These guidelines clarify the various responsibilities of all members of the Officer of the Watch community. They exist to ensure the site remains safe and welcoming for everyone and should be adhered to without exception.
Respect the Officer of the Watch Community
We’re not asking for the kind of respect reserved for nuns, the elderly, and brain surgeons. Just don’t abuse the site. Every cool, new community feature on Officer of the Watch involves a certain level of trust. We trust you to be responsible, and ask that our users respect that trust. Please be one of them.
Don’t cross the line
Whilst we actively encourage our users to submit content and engage in discussion we’ve produced some common-sense rules that’ll help you steer clear of trouble. Please take these rules seriously and take them to heart. Don’t try to look for loopholes or try to lawyer your way around the guidelines—just understand them and try to respect the spirit in which they were created.
Nudity or sexual content
Officer of the Watch is not for pornography or sexually explicit content. If this describes your content or comment then don’t post it on Officer of the Watch.
Violent or graphic content
It’s not okay to post violent or gory content that’s primarily intended to be shocking, sensational, or disrespectful.
Hateful content
Officer of the Watch is a designed to enable discussion and allow free expression. But we don’t support content that promotes or condones violence against individuals or groups based on race or ethnic origin, religion, disability, gender, age, nationality, veteran status, or sexual orientation/gender identity, or whose primary purpose is inciting hatred on the basis of these core characteristics.
Spam, misleading metadata, and scams
Everyone hates spam. Don’t create misleading descriptions, tags, titles, or thumbnails in order to increase views. It’s not okay to post large amounts of untargeted, unwanted or repetitive content, including comments.
Harmful or dangerous content
Don’t post content that encourage others to do things that might cause them to get badly hurt. Content that depicts and encourages such harmful or dangerous acts is not welcome here.
Copyright
Respect copyright. Submit and link to only content that you made or that you’re authorized to use. This means don’t submit content you didn’t make, or use content that someone else owns the copyright to, such as, copying from published works, or videos made by others, without necessary authorisations.
Threats
Things like predatory behaviour, stalking, threats, harassment, intimidation, invading privacy, revealing other people’s personal information, and inciting others to commit violent acts or to violate the Terms of Use of this site and are taken very seriously. Anyone caught doing these things may be permanently banned from Officer of the Watch.
We review your reports carefully
If you see something on Officer of the Watch that you think it’s inappropriate, locate the ‘Report’ feature on the article or comment and it will be reviewed by the Officer of the Watch Team.
We will take action against any account that has breached our Community Guidelines, and serious or repeated violations will lead to account termination. If an account is terminated, that person won’t be allowed to create any new accounts.
Join In
Remember that this is your community. Each and every person on Officer of the Watch makes the site what it is, so don’t be afraid to dig in and get involved.
There’s a lot to see here, with lots of people creating amazing stuff—one of them might be you! You don’t need any specialist equipment to use this site or upload content, so dive in and enjoy.
Let people know what you think.
Feedback is part of the experience, and when done with respect, it can be a great way to make friends, share stories, and make your time on Officer of the Watch richer. So leave comments, like articles and make your own responses to articles that affect you.
But most of all, have fun with the site! We hope you’ll find it useful for expanding your knowledge and supporting your professional development.
– The Officer of the Watch Team
