Code O’ Conduct

By Chris Clarke | Posted on January 1, 2009

Posting and Commenting Policy

• Overall Policy: Posting to and commenting on The Clade is a privilege, not a right, and access can be denied to anyone at any time at the sole discretion of the site owner. We presume the best of every new member of our community, but we will work to maintain a collegial atmosphere in our posts and comment threads. Most of the provisions below can be summed up by saying "Don’t be a jerk."
• Comment Form Guidelines: Comments using keywords, spam or splog-like URLs, or other suspicious information in the comment form will be edited or deleted.
• Email Privacy: Email addresses are required for commenting, and they are not published on the site, nor shared. They may be used by the site owner to privately contact the commenter.
• Contributor and Commenter Privacy and Protection: All email, snail mail, phone numbers, and any private and personal information posted in any comment will be deleted as soon as possible to protect the privacy of the commenter. To prevent such editing, never share this private information within the site comment.
• Non-Discrimination and Hate Speech Policy: Comments or posts will be deleted at the sole discretion of the site owner if they include slurs against any person or group based on race, ethnicity, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, religious belief or lack thereof, culture, disability, and/or age. We value and desire the contributions of a diverse group of people, and derogatory content deters the participation of the people targeted, as well as others offended by such content. Also note that the agreement not to slur people based on religious belief in no way precludes a critical analysis of the environmental effects of religious beliefs. If a religion indulges in destructive policies or practices, opine away. Just hate the game, not the player.
• Pseudoscience: The site owner will delete posts which promote pseudoscience such as (but in no way limited to) climate change denialism, anti-vaccination propaganda or chemtrails. We recognize that there’s some gray area here. A few environmental issues such as EMFs are widely considered pseudoscientific but seem worthy of further discussion, and other issues such as the precautionary principle have been condemned as pseudoscientific by people confusing science with their own political biases. We urge contributors to cast a skeptical eye on questionable and unusual claims, and will tend toward discussion rather than banning in most cases. But posting of pseudoscience constitutes an attack on the site’s credibility, which hurts all posters.
• Trolls: Explicitly antienvironmental posts or comments may be deleted without warning. We encourage contributors and commenters not to respond to them unless doing so provides an opportunity to address a misconception in a constructive fashion. Posts or comments who sole purpose is to derail a previous conversation may be deleted.
• Blogwars: It’s tempting to respond to particularly egregious posts on other sites with a withering response. Sometimes it’s even necessary. Keep in mind, however, that The Clade exists to discuss events and habitats that actually exist offline rather than wars of personality online.
• Other Language and Content Issues: Comments or posts will be deleted at the sole discretion of the site owner if they
   
  1. harass or advocate harassment of another person;
     
  2. exploit people in a sexual or violent manner;
     
  3. contain nudity, violence, or offensive subject matter or contains a link to an adult website;
     
  4. solicit personal information from anyone under 18;
     
  5. promote false or misleading information,  illegal activities, or conduct that is abusive, threatening, obscene, defamatory or libelous;
     
  6. promote an illegal or unauthorized copy of another person’s copyrighted work;
     
  7. uses sexually suggestive imagery or any other unfair, misleading or deceptive content.
     
  8. Contributors may exercise the authority to delete such comments on their own posts.
   
• A Comment is Conversation: A comment which does not add to the conversation, runs of on an inappropriate tangent, or kills the conversation may be edited, moved, or deleted.
• Comment Moderation: This site may hold any comment in moderation, which may delay your comment from appearing on this site.
• What To Do If Your Comment Does Not Appear: If you leave a comment on this site and it does not appear in a reasonable time period, and you know that it does not violate these Policies, contact The Clade. Duplicate comments will be deleted. Belligerent complaint comments about comments not appearing may be deleted, or, more likely, poked fun at.
• No Personal Attack Comments Permitted: In the interest of fair play, no personal attacks are permitted in this site’s comments. You may question or argue the content, but not attack the poster, nor any other commenters. Failure to respect fellow participants on this site will result in removal and blocked access.
• Comment Spam: Any comment assumed to be possible comment spam will be deleted and marked as comment spam.
• Users Blocked: Anyone who violates this Code o’ Conduct may be blocked from future access and/or posting on this site.
• All Rights Reserved: The site owner, administrators, and/or contributors reserve the right to edit, delete, move, or mark as spam any and all posts and comments. They also have the right to block access to any one or group from posting or commenting or from the entire site.
• Hold Harmless: All posts and/or comments within this site are the responsibility of the poster or commenter, not the site owner, administrator, or other contributors. By submitting a post or comment on our site, you agree that the content is your own, and to hold this site, its owner, and all subsidiaries and representatives harmless from any and all repercussions, damages, or liability.
• Trackbacks Are Comments: All trackbacks will be treated inline with our Comments Policy.