Code of Communication

Fox&Badge is built on presence, openness, curiosity, and care. We seek to practice Nonviolent communication in all our communications - privately and publicly:

  • We communicate with care. 

  • We speak from experience, not judgment. 

  • We express feelings without blame. 

  • We make requests, not attacks. 

  • We move with cultural curiosity and respect.

We welcome dialogue, questions, and differing perspectives - but we are careful about the tone and energy we host in our spaces.

What we welcome:

  • Thoughtful questions

  • Lived experiences

  • Respectful disagreement

  • Curiosity and learning

  • Contributions that deepen understanding

Online we may remove comments that feel:

  • Aggressive, hostile, or inflammatory

  • Dismissive or reductive of others’ cultures or identities

  • Assumptive rather than enquiring

  • Designed to provoke, rather than connect

  • Likely to spiral into unproductive or harmful exchanges

We are a very small team, working hard across a lot of activities that do not involve social media, and we’re not resourced to actively mediate complex or escalating debates in real time.

Rather than allowing conversations to become fragmented, reactive, or hurtful, we choose to gently shape this space toward warmth, curiosity, nuance, mutual respect - and the quest to understand each other.

Though we welcome feedback, we believe that nuanced discussions are very difficult to maintain in comments sections alone. We may remove certain comments not to censor or silence voices, but to reduce what we feel may be unhealthier tension and noise, and to increase a sense of safety for all. Removing a comment is not a judgement of the person who wrote it. It is a choice about the kind of space we are holding.

If you’d like to share something important and aren’t sure how it will land, we’re always open to thoughtful messages via DM or email.

 Fox&Badge Communication Code

A shared practice for how we meet each other — online and in the room. At Fox&Badge, we are not just creating events. We are cultivating a field — of presence, curiosity, and care. This is how we speak into that space.

1. Speak from Experience, Not Authority

We invite you to share from your own lived experience, rather than making claims about what is right, wrong, or true for everyone. E.g. “I feel…”, “In my experience…”, “I’m curious about…”

This keeps the space open, rather than closing it down.

2. Describe, Don’t Judge

Before reacting, we try to name what we actually see or hear, without adding interpretation.

This reduces misunderstanding and softens escalation.

3. Honour Feelings — Yours & Others’

We welcome real emotion — joy, discomfort, uncertainty, even disagreement.

But we express it without attack, blame, or accusation.

4. Look Beneath to the Need

Behind every reaction is something deeper - a value, a care, a longing.

We try to listen for what matters underneath: Respect; inclusion; beauty; safety; creative freedom

This is where real dialogue lives.

5. Ask, Don’t Demand

If something feels off, we invite clear, constructive requests - not public shaming or pile-ons. We may not always agree or comply, but we will always listen more deeply to a request than to an attack.

6. Move with Cultural Care

We often respectfully explore themes that draw from real histories and living cultures.

We ask everyone to:

-approach with curiosity, not assumption

-avoid sacred or religious iconography (e.g. deities) as costume

-take a moment to learn the context of what you wear or share

Respect is not about perfection - it’s about intention + willingness to learn.

7. No Dogpiling, No Darkness Spirals

When conversations turn hostile, repetitive, accusatory, or begin to spiral, we may step in, limit, or remove comments. Not to silence - but to protect the overall field for everyone. The capacity for misunderstandings online - where written words struggle to carry depth of tone - is large.

8. Why We Sometimes Remove Comments

We do occasionally remove comments that are unkind or attacking, dismissive rather than enquiring, likely to trigger reactive pile-ons, or beyond our capacity to thoughtfully hold and respond to

We are a small team, and we choose depth over firefighting.

9. Assume Good Intent — Stay Open

We are listening. We are learning. We are not perfect.

If something feels off, come towards us - with openness, not certainty.

10. This Is a Co-Creation

This space is shaped by all of us. Every comment, every costume, every interaction

either deepens the field - or fractures it.

Let’s choose depth. Let’s choose care.

Let’s choose each other.