SafeHarbor Online Community Guidelines

The Headlines

KEEP IT LEGAL. We’ll delete posts defaming others, posting porn, ticket scalping, plotting illegal activities, or posting other people’s private information, and ban the poster.

KEEP IT CLEAN. You won’t be able to use profanities (apologies to Mark Twain) and creative alternatives will be deleted in public group or community postings.

KEEP IT RELEVANT. This is a topic-specific website. Relate your discussions to abusive conduct or we will remove them.

KEEP IT RESPECTFUL. SafeHarbor is proud of hosting a global community that embraces different cultures, faiths, attitudes and points of view. Please be respectful of this.

Rich debate is wonderful. Do it without being threatening, humiliating or intimidating anyone or behaving in a discriminatory manner regarding race, color, ethnicity, nationality, physical characteristics, gender or sexual orientation, religion or non-religious viewpoints (i.e. secular humanism, atheism), political opinion, socioeconomic status, age, physical, mental or intellectual disability/impairment and the various ways people express themselves.

We remind you that SafeHarbor is designed to be suitable, and intended, for people who are 18 and older, and should not be used by anyone under this age.

Some more dos, don’ts and general stuff you need to know

Our guidelines are designed to ensure that SafeHarbor’s online community is an enjoyable, inspiring and safe experience for all our users. They boil down to common sense, basic courtesy and respect (for your hosts and the rest of the community).

If you don’t agree with them, we won’t take it personally, and nor should you when we suggest that SafeHarbor might not be for you.

When we say online community we mean all of the places on SafeHarbor where members may contribute.

We may update these guidelines and recommend you check back once in a while. We’ll also continue to introduce new features and offerings which will fall under these guidelines.

We reserve the right to remove posts that

  • are considered likely to disrupt, provoke, attack or offend others.

  • are racist, sexist, homophobic, sexually explicit, abusive or otherwise objectionable.

  • contain swear words or other language likely to offend.

  • break the law or condone or encourage unlawful activity. This includes breach of copyright, defamation and contempt of court.

  • advertise products or services for profit or gain not approved by SafeHarbor hosts.

  • are seen to impersonate someone else.

  • include contact details such as phone numbers, postal or email addresses in public posts.

  • contain links to other websites which break our editorial guidelines.

  • describe or encourage activities which could endanger the safety or well-being of others.

  • are considered to be ‘spam’, that is posts containing the same, or similar, message posted multiple times.

  • are considered to be off-topic for this community.

Important things to remember

  • You are responsible for your interactions with other users. We reserve the right, but have no obligation, to monitor disputes between you and other users.

  • SafeHarbor reserves the right to discipline and terminate accounts from a user if the user has infringed our terms of use or the spirit of these guidelines via any one of their accounts.

  • These guidelines apply to all content you contribute as part of the SafeHarbor community, including your profile.

  • Member posted content on SafeHarbor reflects the opinions and experience of those users, not SafeHarbor.

Community dos and don’ts

DO:

  • respect that other people have different points of view, experiences, personal styles, etc. Don’t take things personally.

  • welcome newcomers. We love it when people can help one another.

  • some research. Some questions are very common. Look around on the web, and on workplace bullying.org/start-here to see if they’ve already been answered. Check the topics pinned to the top of each branch for basic questions.

  • search to see if the topic has already been covered here. It can be frustrating for our users if they have to answer the same question repeatedly.

  • be specific. When posting a recommendation, or a question, the more context and specificity you can give, the better for everyone. We can’t read your mind and we don’t want to misunderstand your motives.

  • give feedback, to your fellow members, and us, in a helpful and constructive manner.

  • lead by example. Report problem content or members.

  • use common sense and balance when seeking advice. Make your own inquiries, especially around subjects like health and safety.

  • be sincere in your contributions. Post with purpose; to inspire, enable or share with fellow members.

DON’T:

  • be a know-it-all. Having experience doesn’t mean the rules don’t apply to you. Show off your insights, not your attitude.

  • use the forum to explicitly promote a product or service. We do not permit business accounts on SafeHarbor or any sort of advertising in profiles, avatars and signatures, as community areas are preserved for individual members. (Adding value to conversations is the best way to build an audience for your expertise.)

  • advertise or spam. We don’t mind if you include links to your blogs or websites in your messages, provided it’s relevant and contextual information, but commercial solicitation, straight up advertising, or contributions designed to promote traffic to another site aren’t acceptable.

  • defame, harass, flame or hold grudges. If your post attacks anyone in a personal nature, either directly or indirectly, it is not suitable for SafeHarbor.

  • be – or – feed a troll. Trolls post messages or content deliberately designed to get the blood boiling. Replying to or arguing with a troll is feeding. The best pest-control is to ignore, and use the flag to let us know about them so we can deal with it.

  • discuss how to commit illegal activity.

  • create content of a discriminatory or derogatory nature.

  • create explicit content. Material which would be restricted or considered ‘adult’ (such as pornography or relating to graphic violence).

  • take content found on SafeHarbor (posts, articles, replies, chat, online courses, or any other material shared here) and post it elsewhere online.

  • post personal details or private information about any other person (or anything contrary to our privacy policy).

  • hide behind handles. We respect the right of members to be anonymous, which may lead some people to say things they wouldn’t face to face. Don’t be one of those people. If you’re tempted, remember, we can see who you are, even if other members can’t.

  • conduct research without telling people. SafeHarbor is open to cooperation with professional researchers, but you need to contact us with details about your needs and interests. Studying our community members without their – and our – permission is off limits.

  • post external surveys or links to surveys on SafeHarbor. We are happy for you to use any information that is already available on our forum provided you contact us first, but as SafeHarbor is a space designed for individuals, any research or marketing surveys will be removed.

  • post external links to crowdfunding sites on SafeHarbor. We’re sure that your cause is worthy, your product is amazing, your campaign is rewarding, but SafeHarbor isn’t the right platform to share these links and they will be removed.

  • impersonate another person, including SafeHarbor hosts or members.

Reporting abuse

Please directly message a moderator if you see stuff that breaches the rules. This helps you look after the community too.

Contacting us

You can email wbi@workplacebullying.org with feedback, questions or issues about our online community.

If you have guidebook feedback, or a suggestion for a business that you would like to see listed, and all sorts of other queries you should email Gary directly: gary@garynamie.com.