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- Posted: Tue, 18 Jul 2023 21:39:10 +0000
We want to bring to your attention that we have clarified and updated our policies on Hate Groups/Hate Speech here on Gaia. We have added the new policies to Gaia's Rules & Guidelines
A Message About Hate Groups and Hate Speech on Gaia
Part of the fun of being a member of Gaia is expressing yourself in creative ways, to your friends, and with larger the community. Gaia is committed to providing users with a fun and positive experience.
We understand that our community is diverse and that users hold differing opinions -- and conversations can sometimes become heated. Everyone is entitled to their beliefs, however, if those beliefs promote the harm, violence or abuse of other individuals, then they will not be tolerated.
We have always identified and moderated abusive content based on the following criteria:
But we would like to extend and clarify our definitions, and our stance, on hate-motivated behavior, and how such behavior will be handled by the Moderation and Administration teams.
Our Definition of Hate Speech
We are defining hate speech as 'expressing sentiments that are meant to exclude, threaten, dehumanize, intimidate, bully, promote or incite hate, violence, or abuse against people or groups on the basis of their race, ethnicity, color, national origin, sex, gender, religion, orientation, or ability'. We are including white supremacism/neo-nazism, racism, sexism, ableism, xenophobia, homophobia, transphobia, etc, in this definition.
We are defining a hate group as 'any group of people who perpetuate, advocate, or promote hate-inspired language or activity', as defined above. If the sole purpose for your presence on Gaia is to represent these harmful ideologies, then you are not welcome on the site.
Unacceptable Conduct
As mentioned above, there are three main categories that we use to define abusive behavior: Flaming, Trolling and Harassment.
We are distinguishing hate speech from regular trolling because it is much more harmful and insidious. While hate speech and general acts of hate fall under the trolling/abuse umbrella and are things Gaia already acts upon, we do want to be more clear that we consider these offenses as particularly grave. Users who choose to post content as outlined here, beyond what is already considered abuse/trolling, will be treated more severely.
Hate speech is not only applied exclusively to threads and posts made or to the use of overtly offensive slurs and language. This means that the use of covert, suggestive, and implied forms of hate speech including harmful stereotypes, biases, and unfounded conspiracies about different groups of individuals that are often rooted in hate speech or co-opted by hate groups are not permitted on Gaia.
Our Terms of Service covers all areas of Gaia including, but not limited to;
In addition, linking offsite to any of the above is considered a Terms of Service violation.
On Freedom of Expression/Speech
Freedom of expression/speech applies only to governmental censorship. As a private social media company, Gaia may limit and moderate content as it sees fit in relation to our Terms of Service and Rules and Guidelines. Our moderators will remove any content, and act upon any user, deemed in violation of our Terms of Service.
Gaia welcomes members of all backgrounds, beliefs and experiences, and we recognize that disagreements will arise due to varying opinions on different topics. Some of these topics will be sensitive to our members, but we ask that you continue to follow our rules of discourse and avoid harmful/malicious speech while engaging with others. We want our users to feel comfortable expressing their points of view, but there is a stark difference between disagreeing with users on certain topics civilly, and using inflammatory, hate related speech toward others. While you are allowed to discuss controversial topics, you are not allowed to advocate for or glorify harmful ideologies.
We want to be very clear that explicitly trying to inflame or threaten others in this way will not be tolerated. This behavior will always be unwelcome and considered to be in violation of our Terms of Service.
Our Moderation Policy for Hate Speech/Affiliating with Hate Groups
In cases where you come across users engaging in hate related activity, we ask that you please report the content/user using the 'trolling/abuse' tag, and do not respond to - or quote - the user (as this only serves to bump up the content and instigate/give attention to the offender).
If you wish, you may place the user on your ignore list to avoid seeing their content in the future. Please PM a moderator to alert them to a situation that you feel is in need of immediate attention. A list of current moderators can be found here
As Gaia welcomes members as young as 13, and takes the safety of all of our users very seriously, we will also deal with users who refuse to follow our guidelines in relation to hate speech, express affiliation with hate groups, or post hateful imagery and content more severely. This behavior can result in an immediate permanent ban, and account holders that continue to return to the site to behave in this way will continue to be removed.
Of course, we need your help to handle these offenses, and report them as you find them -- we cannot keep the site completely free of this kind of content, or monitor or limit who joins the site. Your reporting helps the moderation team act more swiftly to remove these kinds of offenses.
Resources for Further Reading on Hate Groups/Speech
If you would like to learn more about the various groups (both in the United States and abroad) that are tackling hate, we have provided a list of organizations below:
Information on Hate Groups:
Organizations tackling inequality:
We are committed to making sure that everyone is welcome, regardless of their religious beliefs, ethnicity, ability, identity, etc. The diversity and uniqueness of this community is what makes it so special, and we want to make sure that we continue to celebrate it.
As this is part of Gaia's Rules & Guidelines our Moderators have the authority to enforce such rules and act on behalf of your and Gaia's best interests.
A Message About Hate Groups and Hate Speech on Gaia
Part of the fun of being a member of Gaia is expressing yourself in creative ways, to your friends, and with larger the community. Gaia is committed to providing users with a fun and positive experience.
We understand that our community is diverse and that users hold differing opinions -- and conversations can sometimes become heated. Everyone is entitled to their beliefs, however, if those beliefs promote the harm, violence or abuse of other individuals, then they will not be tolerated.
We have always identified and moderated abusive content based on the following criteria:
Quote:
Gaia Online separates abusive behavior into three major categories: flaming, trolling, and harassment.
You are not permitted to use any feature of Gaia Online to create or send abusive content, even spaces that most people would consider private or personal; these spaces include, but are not limited to, forums, Towns and other similarly interactive environments with a chat option, private messages, profiles, profile comments, journals, friend request messages, gift messages, trade titles, marketplace stores, guild landing pages and forums, and Dropplr posts and profile bios.
Please keep in mind that we have members from all backgrounds that participate on Gaia Online, and every member has a right to participate and express themselves within our diverse community without being targeted, harassed, or threatened for their differences.
- Flaming:
Involves directed hateful, abusive, or, insulting, offensive, or inflammatory statements towards another member of Gaia
Trolling:
Involves making statements through threads, posts, or other submissions intended to insult, offend, cause disruption, provoke negative reactions from others, or attract negative attention toward yourself or other members
Harassment:
Involves one or more members engaging in a severe or persistent targeted abuse against another member or group, including, but not limited to: sending constant or continued abusive messages, repeated unwanted contact such as by circumventing another member's ignorelist or stalking, making statements intended to negatively affect the reputation of another member within the community, actions or statements which threaten another member's safety or security, posting information which personally identifies another member, and blackmail or extortion
You are not permitted to use any feature of Gaia Online to create or send abusive content, even spaces that most people would consider private or personal; these spaces include, but are not limited to, forums, Towns and other similarly interactive environments with a chat option, private messages, profiles, profile comments, journals, friend request messages, gift messages, trade titles, marketplace stores, guild landing pages and forums, and Dropplr posts and profile bios.
Please keep in mind that we have members from all backgrounds that participate on Gaia Online, and every member has a right to participate and express themselves within our diverse community without being targeted, harassed, or threatened for their differences.
But we would like to extend and clarify our definitions, and our stance, on hate-motivated behavior, and how such behavior will be handled by the Moderation and Administration teams.
Our Definition of Hate Speech
We are defining hate speech as 'expressing sentiments that are meant to exclude, threaten, dehumanize, intimidate, bully, promote or incite hate, violence, or abuse against people or groups on the basis of their race, ethnicity, color, national origin, sex, gender, religion, orientation, or ability'. We are including white supremacism/neo-nazism, racism, sexism, ableism, xenophobia, homophobia, transphobia, etc, in this definition.
We are defining a hate group as 'any group of people who perpetuate, advocate, or promote hate-inspired language or activity', as defined above. If the sole purpose for your presence on Gaia is to represent these harmful ideologies, then you are not welcome on the site.
Unacceptable Conduct
As mentioned above, there are three main categories that we use to define abusive behavior: Flaming, Trolling and Harassment.
We are distinguishing hate speech from regular trolling because it is much more harmful and insidious. While hate speech and general acts of hate fall under the trolling/abuse umbrella and are things Gaia already acts upon, we do want to be more clear that we consider these offenses as particularly grave. Users who choose to post content as outlined here, beyond what is already considered abuse/trolling, will be treated more severely.
Hate speech is not only applied exclusively to threads and posts made or to the use of overtly offensive slurs and language. This means that the use of covert, suggestive, and implied forms of hate speech including harmful stereotypes, biases, and unfounded conspiracies about different groups of individuals that are often rooted in hate speech or co-opted by hate groups are not permitted on Gaia.
Our Terms of Service covers all areas of Gaia including, but not limited to;
- • Posts/threads
• PMs
• Guilds/Clans
• Live social spaces (such as Towns)
• Profiles/profile comments
• Avatar creations
• Images/artwork/memes/videos
• Usernames
• Signatures
• Submissions into any contests or galleries
• Games
In addition, linking offsite to any of the above is considered a Terms of Service violation.
On Freedom of Expression/Speech
Freedom of expression/speech applies only to governmental censorship. As a private social media company, Gaia may limit and moderate content as it sees fit in relation to our Terms of Service and Rules and Guidelines. Our moderators will remove any content, and act upon any user, deemed in violation of our Terms of Service.
Gaia welcomes members of all backgrounds, beliefs and experiences, and we recognize that disagreements will arise due to varying opinions on different topics. Some of these topics will be sensitive to our members, but we ask that you continue to follow our rules of discourse and avoid harmful/malicious speech while engaging with others. We want our users to feel comfortable expressing their points of view, but there is a stark difference between disagreeing with users on certain topics civilly, and using inflammatory, hate related speech toward others. While you are allowed to discuss controversial topics, you are not allowed to advocate for or glorify harmful ideologies.
We want to be very clear that explicitly trying to inflame or threaten others in this way will not be tolerated. This behavior will always be unwelcome and considered to be in violation of our Terms of Service.
Our Moderation Policy for Hate Speech/Affiliating with Hate Groups
In cases where you come across users engaging in hate related activity, we ask that you please report the content/user using the 'trolling/abuse' tag, and do not respond to - or quote - the user (as this only serves to bump up the content and instigate/give attention to the offender).
If you wish, you may place the user on your ignore list to avoid seeing their content in the future. Please PM a moderator to alert them to a situation that you feel is in need of immediate attention. A list of current moderators can be found here
As Gaia welcomes members as young as 13, and takes the safety of all of our users very seriously, we will also deal with users who refuse to follow our guidelines in relation to hate speech, express affiliation with hate groups, or post hateful imagery and content more severely. This behavior can result in an immediate permanent ban, and account holders that continue to return to the site to behave in this way will continue to be removed.
Of course, we need your help to handle these offenses, and report them as you find them -- we cannot keep the site completely free of this kind of content, or monitor or limit who joins the site. Your reporting helps the moderation team act more swiftly to remove these kinds of offenses.
Resources for Further Reading on Hate Groups/Speech
If you would like to learn more about the various groups (both in the United States and abroad) that are tackling hate, we have provided a list of organizations below:
Information on Hate Groups:
Organizations tackling inequality:
- • Southern Poverty Law Center - Fighting Hate
• Anti-defamation League
• NAACP
• Stop AAPI Hate
• Interfaith Alliance - Combating Hate
• GLAAD
We are committed to making sure that everyone is welcome, regardless of their religious beliefs, ethnicity, ability, identity, etc. The diversity and uniqueness of this community is what makes it so special, and we want to make sure that we continue to celebrate it.
As this is part of Gaia's Rules & Guidelines our Moderators have the authority to enforce such rules and act on behalf of your and Gaia's best interests.