Civility Enforced
From RationalWiki
Civility Enforced is a code proposed by Jimbo Wales and Tim O'Reilly [1] in order to address issues of free speech and personal attacks made by users on the internet.
"That is one of the mistakes a lot of people make, believing that uncensored speech is the most free when in fact, managed civil dialogue is actually the freer speech," said O'Reilly, of it.
The code, developed as a collaborative wiki-style project on Blogging Wikia comprises several 'modules' that can be added onto any place of internet discussion. Not all modules are appropriate for all environments; some, for example, are more relevant to blogs than to fora or wikis.
Below is the text of the code - to include which articles of the code in a handy userbox, include the following in your user page, which is, of course, your castle:<center><blockquote style="background: #F9F9F9; border: 3px solid #AAAAAA; padding: 0.5em;" width="60%">'''Warning: You are now entering a civility enforced zone!''' Please conform to articles {{{insert here}}} of the [[Civility enforced|Civility Code]] here.</blockquote></center>
Remember, you cannot delete material, only remove it to an archive.
[edit] The Code
[edit] Responsibility for one's words
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. .) 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.
[edit] Nothing we wouldn't say in person
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.
[edit] Connect privately first
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. Contributors are encouraged to engage in online mediation of unresolved disputes.
[edit] Take action against attacks
When we believe someone is unfairly attacking another, we will take considered action.
When someone who is publishing comments 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.
[edit] No anonymous comments
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.
[edit] Ignore the trolls
We prefer not to respond to nasty comments about us or our site, 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.
[edit] Encourage enforcement of terms of service
We encourage hosts to enforce more vigorously their terms of service.
When contributors engage in such flagrantly abusive behavior as creating impersonating sites to harass other contributors the host of the abuser site should take responsibility for its clients' behavior.
[edit] Keep our sources private
We reserve the right to keep our sources private
We will only divulge such information upon order of the court.
[edit] Discretion to delete comments
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.
[edit] Do no harm
Do no harm.
A contributor 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.
