{"id":186,"date":"2022-10-17T18:06:35","date_gmt":"2022-10-17T17:06:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.novacon.uk\/?page_id=186"},"modified":"2025-11-26T03:14:14","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T03:14:14","slug":"code-of-conduct","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/novacon.uk\/code-of-conduct\/","title":{"rendered":"CODE OF CONDUCT"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-large-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Novacon Code of Conduct<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph\">A Convention is a private event and, as such, the Committee has always had the right and the ability to remove any attendee for antisocial behaviour. Over recent years, it has become standard practice for such events to publish a Code of Conduct providing guidelines as to what that antisocial behaviour may include.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph\">The Code of Conduct governs not only behaviour at Novacon, but also in certain spaces elsewhere, including but not limited to activity online, such as in messages or replies to Novacon accounts on social media, and posts in Novacon pages and groups. The Novacon Code of Conduct team receives complete information from preceding Novacon Code of Conduct teams, and passes complete information to future Novacon Code of Conduct teams. It also maintains an awareness of activity which has been of concern to other conventions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph\">For most people, the simple principle of, \u201cBehave like a decent human being,\u201d is enough of a guideline. However, just in case, these are the behaviours we feel lead to that result:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Be welcoming.<\/strong>&nbsp;We expect all our attendees to respect each other\u2019s right to be at Novacon. In particular, discriminatory behaviour or harassment will not be tolerated.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Be courteous<\/strong>&nbsp;and aware we all have different sensitivities. If your language or behaviour is unwelcome to another attendee then stop. Anything else may be considered harassment.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Be respectful<\/strong>&nbsp;of other people\u2019s boundaries. Physical contact should only occur with all parties\u2019 enthusiastic consent. Remember, not everyone likes being hugged.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Be aware<\/strong>&nbsp;that communication may be verbal or non-verbal.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Discrimination<\/strong>&nbsp;includes, but is not limited to, discrimination on the grounds of: sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexuality, ethnicity, age, religion and mental or physical disability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Harassment<\/strong>&nbsp;includes, but is not limited to, any behaviour that can be reasonably expected to disturb or intimidate another convention attendee. It includes the wearing of symbols associated with fascism and racism, independent of the intent of the wearer. Harassment may be verbal or non-verbal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Dealing with discrimination or harassment<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph\">If you feel comfortable, address the person and the problem behaviour directly. In most cases this will be all that is required.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph\">If you are not comfortable with a direct approach, or it proves insufficient, then either:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Report the matter to the Duty Committee Member (look for the gold waistcoat). He\/she will contact the Designated People who will come to talk to you as soon as possible, or<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Contact one of the Designated People directly on the number below.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Convention Response and Responsibilities<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph\">The Novacon Convention Committee is responsible for enforcing the Code of Conduct and for maintaining confidentiality. This responsibility is delegated in the first instance to a team of three people (the Designated People); at least one will always be a member of the Novacon committee, and at least one will not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph\">The complaint will be heard, in confidence, in a private place, and an appropriate response agreed upon with the complainant. This may be any of the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Arbitration between the parties involved<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>One, and only one, verbal warning.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Rescinding of convention membership without refund and\/or refusal of membership at future Novacons.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Reporting the incident to the police.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph\">The committees&#8217; decision in this matter is final.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph\">If a complaint is made about you, either to your face via the Duty Committee Member or via the Designated People your interaction with the complainant is over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph\">In cases of a dispute with the hotel, the committee will support the hotel and the hotel\u2019s own Code of Conduct.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph\">The standard of judgement in these matters is the \u201creasonable person\u201d standard as applied by the designated committee members. Attempts to \u201crules lawyer\u201d the Code of Conduct will be seen as a sign of bad faith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph\">This Code of Conduct is considered to be a living document and is expected to evolve year on year. In advance of each convention, we fix the Code of Conduct for that convention. This is the iteration that was in use at Novacon 54. Constructive comments are welcome and will be considered when drawing up the Code of Conduct for next year&#8217;s Novacon. Please address suggestions to the Code of Conduct team on the email below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Designated People for Novacon 54: contact numbers and email<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph\">The names of the three Designated People, and a contact telephone number, will be made available at the convention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color wp-block-paragraph\">Code of Conduct team email:&nbsp;<a href=\"mailto:CodeOfConduct@novacon.uk\">CodeOfConduct@novacon.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Novacon Code of Conduct A Convention is a private event and, as such, the Committee has always had the right and the ability to remove any attendee for antisocial behaviour. Over recent years, it has become standard practice for such events to publish a Code of Conduct providing guidelines as to what that antisocial behaviour [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":181,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-186","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/novacon.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/novacon.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/novacon.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novacon.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novacon.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/novacon.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/186\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1377,"href":"https:\/\/novacon.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/186\/revisions\/1377"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novacon.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/novacon.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}