There are a few rules to ensure that "living together" in the EIKONAS Community is really fun and enjoyable. Please take the reading of the points below to heart.

 

General guidelines

§ G1. EIKONAS stands for plurality, tolerance, respect, appreciation and an open, authentic exchange of opinions. All users are encouraged and invited to express their opinions regardless of their own identity, ideological, political or religious beliefs, and consensus with other members of the community. Accordingly, EIKONAS allows registered users to post contributions and comments freely and unfiltered in a democratic environment.

§ G2. EIKONAS would like to counteract censorship and selective communication; a preventive control of posted contributions (comments, blog entries and other community content) is therefore not planned for the time being.

§ G3. This high degree of freedom requires the drawing of equally clear boundaries, which are formulated in the following as "netiquette". This is understood as a supplement to generally valid rules of decency and fairness and to our General Terms and Conditions (AGB).

§ G4. By actively participating in the EIKONAS community life, users confirm their acceptance of our netiquette.

§ G5. EIKONAS expressly reserves the "domiciliary right" to its website and its contents. The EIKONAS team is not available for debates regarding the application of netiquette, nor for negotiations regarding its interpretation.

§ G6. EIKONAS may intervene here and there as a moderator, but cannot dictate the tonality, style and focus of the debates on its own. It is worth reminding each and every member of the community that the design of any public space requires the participation and, in a certain sense, the co-responsibility of each of us. This also includes presence, lively balance and committed de-escalation.

§ G7. All members of the community are asked to draw attention to inappropriate or abusive contributions in a timely manner (the contact form provides possibilities for this).

§ G8. Should EIKONAS' intervention be necessary in the sense of netiquette, corresponding contributions or comments will be blocked depending on the team's assessment.

§ G9. In case of aggravated or repeated violation of Netiquette, the team reserves the right to block users without warning or explanation.

§ G10. EIKONAS reserves the right to change the Netiquette at any time.

 

 

Usernames

§ U1. EIKONAS expressly encourages users to present themselves with their full first and last names (in that order) in order to stand up for their own opinions. (Example: Ulrike Sommer, Ulli Sommer)

§ U2. Abbreviated user names or initials are considered semi-anonymous. (Example: U. Sommer, Ulrike S., Ulli Som)

§ U3. Pseudonyms (nicknames) must be clearly recognizable as such, even for readers of other mother tongues, and may not violate the rights of third parties (permitted example: the top-sly, unwanted examples: James Dean, Dieter Hohlen). Pseudonyms are generally considered anonymous.

§ U4. The pretence of a false, real sounding name is explicitly not allowed. In case of doubts about the correct identity of a username, whether written out or abbreviated, Salto reserves the right to have the identity confirmed offline and discreetly by the user concerned.

§ U5. The selected user images (avatars) are also subject to netiquette and may not infringe the rights of third parties.

§ U6. Pseudonyms and avatars are not allowed to fulfill an advertising contract.

 

 

Respect

§ R1. The following rules refer to the content of comments and contributions, but also include content that can be reached via links set by the users.

§ R2. Personal attacks through insults, threats and insults, as well as statements damaging to reputation or business will not be tolerated. The same applies to discriminating contributions. Possible consequences: Exclusion, reporting.

§ R3. Especially forbidden are racist, sexist postings, postings that degrade a religion or sexual identity, as well as postings that condemn or insult language groups or other (cultural, national, ...) groups in a general way. Possible consequences: Exclusion, reporting.

§ R4. Also not accepted are illegal contents, contents that call for violence, as well as inhuman, immoral or for minors unsuitable contributions. Possible consequences: Exclusion, report.

§ R5. The danger of misunderstanding or insulting interlocutors is particularly high in online communication, therefore, the request is also in your own interest:

 

• Please never forget that there are people sitting on the other side of the screen.

• Remember that facial expressions and intonation are lost online and that stylistic devices such as sarcasm and irony therefore require your particular prudence.

• Read the contributions of others with care before replying.

• Before you send a comment, take a break and read your text once again in quiet blood.

 

 

no bullying

§ M1. Systematic stalking of persons or groups of persons in the sense of stalking or even mobbing will not be tolerated. Possible consequences: Exclusion, reporting.

 

 

respect plurality

§ P1. Do not override your own interpretative authority.

§ P2. In the sense of the plurality of dialogue, no one is entitled to judge the contributions of others as "bad" or the opinion of others as "wrong". Different points of view meet at eye level.

§ P3. Please mark personal opinion as such and not postulate it as absolute truth. ("In my opinion...", "I find...")

§ P4. No matter how itchy it may be, rest assured that the community does not appreciate you having to give your mustard to every topic.

 

 

Fairness of Fire Power

§ F1. EIKONAS users who use anonymous and semi-anonymous options (see above, e.g. nicknames) instead of their full names are also granted the right to freely express their opinion until revoked.

§ F2. However, in the spirit of equality of arms, comments that make evaluative reference to the personality of authors, commentators or third parties are not welcome from anonymous and semi-anonymous users.

§ F3. Anonymous and semi-anonymous users are requested not to refer to knowledge about the person of the counterpart, unless this knowledge is directly derived from the discussion. (Example: "Especially you as a teacher should be a role model")

 

 

Care for Styling

§ S1. Pay respect to your readers also in a stylistic sense.

§ S2. Nobody likes to read overlong comments. Take the trouble to be brief.

§ S3. Structure comments and contributions with paragraphs where necessary.

§ S4. If possible, refrain from using "artistic" elements, such as continuous lower case letters or no punctuation marks.

§ S5. Do not use only capital letters in either the text or the title. On the net this means that you SHOUT.

 

 

add value

§ V1 Let's give up those comments without added value in terms of content.

§ V2. Avoid the repeated posting of the same content in several places - this is spamming and disturbs the discussion.

§ V3. Stay on topic. "Offtopic" secondary discussion, however interesting, impairs the quality of the primary debate. You can always post an independent contribution to give the secondary discussion the space it deserves.

§ V4. Obvious commercial messages and explicit advertising are not permitted in the contributions of the users.

§ V5. The community room is not a calendar of events. Announcements of commercial events are prohibited.

§ V6. References to non-commercial events of public interest are tolerated as long as they are made in the context of contributions with added value in terms of content.

§ V7. If contributions are to be posted that have already been published elsewhere, this requires a reference to the source (incl. hyperlink) and reference to the permission of the original authors.

§ V8. If you post visual material, please consider copyright and personal rights. In general: Do not publish (without permission) foreign material. Defamatory, illegal, (law-)violating material will not be tolerated and punished.

 

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Thank you very much for your respect. Have a good time to us all!