GIWS Community Guidelines

The GIWS Community is here for you to connect with other entrepreneurs and GIWS users. It's a place to share and discover first-hand business insights & best practices; exchange ideas; gather feedback; build relationships; troubleshoot technical issues and ultimately grow your businesses.

All great communities need a few guidelines to stay productive, helpful, and engaging. The GIWS Community includes people from a wide variety of experiences, ideas, and backgrounds. These guidelines will help you and the entire GIWS Community have the best experience possible.

Our core principles​

1. Champion diversity and inclusivity to bring everyday entrepreneurs together.
2. Create shared experiences for members to connect and interact with each other.
3. Provide guidance for every step of the entrepreneur's journey.

Anti-Harassment Policy​

No one should feel excluded, intimidated, or unsafe during experiences, online or offline. We aim to bring people together to exchange ideas and network in a welcoming environment. We do not tolerate harassment, personal attacks, bullying, threats, obscenity, or discriminatory speech or actions in any form.

All Community members and participants are required to comply with our Anti-Harassment Policy. GIWS will enforce this policy throughout all platforms and events. We expect cooperation from all participants to help ensure a safe environment for everyone.

GIWS will not tolerate harassment in any form. Harassment includes but is not limited to:

• Unwelcome or offensive verbal comments or nonverbal expressions related to race, color, ethnicity, religion, creed, sex, pregnancy, marital status, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, genetic information, national origin, age, disability, medical condition, or any other basis protected by law.
• The use of derogatory or discriminatory language, gestures, or actions.
• Deliberate intimidation.
• Harassing photography or recording.
• Sustained disruption of calls, meetings, activities, or other events.
• Unsolicited physical contact.
• Advocating for, or encouraging, any of the above behavior

Members and participants asked to stop any harassing behavior are expected to comply immediately.

GIWS may, in its sole and absolute discretion, take action to address any individual(s) it believes violate this policy, including, without limitation, removing the violating parties from the Community event.

If you believe you’ve observed or experienced a violation of this policy, or have any other concerns, please contact the group leaders or GIWS Community team immediately.

Participation Guidelines​

Our guidelines for the Community involve a few rules to make this a respectful, fair, educational, and thriving environment:

1. Be respectful. The GIWS Community brings people together from around the world with different perspectives, experiences, and opinions. We do not tolerate inappropriate behavior or content, which includes harassment, threats, bullying, obscenity, or discriminatory speech or actions in any form.
2. No political or medical conversations. Keep on topic about small business challenges and solutions. See the recommendations from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on how to protect yourself.
3. Keep it clean. Vulgar, obscene, profane, or otherwise offensive comments and language are not welcome. Sexual content and imagery is strictly prohibited.
4. Ask for help. Don’t be afraid to ask for help and guidance. Our community is full of members with a wide range of experience and skill levels. Tip: Search before you ask for help - your question may already be answered!
5. Be supportive. Show your appreciation by thanking helpful members and acknowledging helpful responses. Try to welcome new members to the community and offer to help where possible. You don’t need to be an expert to share what you know and help another member.
6. Share your own work. All content and contributions should be original. Our Community will benefit more from your original insights and contributions. If you share content from other websites or sources, be sure to note where the content came from.
7. No spamming. Keep promotions in designated areas. For example, you may promote your business/website(s) in your user profile and signature. Contributions should be unbiased so every member of the GIWS Community can benefit.
8. Stay on topic with your contributions. Whether online or offline, make sure your contributions are relevant to the topic at hand. Your contributions are more likely to be welcomed that way.
9. Be you and only you. Do not attempt to manipulate or circumvent our Community platform systems in any way. This includes any ranking and reputation systems, using multiple profiles and/or colluding with others on voting.
10. Protect your privacy and the privacy of others. Do not disclose identifiable information in online messages. This includes email addresses, passwords, and GIWS shopper IDs.
11. Common sense prevails. Our Community is a global network of peers and colleagues. Think about what is appropriate for that audience and use your best judgment. And, always remember, at the end of the day, we're all here to help each other succeed and grow online.

You must adhere to the following on all GIWS Community platforms:

• Do not post any language or images that promote illegal activity or use of any illegal substances or discuss such activities or substances with the intent to commit or use them.
• Do not engage in infringement and/or misappropriation of a third-party’s intellectual property, privacy or publicity rights.
• Do not engage in impersonation of GIWS staff or other GIWS Community members or as a representative of another company.

Bear in mind that these are just guidelines — interpretations are solely up to the GIWS Community team. These guidelines are not exhaustive and are subject to change. Penalties for behavior that violates these guidelines are at the discretion of our group leaders, moderators and the GIWS Community team.

All activity in the GIWS Community and GIWS Blog is subject to GIWS’s Privacy Policy, Terms of Service.