IALD Community Code of Conduct

The IALD's mission is to advance the global profession of lighting design through leadership and advocacy and serve the members by promoting education, community, and engagement.

Whether you’ve joined a community group to ask questions or to generously share what you know, we invite you to join us in building a network of collaboration on lighting design topics where all people feel welcome and can participate, regardless of expertise or identity.

Our commitment

We commit to enforcing and continually improving the Code of Conduct. It applies to everyone using the IALD community, including our staff, region and chapter coordinators, volunteer administrators and moderators, and anyone posting to the community forums.

Expectations for users

We have outlined below some expectations that are generally true across the IALD digital space:

Be Kind

All community participants should feel welcome, regardless of their personal background. Please be polite, courteous, and considerate to fellow participants. No offensive comments regarding to gender, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, or religion will be tolerated.

Be Respectful

We expect all participants to be respectful when communicating with other participants, even when differences of opinion arise. Participants are expected to work together to resolve disagreements constructively and respectfully. Disagreement is no excuse for poor manners. Please be patient.

Ask for Help

We expect all users to treat one another with kindness and respect. After all, we’re working to advance the profession, and sometimes on that journey, mistakes are made. While comments and other actions may not be meant to be harmful, they can still inadvertently end up causing harm. If you encounter something that you believe is harmful, please bring it to the attention of your community administrators, and they will promptly assess the situation.

Communicate and Collaborate

The concept of the community is based on working together and participants will gain the most from the community by actively participating and communicating effectively. As such, we encourage collaboration and communication as long as they are conducted in a positive and constructive way.

This list is neither exhaustive nor complete; please use your own judgment on proper behavior and contribute to a productive and pleasant community experience.

Unacceptable Behavior

We have outlined key forms of unacceptable behavior across the entire platform:

Abusive behavior

We do not allow harassment nor any content that promotes, encourages, glorifies, or threatens acts of violence. We also do not allow causing or contributing to an atmosphere that excludes or marginalizes. 

Sensitive content and imagery

We do not allow any content that promotes, encourages, provides instruction for, or glorifies suicidal or self-injurious behaviors. We also do not allow content that promotes, encourages, provides instruction for, or glorifies harm or cruelty.

Political or religious content

As a direct effort to maintain respectful and inclusive collaboration between members of an international organization, we do not allow political or religious content in any form.

Misleading information

We do not allow any content that promotes false, harmful, or misleading information that carries the risk of harm to a person or group of people. We also do not allow content that promotes false or misleading information for the purpose of promoting the interests of a political party, government, or ideology.

Reporting issues

Every person contributes to building a collaborative, respectful community. If you find unacceptable behavior directed at yourself or others, you can notify an administrator of the harmful content. Administrators review these alerts regularly, and users who don’t follow the Code of Conduct in good faith may face repercussions deemed appropriate by our moderation team, including, but not limited to, removal from community groups or account suspensions.

All actions will be taken on a case-by-case basis at the discretion of our community administrators. If you are dissatisfied with an administrator's decision, you are welcome to appeal it by contacting the IALD directly. We review each report individually and will respond as quickly as we can.