Community Guidelines
Our values
- Respect
- Treat other people with respect, even when you disagree.
- Curiosity
- Ask questions, explore ideas and stay open to learning.
- Accuracy
- Share information carefully, especially when discussing scientific topics.
- Context
- Provide sources or context when making important factual claims.
- Conservation
- Respect wildlife, ecosystems and the principles of responsible observation.
- Constructive participation
- Contribute information that helps the community learn and explore.
Respect people
Everyone here is learning — including the people who know the most.
Biosphere brings together people with very different backgrounds and levels of experience. Communicate the way you would like others to communicate with you, and remember that there is a person behind every name.
Encouraged
- Respectful communication
- Constructive disagreement
- Good-faith participation
- Welcoming newcomers and their questions
- Thoughtful discussion
Not allowed
- Harassment or bullying
- Personal attacks
- Threats or intimidation
- Hateful or demeaning behavior
Contribute constructively
Good contributions leave the conversation better than they found it.
Questions, observations and corrections are what make a learning community work. Aim to add something useful — even a well-asked question helps others learn.
Encouraged
- Useful observations
- Questions
- Corrections
- New ideas
- Educational discussion
- Relevant personal experiences
Not allowed
- Repeated off-topic content
- Deliberate disruption
- Spam or flooding
- Content intended only to provoke
Support information with sources
Where appropriate, provide the original source so others can investigate further.
When you make a substantive scientific claim, a reference lets others check it, learn more and build on it. Good starting points include research publications, scientific institutions, government sources, conservation organizations and recognized biodiversity databases.
Encouraged
- Link to the original source rather than a summary of it
- Credit the people and organizations behind the information
- Say clearly when a link is external
Not allowed
- Misleading or deceptive links
- Links to malicious downloads
- Presenting a source as saying something it doesn’t
Respect wildlife
No photo, video or observation is worth harming the life it shows.
Exploring the living world comes with a responsibility towards it. Observe from a distance, leave habitats as you found them and put the wellbeing of animals and plants before content.
Encouraged
- Observing animals without disturbing them
- Following local rules in protected areas
- Sharing responsible observation practices
Not allowed
- Disturbing wild animals for content
- Encouraging harmful or dangerous interaction with wildlife
- Promoting illegal wildlife collection or trade
- Encouraging the destruction of habitats
- Glorifying animal abuse
Protect the spirit of conservation
Discuss hard topics openly — without promoting harm.
Habitat protection, species conservation, environmental challenges, restoration and biodiversity loss are all welcome topics, including difficult and debated ones. What doesn’t belong is content that actively promotes harm to wildlife or ecosystems.
Encouraged
- Respectful discussion of conservation challenges
- Sharing restoration and protection efforts
- Accurate descriptions of organizations and their work
Not allowed
- Content that promotes harm to wildlife or ecosystems
- Unsupported claims about specific organizations
Respect privacy
Keep personal information — yours and other people’s — out of shared spaces.
Don’t share personal addresses, phone numbers, passwords or other credentials, financial information, private communications or other sensitive personal information. Never expose another person’s information publicly.
Encouraged
- Keeping your login credentials private
- Asking before sharing anything about someone else
Not allowed
- Sharing another person’s private information
- Posting private messages without permission
- Sharing passwords or financial details
Keep the community useful
Community spaces are for biodiversity, learning and exploration — not advertising.
Biosphere includes a Store, and mentioning a product when it is genuinely relevant is fine. What we want to avoid is turning community spaces into advertising channels.
Encouraged
- Mentioning products or resources when they are genuinely relevant
- Being open about any connection you have to what you share
Not allowed
- Repeated promotional posts
- Unsolicited advertising
- Referral spam
- Fake giveaways and scams
- Irrelevant links
- Repetitive content