How we look after our community.

1. Agreement to these Guidelines

Members participating in LEAF events, groups, chats or other LEAF community spaces are expected to follow these Guidelines.

By continuing to participate in LEAF, members acknowledge that LEAF organisers may take reasonable action under these Guidelines where necessary to protect the safety, wellbeing and orderly operation of the community.

These Guidelines are not intended to cover every possible situation. LEAF organisers may take reasonable action in circumstances not specifically listed here where this is considered necessary to protect the safety or wellbeing of the community.

2. Scope

These Guidelines apply to:

• LEAF events;
• the LEAF Meetup group;
• LEAF WhatsApp groups;
• LEAF-managed social channels and online spaces;
• other LEAF-managed community spaces; and
• conduct between members arising from participation in LEAF where it materially affects the safety or wellbeing of the community.

Conduct taking place outside a LEAF-managed platform may still be taken into account where it is directly connected to participation in LEAF and has a material impact on the community.

LEAF does not normally mediate ordinary personal disagreements, incompatibility or private relationship disputes.

3. Respect personal boundaries

Members are expected to respect each other’s personal space, choices and boundaries.

It is normal to introduce yourself, start a conversation, ask to stay in touch, express interest respectfully, or send a reasonable message after meeting someone.

However, members must not:

• pressure someone to share contact details;
• repeatedly approach or contact someone who has clearly shown little or no interest;
• continue contacting someone after being asked to stop;
• repeatedly message someone who is not responding;
• bypass a block using another account, platform, phone number or another person;
• pressure someone into social, romantic or sexual interaction;
• intimidate, threaten or retaliate against someone for rejecting them or raising a concern.

A respectful approach is not inappropriate simply because the interest is not mutual. What matters is whether the other person’s response and boundaries are respected.

4. Private messages and contact between members

Being part of the same LEAF community does not automatically mean that another member has agreed to ongoing private contact.

If you contact another member privately:

• be respectful;
• do not assume romantic or sexual interest;
• pay attention to whether the conversation is reciprocal;
• avoid repeatedly following up when someone is not responding;
• stop if they ask you to stop;
• respect a block immediately.

A lack of response does not always mean rejection. However, repeated attempts to restart contact after continued non-response may become unwanted contact.

If you are unsure whether contact is welcome, give the other person space.

5. Consent

Consent means that communication or interaction is welcomed by the people involved.

Consent can change at any time.

Talking at an event, exchanging contact details, joining the same group chat, or meeting once does not create an obligation to continue communicating.

If someone asks for space, asks you to stop, withdraws from an interaction, or blocks you, that decision must be respected.

6. Different communication styles

LEAF includes people from many cultures, backgrounds, personalities and communication styles.

Some people find indirect social cues easier to interpret than others. Where appropriate, organisers may therefore make a boundary or expectation explicit rather than assuming that everyone will interpret a situation in the same way.

However, once a personal boundary or LEAF rule has been clearly communicated, members are expected to respect it.

A misunderstanding may help explain behaviour, but it does not remove the responsibility to change that behaviour once the expectation is clear.

7. Personal discomfort and community concerns

Not every uncomfortable interaction requires organiser intervention.

Situations that will usually remain a matter of personal choice include:

• simply not liking another member;
• finding someone’s personality or communication style difficult;
• receiving one respectful message that you do not wish to answer;
• romantic interest that is expressed respectfully and is not pursued further when it is not reciprocated.

Members are always free to create distance, stop replying, mute, unfollow or block another person.

Organiser involvement may be appropriate where there is:

• repeated unwanted contact;
• refusal to respect a clear rejection or boundary;
• repeated pressure for dates, contact details, attention or intimacy;
• a pattern of similar concerns involving multiple members;
• sexual or physical harassment;
• stalking or intimidation;
• threats or violence;
• retaliation against someone who raised a concern.

8. Reporting a concern

If another member’s behaviour makes you feel uncomfortable or unsafe, you may contact a LEAF organiser privately.

You do not need to confront the person yourself before speaking to us.

Where appropriate, organisers may ask for information such as:

• what happened;
• approximate dates or locations;
• screenshots or messages;
• relevant context that may help us understand the situation.

You do not need to have explicitly said “no” before a concern can be taken seriously.

Reports will be handled as discreetly as reasonably possible. LEAF will avoid unnecessarily identifying the person who raised a concern.

Retaliation, intimidation, harassment or pressure directed at someone because they raised a concern will itself be treated seriously.

9. How LEAF responds

LEAF aims to respond fairly and proportionately, taking into account the behaviour, seriousness, circumstances and relevant history.

Personal disagreement or discomfort

Where there is no clear breach of a boundary or community rule, organisers may offer advice or suggest creating distance, muting or blocking contact.

LEAF cannot guarantee that every member will feel personally comfortable around every other member.

Boundary concerns or unwanted contact

Where behaviour appears inappropriate or unwanted but is not serious enough to justify immediate removal, LEAF will normally give a clear warning.

A warning may explain:

• what behaviour needs to stop;
• what boundary or rule applies;
• what is expected going forward; and
• that further similar behaviour may result in removal from LEAF.

Repeated behaviour after a warning

If similar behaviour continues after a clear warning, LEAF may remove or ban the member from LEAF groups, events and community spaces.

A warning is an opportunity to correct behaviour. It is not an entitlement to a warning in every situation.

Serious misconduct

LEAF may remove or ban someone immediately, without a prior warning, where the behaviour is sufficiently serious.

This may include:

• physical assault or serious physical harassment;
• serious sexual harassment or non-consensual sexual behaviour;
• stalking;
• credible threats;
• violence;
• serious intimidation;
• serious discriminatory abuse;
• retaliation against someone who reported a safety concern;
• deliberate attempts to bypass a block or ban;
• other behaviour creating a significant safety risk.

10. Patterns and multiple reports

Every report will be taken seriously, but a report does not automatically establish that misconduct occurred.

Similarly, multiple reports do not replace the need to consider what actually happened.

However, multiple independent reports describing similar behaviour may be relevant when organisers assess whether there is an ongoing pattern.

Where possible, organisers will consider:

• the specific behaviour reported;
• available evidence and context;
• whether a boundary was communicated or reasonably apparent;
• whether the behaviour continued;
• the seriousness of the conduct;
• any previous relevant guidance or warnings;
• whether similar independent concerns have been raised by others.

11. Fair and consistent decisions

LEAF aims to apply the same behavioural standards regardless of gender, appearance, popularity, social confidence, friendship with organisers or other personal characteristics.

Concerns arising from personal impressions can be a valid reason to speak to an organiser. However, decisions involving warnings, removal or bans should be based as far as reasonably possible on what happened, the surrounding circumstances, and whether boundaries were respected.

At the same time, organisers do not need to wait for behaviour to become dangerous before intervening.

Intent matters, but impact, boundaries and repeated behaviour matter too.

12. Organiser discretion, removal from events and bans

LEAF organisers may take reasonable action where necessary to protect the safety, wellbeing or orderly operation of the community or to enforce these Guidelines.

Depending on the circumstances, this may include:

• advice or a warning;
• instructions relating to conduct during an event;
• asking someone to leave an event;
• temporary suspension from future events;
• removal from the LEAF Meetup group;
• removal from LEAF WhatsApp groups;
• removal from LEAF-managed social or community spaces;
• temporary or permanent exclusion from LEAF.

The response will depend on the nature and seriousness of the behaviour, relevant history, likelihood of recurrence and impact on the community.

Where immediate action is reasonably necessary for safety, LEAF organisers may prioritise protecting participants over providing a prior warning or completing a detailed review first.

Attempts to circumvent a LEAF block, removal, suspension or ban through another account or method are not permitted.

13. Situations not specifically listed

These Guidelines are not an exhaustive list of every form of unacceptable conduct.

LEAF organisers may take action where conduct not specifically listed here is reasonably considered to:

• threaten community safety;
• seriously disregard another member’s boundaries;
• significantly disrupt an event or the operation of the community; or
• be clearly incompatible with the safe operation and purpose of LEAF.

Any such action should, where reasonably possible, remain consistent with the principles of fairness and proportionality set out in these Guidelines.

14. Changes to these Guidelines

LEAF may update these Guidelines as the community grows, new situations arise, operational experience develops, or the policies of platforms used by LEAF change.

Where significant changes are made, LEAF will make reasonable efforts to notify members.

The most recently published version will be treated as the current LEAF Community Guidelines.

15. Our aim

We want LEAF to remain a place where people can comfortably meet new people, make friends and build genuine connections.

That requires two principles to exist at the same time:

1. Members should be protected from harassment, intimidation and persistent unwanted attention.
2. People should not be excluded simply because of personal dislike, social awkwardness or a misunderstanding that can reasonably be corrected.

Safety and fairness are both important.

If you have a concern about another member, please speak privately with a LEAF organiser.

16. Meetup

LEAF uses Meetup for part of its community organising.

Members using Meetup are also subject to Meetup’s own Community Guidelines, Terms of Service and other applicable policies in addition to these LEAF Guidelines.

• Meetup Community Guidelines ↗
• Meetup Usage and Content Policies ↗