A change in rules
Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2020 1:44 pm
Hello everyone!
Recent events in the world, and particularly in the USA, have led to us to revisit our comfort with hosting posts advising users to contact emergency services or authorities.
We are no longer willing to host advice about calling the authorities. The authorities may be an ambulance, the police, or any other authority figure who, in theory, exists to help and serve but who may, in practice, only do harm. The consequences of calling the authorities may include children being removed from their homes, people with mental or physical conditions being abused or arrested, people from visible minority groups being abused or arrested, or immigrants being deported for seeking medical care. Calling the authorities may also lead to the murder of a person in need by the called authorities.
Users asking for advice are normally aware that calling an authority is an option available to them. At the same time, a person in one part of the world cannot safely advise a person in another part of the world to engage with authorities. The person asking for advice will probably have a more complete understanding of how those services work in their area than you, person on the internet, possibly can. To be clear, it's not against the rules for the person asking for advice to mention calling the authorities as one of their options. But we want to avoid the burden of responsibility of hosting this type of advice when the consequences are so extreme and unforeseeable for someone far away.
This will be added to our rules section. We ask that all users take care in their advice to avoid this going forward. If you have any questions please feel free to contact the posting Mod (boutet) or any active Mod.
-the Mod Team
Recent events in the world, and particularly in the USA, have led to us to revisit our comfort with hosting posts advising users to contact emergency services or authorities.
We are no longer willing to host advice about calling the authorities. The authorities may be an ambulance, the police, or any other authority figure who, in theory, exists to help and serve but who may, in practice, only do harm. The consequences of calling the authorities may include children being removed from their homes, people with mental or physical conditions being abused or arrested, people from visible minority groups being abused or arrested, or immigrants being deported for seeking medical care. Calling the authorities may also lead to the murder of a person in need by the called authorities.
Users asking for advice are normally aware that calling an authority is an option available to them. At the same time, a person in one part of the world cannot safely advise a person in another part of the world to engage with authorities. The person asking for advice will probably have a more complete understanding of how those services work in their area than you, person on the internet, possibly can. To be clear, it's not against the rules for the person asking for advice to mention calling the authorities as one of their options. But we want to avoid the burden of responsibility of hosting this type of advice when the consequences are so extreme and unforeseeable for someone far away.
This will be added to our rules section. We ask that all users take care in their advice to avoid this going forward. If you have any questions please feel free to contact the posting Mod (boutet) or any active Mod.
-the Mod Team