- Any form of discrimination or defamation of people or groups based on their origin, religious affiliation, nationality, physical condition, sexual identity, gender, income or age is not accepted.
- Violations of the rights of third parties (persons, institutions, organizations, companies) and incitements to violence against persons, institutions or companies will not be tolerated and will be actively prosecuted.
- Insulting, inciting, defamatory (e.g. untrue statements of fact, slander, defamation), pornographic, inflammatory, violence-glorifying, youth-endangering or conspiracy-ideological comments and posts or even criminal statements will not be activated, but hidden or removed. Since the Law to Combat Right-Wing Extremism and Hate Crime 2021 came into force, we as site operators are obliged to report certain serious cases, e.g. threats of dangerous bodily harm or the approval of crimes that have not yet been committed, to the relevant authorities.
- The publication of private correspondence (e.g. letters or e-mails) is also not permitted.
- As a matter of principle, we reserve the right to file a complaint if a criminal offense has been committed.
- In the case of links to external websites, we reserve the right to check linked content and, if necessary, to remove the URL or the entire comment. URLs without content classification, what they link to, we remove immediately.
- Generally refrain from commercial messages and election or party advertising. This also applies to so-called spam. Corresponding content will be removed.
- RUB pages in social media may not be used for advertising. Comments with such content will be deleted.
- Theories, insinuations, suspicions or unsubstantiated allegations and suspicions that cannot be substantiated may also be removed, especially if they are defamatory or damaging to business.
- Comments that have been generated automatically/machine-generated (e.g. by bots) or are obviously part of a campaign can also be removed or their senders blocked.
- Posts and topics whose title or content violate German press law will be deleted. This also applies to polemics and false reports.
- If users technically prevent all possibilities of contact (e.g. through appropriate privacy settings), comments will be deleted and - in the case of repeated violations of netiquette - users will be blocked. Since there is no technical possibility, this happens without prior warning.
Commentary guidelines of Ruhr University Bochum
Netiquette
Welcome to our social media channels! We are pleased that our posts and topics stimulate discussion among our users. We are eager to hear your opinion. Do you have additional solid information? Share it with the community!
In principle, we very much welcome all feedback. For this very reason, we attach great importance to ensuring that every participant in the discussion can express themselves freely and that no one is excluded in the process. Therefore, we must insist that contributions remain constructive and factual, even if there are differences in content.
Helpful hints for writing a commentary
In direct contact, it is often easier for us humans to remain at eye level and constructive than online. We would also like our comment columns to be a place where we can interact with each other in a way that is both humane and valuable in terms of content. This can succeed if we all keep a few tips in mind when commenting.
Digital civil courage
If you find hate speech on RUB's social networks, you are welcome to contact us directly (socialmedia@rub.de). In addition, you can approach the spreaders of hate speech and try to refute their statements. It is advisable to ask for the facts and take a clear position against hate. Steer the discussion in a positive direction. However, you should never respond with hate or insults. You too could be held accountable for this.
Netiquette
We look forward to an enriching exchange and are very interested in your constructive feedback. Nevertheless, we must insist on the following discussion rules. We reserve the right to remove individual contributions in the event of violations and to exclude users from our channels in the event of serious or repeated violations. In such cases, we will give you the opportunity to comment on your post within a time frame. The exclusion is only temporary if the user*s distance themselves from the comments that violate netiquette and promise to abide by netiquette in the future. Subsequent removal or blocking is also possible.
When assessing and classifying comments, we observe the principle of proportionality. There is no entitlement to the publication of all comments and contributions. We are not censoring, but rather exercising digital domiciliary rights to ensure a constructive exchange and the participation of all.
Disclaimer
All users are responsible for the posts they publish.
As the operator of the social media sites, we cannot tolerate any violation of the above commenting guidelines and therefore reserve the right to delete comments at any time and, if necessary, without giving reasons. With your participation on the RUB presences in social media, you acknowledge these guidelines.
We wish you enriching discussions with our contributions and an interesting exchange of opinions!
Contact the editorial office? Gladly and at any time!
You can reach us in various ways:
- Write us a direct message on the respective platform!
- Tag us with @ruhrunibochum, on YouTube with @ruhruniversitaet!
- Write us an email at socialmedia@rub.de!
By the way, you can find the responsibilities for our content in our imprint: https://www.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/de/legal-notice.
Thank you for supporting us. Together we can ensure a healthy and human net culture. We are looking forward to a lively exchange and hope you enjoy our topics.
It is currently not finally clarified whether and to what extent the platforms we use offer their services in accordance with European data protection regulations. We expressly draw your attention to the fact that Facebook, Google and YouTube store the data of their users for an indefinite period of time and use it for business purposes.
To what extent and for how long the data is stored, to what extent the social networks comply with existing deletion obligations, what evaluations and links are made with the data and to whom the data is passed on, is not apparent to us.
We have no influence on the data collection and its further use by the social networks.
Thank you for your understanding!