Community Expectations & Guidelines:

These guidelines are intended to establish best practices to keep in mind when interacting on the Camunda Platform Community Forums.

These were inspired by the Kubernetes Communication Guidelines, and the Discourse FAQ.

Please keep in mind that this is a living document, and thus it may occasionally be updated as we add more information, learn new things, and iterate on how this community is run. If we have a major update to this guide in terms of our expectations for users participating in these channels, we will communicate it transparently to our community members via the forums. If a change is something that we’d like to explain in more detail, we’ll also write a blog post about it.

We require all participants to adhere to the Camunda Code of Conduct in addition to abiding by our community expectations when participating in this space. Please keep in mind that the chat is searchable and public, and that we want all community members to have a positive experience when interacting with others on our forums.

This is a community-led place for discussion and sharing of ideas, knowledge, and best practices when working with BPMN.io. You can help us continue to improve these discussions and create a stronger community by keeping some key points in mind:

Be kind

  • Always speak to the person behind the comment, as well as speaking to the comment. For example, disliking a framework, piece of software, or approach is fine. Criticizing it is fine. Attacking a person for supporting/liking a particular framework is not fine.
  • Please avoid saying things like, “Only newbies would ever use X in production,” or, “You must be new to programming, the proper way to format this is ____.” Being condescending helps no-one.
  • Remember that the tone of the conversation is as important as the technical content, and be generous. No-one deliberately sets out to upset other people, so if you find yourself upset by something, take a moment to put yourself in the other person’s shoes, and even ask a question to clarify before responding with a savage flame take-down.
  • Be mindful of tone-policing
    • Examples of tone policing are phrases such as, “Calm down,” “You don’t need to get so angry,” and more.
    • The most effective way (maybe the only effective way) to “tone-police” is to police your own tone. Be the change you want to see in the world, and set the tone you would like to experience.
    • Don’t be afraid to take a break from a thread to get some perspective and let things cool down.

Participation matters!

  • We’ve got a variety of badges available on the forums that will help you quickly identify new posts of interest, popular posts, community members, and Camunda employees. Please familiarize yourself with them, and make use of these tools to not only improve your forum experience, but others’ experience as well!
  • Flags are crucial to the success of the community
    • If you see a post that violates our Code of Conduct, or would like a member of our team to keep an eye on a post that you think might have the potential to become volatile, please flag it.
    • Without your help, Moderators can only do so much. Your voice matters. Use it wisely.
    • Using our Discourse forum moderation tools and flagging posts for review helps Moderators be able to spend more time on facilitating conversations, rather than only getting called in when a discussion has already breached the Code of Conduct.
    • Don’t fan the flames, flag instead.
      • Don’t reply to something that is clearly meant to inspire knee-jerk reactions, anger, or is a clear violation of our Code of Conduct. The sooner you flag it, the better.
      • If something is flagged, it will be looked at within 24 hours by our Moderator team.
    • Moderators have the right to remove a post, comment, content, or user account at any time, for any reason.

Be civil

  • Respect one another.
    • Don’t post anything that violates our Code of Conduct.
    • Don’t message people privately without asking them if that’s okay in a public channel first.
      • When you message someone it is one message. When twenty people do that, it is twenty messages for that one person.
      • Asking technical questions in private messages means that any knowledge shared in an answer is not available to others.
    • Never post anyone’s private information on our community forums or Slack.
      • If you do this, you will be immediately removed from the community and banned.
  • Remember that these communication channels are public and are crawled by search engines. If you don’t want something to potentially be visible to the public, don’t say it on the forums.
    • Please practice good security hygiene when it comes to APIs keys, secrets, tokens, and license keys. We suggest that you edit these out of any screenshots using a photo editor, and double-check any logs you post to redact any keys that may be visible before posting.

Practice good housekeeping

  • Don’t spam the forums with off-topic or irrelevant content.
  • Don’t post the same question as a different topic multiple times.
  • Don’t start a topic in the wrong category or channel.
  • Don’t post replies without content just to improve your participation count.
  • Don’t divert conversation threads. If a thread inspires you, rather than trying to talk over someone else’s conversation, start your own thread instead, and link back to the original post that inspired the continued discussion!
  • Don’t create an elaborate forum signature – Every post you make has your profile information on it already!
  • Don’t clog a topic’s replies with “+1,” or “Agreed,”–Please make use of the ‘Like’ button instead to show your support!
  • Share, but do so wisely.
    • Don’t post links to intellectual property that belongs to someone else unless you have their explicit permission to do so.
    • Don’t claim content as your own that you didn’t create.
    • Give credit where credit is due.
  • If you found a solution outside of the forum, remember to share it on your post for anyone else having the same problem.

Reporting Community Expectations Violations

  • If you witness a Code of Conduct or community expectations violation, please report it as soon as possible. A Camunda forum moderator will then work together with you to resolve the issue.

Communication Styles

When communicating with others on the Camunda Platform community forums or in Slack, it’s important to remember that not everyone communicates in the same way. Some individuals may be neurodivergent, and thus may not communicate in a neurotypical manner. Please endeavor to understand neurological differences when communicating with other community members, so that this space is welcoming for everyone.

Others may learn or understand information differently from you. While someone may understand a diagram or Model at first glance, others may benefit from having a paragraph or two of information to read that explains what the diagram, Model, or example does. Remember that what may seem obvious to you may not be to someone else.

We all come from different backgrounds and experiences. As such, keep in mind that not everyone has had access to the same learning tools, education, and experience that you may have. What may seem like an “easy,” or “quick” solution for you may be difficult to understand, or challenging to implement for someone else. Above all, please be compassionate and empathetic when communicating with others.

FAQ & Post Formatting Style Guide

What this forum is for:

  • A place for people to ask and answer questions
  • A place to learn about the BPMN.io Community
  • A place to discuss broader BPMN.io topics
  • A place to get information on new releases, community extensions, and events

How to ask questions:

When asking a question on the forum, the more context you give, the better chance you have of your question being understood and answered. This will also help any users in the future with the same problem find your post, and more importantly, understand how you solved it.

  • Give details of your project and environment.
    • Add the version software you’re asking about (e.g. Camunda Platform 7.13).
    • Describe your setup (e.g. Spring Boot / Tomcat etc.).
    • Mention the database, including version and driver you’re using.
    • List ANYTHING you might have changed from the default configuration.
    • Be sure to redact any API keys, license keys, or other personal information from any screenshots or code snippets.
  • Show, don’t tell
    • If you’re getting an error - upload the log.
    • If your model is causing a problem - upload the model.
    • Always try to upload the BPMN or DMN file rather than a picture.

Formatting Posts

Best practices for how to properly format your post are as follows:

  • The forum supports formatting your post in Markdown
  • Code examples should always be formatted with opening ticks and closing ticks like this:

@SpringBootApplication

public class Application {

public static void main(String[] args) {SpringApplication.run(Application.class);}

}
  • When uploading long text like a log make sure to format it with 3 ticks followed by {r} like this {r} lots of text... this will create a scroll bar making the post easier to read.

Who’s answering the questions?

Questions you post here are answered by the members of the community who volunteer their time to share their knowledge. These can be employees of Camunda in addition to individuals who have embraced the community and are happy to give back.

What if no one is responding to my post?

There are a few reasons why you might not get a response to your question.

  • You’ve phrased the question in a way that is difficult to understand
  • It’s difficult to read due to not following the post formatting conventions outlined above
  • The community may not have encountered your use case before

In most cases, making sure your question adheres to the style guide above will go a long way toward getting it answered. If nobody seems to know the answer, please consider posting the solution as a reply to yourself in your original thread when you find it in order to help others.

Please try to avoid doing the following:

  • Creating a new topic with the same question.
    • Duplication like this confuses people trying to find an answer for the same issue.
  • Post the same question on other threads not related to your post in hope of getting a response.
  • Send a Private Message to a member of the community with your question.
    • If someone answers a question via PM, it’s not helpful to the rest of the community.
  • Using @-mentions just to draw attention.
    • If there is a legitimate reason why another forum member should see your question by all means mention them, but don’t use them for any other reason.
  • Raising old topics from the dead – If a search of the forums shows the last post on a particular topic was from a few months/years ago, don’t reply to the old thread. Start a new thread instead with a link to the old one for additional context.

Can I use an existing account to participate on the BPMN.io Community Forum?

Yes! You can use your existing Google or GitHub Accounts. You can also create a new account on the forum.

How can I start a new discussion via email?

In order to start a discussion via email, send your mail to forum@bpmn.io. These posts will be categorized in the Process Engine category. Note: please consider creating an account since it will allow you to create posts in other categories and also edit your posts.