Atlas Hugged Readers’ Club: Code of Conduct
Purpose: The primary goal of this club is to explore the ideas behind the novel and also the craft of fiction and nonfiction writing. Anyone who is using Atlas Hugged as a portal is welcome to join the conversation, no matter what kind of human being or where they are on their learning curve. This code of conduct outlines expectations for all participants, as well as the consequences for unacceptable behavior.
1. Expected Behavior. The key to a productive and stimulating conversation is mutual respect. All of us are on our respective journeys and the purpose of our conversation is to help each other explore our next steps in the direction of a more prosocial world for ourselves and others. This stance provides ample room for vigorous debate over substantive issues but prohibits intolerant and denigrating behavior.
2. Unacceptable Behavior. Unacceptable behaviors include intimidating, harassing, abusive, discriminatory, derogatory or demeaning speech. The way to avoid these behaviors is to regard ourselves and others as first and foremost human beings of equal moral worth, with all other social identities secondary.
3. Consequences of Unacceptable Behavior. As moderator of the Readers’ Club, I reserve the right to call out unacceptable behavior, which I will initially do in private in a friendly fashion. If this doesn’t correct the situation, then I reserve the right to exclude the person from the club.
4. If You Witness or Are Subject to Unacceptable Behavior. All Readers Club conversations take place in public. If you think that someone is behaving unacceptably, bring it up in your own comment in a respectful fashion, where I will read it along with the other comments.