London Commons/Personal Attacks Policy
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This is a work in progress that requires as much input as we can get, from as many people as possible. Here is what we have so far.
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Examples of personal attacks
Specific examples of personal attacks include but are not limited to:
- Accusatory comments such as "George is a troll", or "Laura is a bad writer" can be considered personal attacks if said repeatedly, in bad faith, or with sufficient venom.
- Negative personal comments and "I'm better than you" attacks, such as "You have no life."
- Racial, sexual, homophobic, ageist, religious, political, or ethnic epithets directed against another contributor. (Disagreement over what constitutes a religion, race, sexual preference, or ethnicity is not a legitimate excuse.)
- Unfounded accusations of raceism, sexism, classism, xenophobia, homophobia, etc...
- Unfounded accusations of impropriety of one kind or another
- Using someone's affiliations as a means of dismissing or discrediting their views — regardless of whether said affiliations are mainstream or extreme.
- Profanity directed against another contributor.
- Threats of legal action.
- Threats of violence, including death threats.
- Threats or actions which expose other LondonCommons.net users to political, religious or other persecution by government, their employer or any others.
- Revealing another user's personal information (i.e. Address, Telephone #, workplace, other identifying information, medical information, 'secrets', etc...) or threatening to do so.
- Posting a link to an external source that fits the commonly accepted threshold for a personal attack, in a manner that incorporates the substance of that attack into LondonCommons.net discussion. Suggesting that a link applies to another user, or that another user needs to visit a certain link, that contains the substance of an attack.
Examples of what is not a personal attack
- Disagreements about content such as "Your statement about X is wrong" or "Your statement is a point of view, not fact" are not personal attacks.
- Remarks describing an user's actions and made without involving their personal character should not be construed as personal attacks.
- Stating "Your statement is a personal attack..." is not itself a personal attack — it is a statement regarding the actions of the user, not a statement about the user. (It can however be a harmful statement if it's untrue.) A comment such as "responding to accusation of bad faith by user X" is not a personal attack against user X.
Civility in a nutshell:
Participate in a respectful and civil way. Do not ignore the positions and conclusions of others. Try to discourage others from being uncivil, and be careful to avoid offending people unintentionally.
Examples of incivility:
Petty examples that contribute to an uncivil environment:
- Rudeness
- Judgmental tone
- Arrogant tone
- Condescending tone
- Stating opinions or interpretations as fact or "obvious" conclusions
- Belittling contributors because of their language skills or word choice
- Belittling or marginalising opposing viewpoints
- Ill-considered accusations of impropriety of one kind or another
- Starting a comment with: "Not to make this personal, but..."
- Calling someone a liar, or accusing him/her of slander or libel. Even if true, such remarks tend to aggravate rather than resolve a dispute.
- Excessive use of CAPS and explanation points (i.e."YOU ARE WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!")
- Gratuitous use of the 'F'-Bomb
More serious examples include:
- Taunting
- Personal attacks
- Racial, ethnic, sexual, and religious slurs
- Profanity directed at another contributor
- Lies
- Calling for bans or blocks
- Indecent suggestions
Incivility happens, for example, when you are quietly posting a new blog entry, and another user tells you, If you're going to write a pointless page, could you spell-check it?. Escalation occurs when you reply, Mind your own business.
This style of interaction between users drives away new members, distracts others from more important matters, and weakens the entire community.
