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Guidelines
FAQ

Guidelines

Our Vision

TakingITGlobal is committed to creating a space that facilitates cross-cultural understanding and exchange among youth in an international context. Our discussion boards encourage members of the TIG online community to express their perspectives and experiences in an informed, thoughtful, and constructive way. It is our hope to promote the high quality of posts that are typical of our discussion boards.

Sometimes when we feel passionately about a certain topic or issue, we let ourselves intimidate others who don't share our views. This is dangerous when we direct these views towards marginalized individuals and/or groups. While a variety of perspectives on social, cultural, and political issues are encouraged (otherwise, what would we be discussing?), participants of the discussion boards need to be conscious of the language they use.

By choosing to participate in the discussion boards, you are agreeing to refrain from making personal attacks on an individual or a group as such posts will not be tolerated. Users must not use the discussion boards to attack others based on their ethnicity, gender, race, religion, and sexual orientation. We must respect and appreciate the diversity of our community -- after all, isn't it the role of youth leaders to move beyond the oppressions that have informed our lives?

Human Rights

TakingITGlobal believes in the principles of equity and human rights. We believe that every human being, regardless of their ethnicity, gender, race, religion, or sexual identity has the right to be afforded equal treatment and dignity in line with international humanitarian and human rights law.

Our guidelines are informed by the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Amnesty International.

This is the spirit of TakingITGlobal, and we know that you have been drawn to our community because of it. Please remember this when you post on the discussion boards.

A discussion board participant should:

Be an active listener. Respect what others have to say by reading and reflecting on existing posts and by giving others a chance to have their say.
Not be afraid to challenge. This is achieved by asking good questions, avoiding making judgments, focusing on ideas, and refraining from personal attacks.
Show sound reasoning behind statements. Cite personal experience and research in order to help people understand where she/he is coming from.
Stay on topic. Add postings that are relevant to chosen threads or boards and to the TIG community at large. For private discussions, use your TIGblog and TIG Messenger. You may always contact your board moderators directly if you have any questions or concerns.
Stay constructive. While it’s good to challenge ideas, remember the board’s primary goals are sharing, communicating and working towards solutions for the problems we care about.
Try to be as clear as possible when writing and remember your audience is international. Excessive spelling errors, use of leet speak (e.g. 1337 5p34k) or even sarcasm make it more difficult for others to understand you.
[t]Consider similar posts/threads on similar or same topic(s) before posting a new thread in order to reduce the redundancy of discussion boards.
Avoid crossposting. (see admin offences #2)[/t]
Name a new thread in a way that best describes the main idea.
Respond to posts to which you think you might add something substantial and avoid posting the obvious or reiterating same issues/points of the thread.

The participant will not be permitted to commit the following offences:

Administrative Offences

Adding posts that exceed 400 words (not including “quotes” to which the reply is directed). If a point requires more than 400 words, write an article for Panorama or an Update (TIGblog) and link to it.
Cross posting. If you have a thread that may suit multiple topics, please choose the most relevant forum. Identical or very similar posts in multiple forums will be deleted.
Adding posts irrelevant to the topic being discussed or that contain private material.

Members will be asked to edit offending posts of this manner or may have their posts edited/deleted.

Minor Offences

Name-calling, disrespectful language and attitudes, unnecessary obscenities or vulgarities.
Making unhelpful, critical statements with no concrete explanations or examples.
- unhelpful: "Canada’s government lies to its citizens."
- helpful: "I learned in school that Canada only has two media corporations and I think this is making the mainstream news biased."
Dominating the discussion boards by adding multiple posts without encouraging or allowing others to share their perspectives.
Advertising of commercial products or services.

While there are designated moderators for each of the discussion boards, members are encouraged to be conscious of their own contributions in order to allow for self-moderation, in addition to reviewing and assessing the posts of others and reporting posts that are not in accordance to our discussion board user guidelines. When reporting an offence, please provide an explanation.

If a moderator witnesses a member committing a minor offence, the moderator will report the actions to the TIG Staff. The TIG Staff will use their discretion in following a three strike system:

Offence #	Resulting Action
First Offence	Editing of post Written warning to the offending participant
Second Offence	Deletion of post Suspension of posting privileges or TIG account for a period between 2 weeks and 4 weeks
Third Offence	Deletion of Post Complete ban from the discussion boards or TakingITGlobal

Major Offences

Dehumanizing and discriminatory language as outlined in our definition of human rights (see above)
Contravening Canada's hate laws (TIG is based in Canada and is governed under Canadian content laws)
Any threat of bodily harm that is clearly stated or implied

If a moderator witnesses a member committing a major offence, the moderator will report the actions to the TIG Staff, who will use their discretion in following a two strike system:

Offence #	Resulting Action
First Offence	Editing or deletion of post Written explanation to the offending member explaining the violated law and that if they do it again their TIG account will be permanently terminated. Suspension of Posting Privileges or TIG account at the discretion of TIG Staff
Second Offence	Deletion of post Permanent termination of TIG member account

If a moderator witnesses a member committing major offence #2 (Any threat of bodily harm that is clearly stated or implied), the moderator will inform the TIG Staff. The penalty will determined by the TIG staff and may include the permanent termination of TIG membership, regardless of user status within the site.

Moderators retain the right to edit or delete content at their discretion.

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Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is the difference between a board, issue, thread and post?

Discussion Board: A place for discussion that contains multiple forums and issues. TIG Discussion Boards are available in several different languages – also referred to as “language boards”.
Posts: single replies by a TIG member.
Threads: A collection of posts on a similar discussion question.
Issue: A collection of threads on a specific theme.

2. How do I post a reply to an existing thread?

Once inside the thread to which you want to reply, you can post two ways:

To reply without quoting the previous poster, click the “post reply” button on the bottom left of the page.
If you would like to reply quoting the original poster, click the “quote” button on the upper right hand corner of the member’s post. This means your post will include the text of the original poster.

After typing your replies, either quoted or not quoted, you can either click “Post” under the edit box, or “Preview” to see how your comment would look like if posted. If you choose “Preview” you will have to choose “Post” after you are satisfied with the way your reply will look. Be advised that there is a word limit not to be exceeded in your post; this in accordance to the TIG Discussion Guidelines.

3. How do I start a new thread?

Follow these steps:

The first thing to do is choose which language board to post in. If you are not a native speaker of the TIG Discussion board you are in, you may want to consider posting in a language board you are more comfortable in if it is available. However, the choice is ultimately yours.
Next, carefully choose in which issue of the TIG Discussion Board your question or comment will best fit. For example, topics on international security and politics are best suited for “Peace, Conflict and Governance.”
After you have chosen the issue, click on it, and you will see the listing of all existing threads being posted on that particular issue. Take your time and make sure that the topic you wish to start a new thread about is not covered at all, or is not covered well. Make sure that your new thread will complement or add value to the existing discussions on that topic (This is part of the TIG Discussion Board Guidelines). Remember, you may not post the same thing in several different issues or threads. This is called “cross-posting” and is against the guidelines.
To post a new thread, click “New Thread” on the top right corner of the page. Make sure to specify a subject and the body of your post. Remember, your post cannot exceed the world limit. Then post the new thread by clicking on the “Post” button under the edit box or “Preview” if you would like to see what your post will look like before it is submitted.

4. How do I respond to a member privately?

If you would like to respond personally to a TIG member on a discussion board, you can send the TIG member a TIG message. To do this, click on the TIG Messenger button under his/her post on the left side. This will take you directly to the TIG Messenger area of the member’s profile.

5. How do I learn more about a member who has made a post?

To find out more about a member that has posted, click on the “Profile” button under his/her post. This will take you to the TIG member’s profile page. You can send them a message by scrolling down to the TIG message part of the profile page.

6. How do I edit or delete my post?

First make sure you are logged into the site using your username and password. Next, go to your post you would like to edit/delete. On the bottom right side of your post you will see two links: “edit” and “delete”. Clicking on these links you can either edit and repost or delete your previously posted comment. Remember, only moderators can edit and delete other members’ posts.

7. What if a specific post offends me or if I think it is offensive in general?

When you see an insulting, offensive or otherwise abnormal comment on a board which contravenes the TIG Discussion Board Guidelines, you are encouraged to click the “Report this post” button. This will send a message to moderators of the TIG Discussion Boards. Before the message is sent, you will be asked the reason for which you are reporting it. You can write something like “this post seems to be insulting” or “there are racist comments in this post.” This message will ONLY be sent to the discussion board moderators. The member who posted the offensive comment will NOT receive any notification that his/her post has been reported.