Free Templates: Community Guidelines for Your Community of Practice
When maturing a Community of Practice (CoP), you might want to create community guidelines that encourage freedom of speech but prevent the spread of disinformation and ensure your community is a safe place to share and learn together.
But how do you know what to include? This can be tough if you’ve never seen or written anything like this before. For this post, I have three examples of CoP guidelines you can steal (use exactly as they are written) or simply use as inspiration.
Fun fact: There are two real examples (from clients who didn’t want to be named) and one created by ChatGPT—can you spot the difference?
This post is part of a bigger series on product CoPs. If you want to dive deeper into this topic, you can find more information here.
Community Guidelines Example 1
The purpose of this community is to share knowledge and best practices related to product management.
All members are expected to contribute to the community by sharing their own experiences, insights, and expertise.
Respect the views and opinions of others, even if you disagree with them.
Personal attacks, bullying, and discriminatory language are not tolerated.
Keep discussions focused on product management and avoid unrelated topics.
Do not share confidential or proprietary information without permission.
Use the appropriate channels for specific discussions and keep the conversation organized.
Help to create a safe and welcoming environment for all members by being respectful and considerate of others.
If you have any questions or concerns, reach out to the community moderators for assistance.
By joining this community, you agree to abide by these guidelines and any additional rules or policies that may be implemented in the future.
Community Guidelines Example 2
Encourage open and honest communication among community members.
Respect the views and opinions of others, even if you disagree with them.
Verify the accuracy of information before sharing it with others.
Avoid spreading disinformation or unverified claims.
Report any instances of disinformation to the appropriate authorities or moderators.
Use critical thinking and fact-checking to evaluate the credibility of information.
Avoid engaging in personal attacks or inflammatory language.
Help to create a safe and welcoming environment for all community members.
Community Guidelines Example 3
All community members are expected to respect the views and opinions of others, even if they disagree with them.
Personal attacks, bullying, and discriminatory language are not tolerated.
All information shared within the community should be verifiable and accurately represent the facts.
If you encounter information that you believe to be false or misleading, do not share it. Instead, report it to the appropriate authorities or moderators.
Do not engage with users who are known to spread disinformation or engage in trolling behavior.
Use critical thinking and fact-checking to evaluate the credibility of information before sharing it.
Avoid sharing unverified claims or rumors.
Help to create a safe and welcoming environment for all community members by being respectful and considerate of others.
If you are unsure about the accuracy of certain information, ask for confirmation from the appropriate authorities or sources before sharing it.
If you are unsure about the intentions of another user, do not engage with them. Instead, report their behavior to the appropriate authorities or moderators.
A Few Closing Thoughts
As you can see, your guidelines don’t need to be too long or detailed—you can cover most of the essential information in a few bullet points. Hopefully these templates will give you the inspiration to get started!
By the way, are you wondering which version was written by ChatGPT? It was the final one, Example 3!
My take on it is that using ChatGPT is a helpful way to get rid of the blank page. If you’re struggling to get started, it can easily provide you with an overview of content that already exists on this topic. I would say that it still needs to be reviewed and refined, but it’s a great start. And ultimately, it’s better to have community guidelines that were created by ChatGPT than no community guidelines at all!
Are you trying to launch a Community of Practice at your organization but not sure where to start? Check out my Community of Practice package to see if you’d like to work with me on this type of project.