Community guidelines

damianrafferty — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 14:01:59 +0100

Our guidelines in a nutshell

Amnesty will delete racist, homophobic, sexist or hateful content that undermines the rights of others

Amnesty will not patronise younger visitors by talking down to them but we will act immediately to protect their safety at all times

Amnesty welcomes robust and critical comments on our positions and will always seek to respond on the issues but we will not tolerate personal attacks on individuals or groups

When we don't know, haven't made up our minds or are speaking on a personal level, we will say so

Amnesty will publish its guidelines and endeavour to explain to those affected why we have taken the actions we take

As an organisation, it goes without saying that Amnesty is all about the freedom to express opinions and engage in debate. It is also inevitable that lots of people will say lots of things that we don't agree with. Fine. The problem comes when the things people say infringe the rights of others to lead their lives free from hate and oppression.

People sometimes say things that haven't been thought through properly and are unintentionally offensive. We will delete those comments and leave it there. On the other hand, some people will always be attracted to making a series of abusive comments on a site where people of a different viewpoint are more numerous. If these comments contravene our guidelines, we will consider banning the user.

These are all matters of last resort though and our preference is to see our own users engage with the debate and steer it away from harming others.

We are going to do our best to make this a vibrant community and we invite you to help us.