General Phandemonium Code of Conduct

Virtual 2021

Capricon 41 is dedicated to providing a harassment-free experience for everyone. We do not tolerate harassment of participants in any form.

Phandemonium is the parent corporation that puts on Capricon. If you have a membership for this year’s Capricon, then you are a member of Phandemonium. As a member of Phandemonium, you are expected to follow the Phandemonium Code of Conduct for the duration of the event, including any informal pre- or post-event activities. This is in addition to the Capricon 41 Code of Conduct below. (Note that the Phandemonium CoC was written with in-person events in mind, and thus some sections are not applicable to a virtual convention. However these sections would be applicable to any in-person you attend between Capricon 41 and 42.)

This code of conduct applies to all Capricon 41 spaces, which will include our Discord, Zoom or other video conferencing spaces, chat/messaging spaces associated with those and our social media accounts, and any other venues associated with the virtual convention. Anyone who violates this code of conduct may be sanctioned or expelled from these spaces at the discretion of the Code of Conduct Team. Some Capricon spaces may have additional rules in place, which will be made clearly available to participants. Participants are responsible for knowing and abiding by these rules.

Harassment includes:

- Offensive comments related to gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, mental illness, neuro(a)typicality, physical appearance, body size, age, race, or religion.

- Unwelcome comments regarding a person’s lifestyle choices and practices, including those related to food, health, parenting, drugs, and employment.

- Deliberate misgendering or use of ‘dead’ or rejected names.

- Gratuitous or off-topic sexual images or behaviour in spaces where they’re not appropriate.

- Physical contact and simulated physical contact (eg, textual descriptions like “*hug*” or “*backrub*”) without consent or after a request to stop.

- Threats of violence.

- Incitement of violence towards any individual, including encouraging a person to commit suicide or to engage in self-harm.

- Deliberate intimidation.

- Stalking or following.

- Harassing photography or recording, including logging online activity for harassment purposes.

- Taking video recordings or screenshots without prior consent and for purposes of harassment.

- Sustained disruption of discussion.

- Unwelcome sexual attention.

- Pattern of inappropriate social contact, such as requesting/assuming inappropriate levels of intimacy with others

- Continued one-on-one communication after requests to cease.

- Deliberate “outing” of any aspect of a person’s identity without their consent.

- Publication of non-harassing private communication.

Capricon 41 prioritizes marginalized people’s safety over privileged people’s comfort. The Code of Conduct Team reserves the right not to act on complaints regarding:

- ‘Reverse’ -isms, including ‘reverse racism,’ ‘reverse sexism,’ and ‘cisphobia’

- Reasonable communication of boundaries, such as “leave me alone,” “go away,” or “I’m not discussing this with you.”

- Communicating in a ‘tone’ you don’t find congenial

- Criticizing racist, sexist, cissexist, or otherwise oppressive behavior or assumptions

Reporting

If you are being harassed by a member of Capricon 41, notice that someone else is being harassed, or have any other concerns, please contact the Code of Conduct Team. Mechanisms for contacting the team will be published prior to and during the virtual convention. If the person who is harassing you is on the team, they will recuse themselves from handling your incident. We will respond as promptly as we can.

Consequences

Participants asked to stop any harassing behavior are expected to comply immediately.

If a participant engages in harassing behavior, the Code of Conduct Team may take any action they deem appropriate, up to and including expulsion from all Capricon 41 spaces and other actions as seen fit by the Board of Directors.