How does the community interact at the Elcano Blog?
There are 10 guidelines which we expect all participants in the community of the Elcano Blog to abide by, all of which directly inspire our approach to comments policy. These apply across the Blog, while moderation decisions are also informed by the context in which comments are made. This document covers all aspects of community interaction on the Elcano Blog, including comments.
- Personal attacks will not be tolerated.
- Persistent misrepresentation of the Elcano Royal Institute and our analysts will not be published on our blog.
- We will consider removing any content that others might find extremely offensive or threatening.
- We will not tolerate racism, sexism, homophobia or other forms of hate-speech, or contributions that could be interpreted as such.
- The blog will be in strict compliance with current legislation in Spain and the European Union. We will remove any content that may put us in legal jeopardy.
- We promote a non-profit and non commercial space.
- Keep the content relevant.
- The debates and conversations should have a respectful tone.
- The Elcano Royal Institute reserves the right to edit comments.
- The Elcano Royal Institute is not responsible for the views or information expressed in this blog.
In short:
- If you act with maturity and consideration for other users, you should have no problems.
- Don’t be unpleasant. Demonstrate and share the intelligence, wisdom and humour we know you possess.
- Take some responsibility for the quality of the conversations in which you’re participating.
1. Personal attacks will not be tolerated.
We welcome debate and dissent, but personal attacks (on authors, other users or any individual), persistent trolling and mindless abuse will not be tolerated.
2. Persistent misrepresentation of the Elcano Royal Institute and our analysts will not be published on our blog.
We acknowledge criticism of the articles we publish, but will not allow persistent misrepresentation of the Elcano Royal Institute or its analysts and/or comments about the articles or analyses published on our website. For the sake of robust debate, we will distinguish between constructive, focused argument and smear tactics.
3. We will consider removing any content that others might find extremely offensive or threatening.
We understand that people often feel strongly about issues debated on the Elcano Blog, but we will consider removing any content that others might find extremely offensive or threatening. Please respect other people’s views and beliefs and consider your impact on others when making your contribution.
4. We will not tolerate racism, sexism, homophobia or other forms of hate-speech, or contributions that could be interpreted as such.
We recognise the difference between criticising a particular government, organisation, community or belief and attacking people on the basis of their race, religion, sex, gender, sexual orientation, disability or age.
5. The blog will be in strict compliance with current legislation in Spain and the European Union.
We will remove any content that may put us in legal jeopardy, such as potentially libellous or defamatory postings, or material posted in potential breach of copyright.
6. We promote a non-profit and non commercial space.
We will remove any posts that are commercial or otherwise spam-like. Our aim is that the Elcano Blog should provide a space for people to interact with our content and each other, and we actively discourage commercial entities passing themselves off as individuals, in order to post advertising material or links. This may also apply to people or organisations who frequently post propaganda or external links without adding substantively to the quality of the discussion on the Elcano Blog.
7. Keep the content relevant.
Some conversations can be wide-ranging, but if you post something which is unrelated to the original topic (“off-topic”) then it may be removed, in order to keep the thread on track. This also applies to queries or comments about moderation, which should not be posted as comments and should be sent through the info@rielcano.org.
8. The debates and conversations should have a respectful tone.
Be aware that you may be misunderstood, so try to be clear about what you are saying, and expect that people may understand your contribution differently than you intended. Remember that text is not always a great medium for conversation: tone of voice (sarcasm, humour and so on) does not always come across when using words on a screen. You can help to keep the community open to all viewpoints by maintaining a reasonable tone, even in unreasonable circumstances.
9. The Elcano Royal Institute reserves the right to edit comments.
We reserve the right to manage, redirect or curtail conversations which descend into flame-wars based on ingrained partisanship or generalisations. We do not want to stop people discussing topics, but we do ask users to find ways of sharing their views that do not feel divisive, threatening or toxic to others.
10. The Elcano Royal Institute is not responsible for the views or information expressed in this blog.
This platform belongs to the Elcano Royal Institute, but the posts and conversation belong to the participants of its community. We want this to be a welcoming space for intelligent discussion, and we expect participants to help us achieve this by notifying us of potential problems and helping each other to keep conversations inviting and appropriate.
If you spot something problematic in community interaction areas, please report it. When we all take responsibility for maintaining an appropriate and constructive environment, the debate itself is improved and everyone benefits.
Note about the community content
The Elcano Royal Institute does not necessarily share the views expressed on the Elcano Blog or by the authors of its posts, analyses and other texts which may appear on its Website or in any other of its publications. The views expressed in the community of this blog do not necessarily reflect or represent the views of the Elcano Royal Institute, its staff or contributors.Legal notice
This blog is maintained, managed and coordinated by the Elcano Royal Institute. Príncipe de Vergara, 51. 28006 Madrid (Spain). Its posts and comments are under the Creative Commons 3.0 licence, so it must meet explicit recognition of credits to their respective authors including the URL or link to the Elcano Blog. Citing sources and acknowledging authorship gives more value to our work and that of the authors. Please avoid bad practices on the blogosphere.