Community Guidelines

Last updated: November 5, 2026

Jimineering is a forum where software engineers help each other build better things. These guidelines explain how we keep it friendly, useful, and safe. They are part of our Terms of Use, and they apply everywhere on the Forum, including private messages.

1. Be kind and practical

• Be kind. Everyone here was a beginner once. Answer the way you would want to be answered.
• Assume good faith. Most mistakes are honest. If a post reads badly, ask what the person meant before reacting.
• Critique the code, not the person. “This loop runs in O(n²); a hash map would help” is great. “Who writes code like this?” is not.
• Stay on topic. Keep replies about the question at hand. Start a new topic for a new subject.
• Disagree well. Explain your reasons, share sources or benchmarks when you can, and be open to being wrong.
• Help the next reader. Clear titles, clear answers, and a short note on what finally worked make a thread useful for years.

2. How to ask a good question

A good question gets a good answer faster. Before you post:

1. Search first. Your question may already have an answer.
2. Use a clear title. “Postgres query slow after adding index on created_at” beats “Help!!”
3. Explain the goal. What are you trying to do, and why?
4. Share a minimal reproducible example. The smallest piece of code that shows the problem, which someone else can run.
5. Say what you tried. What you expected, what happened instead, and any error messages (copied as text, not screenshots).
6. Include versions. Language, framework, library, operating system, and anything else that matters.
7. Format your code in fenced code blocks, with the language name for highlighting:

def greet(name):
    return f"Hello, {name}!"

8. Remove secrets first. Take out API keys, passwords, tokens, internal hostnames, and customer data before you paste anything.

3. Mark the accepted answer

When a reply solves your problem, mark it as the solution. It thanks the person who helped, and it shows future readers what worked. If you solved it yourself, post your answer and mark that.

4. What you share, and how others can use it

You keep the copyright in everything you post. By posting, you license your code under the MIT License and everything else you write under CC BY-SA 4.0, so others can learn from it and reuse it. Only post code and text you have the right to share this way, and credit your sources. The details are in our Terms of Use.

5. Code review etiquette

When you ask for a review:

• Say what kind of feedback you want (correctness, performance, style, design).
• Share enough context to understand the code, and keep the snippet focused.

When you give a review:

• Start with what works, then what could be better.
• Be specific: point to the line, explain the issue, and suggest a fix when you can.
• Separate must-fix problems (bugs, security issues) from personal preferences.
• Remember there is often more than one good way to write something.

When you receive a review:

• Thank people for their time, even if you disagree.
• Ask follow-up questions if something is unclear.

6. Self-promotion and spam

• Sharing your own open-source project, article, or tool is welcome when it is relevant to the conversation and you say that it is yours.
• Do not post ads, affiliate links, or the same link across many topics.
• Do not join just to promote a product or service.
• Job posts and announcements belong only in categories made for them, if those exist.
• Spam and bot accounts are removed without notice.

7. Keep secrets and private data out

• Never post credentials. Remove API keys, passwords, tokens, private keys, and connection strings before posting. If you post one by accident, revoke or rotate it right away, then flag the post so a moderator can hide it.
• Respect other people’s privacy. Do not post anyone’s personal information (addresses, phone numbers, private messages, account details) without their permission.
• Respect confidentiality. Do not post your employer’s or a client’s confidential code or information.

8. No harassment or hate

• No harassment, threats, bullying, stalking, or personal attacks.
• No hateful content that attacks people based on race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, age, or similar traits.
• No pile-ons. If someone is wrong, one clear, kind correction is enough.

9. Keep it legal and professional

• No illegal content, including pirated software, cracked licenses, stolen data, or instructions to break into systems you do not own.
• Security research is welcome when it is responsible: focus on defense and education, and do not share working exploits for unpatched systems belonging to others.
• Adults only, and professional. Jimineering is for people 18 and older, but it is a professional community. No sexual content, no graphic violence, and keep language suitable for a workplace.
• Respect copyright. Share code and material you have the right to share, and credit your sources.

10. Flagging and moderation

• Flag, don’t fight. If you see a post that breaks these guidelines, flag it rather than replying. Moderators will review it. Flags are private.
• Moderators are here to help. They may edit titles, move topics to the right category, fix formatting, hide posts, or close topics.
• Questions about a decision? Send a private message to a moderator or contact us at legal@jimineering.com. Please don’t argue about moderation in public threads.

11. Consequences

Depending on how serious and how frequent the problem is, we may:

• Send a friendly reminder or private warning.
• Edit, hide, or remove posts.
• Temporarily limit or silence an account.
• Suspend an account for a period of time.
• Permanently ban an account.

Serious problems, such as threats, illegal content, or posting other people’s private data, may lead to an immediate ban and, where required, a report to the authorities.

Thank you for helping make Jimineering a place where engineers enjoy learning from each other.