At Yellowdig, we are committed to providing a safe, supportive, and productive learning environment for everyone. We encourage our learners to question, debate, and grapple with difficult issues in ways that respect the dignity of all Community members and accord with institutional guidelines. Your institution and instructor ultimately determine what constitutes acceptable conduct and punishable conduct in your Yellowdig Community.
In addition to your institution's rules, we also have a minimal code of conduct that we expect our users to follow. While violations of our code of conduct are very rare in Yellowdig, Community members should know exactly what is expected of them. To that end, we ask each of our learners to abide by the following guidelines for interaction:
- Do not engage in abusive language against persons inside or outside your Community. This includes slurs, epithets, and other hostile language against members of class, ethnic, gender, LGBTQ+, political, racial, or religious groups.
- Do not post violent or pornographic content. In addition, any written depictions of violence or sexuality should be directly related to the content of the course and should be no more detailed than necessary. Think carefully before creating posts or comments that might remind peers of past trauma. For posts with particularly sensitive content, trigger warnings may be appropriate.
- Avoid inflammatory rhetoric. This includes offensive slogans and memes. Inflammatory rhetoric is a sign of shoddy reasoning, and it has a chilling effect on productive conversations.
- Avoid unnecessary vulgarities or profanities. While we understand that, in some cases, using or mentioning profanities may be justified in the context of a particular course or topic, you should always defer to the rules and expectations of your instructor and institution.
- Do not plagiarize or steal others' intellectual property. The same rules that apply to term papers apply here: you may not claim others' words as your own, and if someone else originated an idea you're expressing, you should credit that person.
If you are using Yellowdig for a college class, your institution may have additional rules governing language and content. Again, we ask you to abide by those rules. When in doubt, check with your instructor before posting potentially disruptive content.
The vast majority of problems can be avoided simply by using common sense, considering the perspectives of others, and maintaining a calm disposition. When all Community members are interacting in good faith, even emotionally charged debates can ultimately enrich and unite Communities. Keep a cool head, respect one another, and enjoy the back-and-forth of good conversation.