The Askara Assembly works because people show up honestly, ask real questions, and help each other out. These are the few rules that keep it that way. They’re short on purpose. Read them once, and you’ll rarely need to think about them again.
This community is for professionals working on compliance and certification: practitioners, not the general public. It isn’t intended for under-18s.
How we behave here
- Assume good faith and keep it professional. People come here at different stages, from complete beginners to seasoned practitioners. A beginner question is a good question. Answer the way you’d want to be answered.
- Talk about your own compliance work, not someone else’s private details. Sharing where you are (what you’re weighing up, what tripped you up, what worked) is exactly what this place is for. But don’t post another organisation’s, client’s, or colleague’s confidential or sensitive information without their say-so. When in doubt, keep the example general.
- No knocking the competition. Compare tools, frameworks, and approaches all you like. That’s useful. Disparaging a named competitor, vendor, or another member isn’t.
What’s not okay
A short list. These will get a post removed, and can cost you your account:
- Harassment or abuse. Personal attacks, threats, or targeting someone. Disagree with the point, never the person.
- Spam and unsolicited pitches. Advertising, self-promotion dressed up as a question, or DMing members to sell to them. If you’re not sure whether something counts, ask the moderators first.
- Unlawful content. Anything illegal, infringing, or that helps someone break the law.
Peer discussion, not formal advice
What you read here is practitioners sharing experience. Not formal legal, regulatory, or compliance advice, and not a substitute for your own advisors or auditor. Discussing frameworks, controls, and what certification takes is the whole point; just treat answers as a well-informed starting point, and make your own calls (or check with your advisor) before you act on them.
If something goes wrong
- Report it. If a post breaks these rules, flag it. The flag control under any post sends it privately to the moderators. Not sure, or want to raise something quietly? Message the moderators. (The pinned How to use this community topic walks through both.)
- What happens next. Usually it’s light-touch: a moderator might edit or remove a post and let you know why, or give you a friendly heads-up. If a problem continues, that can escalate to a formal warning, and then to a temporary or permanent suspension. Serious or unlawful breaches (harassment, or sharing someone else’s confidential data) can skip straight to removal or suspension, without a warning first, where that’s needed to protect people.
- If you think a decision was wrong. Just reply to the moderation message you received, or message the moderators, and tell us why. We’ll take another look. We’d always rather sort it out than lose a good member over a misunderstanding.
The short version
Be professional, protect other people’s confidential information, keep it useful, and treat what you read as peer discussion rather than formal advice. Do that and you’ll fit right in. When you register, you’ll be asked to confirm you’ve read and agree to these rules.