The Ship's Articles (Code of Conduct)

The Ship's Articles:

We expect all attendees and participants of the Wee Con, online and offline, to abide by the following Code of Conduct:

1: Be excellent to one another.

Treat your fellow attendees with kindness and respect. Be welcoming, inclusive and friendly, and look out for one another. Respect common sense norms for public behavior, personal interaction, common courtesy, and respect for private property.

2: Respect our ship and our crew.

The staff of the Pleasance Courtyard/University of Edinburgh and the Assembly Roxy are all working hard to make this event a good one for us. Treat everyone you encounter at the venue with the same respect you accord fellow fans, and show them your appreciation for their help. Likewise, treat these beautiful spaces with respect.

3: Don't harass people.

We do not tolerate harassment in any form. This includes (but is not limited to):

• physical, verbal (spoken or written), or psychological abuse;

• threats, intimidation, and bullying;

• any discriminatory behavior regarding aspects of identity or expression, including (but not limited to) race, gender, sexuality, ability, age, body size or type, disability, neurotype, physical appearance, or religion;

• unwanted romantic or sexual attention;

• generally creepy/stalkery behavior;

• photography or recording without consent;

• engaging in physical interactions (hugging, tickling, etc.) without consent;

• and/or any kind of sustained disruptive behavior and unwelcome attention.

Conduct that is not intended as harassment could be received as such. What one person sees as a friendly debate or mutually enjoyable joke might be unwelcome to the recipient. If asked to stop what you are doing, you must respect that request and disengage. If the conduct persists when the target has asked for it to cease, it becomes harassment regardless of intention.

Harassment does not include respectful disagreement or critiques in good faith. This community comprises many different perspectives and identities, and we should not expect to completely agree with each other all the time. Listen before jumping to conclusions, and be open to learning from one another. As Stede says: Talk it through, as a crew.

4: Don't give event access to non-ticketed people.

Non-ticketed attendees not only disrespect the hard work that goes into a con, they present liabilities for insurance and safety in the event of emergencies.

If you’re attending The Wee Con in person, please wear your badge/lanyard so we can verify that you have the correct ticket, and don’t attempt to bring in non-ticketed people.

If you attend online, please don’t share your access code with anyone else.

5: Keep NSFW stuff in NSFW areas.

While this is a con for adults, some topics are more sensitive than others. We pledge to tag our panels and activities appropriately so people are aware of any sensitive content. In return, we ask that you respect these tags by keeping sensitive topics (such as sexual language and imagery, medical imagery and terminology, and so on) in appropriate spaces, so that people can decide what they are comfortable with.

6: Don't break any laws, or rules of the venue.

This should be obvious, but it's worth remembering. This includes:

• Don't steal things

• Don't bring illegal substances (drugs, etc.)

• Don't bring items that the venue has forbidden (fire, sharp/pointy weapons)

7: Follow the instructions of the event and venue staff.

The staff of the Wee Con are all volunteers and are here because we want to create an amazing event for everyone. As much as we are looting having fun, we also need to do the less fun bits like sticking to the parameters of our contracts, following the law, and accounting for things like health and safety. (Even a pirate ship has to have some rules.)

If a staff member of The Wee Con (identifiable by their sashes) asks you to do something (or stop doing something), please do the thing (or stop doing the thing), and please give us the benefit of the doubt that we are doing what we need to do for the good of the crew. (The same thing goes for the staff of the Pleasance Courtyard and the Assembly Roxy, our trusted partners in putting on this event.)

Scope of the Code of Conduct

This code of conduct applies to the following spaces:

• All spaces within the Pleasance Courtyard during The Wee Con events

• All spaces at after-hours events officially associated with The Wee Con and Our Flag Means Community, including the Two Acts of Drag show at the Assembly Roxy

• Our online convention spaces, including discussion and comment sections

• Our Discord server

It applies to the following people:

• Our Flag Means Community staff and organizers

• OFMC/The Wee Con volunteers

• Speakers

• Panelists

• Vendors

• Performers

• All The Wee Con attendees, online or offline

• All members of our Discord server

Consequences for Code of Conduct Violations

In the event of a violation of this Code of Conduct, Our Flag Means Community and the staff of the Wee Con reserve the right to take action. We have a procedure that we will follow when a violation (or potential violation) is brought to our attention, which includes protecting privacy while getting a detailed account of what happened, and determining an appropriate response. Click here for more detail on these procedures.

We believe in (responsibly) talking it through as a crew -- but in a worst case scenario, we reserve the right to limit access to the event, expel someone without refund, and/or permanently ban them from future events.

How to Report a Code of Conduct Violation

If you are subject to or witness behavior that you believe violates this Code of Conduct, we encourage you to make a report. In all cases we’ll make every effort to protect the privacy of anyone reporting a violation or potential violation.

To make a report, you can do one of the following:

• In-person: Reach out to any volunteer or staff member of The Wee Con (you can identify them by their colored sashes), who can direct you where to go next. In many cases you might be directed to a member of our Code of Conduct team, who will speak with you about the report.

• Anywhere: Use the online form at https://ourflagmeans.community/code-of-conduct-violation-report-form to send a report to us. This can be anonymous if you wish (although this may limit our ability to follow up).

• Anywhere: Send us an email at ourflagmeanscommunity@gmail.com.

Acknowledgments

This Code of Conduct was heavily inspired by the Code of Conduct for the JoCo Cruise, which takes safety and wellbeing seriously (and literally puts the "ship" in "safe space ship").