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Abusive behavior policy

We believe knowledge-sharing happens when people feel safe collaborating and that historically marginalized and underrepresented groups are disproportionately impacted by online abuse. We are committed to building and serving a diverse community of people who have labored to create the repository of information on Stack Exchange.

To ensure that all users feel safe and welcome, we do not allow behaviors or content that cause or contribute to an atmosphere that excludes, marginalizes, or dehumanizes individuals or communities on the basis of their actual or perceived ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, disability, or held religious beliefs. We also don't allow promoting, encouraging, or threatening acts of violence.

Conduct that falls under this category includes, but is not limited to, the below definitions:

  • Bullying and Harassment - severe, repeated, or persistent unsolicited conduct, misuse of power or tools, or attacks that target specific users or groups of people in a manner that causes harm. Content that contributes to a hostile or threatening environment, denies a person's expressed gender identity, or invalidates a person's individual experiences in a manner that causes harm.
  • Hostile comments – malicious, unkind, cruel, or mocking comments that provoke or insult another person, including (but not limited to) the usage of gendered cursing terms in a derogatory way.
  • Dangerous speech – any form of expression (e.g. text, images, or speech) that represents rhetoric that demonizes or denigrates a group of people in a way that depicts them as threats so serious that violence against them becomes acceptable or necessary; rhetoric that increases the risk of violence being condoned or committed against a particular group. This policy is inspired by the Dangerous Speech Project.
  • Bigotry & Discrimination – the poor treatment, expressed irrational suspicion, hatred, targeting, and/or intolerance of another person or group of people due to their ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, disability, or held religious beliefs.
  • Dehumanization – depriving individuals or groups of people of their perceived humanity and dignity, for example, by comparing humans, groups, or their stated or perceived behaviors in a derogatory manner with non-human entities such as animals perceived as inferior, bacteria, viruses, microbes, diseases, infections, filth, and other qualifiers.
  • Extremism – promoting or supporting violent actors, hateful organizations, or groups organized under a common name, sign, or symbol that promotes an ideology of bigotry and discrimination, heavily advocates for violence against others or are tied to activities such as homicide, drug trafficking, kidnapping, acts of mass violence, and spree killing.
Last update: 2023-05-31