Panelope Community Standards

Use of Panelope’s network (“Service”) is governed by our Community Standards (the “Community Standards”), which are made up of both our Member Standards (“Member Standards”) and Community Leader Standards (“Community Leader Standards”).  By joining the Panelope Network, you agreed to the terms found in these documents.

In addition to the network standards, Communities are able to set their own Codes of Conduct (“CCC”) in order to further define the rules that create a healthy social environment specific to that individual community. The CCC cannot nullify the terms set forth by Network Standards as the former is subservient to the latter. 

Expectations of Community Members’ Conduct

This community gives its Members a direct line to its Community Leader(s) to communicate without all the “noise” that is generated on many of today’s social media applications. When an entire community works with the same set of facts and communications, progress can be achieved more efficiently and we can learn to understand each other better.

The community-specific rules below help ensure us that this community fosters social engagement and mitigates negative interactions among our Members. We understand nobody is perfect and everyone has their bad days, but these Standards are intended to ensure that our Members and Community Leaders always remember the human behind the screen.

Most importantly, everyone should feel welcome to take part in this Community! Please read on to see how you can best engage with others in this Community to maximize your experience as well as that of the greater community.

The following is a list of essential rules regarding the submission of any materials and media on within this Community or any interaction with other Members in this community (hereafter referred to as “speech and conduct”). These Guidelines will guide Members towards a common civil, productive, and enjoyable experience. 

Humanity First

Observing the time-honored theme to treat others the way which you would like to be treated is a good place to start when participating in this Community. By maintaining a trusted, vibrant and engaging community through our platform, we intend to have a corresponding effect on real communities all over the world. 

But we need to keep things civil. We believe the term “civil” includes all uses that generate trust, productivity, awareness, and positive community interactions that can naturally flow from a diverse array of Members. Civil conduct, above all else, is conduct by Members that brings the best out of all of a community’s members.

In this list, we include a definition for civil conduct as well as some examples. These are values and tips for behaviors that we DO encourage:

  1. Treating others with respect and worthy of kindness. 
    1. Empathy, kindness, and compassion are contagious, and are required in the speech and conduct of Members towards other Members
    2. Making posts and submissions that encourage, rather than discourage, contributions from other Members. 
    3. Giving others respect rather than being dismissive or rude.
    4. Giving others the benefit of the doubt rather than using dismissive language—a forgiving community is a healthy community.
  2. Respectful disagreement of opinion.
    1. This Community thrives on a diversity of opinion and ideas. Opposing another Member’s point of view is never an excuse to act uncivil towards them, and all Community members should remember that healthy dialogue always contains opposing viewpoints, to the point these viewpoints are humane.  
    2. You should use the Service to share your point of view while compassionately tolerating the points of view from others. 
  3. Using your knowledge and know-how to meaningfully contribute to polls, surveys, announcements, and other tools utilized by this Community. 
    1. Being mindful of your participation and how it will affect others—using compassion and empathy can go a long way in making your experience—and others’—better.
  4. Making a submission based on your genuine preferences, ideas, or understanding of the subject, topic, or forum
    1. Members should not submit information they know to be false, for any reason. In addition, Members cannot intentionally falsify or manipulate information made available to them through this Community and redistribute such information.

Civil conduct does NOT include the following:

  1. Using this Community to publicly shame any other Member. 
    1. This includes using Personal Information against them in any way, including personal attacks, public shaming, libel, and slander. 
  2. Using any speech that threatens or harasses another Member or entity in this Community. 
  3. Using vulgar, derogatory, foul, or otherwise obscene speech when engaging with this Community (through submissions, posts, or otherwise). 
    1. This includes using foul language and the use of Obscene or Inappropriate content or other media.
  4. Using any speech that is hateful, discriminatory, prejudicial, or bigoted in any other way, as discussed in our Guidelines against Discrimination.

Obscene or Inappropriate content includes speech and media that contain colloquial curse words, pejoratives, and mean-spirited language as Community Leaders understand these terms. In addition, any speech or other media that is highly suggestive of sexual, violent, or anti-social content is considered obscene, and therefore not appropriate for this community.  Obscene content includes extremism and or extremist-related violence, along with any other organizations or ideas that are associated with terrorist or violent tendencies. 

No Discrimination

  1. Zero-Tolerance Policy on Bigotry and Hate Speech

This Community has zero tolerance for racist, discriminatory, or bigoted speech on any part of the discourse. You are interacting with other members of your community, which is why we encourage you to be considerate when participating in this Community, and think twice before making an emotionally-charged post. To enforce this policy, we encourage Members to abstain from using speech or conduct that they would not use:

  • In a real-life public setting,
  • In front of a loved one, including a child, parent or spouse (including your mother!), or
  • At their place of work.
  1. Commitment to Equality

Please remember to be conscious of the human behind the screen. We believe all of our Members are deserving of equal treatment regardless of their personal characteristics. To deter divisive and harmful behavior, we have a strict policy against any bigotry of any kind, including but not limited to: prejudice, discrimination, marginalization of any community, or expressing stereotypes to the detriment of any Member. 

You can report to the Community Leader any speech or conduct by other Members that is racist, discriminatory, or bigoted, and any content that is the same, using these steps (link to reporting guide). A Community Leader’s tolerance for error should be diminished when the member uses hateful or hurtful speech, and especially when any racist or prejudicial conduct is evident. After reviewing your report, the Community Leader will take proper steps to ensure that the Member understands what they did wrong, how they can better align with our commitment to equality, and what the consequences will be of their actions, including warning, suspension, and a permanent ban depending on the Community Leader’s review. 

The following behaviors and speech are not allowed, and we encourage Members to report any other member who uses racist speech or content on this Community.

We DO NOT allow for any of the following behaviors, including speech and conduct:

  1. Discriminatory, racist, and other unethical conduct:
    1. Threatening, or insulting individuals or groups based on race, ethnic background, color, national origin, religion or faith, sex or gender identity, sexual orientation, housing status, disability, or medical condition.
    2. Using stereotypes or over-generalizations regarding a group of individuals in any speech or content posted by a Member (this includes negligently allowing unconscious bias on our platform).
    3. Using any derogatory or pejorative racial terms and slurs, profanity, or other language that makes any Member feel less equal or human.
    4. Deny a person’s self-identification regarding sexual orientation or gender.
  1. Policy on hate and terror groups

NO Community Member may promote or take part in a hate or terror group, nor may any user ever attack anyone or any group for their affiliation or membership in a marginalized group:

-No user may ever attack, insult, belittle, or shame another Member for their affiliation in a marginalized group

-No user can actively take part in or show support for a hate group.

WHAT THIS MEANS:

A Marginalized group refers typically to minority social groups that are grouped together based on their perceived race, ethnicity, national origin, faith, sexual orientation or gender identity, medical condition, living status, or other unique identifier. 

A Hate Group, as recognized by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), is “an organization whose goals and activities are primarily or substantially based on a shared antipathy towards people of one or more other different races, religions, ethnicities/nationalities/national origins, genders, and/or sexual identities.”  This definition includes any new group formed at any time that tends to malign or demean anyone or any group of people, regardless of the race, color, or any other orientation or preference of the group or person. 

This Community wants all Members to feel welcome and accepted, without having to accept lesser treatment because of their nationality, ethnicity, skin color, or other identifier. Remember that the other Members you interact with are real people behind the screens. This Community works best when its constituent Members work together.

Policy on Information

This Community offers a unique opportunity for citizens to engage with another. We offer the opportunity for real life communities to self-engage in the digital world, and we have to put in place some ground rules to ensure that interaction on our platform clarifies the issues being discussed in local communities, rather than confusing them. 

  1. Staying on topic

We understand the urge for Members to connect on a seemingly never-ending list of conversation topics. However, for this Community to effectively facilitate dialogue between Members, we restrict the scope of submissions to the topic at hand. 

  • For Community Leaders, that means restricting polls, announcements, and other posts to those that substantially relate to the Community; 
  • For Members, that means using speech and conduct that relates to the community you are interacting with, and/or the topic being polled, surveyed, announced, or otherwise posted.

We allow Members and Community Leaders to report anyone who posts information that is not relevant in the context it is posted in. While Members generally will not face consequences for posting off-topic, Community Leaders may modify and delete Member submissions and posts that are off-topic and/or irrelevant. In addition, repeated offenders may receive more harsh penalties from community Leaders according to these Member Standards.

  1. Politics 

Members must be able to engage in civil behavior when interacting with any political entity, and stay objective when engaging with political pages, polls, and communities on our platform. 

This Community does not endorse any political party or candidate, but may from time-to-time support policy positions that are beneficial to the Community. 

  1. Misinformation

This Community commits to reducing the spread of misinformation as it relates to people, current events, politics, and the safety of the public. In addition to strictly prohibiting libelous or slanderous material, Community Leaders encourage Members to report others who share or promote misinformation regarding politics and elections, public health, and current events.

The following is prohibited political misinformation:

  • False or misleading information regarding the registration process or voting process
  • Messages that encourage disorder in the vote-counting process
  • Any interference with the election process including misleading claims about election results.
  • Messages that call for overtaking orderly governmental functions with violence and mob-rule

Propagating or inciting the following the following can result in reportable action against a Member: 

  • Misinformation relating to the treatment of disease, infection, or condition.
  • Information that is contrary to the approved advice of nationally recognized public health institutions like the National Institute of Health, as an example (NIH’s website).
  • Information that encourages remedies or health advice that should be given by a registered medical professional, which can include dietary and other health-conscious promotions.

Finally, bad-faith actions that serve to undermine the efforts of this Community and our efforts to foster participation, transparency, and trust amongst their members may be interpreted as a version of misinformation by the leader(s) of this Community. 

Always Be Authentic

Authenticity is crucial to this Community. Panelope’s procedures allow it to confidently check the authenticity of a personal account which helps us build a network based on trust, upon which this Community operates. Furthermore, this Community may employ a second level of verification to ensure that those individuals admitted into the community are the intended members. Such modes of secondary verification may include but not be limited to one or more of the following:

  1. Place of residence
  2. Geolocation
  3. Identity and/or membership documentation
  4. PIN number
  5. QR code

No member may tamper with or undermine secondary verification processes or assist others with the tampering or undermining of secondary verification processes.

Reporting A Violation

Every community needs a means of self-regulation. Part of the responsibility of being a Community Member includes reporting behavioral or procedural violations of our Terms (including our Community Standards); not limited to, but including reporting any Member whose behavior is anti-social and detrimental to our Community’s mission.  To report any content, please follow these instructions:

  1. Click on the three dots that appear on the right side of the post, or if you are reporting a Member then the three dots will be on the right side of their profile page. 
  2. Click “flag Member” or “block user”.
  3. Follow the instructions and fill out the form, including the reason for flagging and any additional explanations, then click submit.
  4. Allow your Community Leader to take steps, if necessary, to ensure the post or the Member does not hinder the Community experience for others.
  5. If a Member repeatedly violates any part of our Community Standards, and no action is taken by your Community Leader, contact support@panelope.com.

Enforcement and Appeals            

Panelope believes that self-regulation is important for allowing our communities the autonomy they need to thrive. We give Community Leaders and Members the tools they need to stay free from unwanted interactions and content. If you want to minimize certain content from your purview or to limit interaction with another Member, you can use tools available to you on Panelope that give you the ability to do so.

Removal Process

  1. Identification of the Issue (new)

We, the administrators of this Community, attempt to give Community Members the benefit of the doubt whenever we perform administrative and penal functions such as suspension and removal. This means that when there is ambiguity or uncertainty over whether a Member violated Panelope’s Terms or this Community’s CCC, we act in the best interest of the whole Community. This can mean taking action or using restraint, depending on how malicious the violation is. We aim for pro-social and compassionate use of responsibility, tempered by a willingness to penalize Community Members if we believe it is in the best interest of our Community. We strive toward the balance between not being too heavy with the penalties while not letting everything slide.

For violations that are not outright malicious or that are only mildly offensive, we will flag the Member using the three dots next to the Member’s profile and indicate which Standard was violated (harassment/hate speech/offensive language). The Member will see the notice of flagging and will be aware that another violation will lead to escalation.

In addition, Members can “flag” other Member’s posts or any of their submissions for review by us, the Community Leader. If no action is taken, this temporary flag will disappear and will not have the same effect as a Community Leader flag, but the Leader may also choose to take further action, including flagging the Member, suspending or even removing their account from the Community. Note that when a Member is removed from a community, they are not necessarily removed from the Panelope Network. The latter is a separate process beyond the scope of responsibilities of the Community Leader.

  1. Temporary Removal (suspension)

In the case that a Member already has a flagged violation, or their conduct reasonably could show malicious intent and willful desire to break Panelope’s Standards and our CCC, but there is still substantial ambiguity over whether a zero-tolerance violation has occurred, we may temporarily suspend the Member from this Community. This includes a violation that can reasonably cause another Member serious discomfort and offense 

We can suspend a Member’s access to this Community by temporarily suspending their community membership for two weeks. This limits the Member’s ability to view and engage with your Community and any content posted in it. 

  1. Permanent Removal (ban)

We work to limit the use of removals whenever possible but we do reserve the right to Members permanently if need be. Typically, reserve permanent bans for Members that:

  • Show outright malicious intent in their words, conduct, or behavior in any way
  • Manipulated the Community’s secondary verification procedures in order to gain illegitimate access to the Community, or assisted others with similar actions
  • Repeatedly break or bend the Community’s CCC and/or Panelope’s Standards
  • Repeatedly attempt to undermine the role of the Community Leader 
  • Try to use this Community consistently for non-personal, solicitous reasons
  • Break our Zero-Tolerance policy at all, including using any hate speech or support for terror organizations.
  1. Appeals

Members may appeal decisions for permanent removal from a Community after 50 days proceeding removal. The removed Member may contact Panelope at support@panelope.com, and include:

  • The date and time the violation allegedly occurred;
  • The reason given by the Community Leader for your removal;
  • Your understanding of the situation, and 
  • Why your conduct was not against your Community Outline or our Community Standards.

This should happen rarely, but when it does, our goal is to keep the community civil, alive and vibrant, as well as to ensure your community can reach people interested in that community.