We abide by the Blogger’s Code of Conduct.
We take responsibility for our own words and reserve the right to restrict comments on our blog that do not conform to our standards.
We are committed to the “Civility Enforced” standard: we strive to post high quality, acceptable content, and we will delete unacceptable comments.
We define unacceptable comments as anything included (but not limited to) or linked to that:
- is being used to abuse, harass, stalk, or threaten others
- is libelous or knowingly false
- infringes upon any copyright, trademark or trade secret of any third party. (If you quote or excerpt someone’s content, it is your responsibility to provide proper attribution to the original author. For a clear definition of proper attribution and fair use, please see The Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Legal Guide for Bloggers.)
- violates an obligation of confidentiality
- violates the privacy of others
We define and determine what is “unacceptable content” on a case-by-case basis, and our definitions are not limited to this list. If we delete a comment or link, we will say so and explain why.
We won’t say anything online that we wouldn’t say in person.
Unless we are trying to protect a confidential source, in which case, we may omit certain private details or otherwise obfuscate the source of the information.
Unless in real life you would face physical intimidation, whereas online you could avoid it. There is a basic understanding for freedom as well — your right to swing your fist ends where someone else’s nose begins. We must be as responsible and civil we are in the real world. And for criminals in virtual world, well that’s a real law enforcement issue. But as civilised citizens we should follow some rules.
If tensions escalate, we will connect privately before we respond publicly.
When we encounter conflicts and misrepresentation in the internet, we make every effort to talk privately and directly to the person(s) involved–or find an intermediary who can do so–before we publish any posts or comments about the issue. Bloggers are encouraged to engage in online mediation of unresolved disputes. Mediate.com will provide mediators.
When we believe someone is unfairly attacking another, we will take considered action.
When someone who is publishing comments or blog postings that are offensive, we’ll tell them so (privately, if possible) and ask them to publicly make amends, unless it is considered that doing so will only inflame or worsen the situation. If those published comments could be construed as a threat or of an illegal nature, and the perpetrator doesn’t withdraw them and apologize, we will cooperate with local law enforcement regarding those comments and/or postings.
Comments or posts that are deemed offensive will result in a request – private, if possible – that the commenter or poster make public amends, if practical. If those published comments could reasonably be viewed as illegal (threat or otherwise), we will report the comments and commenter to police.
This is very important to build a civil online society where people feel free and protected as we feel in real world by our neighbours. While the doctrine of ‘agree to disagree’ applies, we must build a trust among each other.
We do not allow anonymous comments
We require commenters to supply a valid email address before they can post, though we allow commenters to identify themselves with an alias, rather than their real name.
We ignore the trolls.
We prefer not to respond to nasty comments about us or our blog, as long as they don’t veer into abuse or libel. We believe that feeding the trolls only encourages them — “I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it. (George Bernard Shaw)” Ignoring public attacks is often the best way to contain them.
We encourage blog hosts to enforce more vigorously their terms of service.
When bloggers engage in such flagrantly abusive behavior as creating impersonating sites to harass other bloggers the host of the abuser blog should take responsibility for its clients’ behavior.
Discretion to delete comments
While it is very important for blog owner to take responsibility for what appears on that blog, the blog owner has sole discretion for determining whether a particular comment is unacceptable.
Do no harm
A blogger must not use his or her blog to willfully cause harm. A blogger must consider the impact of his or her actions on others. A blogger must not send his or her audience to harass other bloggers or people.