Interesting and inclusive
First and foremost: this forum is for collaboration, discussion, sharing and learning.
These are not hard and fast rules, but guidelines to aid our community to keep this a clean and well-lighted place for civilized public discourse. This forum is for you and is made great by you.
Please treat this discussion forum with the same respect you would a public space. We, too, are a shared community resource — a place to share skills, knowledge and interests through ongoing conversation. Search engines index the discussions since this is a public forum. Keep the language, links, and images safe for family and friends.
If in doubt: use the Law of Cardamom
One shall not bother others, one shall be nice and kind, otherwise one may do as one pleases.
Thorbjørn Egner (1955), When the Robbers Came to Cardamom Town
For you by you
This site is operated by your friendly local team, and you. If you have feedback or questions, create a topic in our about category to let us know! If there is a critical or urgent issue, contact us via the staff page.
In order to maintain our community, moderators reserve the right to remove any content and any user account for any reason at any time. Moderators do not preview new posts; the moderators and site operators take no responsibility for any content posted by the community.
Basic guidelines
- Do post stuff! It’s smart to search or look in the tags to check if someone is discussing this already
- Post your own things and cite others’ work if you post theirs
- Aim to use post in a fitting category and use fitting tags (we’ll help you out if you need it!)
- Stay on the subject, and consider creating another topic if the discussion splits into parallels
- Listen to feedback, and give feedback
- Use the Like button instead of making a post that you agree (for readability)
- If you see a problem, flag it
- Read the FAQ
On conversations:
- Be civil. Don’t post anything that a reasonable person would consider offensive, abusive, or hate speech.
- Keep it clean. Don’t post anything obscene or sexually explicit.
- Respect each other. Don’t harass or grief anyone, impersonate people, or expose their private information.
- Respect our forum. Don’t post spam or otherwise vandalize the forum.
- Avoid:
- Name-calling
- Ad hominem attacks
- Responding to a post’s tone instead of its actual content
- Knee-jerk contradiction
If you’re unsure of your post, ask yourself how you would feel if it was featured on the front page of the New York Times.
Core values
We’ve built these guidelines based on NTNU’s core values.
Creative
Academic freedom is the basis for our activities. We take on challenging questions and tasks, and seek innovative solutions through interdisciplinary collaboration. NTNU supports the development of disciplines, people and cultures. We value and encourage innovation among students and staff as well as innovative teaching, research and artistic activities.
What this means here:
We have a pretty open attitude to what topics can be posted. Who are we to say that your discussion is not a contribution? We encourage you to share not just your successes, but also your works-in-progress, mishaps, and rough ideas.
That being said, the forum is for professional, education and research-related discussions, so even though you’d love to give updates on the latest development of your fish tank, maybe consider posting it to a forum dedicated to aquarists.
Constructive
We engage in an open and solution-oriented dialogue with society and emphasize both external and internal collaboration. We take social responsibility and we influence, advice and develop each other and our environment through dialogue and dissemination of knowledge. NTNU places emphasis on co-determination and active involvement by students and employees.
What this means here:
Build on the content of each other. Give others the benefit of the doubt.
The forum provides tools that enable the community to collectively identify the best (and worst) contributions: bookmarks, likes, flags, replies, edits, and so forth. Use these tools to improve your own experience, and everyone else’s, too.
Respectful
Every employee and student has a responsibility to contribute to a work and study environment characterized by respect and consideration. We facilitate personal growth and professional development. We contribute to diversity and equal opportunity in society and in our own activities. We promote equality and tolerance. At NTNU, we show respect for varying attitudes and opinions.
What this means here:
The topics discussed here matter to us. Be respectful of the topics and the people discussing them, even if you disagree with some of what is being said. Rudeness is not conducive of quality discussions.
Critical
Our activities build on fundamental democratic values and we represent an unprejudiced and independent voice. The hallmarks of our academic culture are debate, critical reflection, fact-based knowledge, impartiality and ethical integrity. We challenge conventional ideas and solutions.
What this means here:
We value difference in opinion and civil debate. It’s fine to disagree: just remember to criticize ideas, not people. Use common academic sense and cite your sources when relevant, and otherwise argue from facts and sound reasoning.
Post your own stuff, and credit others’ contributions if you post their stuff.
Terms of Service
Yes, legalese is boring, but we have to protect ourselves – and by extension, you and your data – against unfriendly folks. We have a Terms of Service describing your (and our) behavior and rights related to content, privacy, and laws. To use this service, you must agree to abide by our TOS.