documentation/project/community.md

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# Discord Community Standards
Pterodactyl prides itself on providing a warm and welcoming community for all of our members. However, due to the
sheer size of our community, we have a few rules that we expect all individuals to follow at all times.

## Statement of Support
This software is provided to the game community to provide people with the ability to run their servers from a secure
and modern platform. Pterodactyl is provided free of charge, please refrain from treating us as your personal system
administrators or being abusive when we do not reply immediately or hold your hand through every step of the process.
Anyone found to be abusing our support will be removed from this community at the discretion of the Project Team.

You are expected to understand how to read the documentation to use this Panel. We have spent many hours detailing how to
install or upgrade our software; take some time and read rather than copy and pasting and then complaining when things
do not work. This panel does not exist as a drag-and-drop service to run your servers. It is a highly complex system
requiring multiple dependencies and administrators willing to spend some time learning how to use it. If you expect
to be able to install this with no understanding of basic Linux system administration you should stop and turn
around now.

## Community Rules
### Be Mature
You are expected to be mature and control your behavior in a manner that adheres to basic human decency. If you are
unable to do this you will be removed from the community. Personal attacks, spam (in any form), "doxxing", or otherwise
acting out is not allowed.
   
### No Commercial Services
Discussion of paid installation/upgrade services, modifications, or any other commercial offerings is strictly
prohibited. This includes paid modifications or designed for Pterodactyl.

### Respect the Support Channels
Our support channels — those living under the #support name — exist solely to provide _direct_ Pterodactyl related
support. They are not to be used for general Linux questions or other purposes. Please keep these channels clear for
support requests, and be considerate of others by utilizing the emptiest channel at the time. 

### No Direct Messaging for Support
Direct messaging Project Team members or Moderators is forbidden unless you have previously asked for permission.
This rule does not apply if you are in need of urgent attention — for example, reporting security vulnerabilities,
other members breaking rules, or other urgent, _non-support_ matters.

### No Drama
Discussion, including linking to or discussing sites or software, that exists to cast a negative image of other
companies or users is not allowed. This includes calling out hosts using nulled software, attempting to elicit negative
reactions towards other sites, or otherwise stirring up drama.

### No Advertising
Advertising hosting companies in your username is not allowed.

## Partnered Hosts
You may notice some users on our server have blue names, this indicates that they are representing a host whom
we have partnered with.

### Benefits of Partnering
All of our partnered hosts must prove that they are legally operating a business entity, are able to uphold
basic security practices, and in most cases have shown that they are using Pterodactyl in unique ways.

1. Custom role on our Discord server and the ability to directly solicit clients who might be looking for hosting.
2. Permission to include a link to your company on both your username, and all company associates.
3. Access to a private partners only Discord support channel for direct communication with the Project Team.
4. Call yourself a partner on your website!
5. We'll link your logo on our website as a partner.

Overall, partnering with Pterodactyl is honestly not all that thrilling, and that is by design. We don't want companies
trying to partner solely for perks and benefits, we want to partner with companies that know what they're doing and
are there for the community and helping to build a great product.

### Becoming a Partner
We are quite selective about who we partner with. This is for a few reasons, the first being that we don't want to
allow any random hosting company to partner with us and then go under, or, be subject to a data breach.

Please review the requirements below to see if you might qualify to become a partner with us. If you believe
you meet these requirements, please send an email to dane@[this domain].io. Please refrain from contacting any
of the Project Team directly on Discord, it is disruptive and rather annoying.

1. *MUST* be able to show proof of business registration in your country.
2. *MUST* be able to show an easily found page on your company website that lists at least two (2) sources for contact
from the following list: ticketing system, public twitter page (with activity), phone number, email address,
and/or company address.
3. Your company must have at least 6 months of public operations under its belt. Sorry, but we cannot accept companies
that have not yet launched, or are just launched. We highly prefer companies that have been around for at least a year.
4. Please include information about how you're using Pterodactyl — including any customizations or features that make
you stand out from the rest.

Please ensure your email requesting partnership is sent from your company domain. We will not accept requests from
email addresses not belonging to the requesting company's domain.

### Terms & Conditions
1. We reserve the exclusive right to terminate partnerships at any time, without notice, for any reason.
2. You are responsible for the behavior of your staff on our Discord server, and are not immune to the server rules.
We have a 1 strike policy for our hosts: we'll give you a stern warning once if someone breaks our rules and is kicked
or muted because of it. After that your partnered status will be revoked. If any of your staff are banned your host's
partnership status will be terminated immediately.
3. If you are rebranding your company, or otherwise dissolving or creating a new company using the ashes of your current one,
you are _required_ to disclose this to any Project Team member, and your role may be revoked depending on the circumstances.
4. Please ensure you and your staff maintain appropriate nicknames on our server. Make sure your company URL or name is
displayed in the nick. For example `Dane | Pterodactyl.io` is a good nick, `spicy mcnugget` is not — but `spicy mcnugget | Pterodactyl` is.
5. Be reasonable with the amount of staff you want to have a role assigned to in our server, we'd prefer you not have 20
or 30 people that need a role, and we will likely deny those requests. Don't forget you're responsible for their actions.