Contexr is committed to substantive, evidence-based discourse. The following rules govern participation in all Contexr community spaces.
Rules
-
1.
Automatic ban — no warning: Unlawful behavior, hate speech, bullying, promotions, and spam will result in an automatic ban and disabled user account.
-
2.
Welcome: Substantive, evidence-based, well-formulated discussion and disagreement.
-
3.
Sources: If you make a point, please include a quality source. A quality source adheres to high journalistic standards — multiple independent source verification and a clear distinction between factual reporting and editorial/opinion. All media is biased to one degree or another; awareness of these biases is important.
-
4.
Source dismissal: Dismissing a point based on a source can be justified if it is an obviously poor source. However, a quality counter-source is preferred to make a point.
-
5.
Partisanship: Criticism of one side does not automatically equate to support for the other.
-
6.
What is an argument? A connected series of evidence-based statements to establish a definite proposition. This may form the basis of a hypothesis, then tested against competing hypotheses. This is a dialectical process (debate) where differences are identified, mutual concessions made, and joint resolutions agreed upon — hypothesis, antithesis, synthesis.
-
7.
Unacceptable responses include:
- "Whataboutism" — "Well what about [totally random unconnected propaganda with no evidence]?" is not an answer to a well-formulated proposition.
- Ad hominem attacks — name-calling, rudeness, all caps, attacks based on identity or assumed identity.
-
8.
Cognitive bias awareness: It is important to be aware of cognitive biases. We all do it; awareness helps avoid it.
-
9.
Contexr reserves the right to delete a contribution or ban anyone we believe is trolling, being rude, will not make a substantive counter-argument, or routinely ignores these basic guidelines.