How we learn together

The Learners' Covenant

The Terraformed Life works because people learn honestly, help each other generously and treat what they learn with care, especially the security skills. This covenant is what we ask of every learner, and what we promise in return. It applies in the course, in your sandbox, on the forum, and anywhere else the community gathers.

As a learner, I will

Learn honestly

• Do my own work in the labs. The grader checks what I can do; copying an answer only cheats me, and my certificate should mean something.
• Ask for help freely, and give help by explaining the approach, not by posting a full solution to a graded lab.
• Credit other people's work when I build on it.

Be kind and generous

• Treat everyone with respect, whatever their background, identity or experience. No harassment, insults, discrimination or personal attacks.
• Remember that everyone was a beginner once. Answer the question that was asked, assume good faith, and disagree with ideas rather than people.
• Keep the forum useful: search before posting, stay on topic, and no spam or self-promotion.

Keep secrets secret

• Never post passwords, API keys, tokens, private keys or real credentials, mine or anyone else's, even in a code sample.
• Never share my employer's code, internal hostnames or anything I am not free to share.

Use what I learn responsibly

• Test security and identity techniques only on systems I own, or on systems where I have explicit, written permission.
• Never attack, probe or try to break out of the platform or another learner's sandbox.
• Report weaknesses I find, in the platform or elsewhere, responsibly and privately, so they can be fixed before anyone is harmed.
• Use infrastructure and access skills to protect people and systems, not to harm them.

Look after the shared space

• Use my sandbox for learning, and leave the shared resources fair for everyone.
• Report posts or behaviour that break this covenant, rather than replying in kind.

In return, we promise to

• Teach clearly and correctly. Keep lessons accurate and up to date, and fix mistakes when you point them out.
• Grade fairly. Tell you exactly what a check is looking for, offer hints when you are stuck, and have a person review the capstone.
• Respect your data. Collect only what the course needs, never sell it, show no advertising and run no tracking, as our privacy notice sets out.
• Keep it open. Share the course under an open licence, so what you learn here is yours to use and pass on.
• Listen. Read every tutorial request and let the community shape what we build next.
• Moderate fairly. Act on reports consistently, explain decisions where we can, and treat everyone by the same rules.

When things go wrong

Most problems are misunderstandings, and a friendly word fixes them. When it does not, moderators may hide posts, lock threads, or, for serious or repeated breaches, suspend an account under our terms. To report something, or if you think we got a decision wrong, email privacy@terraformed.dev.