VMware Community Code of Conduct

VMware Community Code of Conduct

VMware has created the Community in order to help VMware users around the world be successful with VMware technology.

The Code of Conduct is here to set a few basic ground rules about what you can and cannot do in the Community, and why.

Respect and collegiality

Be professional and respectful to others, and always use a collegial tone on VMware discussion boards.

We have a very diverse group of people participating in the community, from all around the world and with widely varying backgrounds, which  makes keeping a high standard of discourse very important.

Additionally, using a professional tone in discussions can only increase the level of respect you receive from your peers.

We all have our opinions, and this means that there are bound to be  differences. We welcome a healthy debate, as long as it is conducted in a respectful and professional tone.

ACCEPTABLE: Your reasoning seems to be flawed; here's why I feel this way. You appear to misunderstand the functionality; allow me to clarify it for you. I disagree with that recommendation because of XYZ reasons.

UNACCEPTABLE: You're stupid/incompetent/lazy. You're not the sharpest  tool in the shed, are you? Do you subscribe to the "Dumb and Dumberer"  school of technology? *&^$#^%&*!!! (censored). Yo mama is so  virtualized that...well, you get the point.

Third-party content and attribution

In the VMware Community, just like anywhere else on the Internet, it is important to respect other people's copyright.

When quoting from a third party (e.g. another forum or a blog) make sure  to include proper attribution, by naming the source and including a  link back to it.

Be sparing with external quotes. A few sentences are okay, but copying a  whole article is not. Instead, just post a link to the article and  provide a short summary to give others some context.

When in doubt, read VMware Community Terms of Use. If still unclear, ask one of the moderators in the Help community.

Spam and shameless commerce

We all need to make our living somehow, but spam and product plugs will not be tolerated in the VMware community.

We have created this site as a place for VMware users to discuss the  technology and help each other with questions, so if you are not  mentioning a particular product in context, where it is clear it may  help solve the problem at hand, your post will be considered spam and deleted.

We recommend using full disclosure, and mentioning that you are  recommending a product you are affiliated with, when you are suggesting a solution involving your products.

Repeat offenders will be warned, and eventually banned.

Posts linking to sites unrelated to virtualization technology, such as pornography, will be removed and posters banned without warning.

How to ask a question

Search the forums

Before you post a question, please be sure that you've read the release  notes, the FAQ, searched the forums, and searched the internet.  You  might find the answer is readily available!

Searching first gets you the answer faster and keeps the forums less cluttered, making it easier to find things in the future.

Be clear and specific

When you ask for help on the discussion forum, it's important that you  provide as much information as you can, so others can diagnose what's  wrong.

Remember that what may be obvious to you, sitting in front of your  computer, may not be obvious to someone far across the internet.

Please include the following information with your question:

  • Your exact product version
  • Your host OS: is 32-bit or 64-bit OS? On Linux, include the distribution and kernel version.
  • Your guest OS, with same details as for host.
  • How often do you see the problem (e.g. all the time, sometimes,  rarely, etc.), and if it had previously worked in the same setup (e.g.  same virtual machine, same computer)
  • What seems to trigger the problematic behavior
  • If there are any conditions where it does work
  • If troubleshooting a network issue, add the following:
    • Output from "ipconfig /all" (Windows) or "ifconfig -a" (Linux) from both the host and the guest OS
    • .vmx file from the virtual machine
    • How is your host connected to the network / Internet (cable modem, DSL, router, switch, wired, wireless, etc.)
    • How is networking configured for the guest (NAT, bridged, host-only)
  • If troubleshooting a disk issue, add the following:
    • .vmx file from the virtual machine
    • vmware.log file located in the VM folder
    • Complete directory listing of the VM folder, including file sizes (preferably in bytes).


This is not an exhaustive list of useful information - if you have more  details that you think are relevant, be sure to include them.

Discussion board etiquette

Sometimes there are multiple causes with the similar symptoms, so unless you have the exact same setup as someone else, it's not usually useful to just chime in with "Same here" or "+1."

If you have found the exactly same problem, specify any differences (for  example, Workstation 6.0 vs. 6.0.2, XP SP1 vs. XP SP2, etc.) in your  reply to the thread.

Try to avoid ambiguous terminology and acronyms. If you must use  them, spell them out when used for the first time. Being explicit helps  people understand what you're talking about, which is necessary for them  to help you.

For example, BT might mean "BlueTooth" to you, but to someone else it  might mean VMware's "Binary Translation" technique. "VRAM" might make  sense to you as "Virtual RAM," but most people would think "Video RAM."

Don't use ALL CAPS or lots of punctuation!!!!! This is annoying  and makes posts harder to read. Also, since most posts are questions,  it's redundant to say "Need Help!" or similar in the subject.

Recognition

Receiving recognition is an important motivator for many community participants, and helps keep the response times short and answer quality  high.

When someone answers your question and helps resolve your issue, do your  part, and mark the best answer "correct." You can mark up to two more  answers as "helpful."

Users whose answers were marked "correct" or "helpful" will receive reward points, which will add to their rankings.

Those who answer questions should not then ask for their answer to be marked "Helpful" or "Correct" in an effort to gain more points. This points award should be objectively given by the person who posed the question, or an outside user who found the information beneficial.

How to answer questions

As mentioned above, please keep your tone respectful and professional.  People may have "silly" questions, but they may only be "silly" because  you've done something a thousand times already and it's second nature  to you. Remember that this may be someone's first time with  virtualization, a Mac, or even computers in general. On the other hand,  people may know exactly what they're doing (and/or know more than you)  and may have found an obscure bug.

If you're repeatedly asking a question and the other person isn't answering (or is answering a different question), perhaps they don't understand your question. Try rephrasing it or giving directions for how to obtain the answer you need.

English is not every person's primary language. Try to be  forgiving, especially if someone points out they're a non-native  speaker. Polite corrections are good, though - they help clear up  ambiguities and can help the other person learn.

If you find yourself answering the same question again and again, consider turning the answer into a document (or adding to one of the existing ones). This will save you typing and hopefully make it easier for people to locate answers.

If someone posts the same question in multiple places, try to pick one place to answer it (preferably the place that makes sense, and where other people have  answered). Let a moderator know about the duplicates so they can be  deleted.

Pointing to this document with a link without an explanation might be seen as unfriendly. Here's a sentence you can use:

Hi, welcome to the forums! We'd like to answer your  question, but there just isn't enough information in your post to be  able to do this. Please take a look at VMware Community Code of Conduct and follow up with details about your situation.

Role of community moderators

Moderators of the different forums, regardless of whether they are VMware staff or user volunteers, have the authority to warn violators  or escalate to the VMware Community Manager, as the situation demands.  Please respect their requests. Moderators are your friends and mine, here to help make the community a helpful and welcoming place to talk about VMware technology.

Comments

removed product specific links

IMHIO (at least parts of) http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-2264 should be included as well

Another that could be used http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-1070

Version history
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Last update:
‎11-07-2020 12:55 PM
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