Introduction

OpenEnergyMonitor is a project to develop open-source energy monitoring tools to help us relate to our use of energy, our energy systems and the challenge of sustainable energy.

The OpenEnergyMonitor forum is a shared community resource, it is a place to seek support while using the OpenEnergyMonitor system, a place to engage in project development, discuss applications and to share knowledge.

The following Code of Conduct reflects the agreed standards of behaviour for members of the OpenEnergyMonitor community. These are not all hard and fast rules, merely aids to the human judgement of our community. Use these guidelines to keep this a clean, positive place for civilized public discourse.

Be Respectful

In order for the OpenEnergyMonitor community to stay healthy, its members must feel comfortable and accepted. Treating one another with respect, including each other’s work and contribution’s, is absolutely necessary for this. Poorly thought out comments can cause pain and de-motivation. In the event of disagreement, assume well-meaning motivation and try to resolve differences constructively.

A Place for Learning

The OpenEnergyMonitor forum is a place for learning, with contributors and users all at different levels of expertise. We encourage learning by doing, rather than expecting prior experience. It is better to start something and make mistakes than not do it at all. There are many contributors who have a lifetime of experience in related fields, seek their advice. If you have greater experience on a subject under discussion, engage constructively by giving open advice so that those still learning can proceed. We try our best to document how things work in the Docs or in the associated GitHub repositories of different parts of the project.

Feedback and Critique

Be aware that, when contributors ask for feedback on a development posted on the forum, they may have invested a lot of time in the work and that critique without acknowledgement of good elements of the work can cause demotivation. Keep the tone of critique as positive as possible. A word of encouragement goes a long way.

Disagreements

In a disagreement, in the first instance assume that people mean well. The goal is not to avoid disagreements or differing views but to resolve them constructively. Remember to criticize ideas, not people. Provide reasoned counter-arguments that improve the conversation and keep the tone positive.

We do not tolerate personal attacks, racism, sexism or any other form of discrimination.

Do not engage in conduct which could reasonably be considered inappropriate in a professional setting.

General Forum Etiquette

  • When asking for help, try and provide as much information as possible
  • Avoid cross-posting i.e posting the same thing in multiple places
  • Use formatting to ensure your posts are easily readable
  • Stay on topic.

See Frequently Asked Questions for tips on posting, language & translation.

Commerce

Setting up commercial activities based on OpenEnergyMonitor is encouraged.

  • Sale of small volumes of PCB’s, products, services etc is permitted via the forum as long as the hardware and software are fully open-source under a licence e.g: GNU GPL v3 / MIT. Hardware should adhere to OSHW Definition.
  • Significant commercial activities and advertising on the forum should only take place with permission from the OpenEnergyMonitor team.
  • The ‘OpenEnergyMonitor’ and ‘emon’ trademarks should not be used without permission. However it is fine to use “Powered by OpenEnergyMonitor” or "Compatible with OpenEnergyMonitor".
  • Advertising non-open-source products for personal gain is not permitted.

Moderation

Posts, or parts thereof, that do not comply with this code of conduct will be removed. Otherwise, posts shall be edited only when absolutely necessary.

If You See a Problem, Flag It

When you see bad behaviour, don’t reply. It encourages bad behaviour by acknowledging it, consumes your energy, and wastes everyone’s time. Just flag it. If enough flags accrue, action will be taken, either automatically or by moderator intervention.

User trust level 1 required. Please email us (see below) if you are unable to flag, if you see a problem.

Reporting a Problem

If there’s a critical or urgent issue that can’t be handled by a meta topic or flag, or to report unacceptable behaviour, please contact the OpenEnergyMonitor team: [email protected].

All complaints will be reviewed and investigated and will result in a response that is deemed necessary and appropriate for the circumstances.

This code of conduct is based on a mixture of the following codes of conduct which captured much of what we thought was important:

This code of conduct is released under the Creative Commons Attribution – Share Alike 3.0 License.