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Welcome to the Virgin Start Up Community Guidelines

Last updated: 1 October 2024

These Community Guidelines apply when using the Virgin Start Up Community Platform (the “Community Platform”), including making comments, posting or uploading materials, engaging with other users, advisors or mentors or accessing any type of material or content made available through the Community Platform.

Please note that these Community Guidelines form part of our Terms of Use which can be found here. Any capitalised terms in these Community Guidelines are either defined in this Agreement where they are first used or a definition is included in our Terms of Use.

These Community Guidelines are designed to encourage a fun, helpful and informative community where everyone feels safe and welcome to contribute. We want you to be involved too – we’d love to see you like and comment on our content and contribute to other areas.

We’ve created these Community Guidelines which will give you a few handy hints together with an outline of what we do and don’t allow on the Virgin Start Up Community Platform. We ask that you read all of the guidelines but the key points to remember are:

  • Be kind; and

  • Remember that the Community Platform is to be used in a professional and respectful manner.

These Community Guidelines may change from time to time and, if they do, the most up-to-date version will always be available on the Community Platform. We will indicate at the top of these Community Guidelines when they were last updated.

By continuing to use the Community Platform after these Community Guidelines have changed, you will be confirming that you have read, understood and agreed to be bound by any revised Community Guidelines.

Getting involved

We’ll generally have comments open by default. Comments are the perfect place to tell us what you think about the content you’re reading. So, feel free to comment, ask a question or even give some constructive feedback. Remember to avoid posting personal data or anything confidential to your company.

Comments aren’t really designed to be full-on discussion forums, so if you’ve got more in-depth questions to ask or feel something needs fuller discussion – head on over to connect with the right person directly – but please ensure that those follow-up discussions remain respectful and appropriate too. The chat function is a great way to do this. Please see our guidance on this, which we’ve included below.

Behaviours that we don’t tolerate

We want to foster a positive and informative community and here are just some examples of behaviours that we don’t tolerate on the Virgin Start Up Community Platform:

  • Bullying

  • Insulting

  • Hate offences

  • Defamation

  • Deliberate provocation

  • Discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age

  • Harassment, stalking, threats or any other abuse offences

  • Encouragement of violence, suicide, attempted suicide or serious self-harm

  • Any behaviour or conduct that involves or promotes child sexual exploitation and abuse, grooming or child sexual abuse material

  • Promotion of sexually explicit material

  • Any behaviour or conduct that involves or promotes sexual exploitation of adults, extreme pornography or intimate image abuse

  • Posting of another person or entity’s intellectual property that you don’t have the right to repost

  • Uploading terrorist content or committing any terrorism offences

  • Controlling or coercive behaviour

  • Drugs and psychoactive substances offences

  • Firearms and other weapons offences

  • Unlawful immigration and human trafficking offences

  • Any behaviour or conduct that involves proceeds of crime, fraud & financial services offences

  • Foreign interference

  • Advocating, promoting, inciting any party to commit, or assisting any behaviour or conduct that is unlawful

Please also do not divulge any personal or sensitive information.

Hints and tips:

  • Don’t say anything that you wouldn’t want to see repeated in a more public forum

  • It sounds obvious, but don’t make anything up about others

  • Even if you know something is true, avoid saying it if it’s likely to cause offence

  • If you’re creating content, always check the facts and where necessary, include sources

  • Don’t assume statements published elsewhere are true

  • Be careful about repeating allegations you’ve heard or read - even resharing a potentially defamatory tweet or comment could put you at risk of being sued

  • As set out in our Terms of Use, please make sure that you own or have the right to use the intellectual property rights in any content that you upload. To keep this simple, if you’re uploading a photo it should be one you’ve taken or know the photographer/owner are happy for you to use!

  • Don’t share any information that is in any way confidential.

How to use the chat function

We encourage you to use the chat function to connect with others. In doing so, please adhere to the following dos and don’ts:

Do’s

Be Respectful and Professional: Maintain a respectful tone, especially when discussing differing opinions or giving feedback.

Use Chats for Networking: Engage with others to build relationships, share ideas, and collaborate on projects.

Ask for Help When Needed: Use the chat function to seek advice, guidance, or insights from the community.

Contribute Value: Share helpful resources, articles, or experiences that benefit others in the community.

Follow Community Guidelines: Abide by the community’s code of conduct and guidelines.

Encourage Inclusivity: Welcome new members, encourage diverse perspectives, and create a collaborative environment.

Respond Promptly: Engage promptly with ongoing discussions to maintain a healthy flow of conversation.

Don’ts

Don’t Spam: Avoid sending irrelevant or repetitive messages that disrupt conversations.

Don’t Be Overly Self-Promotional: Share your startup or services, but don’t constantly promote yourself or your products.

Don’t Use Harsh Language: Avoid any rude or inflammatory comments that can harm the community’s atmosphere.

Don’t Engage in Personal Attacks: Keep debates professional and don’t resort to attacking someone personally.

Don’t Share Confidential Information: Avoid sharing sensitive company data or private information in public chats.

Don’t Ignore Others: Be mindful of other people's messages and contribute meaningfully to ongoing discussions.

Don’t Overshare Unverified Information: Ensure what you share is accurate and not just rumours or speculation.

Don’t Post Offensive Content: Avoid sharing anything that could be considered discriminatory, offensive, or inappropriate.

Spotted a comment that doesn’t meet our guidelines?

Report the message, comment, or any other user or third party generated content by dropping us a line at community@virginstartup.org and we’ll take a closer look.

Of course, we’ve all got to be open to other people’s ideas and opinions, so don’t flag comments just because you don’t agree with them or they don’t agree with you.

We have the right to remove any post you make on the Community Platform if, in our opinion, your post does not comply with these Terms of Use or the Community Guidelines. If you wish to contact us in relation to content you have uploaded to our site and that we have taken down, please contact community@virginstartup.org.

If things go wrong

We hope it won’t come to this, but if any user’s behaviour on the Virgin Start Up Community Platform repeatedly breaches these Community Guidelines or is in serious breach of professional or respectful conduct, the Virgin Start Up team will escalate this and take steps that it thinks are necessary under the circumstances. Virgin Start Up Limited reserves the right to remove access from any user to protect the integrity of the platform.

If you have any questions on any of the guidelines, please reach out to community@virginstartup.org.

Thank you.