About

SMC.social is a Mastodon instance for and by Science Media Centres worldwide. Science Media Centres provide journalists with expertise by scientific experts when science hits the headlines. This way we contribute to a responsible, evidence-based reporting on scientific topics.

Our international network consists of SMCs from the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Taiwan, Kenya and Spain.

We provide a small community space only for employees and friends of the mentioned SMCs. When using the server, you have to follow our rules, terms and conditions. The primary languages are German and English.

Rules

The following rules were inspired by the terms of bsd.network and chaos.social and are a (non-exhaustive) list of behaviours that may lead to deletion of toots, silencing or suspension of accounts, at the discretion of the instance administrators, as described in our terms.

Please report behaviour that bothers you. We will keep your report confidential.

We do not tolerate discriminatory behaviour and content promoting or advocating the oppression of members of marginalised groups. These groups may be characterised by any of the following (though this list is naturally incomplete):

• ethnicity
• gender identity or expression
• sexual identity or expression
• physical characteristics or age
• disability or illness
• nationality, residency, citizen status
• wealth or education
• religious affiliation, agnosticism or atheism

We do not tolerate threatening behaviour, stalking, or doxxing.

We do not tolerate harassment, including brigading, dogpiling, or any other form of contact with a user who has stated that they do not wish to be contacted.

We do not tolerate mobbing, including name-calling, intentional misgendering or deadnaming.

We do not tolerate violent nationalist propaganda, Nazi symbolism or promoting the ideology of National Socialism.

We do not tolerate conspiracy narratives or other reactionary myths supporting or leading to the above-mentioned (and/or similar) behavior.

Actions intended to damage this instance or its performance may lead to immediate account suspension.

Content that is illegal in Germany will be deleted and may lead to immediate account suspension.

Best practices

The list below is a collection of behaviour that we expect to see from our users. If you see a user go against these best practices in a way that bothers you, please file a report and we will talk to them. While these best practices are designed to be guidelines for a good communal instance, repeated malicious unwillingness to follow the best practices will be considered just like breaking a rule.

In general, use the tools provided to foster a considerate and accessible atmosphere. This includes the liberal use of content warnings (especially on potentially disturbing or controversial topics), and alt-text captioning of media files.

When possible, provide credit for creative works in your posts that are not your own.

Uninvited comments about another user's personal choices, lifestyle or family are strongly discouraged and may be considered harassment. Inappropriate sexual attention, comments about appearance and implication of physical contact will not be tolerated toward any non-consenting user.

In discussions, please remain civil, do not insult the people you're talking to. Note that irony, sarcasm, or similar modes of language don't translate well to written language and tend to escalate discussions or misunderstandings.

(These best practices were inspired by the Terms of bsd.network and chaos.social. Thank you!)

Attribution

This text is free to be adapted and remixed under the terms of the CC-BY (Attribution 4.0 International) license.