Code of Conduct

1. Why SDA exists

ShopDev Alliance is a private community for experienced Shopify developers, agency owners and app founders who care about their craft and want to help each other grow. It works because members share openly: what they built, what broke, what merchants actually want, what they would do differently. That only happens in a space where people trust each other, and this Code of Conduct exists to protect that trust.

The rules below are not long. Most of them come down to one idea: treat your fellow members like fellow members.

2. The short version

  1. Participate. Ask, answer, share what you are working on.
  2. Assume good intent and be considerate. No personal attacks, ever.
  3. DMs for help, questions and introductions are welcome. DMs that pitch or sell are not.
  4. Launches and self-promotion go in #self-promotion or #humble-brags, not in general channels or DMs.
  5. Copying another member's work, public or not, requires their permission. Credit after the fact is not permission.
  6. Building something close to a fellow member's product requires a heads-up before you launch.
  7. What is shared in the Slack stays in the Slack. No screenshots, reposts, or turning it into content, products or training data.
  8. Do not contact a merchant or client a member has mentioned working with unless they refer you.
  9. Use a real, current photo of yourself as your profile picture.
  10. If you are unsure whether something is OK, ask first. Asking is always fine.

The sections below spell each of these out.

3. How we treat each other

Be an active participant and think the best of the people here. Disagreement is fine and expected. Disagreeing with a person instead of an idea is not.

The following will not be tolerated and will usually result in removal:

  • Personal attacks, including harassment, name-calling, and lewd, sexual or derogatory remarks
  • Threats of any kind
  • Discrimination or hostility toward anyone based on who they are
  • Targeting a member outside the Slack over something that happened inside it

For everything else, the test is simple: if it would not be appropriate in a professional workplace, it is not appropriate here. If you are concerned your behavior might cross the line, it probably does. When in doubt, ask Taylor (@taylor).

4. Direct messages

DMs between members are one of the best things about SDA. Use them.

Welcome:

  • Asking for help, advice or a second opinion
  • Introducing yourself to someone whose work you admire
  • Following up on something from a channel conversation
  • Giving someone a heads-up (see section 6)

Not welcome:

  • Pitching your app, service or agency to a member who did not ask
  • Cold outreach on behalf of a sponsor, partner or employer
  • Repeated messages to someone who has not responded
  • Using a DM to get around a channel rule

If you receive a DM that falls in the second list, you can report it (section 11). You are never obligated to respond to a pitch.

5. Promoting your work

We want to know what you are building. There is a place for it, and it is not every channel.

  • Launches, app updates, landing page refreshes and requests to support a post go in #self-promotion. Wins and milestones go in #humble-brags. One post per launch is plenty.
  • Asking for feedback on something you built is encouraged. Roast My App and our other regular connection sessions run through #sda-connect. Feedback requests are different from promotion; be honest with yourself about which one you are doing.
  • Answering a question with a link to your own app or service is fine when it is a direct answer. Dropping it into unrelated threads is not.
  • Members who are also sponsors or partners follow the same rules. A partner tier does not include posting rights outside the partner's own channel.
  • Members may not promote on behalf of a company that is not an SDA member or partner. If you work for one, ask Taylor first.

If you are unsure where something goes, ask in #sda-general or DM Taylor. Posting in the wrong channel once gets a nudge. Doing it repeatedly after being asked not to is a conduct issue.

6. Respecting members' work

Being a member here means something. A stranger who copies your landing page owes you nothing. A fellow SDA member does. This section applies to a member's work wherever you found it: in the Slack, on their website, in the App Store or on social media. Public does not mean free to take from someone you share a community with.

Copying someone's work requires their permission. Being inspired by a member's landing page, UI, copy, app listing or code is fine. Reproducing it is not. The test is simple: if the other person could look at your work and reasonably say "that is mine," ask them before you ship it. Crediting someone after the fact is not permission, and tagging them in a launch post is not asking.

Building near someone’s work requires a heads-up. Membership does not mean do not compete. Many of us are competitors and that has never been a problem. This rule is narrow: if you know you are building something close to a specific member’s product, tell them before you launch. It does not apply to categories (nobody owes a heads-up to every bundle app here) or to service work (two agencies pitching the same merchant is not covered). It does apply when a member’s product is distinctive enough that they would recognize yours as a response to it, or when they have helped you with the thing you are now building. If you only realize the overlap after you ship, say something then. A short DM is enough.

AI does not change the rule. It now takes one prompt to clone a page or spin up a weekend version of someone's app. The ease of doing it is exactly why the ask matters more now, not less.

If you are unsure whether something is too close, you already know the answer. Send the DM.

7. What stays in the Slack

Everything posted in the SDA Slack is private to its members. That is what makes candid conversation possible.

  • Do not share posts, screenshots, files or member details outside the Slack without the author's consent. This includes paraphrasing a member's post publicly in a way that identifies them.
  • Using AI for your own understanding is fine. Pasting a thread into a chatbot to reword a reply, summarize a long discussion or make sense of something technical is normal and allowed. What is not allowed is using Slack content as material: turning it into public posts, articles, newsletters, marketing or products; training or fine-tuning a model on it; or connecting a bot, agent, scraper or export to the workspace. The line is private use for yourself versus anything that leaves the Slack or gets built on.
  • Do not repurpose what members share here as your own content, newsletter material or social posts, even anonymized and even with AI in between, without asking the member.
  • If you are not sure whether something is OK to share, ask the person who posted it. If you cannot ask, do not share.

Slack's own AI training: in June 2024, after concerns about Slack's policy on using customer data to train language models [reference], the administrators opted the SDA workspace out and received written confirmation from Slack on June 17, 2024. The workspace remains opted out. Slack's current policy is described in their blog post.

8. Merchants and clients

Members talk openly here about the merchants and clients they work with. That openness depends on one rule: do not contact a merchant or client a member has mentioned unless that member refers you or gives you express permission.

This applies whether you learned about the merchant from a channel post, a DM, a Roast My App session or a casual mention. It applies to agencies, freelancers and app founders alike. Reaching out anyway, even with good intentions, is treated as a serious violation.

9. External partnerships and Slack Connect

SDA maintains partnerships with outside organizations: Shopify teams, app companies, other communities and sponsors. Some of these come with shared channels or Slack Connect access.

The same rules apply there as everywhere else in the Slack. In particular:

  • Do not send unsolicited messages to partner contacts you met through an SDA channel.
  • Do not share anything from a partner channel publicly without express permission from the partner.
  • Partners who join as members follow this Code of Conduct in full, including the rules on promotion in section 5.

Breaking these rules can result in removal from the partner channel, from the community, or both.

10. Your profile

All members must use a real, current photo of themselves as their Slack profile photo. No avatars, logos, AI-generated images or non-personal images.

Seeing real faces is part of how trust works here. Members using a non-personal photo will be asked to update it; continued use after being asked may result in removal.

We understand that not everyone is comfortable putting their photo online. Being part of this paid, private community does require that level of identity exposure among members. If that is not something you are willing to do, SDA may not be the right fit.

11. Reporting and enforcement

ShopDev Alliance was founded by Taylor Page (@taylor) and David Lindahl (@david). Taylor is responsible for moderation and for enforcing this Code. He cannot see everything. If something is off, tell him.

How to report. DM Taylor directly, or use the anonymous report form pinned in channels (if your channel does not have it, use the one in #sda-general). Details are on the Report a Violation page. Reports are handled privately. You will not be identified to the person you reported without your consent.

What happens next. Taylor gathers the facts, talks to the people involved, and decides on a response. Most issues are resolved with a conversation. The usual ladder is:

  1. A private conversation with the member about what happened and what changes.
  2. A written warning if it happens again or the first conversation was not taken seriously.
  3. Removal from the community.

Some things skip the ladder. Harassment, threats, discrimination, poaching a member's merchant or client, and leaking private Slack content outside the community will result in removal on the first offense in nearly every case.

Moderation uses judgment. The spirit of a rule matters more than its letter, and a member who comes forward about their own mistake will always be treated better than one who gets reported for it.

No refunds are issued on removal. Removal due to failure to adhere to Code of Conduct is a lifetime ban from the community.

12. Changelog

  • October 16, 2026: Restructured into numbered sections. Added section 6 (Respecting members' work), expanded promotion and DM rules, added AI tools to the privacy section, replaced single-step enforcement with a ladder.
  • September 21, 2024: Added Member Profile Requirements and the note on Slack AI training opt-out.
  • Original: Initial Code of Conduct at community launch.

Questions about any of this: DM Taylor. Asking is always fine.

Updated October 16, 2026