This entry outlines the Code of Conduct for all h2g2 volunteers. This Code of Conduct covers your behaviour as a member of the h2g2 community, in any forum, mailing list, website, and in correspondence. Accepting a volunteer role assumes agreement with these principles:

Comply with the House Rules

Everyone who participates in h2g2 is bound by the h2g2 House Rules. As a volunteer, you represent the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Earth Edition), so it’s particularly important that you’re seen to uphold the House Rules. Anyone being deliberately offensive will be warned and, if necessary, will be asked to leave the volunteer scheme.

Be Discreet

As a volunteer you may be entrusted with sensitive, confidential, or proprietary information. You may not discuss, outside of the appropriate volunteer groups, information that you learn by reason of being a volunteer unless it comes through official channels, such as the h2g2 Announcements. Anyone who leaks confidential information may be asked to leave the volunteer scheme and may not be eligible to join another volunteer scheme that involves handling sensitive, confidential, or proprietary information. Violations of privacy and confidentiality are taken very seriously.

Commit and Communicate

Some volunteers perform mostly routine tasks, some undertake long-term projects, some have something akin to standing orders, and some remain on stand-by for regular blocks of time. Regardless of the nature of the task you have undertaken, you should check in with your team leader on a regular basis (weekly, fortnightly, monthly) as shown on your team’s personal space.

Please coordinate with your team leader regarding team-specific commitments. Your team may have a basic time or task expectation - please see your volunteer home page for full details.

If you’re working a particular task or project, let your volunteer team leader know when you expect to complete it. If you cannot complete a task you have undertaken, please tell your volunteer team leader.

Volunteers on every project come and go. Welcome new volunteers and help them settle in. When you step down from a volunteer position, please do so gracefully. Inform your team leader and minimize disruption to h2g2 by making sure others can pick up where you leave off.

Respect Team Autonomy

Please work within the team structure as much as possible. If you must step outside the team structure in an emergency, please make sure to inform the team leader and any affected team members. Be mindful of how your actions and contributions affects your fellow volunteers and the h2g2 community as a whole.

Help your fellow volunteers by reporting issues on established lines. No one likes to find out about problems because a volunteer is griping in a journal.

Collaborate and Cooperate

h2g2 is the Internet’s original collaborative user generated content project. It takes many volunteers working together to build a Guide to Life, the Universe and Everything. We ask that you show your fellow volunteers patience and courtesy. Try to be as diplomatic as possible when critiquing, please do not criticize. Through your example, make the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Earth Edition) the best place on the Internet.

Contact

For questions and comments about the Volunteer Code of Conduct, contact communityeditors at h2g2 dot com.