This Mastodon server is meant for public social media communication by anyone affiliated with the Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS) at Leiden University.

This Mastodon server is meant for public social media communication by anyone affiliated with the Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS) at Leiden University. The views expressed by users of this server do not necessarily reflect official viewpoints or policies of CWTS or Leiden University. There are a number of server rules that users are expected to follow. We will not actively monitor and moderate messages. Nonetheless, we will moderate reported messages, and we will take proportionate actions in case of any violations. This moderation policy and the server rules may be revised if necessary.

This Mastodon server is offered by CWTS only for people affiliated with CWTS. This means only people with an official CWTS email address can register. They are required to use their real name for their account. If you join CWTS, you are welcome to open a new account here, or migrate an existing account. If you leave CWTS, please make sure to migrate your account to another server before your institutional email is discontinued. Your account will not be removed by CWTS, but will be frozen once the institutional email is discontinued.

Moderation

Any potential violation of the server rules reported to the CWTS moderation committee will be investigated. The CWTS moderation committee will assess whether the server rules have indeed been violated and will accordingly advise a course of action to the CWTS board of directors, which bears responsibility for the final decision. Depending on the severity of the violation, up to three warnings may be provided, potentially accompanied by removing messages and/or blocking access for no longer than one week. Any violations beyond the third within a year may result in the removal of an account.

Safety

Although we have no control over users at other servers, we will do our best to protect users of this CWTS Mastodon server from any form of spamming, aggression, harassment or discrimination. We expect moderators of other servers to act upon posts that are reported by users of this CWTS Mastodon server. If there is no response by the moderator, please inform the CWTS moderation committee, who will follow up with the moderator. In case of repeated violations and continued misbehaviour of users on a certain server, the CWTS moderation committee may decide to block such misbehaving servers.

Freedom and limits

To foster a healthy public debate, participants need to be able to speak freely and need to behave respectfully. The server rules intend to foster a civil debate, with researchers having an additional academic responsibility (in particular to uphold principles of scientific integrity). To ensure the debate can take place freely, we emphasise that any content within the server rules is allowed, including messages that are critical of CWTS or Leiden University (provided no private or confidential information is shared, as indicated in the server rules). As always, please do take some time before posting a message, and reflect on whether your message should be part of a public debate.

Reports will be investigated only by the CWTS moderation committee, with the CWTS board of directors taking decisions based on the advice of the CWTS moderation committee. The CWTS board of directors itself will not moderate content. This is intended to create a system of checks and balances in moderation.

1. No discrimination of any kind, including discrimination on race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, sex, sexual orientation, disability, age, religion or language.
2. No incitement of violence, promotion of violent ideologies or violent behaviour of any manner.
3. No doxxing, dogpiling or harassment in any form of other users.
4. No content considered illegal in the Netherlands.
5. Use your real name for your account.
6. Adhere to the guidelines for social media usage as laid out by Leiden University. In particular, be respectful to others, and do not share private or confidential information.
7. Uphold principles of scientific integrity, in line with the Netherlands Scientific Code of Conduct for Research Integrity. In particular, be honest, transparent and responsible in communication and be clear on limitations and uncertainties of research.