel free to ask when the material can be shared more widely.
- We do not abuse the private messaging system. This is not a space for mass-member promotion of your work, or vote-seeking in an upcoming industry contest. We follow the neighborly principle of reaching out to fellow members only with relevant questions, respectful introductory salutations, or as known colleagues with a mutually established routine of conversation. We respect each other’s time. When told by someone to stop messaging them or responding to their posts, we honor the request.
- We do not make harmful generalizations about a group of people, and we do not engage in personal attacks on other members. There are a few ways in which personal attacks transpire, including through direct reference by name, indirect reference to someone by a post only they hold (e.g. “the editor of X”, “the president of Y”), and longterm argument-seeking behavior on any of their posts.
- We do not look for loopholes to harass our fellow creators. The operating principle for our conduct is constructive. When someone’s conduct upsets us, we take next steps as professionals, in a manner that respects the space we share with others, by
- expressing our concerns to moderators, if need be;
- stepping away, if need be; and
- using on-site tools to mute or block the other party, if need be.
- We make this space more inclusive by threading all pictures of alcoholic beverages and animals as food products, or placing them behind spoilers.
- We understand that if we do not act in accordance with the above norms, we will be subject to a sliding scale of consequences, ranging from
- a) an initial request for the behavior to stop,
- b) a one-week suspension from the platform,
- c) indefinite suspension from the platform,
- d) broader membership rights suspension, and/or
- e) the escalation of a material criminal concern to the relevant authorities.
- We accept moderator judgments in the spirit of growth. At the end of the day, we are all trying our best, and even we are not always at our best, tomorrow is another day. SFWA volunteers, staff, and fellow members look forward to the constructive resolution of whatever concern has been raised on our platforms, so that we can all focus more time and energy on improving creator outcomes in our greater industry instead.
Thank you for helping to maintain a professional online and in-person environment for all your fellow creators, at SFWA and in the general public for our genre!