Code of Conduct

General
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Code of Conduct: Wicked Edge User Forum

Code of Conduct: Wicked Edge User Forum

Welcome to the Wicked Edge User Forum!

Our Purpose

We're here to help all Wicked Edge customers and shoppers get great results with their sharpening gear, and to help you determine which Wicked Edge products are the right fit for your needs.

Our community includes people from incredibly diverse backgrounds: outdoorsmen and hunters, restaurant professionals and home cooks, Boy Scouts with pocket knives, law enforcement with rescue knives, collectors, craftspeople, and many more. Some members are pursuing the ultimate degree of sharpness and mirror finish on expensive folding knives. Others are perfectly happy with "good enough" results on old knives they picked up at Goodwill. All of this is great with us.

To serve this diverse community, our forum needs to be a welcoming, friendly, and helpful environment for everyone—regardless of your experience level, goals, or budget.

About This Code of Conduct

This Code of Conduct outlines the expectations for participation in our community. Our goal is to create a welcoming, informative, and positive environment for everyone interested in achieving a sharp knife with Wicked Edge equipment.

By participating in this forum, you agree to abide by these rules. Failure to do so may result in moderator action, including the hiding or deletion of content and the suspension or termination of forum privileges.

1. Be Respectful and Constructive

  • Treat others with courtesy: Engage in discussions respectfully, even when you disagree. Personal attacks, harassment, discriminatory language, or any form of disparagement against other users or Wicked Edge staff will not be tolerated.
  • Focus on sharpening: This forum is dedicated to knife sharpening using Wicked Edge products. Keep your discussions relevant to this core subject.
  • Encourage broad participation: We aim for a diverse range of voices and welcome contributions from community members of all experience levels. To foster a healthy, diverse community:
    • Allow time for multiple community members to respond before jumping in
    • Avoid being the first (or only) responder to most new topics
    • Give space for newer or less active members to share their knowledge
    • Step back if you find yourself dominating recent discussions

We monitor participation patterns to ensure no single user is inadvertently discouraging others from engaging. Moderators may reach out privately if participation patterns are negatively impacting community diversity.

  • No political or inflammatory content: Avoid posting overtly or subtly political messages, imagery, or any content that could be considered inflammatory, divisive, intimidating, or non-welcoming. Such content will be removed without warning.

2. Share Knowledge and Help Others

  • Ask questions freely: There are no "dumb questions." We encourage users to ask for guidance and share their experiences. Please provide sufficient detail to help the community answer your question effectively.
  • Provide accurate information: When sharing advice, ensure it is accurate and helpful. The Wicked Edge team is the definitive source for product documentation and how-to guides.
  • Answer thoughtfully: When answering questions, contribute to building a high-quality repository of information. Focus on clear, relevant, and up-to-date responses.
  • Use comments appropriately: Comments should request clarification, provide constructive criticism, or add relevant minor information. They are temporary by nature and may be deleted when no longer needed.
  • Avoid graphic imagery in posts: While you're welcome to share stories and lessons learned from accidents or injuries, please do not post photos of blood, gore, cuts, or injuries. Describe what happened instead—the lessons are valuable without the visuals.
  • No unsolicited training materials: Do not post unsolicited training courses, "semi-official" documentation, or how-to guides not produced by the Wicked Edge team. This forum is for questions and answers; official resources come from WE.

3. Protect Our Community and Brand

  • No external competing groups: Do not post links or invitations to outside groups, forums, or social media communities specifically created to discuss Wicked Edge products. This forum is the official channel for such discussions, ensuring:
    • High-quality responses directly from the Wicked Edge team
    • Accurate information verified by the source
    • Consistent moderation standards
    • A centralized knowledge base for all users

Fragmenting discussions across multiple platforms confuses users and prevents the community from building a comprehensive, searchable resource together.

  • No selling third-party products or modifications: This forum is not a marketplace for third-party products, modifications ("mods"), or accessories.

What's NOT allowed:

  • Selling third-party products or modifications
  • Selling products that combine Wicked Edge equipment with third-party modifications
  • Offering "mods" for sale, even if they work with our products
  • Commercial promotion of non-Wicked Edge products

What's allowed:

  • Sharing your personal DIY modifications for educational/discussion purposes (not for sale)
  • Selling used, unmodified Wicked Edge products
  • Discussing the merits or drawbacks of modifications (without selling)

We cannot vouch for the quality or safety of third-party products, and this policy protects our community from offerings that don't align with our quality standards. This forum exists to support Wicked Edge products and help users succeed with our equipment.

  • Respect intellectual property: Do not post content that infringes on the intellectual property rights of others, including copyrighted material or proprietary information.
  • Maintain a positive image: Help us build and reinforce the Wicked Edge brand as a caring, passionate team. Content that undermines this image or promotes negativity about Wicked Edge products or staff is prohibited.

4. Unacceptable Behavior

The following behaviors are strictly prohibited:

  • Abusive behavior: Harassment, threats of violence, or content that creates an atmosphere that excludes or marginalizes others.
  • Harmful content: Content promoting, encouraging, or glorifying self-harm, cruelty, violence, or harm to others.
  • Misleading information: False, harmful, or misleading information that carries risk of harm to individuals or groups, or content promoting false information for ideological purposes.
  • Disruptive use of privileges: Using forum privileges in a targeted and disruptive manner that harms the community or compromises content integrity.
  • Inauthentic usage: Use of the system that violates our Acceptable Use policy or causes unnecessary disruption or harm to users or the network.

5. Usernames and Profiles

While we encourage users to express themselves in their profiles, all user profiles—including usernames, profile images, and biographical information—are subject to this Code of Conduct and all policies outlined herein.

  • Profile images must be welcoming and appropriate: Profile photos, avatars, and images should not contain:
    • Firearms or other weapons unrelated to knife sharpening (exception: hunting photos showing legal game harvesting are acceptable)
    • Graphic content including blood, gore, or injury photos
    • Political, inflammatory, or divisive content
    • Offensive, discriminatory, or explicit material
    • Any content that could reasonably intimidate or discourage participation from other community members

Knives and sharpening equipment are naturally appropriate for this forum. Our goal is to maintain a welcoming environment for all users. Profile content that creates an unwelcoming atmosphere may be removed, and you may be asked to select a different image.

6. Reporting and Moderation

  • Report unacceptable behavior: If you encounter unacceptable behavior directed at yourself or others, flag the harmful content. Every person contributes to building a collaborative, respectful community.
  • Moderators are Wicked Edge team members: Only Wicked Edge team members serve as moderators.
  • Moderator review process: Moderators review flags regularly. Users who don't follow the Code of Conduct in good faith may face repercussions deemed appropriate by our moderation team, including account suspensions.
  • Enforcement approach:
    • Enforcement will primarily be carried out via direct message (DM) from the our moderator account
    • The DM will cite the specific problem and suggest a reasonable solution, which may include immediate deletion of content
    • This approach prevents public disputes and ensures consistent, unbiased application of rules
  • Moderator decisions are final: Content found to be in violation of this Code of Conduct may be hidden or deleted by a moderator without warning. The moderator's judgment is final.
  • Privacy of moderators: Because the moderator account is shared across the Wicked Edge team, the personal identity of individuals enforcing rules will not be disclosed.
  • Appeals: If you're not satisfied with a moderator decision, you may appeal by contacting us directly. We review each report individually and will respond as quickly as possible.
  • Legacy content: Any legacy posts from previous forum iterations found to violate these rules will be removed.

7. Content Curation

Community members help maintain content quality through reviews and edits to keep questions and answers clear, relevant, and up-to-date. This collaborative effort is vital to building a valuable knowledge resource for all users.

All actions will be taken on a case-by-case basis at the discretion of our moderators. Thank you for helping us maintain a welcoming and productive community!

Welcome to the Wicked Edge forum! :wave: