Community Guidelines and Moderation Policy

Purpose of the Commons

The Commons is for thoughtful discussion connected to mathematics, science, Theory Commons resources, and the process of understanding. Members should ask precise questions, explain reasoning, cite useful sources, and help others learn.

Respectful academic discussion

Disagreement is welcome when it addresses ideas and evidence. Be constructive, acknowledge uncertainty, correct errors openly, and avoid personal attacks. Assistance should develop understanding rather than simply replace a learner’s work.

Prohibited content and behavior

• Harassment, threats, discrimination, intimidation, or personal attacks.
• Sexual, exploitative, or age-inappropriate material.
• Doxxing, disclosure of private information, stalking, or unwanted direct contact.
• Impersonation, deceptive affiliation, spam, or unauthorized solicitation.
• Malicious links, malware, security abuse, or attempts to disrupt the service.
• Coordinated or automated manipulation of reactions, reports, or participation.

Academic and copyright integrity

Do not plagiarize, post unauthorized copyrighted course materials or answer keys, or request services that complete graded work dishonestly. It is acceptable to ask for hints, conceptual explanations, feedback on reasoning, or help understanding an approach. Attribute sources and make clear when work is not your own.

Safety and specialized subjects

Do not post instructions that create an unreasonable risk of harm. Discussions involving radiation, chemicals, equipment, health, or other consequential subjects must remain educational and must not present unverified forum advice as professional authorization or a substitute for applicable procedures.

Your contributions and the operating license

You retain ownership of original contributions. By posting, you grant Theory Commons a worldwide, nonexclusive, royalty-free license to host, store, reproduce, format, display, moderate, and distribute the contribution as necessary to operate and improve the service. This license does not make Theory Commons the owner of everything you post.

Moderation process

New members’ first posts may be reviewed before publication. Moderators may approve, reject, hide, restore, or remove content; issue warnings; temporarily restrict accounts; suspend; or ban. Urgent safety, privacy, security, or legal concerns may justify immediate removal before full review.

Moderators should use reason codes, notes, audit records, and proportionate action. Similar cases should be handled consistently while allowing context and evolving risks to be considered. Moderator discretion is not unlimited and is subject to administrator review.

Reports and review requests

Members may report posts or replies using the report action. Reports should identify the rule involved and provide concise context. A member affected by a moderation decision may request review through the Requests page. The final appeal timeline and reviewer assignment require approval before community launch.

Moderation records, deletion, and backups

Theory Commons may retain moderation actions, reports, sanctions, and limited deleted-content records where reasonably needed for abuse prevention, consistency, security, legal obligations, or appeals. Publicly deleted content may remain temporarily in backups. Retention periods require operator approval.

Contact

Policy questions, privacy requests, permission requests, and accessibility feedback may be submitted through the Theory Commons Requests page. A public legal or business mailing address has not yet been approved for publication.