Wild HQ currently runs through unpaid, voluntary contribution. Contribution must remain something a person freely chooses, not a job-shaped obligation with a volunteer label stuck on it.
There are no fixed hours, minimum contribution, compulsory meetings, leave requests, activity targets, or default on-call duty. A volunteer can decline work, pause, or leave. Real life wins every argument with a task tracker.
Calling an arrangement “volunteering” does not settle its legal status. If a role starts to involve compulsory hours, rosters, required output, or other employment-like obligations, stop and get appropriate advice before continuing. The Fair Work Ombudsman’s unpaid-work guidance is a useful Australian starting point, not a substitute for advice about a particular situation.
Choose useful work
Work starts with a need, not with keeping everybody busy. Pick a task in Wildbase Work, or create one when the work is missing. Before a large change, make the problem and intended outcome visible so other people can add context or stop duplicated effort.
Prefer a small, complete improvement over a sprawling claim on a whole product. Unfinished can be useful; an unbounded branch that only its author understands is not.
Priority follows likely harm and usefulness:
- safety, security, privacy, data loss, and service recovery;
- work blocking other accepted work;
- clear improvements for people using the product;
- maintenance that keeps the product understandable and operable; and
- experiments someone is willing to carry.
Money, title, message volume, and personal access to a volunteer do not move a request up that list.
Keep ownership light and visible
Every active task should make the next responsible person clear. Ownership means carrying the next action and keeping the record accurate. It does not grant control over other people or permanent ownership of an area.
Useful status notes are short:
- what changed;
- what remains;
- what is blocked and by whom or what;
- what was verified; and
- whether the task is ready for another person.
If a task goes quiet, ask on the task before taking it over. If the original volunteer is unavailable, preserve their work, record the hand-off, and continue without blame.
Hand work over so it can live
A hand-off should contain the task and pull-request links, current behaviour, important decisions, unfinished work, known risks, and the next sensible action. Remove private information before writing the note.
No ceremony is required to pause. A sentence is enough: “I cannot carry this now; here is where it stands.” A volunteer who returns later is welcome to choose work again without repaying an absence.
Roles are responsibilities
Maintainers, coordinators, reviewers, and moderators have work to do: grant access, keep decisions moving, review changes, respond to risk, and make sure people can participate safely. Those roles do not make their holders a superior class.
People closest to a change usually decide its reversible implementation details. Decisions that bind other people, expose them to risk, spend shared money, or change community rules need wider review.
Treat people like volunteers
Do not monitor presence, demand immediate replies, assign guilt, or turn a green dot into evidence of availability. Use mentions when a specific person’s attention is genuinely needed, not to manufacture urgency.
Critique the work and explain the consequence. Do not harass, threaten, discriminate, dox, sexualise, or pressure people for access, agreement, or time. These expectations apply in Discord, Wildbase Work, GitHub, support conversations, calls, and private messages connected to Wild HQ.
Wild HQ currently has no confidential or independent conduct-report process. The contact route opens ordinary email to Rek, Wild HQ’s founder and team lead. Use it only for a non-sensitive notice; do not send private evidence or personal details that you would not put in ordinary email.
If the concern is about Rek, Wild HQ currently has no conflict-free internal reporting route. You may seek outside support or contact an appropriate authority without reporting to Wild HQ first. Maintainers may still restrict access to stop immediate harm, but that is an operational safety action, not an independent finding about what happened.
Access and expenses
Ask for the least access that lets you do the accepted task. Use multi-factor authentication where available and remove access that is no longer needed. Access is operational, not honorary.
Do not spend money or accept a service on Wild HQ’s behalf expecting reimbursement later. Get written agreement before creating a cost. An approved expense repays a cost; it is not compensation for volunteer time. Donating money buys no extra authority, priority, or vote.
The pages in this section turn these principles into daily practice.