Guidelines for Online Conversations

• Treat everyone respectfully and openly.
• Do not make assumptions based on external characteristics, skin colour, ethnicity, religion, age or speech.
• Do not make assumptions about gender, background or functional ability.
• Do not insult or belittle any person or group of people with your words or behaviour.
• We will not tolerate harassment, hate speech or disrespectful behaviour of any kind. This means all kind of racism, sexism, transphobia, homophobia and discrimination against people with disabilities.

• Everyone is allowed to have their own opinions.
• Listen to others and respect different viewpoints.
• Avoid arguing and deliberately creating confrontation.
• Ask for clarification if you don’t understand someone.
• Religious, political, or ideological attempts to convert others are not allowed.

• Respect the privacy and personal space of others.
• Do not ask for or share other people’s personal information, such as their name, age, gender, photo, contact details, or health information.
• Present yourself in discussions only as your real self.
• Protect your privacy: think about what information and things you want to share about yourself. 

• Do not spread harmful or disturbing content, such as sexual, violent or self-destructive material.
• Illegal content and encouraging illegal activity are prohibited.
• Please do not share false or misleading information.
• Spamming is prohibited.
• Group discussions are anonymous, but also confidential. Please do not share these discussions outside the community.

• Everyone is responsible for the tone of the conversation.
• Do your part to make it easy for everyone to be here.
• Make room for others.
• If you encounter inappropriate behaviour, would like to leave open feedback or have questions about the Red Cross' online policies, you can email verkkotoiminta@redcross.fi. Messages sent to the email address are monitored by Red Cross online support employees from Monday to Friday. 

Volunteers and employees have the right and the duty to ensure that the conversation remains safe and respectful. We address rule violations and unsafe behavior on a case-by-case basis. Rule violations can lead to, for example: 

• being cautioned
• being temporarily silenced
• message deletion
• being removed from the discussion, if no agreement can be reached on compliance with the rules