Reading room rules

A reading room depends on courtesy more than on rules. Still, a few rules are needed, and they cover everything placed in SlipRoom: posts, profiles, opening notes and margin notes alike. We have kept them brief so that they will actually be read.

The spirit of the room

Write about what you know and what you care about. Name your sources. Let your links go where they claim to go. A writer arranges their own shelf and answers for what is placed on it; the rest of us answer for what we leave in the margins.

Never to be filed

Whatever the shelf and whoever the author, the room will not hold:

• material that is unlawful, or that urges others to break the law;
• malicious software, phishing, or links meant to mislead a reader or damage their device;
• threats, harassment or hateful attacks on anyone, individually or as a group;
• another person’s private details, published without their agreement;
• pretending to be some other person or organisation;
• sexual content of any kind involving minors.

Borrowing from others

Quotation is part of good writing, provided the quoted words are plainly marked and credited to their author. Passing off another’s work as your own is not permitted, nor is publishing anything that infringes someone’s copyright. The same holds for pictures: before you place another person’s image on your shelf, be sure you are entitled to use it.

Margin notes

A comment is a note written in the margin of somebody else’s work, and it should be written in that spirit. Stay with the subject of the piece, and take issue with ideas rather than with people. Notes that wander off the subject, that are abusive or promotional, or that break any rule above will not be approved. The name you give will appear beside your note, so choose one you are happy to see in print.

When a rule is broken

Before any guest note is shown, a moderator reads it. Moderators may turn down or take away margin notes, remove posts, and, where a shelf breaks these rules, close it altogether. When a writer’s work is taken down, we shall explain our reasons to them wherever that is possible.

Telling us about a problem

Should you come across something here that breaks these rules, please write from the correspondence page under “Flagging a post or margin note”, giving us the address of the page and a line or two on what troubles you. If the matter is your own copyrighted work, choose “A question of copyright” instead and tell us which work is yours and where it has turned up. Each report is read by the SlipRoom team.

Revisions

As the room grows these rules may be amended, and the date shown at the head of this page will be brought up to date whenever that happens.