A community of respect and inclusion

DalU is an official Dalhousie University app and desktop portal, and the conversation on it belongs to all members of the Dal community. This is an inclusive space for all users, and we expect participants to keep conversations respectful and appropriate. We are a diverse university community with differing views and ideas. DalU encourages civil and respectful discourse. Not everyone will think the way you think, or share the same opinions, so if you disagree with an idea, be respectful in your interactions with other members.

Please keep in mind the Groups on DalU are not your personal social feeds. They are official university channels. We encourage you to use your personal channels for non-university discussion.

Community standards/moderation

To ensure the dialogue on DalU remains relevant and engaging for all users, moderators will apply the following principles when reviewing your posts and comments.

We know that “student life” topics can be broad, but we ask that users keep posts relevant to your university experience. Ask yourself:

• Is my post relevant/useful/helpful to my peers and other members of the Dalhousie community?
• Am I comfortable if professors/faculty see this? (Yes, your profs—and possibly deans—are on DalU.)

DalU reserves the right to remove, mute and/or block users who are deemed to be breaking our community guidelines. We reserve the right to remove posts/comments, at our discretion, that:

• are vulgar, inappropriate, defamatory, disrespectful, indecent, hateful, racist, xenophobic, homophobic, transphobic, sexist, or otherwise degrading, defamatory, or discriminatory
• encourage or suggest illegal activity, or are unlawful in any way
• incite violence, either to one’s self or to others
• promote alcohol or substances abuse
• solicit, spam, or promote endeavours unrelated to Dalhousie
• include threats, profanity, spam, slurs, or other abusive commentary
• degrade any race, religion, gender, age, or abilities
• are menacing, harassing, or infringe upon any person’s right to safe use of the app
• have an implied intent of violating the terms of use and community guidelines

All university policies apply when using DalU, including the Acceptable Use policy and the Student Code of Conduct. Posts out of compliance with these conditions will be removed and will be reported to the Office of the Vice-Provost, Student Affairs. Disciplinary action may be taken if users of the Dal Mobile app do not follow this community expectation.

DalU is a community space and should not be treated like your personal social feed. We want you to connect with one another and be active contributors in the DalU community, but please be considerate of other community members and make a conscious effort not to dilute the Groups by posting too much (spamming) or posting content that is irrelevant to the broader community. Frequency and relevance of posts are subject to the moderators’ discretion. We suggest moving ongoing conversations or interactions to your personal channels or conducting them in a private message or custom group within the app.

We welcome debate and dissent, but personal attacks on other DalU users, moderators, or general members of the Dalhousie University community, and persistent trolling will not be tolerated. DalU is a professional space for civil discussion relevant to your university experience.

Do not post photos and names of other students if they do not provide consent for you to do so. Please respect the privacy of others. Reported posts will be removed.

We acknowledge constructive criticism toward Dalhousie University, its services, policies and performance, and hope we can advance the community and our services as a result of constructive feedback; however, moderators will remove false representations of the university including posts about individual faculty or staff members. For the sake of robust debate, DalU moderators will distinguish between constructive, focused debate and propaganda or smear tactics.

We understand that people may feel strongly about issues discussed on DalU, but we may remove content that others might find offensive or threatening. Please be respectful of the opinions and beliefs of others.

We reserve the right to redirect or curtail conversations that descend into repetitive flame-wars based on personal opinion or generalizations. We encourage you to discuss issues you are passionate about, but we do ask users to find ways of sharing views that do not feel alienating or threatening to others.

The general DalU community serves as a form of moderation. Any member of the community may report a post as inappropriate. If a post receives four flags by community members, it will automatically be removed from the feed. If you feel you have had a post flagged inappropriately or unfairly, please email mobile@dal.ca. If a user is deemed to have flagged a post because of disingenuous motives, disciplinary measures may be taken against them.

Queries or comments about moderation may be removed. If you feel your post has been removed unfairly, either by DalU moderators or by the community, the moderation team may review deleted posts (please send to mobile@dal.ca); however, clearly abusive posts removed by moderators will not be subject to review and posts asking, ‘why was my post deleted?’ will not be deliberated.

We ask that users maintain a measured tone and do not shout. Comments submitted in ALL-CAPS, or similar, may be removed, depending on context. Also be aware that you may be misunderstood, so try to be clear. Expect that people may understand your post differently than you intended. Tone of voice (sarcasm, humour and so on) doesn’t always translate well online, so err on the side of caution.

If you spot something problematic on DalU, please report as inappropriate or send an email to mobile@dal.ca to help us create an inclusive space for all Dal citizens.

We will evolve these standards, as necessary, in order to ensure a respectful and inclusive community for our students. You may not be directly contacted if your post has been removed. We also reserve the right to reject posts that direct readers to third-party websites.

What else?

Know your audience

Ensure your posts and comments are relevant to the university community.

Everything is public

Nothing is private when posting or commenting on a public feed, and you are not anonymous on Dal Mobile. Your profs are on the app, too! Don’t say something you might regret later. Also, the information you share on DalU may be captured, stored, accessed, and potentially disclosed and used inappropriately by others, so be mindful of what you post.

Your comments are your own

Any comments or opinions shared on DalU are your own and do not express the views of Dalhousie University or its employees.

Use your own original content

All content posted by users on DalU must comply with copyright rules and intellectual property rights.

Please note:

• If you choose to enable Email Notifications in your account settings, be aware that email contents may be relayed through a third-party service provider (SendGrid) hosted in the United States. SendGrid may store email contents in its logs for up to 7 days.
• Optional information you choose to provide as part of your public profile (such as Education, Places, Hobbies, etc.) will be visible to other users. Exercise caution in sharing personal information in your profile.

Updates to the guidelines

DalU reserves the right to amend these Guidelines at any time without prior notice.

Contact us

If you have any questions or suggestions regarding our Guidelines or any other matter regarding DalU, please email mobile@dal.ca

If you choose to disregard the community guidelines

Two strikes, you’re muted

Students who post content that is deliberately offensive, racist, sexist, homophobic, or includes any other discriminatory content, or users who are spamming the student feed will be subject to a two-strikes-you’re-muted policy. Any student who receives a formal warning from DalU reminding them of the Terms of Use/Community Guidelines, and then violates the Terms of Use/Community Guidelines a second time, will be muted for a period of seven days.

Subsequent warnings will result in automatic muting of the user account for at least 30 days and the student’s conduct will be escalated to the review committee for block/ban consideration and potential escalation to the VPSA Office.

Zero tolerance cases

More severe cases (e.g. harassment/discrimination that violates the Student Code of Conduct) may warrant a permanent ban and escalation to the VPSA Office. In such an event, the user’s account will be muted until the escalation review process is completed.