Community
Code of Conduct
AMS is built on the idea that algorithmic thinking and mathematical rigour should be accessible to everyone. This Code of Conduct exists to make sure it stays that way — whether you're a first-year attempting your first Codeforces problem or a finalist in our algo-trading competition.
The short version
Be excellent to each other. Compete with integrity. Don't make anyone feel unwelcome. If something goes wrong, tell us.
1. Where This Applies
This Code of Conduct applies to all AMS spaces and activities, including:
- This website and all its features (challenge submissions, leaderboard, forums)
- Our Discord server and any other AMS-managed online communities
- AMS events, workshops, and meetups — in-person or virtual
- Any public representation of AMS (social media, university events)
- Direct messages between community members where AMS activity is the context
2. Expected Behaviour
All community members are expected to:
- Be welcoming and inclusive. AMS spans all experience levels, backgrounds, and disciplines. Treat beginners with the same respect you'd want as a beginner yourself.
- Give and receive feedback constructively. Code review, solution discussion, and editorial critique are core to how we learn. Criticism should be directed at the work, not the person.
- Compete with integrity. Submitting work that isn't yours, exploiting system bugs, or gaming the leaderboard undermines everyone. See Section 4 for specifics.
- Respect others' time. Committee members and contributors volunteer their time. Questions asked in good faith will be answered — repeated low-effort or entitled requests won't.
- Keep discussions on-topic. Off-topic content, self-promotion, and spam clutter shared spaces for everyone.
- Use inclusive language. Assume the best about people's intent. Correct mistakes gently.
3. Unacceptable Behaviour
The following will not be tolerated under any circumstances:
- Offensive comments related to gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, mental illness, race, ethnicity, religion, nationality, or level of experience
- Deliberate misgendering or use of preferred name/pronoun after correction
- Unwanted sexual attention, remarks, or imagery
- Threats of violence or incitement of violence towards any person or group
- Sustained disruption of discussion or events
- Plagiarism — submitting another person's solution as your own
- Sharing challenge solutions publicly before the submission deadline closes
- Attempting to access other users' data, admin routes, or Firebase resources without authorisation
- Creating fake accounts or submitting under a false identity
- Doxing — sharing another person's private information without consent
- Uploading malicious files, malware, or exploits through the submission system
- Deliberately submitting broken or nonsensical entries to flood the review queue
- Automated scraping or bot activity that degrades site performance
4. Competition Integrity
AMS challenges and the algo-trading competition are designed to develop real skills. The following rules protect that purpose:
- Monthly challenge submissions must be your own work. You may use external resources (documentation, textbooks, reference implementations) to learn, but the code you submit must be written by you. Directly copying a solution from any source — including AI-generated output — and presenting it as your own is plagiarism.
- No collaboration unless stated. Each challenge brief will specify whether group submissions are permitted. In the absence of an explicit note, assume individual submission only.
- Do not share solutions before the deadline. This includes posting in Discord, on GitHub, or anywhere else the solution could be found by other active participants.
- Algo-trading backtests must not exploit engine bugs. If you discover a bug that inflates results, report it to us. Using it knowingly to top the leaderboard is grounds for disqualification.
- Disqualification decisions are made by the committee and are final. You may request a written explanation — we will always provide one.
5. Reporting a Violation
If you experience or witness behaviour that violates this Code of Conduct, please report it to us at admin@amsociety.in with the subject line "Code of Conduct Report".
Your report should include, where possible:
- A description of what happened and where (Discord channel, submission system, event, etc.)
- The date and approximate time
- Any usernames, display names, or other identifying information involved
- Screenshots or links if the incident occurred online
We will acknowledge your report within 48 hours and aim to resolve it within 14 days. If your report concerns a committee member, email us from a personal address and state this clearly — it will be escalated outside the immediate committee.
6. Enforcement
Committee members will take the following actions in response to violations, proportionate to severity and whether the behaviour is repeated:
A private written warning explaining the violation and what behaviour is expected going forward. No public record.
Removal from AMS spaces (Discord, site access) for a defined period. Submissions during this period will not be accepted.
Permanent removal from all AMS spaces and disqualification from all competitions, current and future.
Severe violations — including harassment, doxxing, or deliberate platform abuse — skip directly to a permanent ban. Violations that occur outside AMS spaces may still result in action if they meaningfully impact the community.
7. Attribution
This Code of Conduct draws on the Contributor Covenant v2.1 and the Berlin Code of Conduct, adapted for an algorithmic programming society context.
Questions about this Code of Conduct can be directed to admin@amsociety.in. See also our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.