America’s Plan is meant to be a working community, not just a comment section. These guidelines explain how we expect people to behave here so that affected parties can safely do long‑term work together across many issues.
They apply wherever community interaction happens around this project, especially in the forum and any future real‑time spaces linked from americasplan.org.
1. Purpose comes first
This space exists to help people move through the project’s four‑step pipeline:
- Experience an issue.
- Organize with others.
- Build and push a solution.
- Track results and enforce accountability.
Everything else is secondary. If a conversation, pattern of behavior, or piece of content consistently gets in the way of that work, moderators may redirect, slow, or remove it.
2. Center affected parties
On every issue, the people living with the consequences should shape the work. That means:
- Make extra space for affected people to define problems and priorities.
- Do not talk over or minimize the experiences they bring.
- If you are not directly affected, treat your role as support, not as the main voice.
Experts and observers are welcome, but this project exists to change who sets the agenda, not to recreate the usual hierarchy.
3. Argue with ideas, not people
Disagreement is expected and often necessary. Personal attacks are not.
- Challenge claims, reasoning, and evidence.
- Do not attack someone’s basic worth, identity, or lived experience.
- Do not use slurs, harassment, or dehumanizing language.
- Do not stalk, dogpile, or attempt to intimidate others.
If you cannot disagree without demeaning people, this is not the right community for you.
4. Stay issue‑focused
This is not a general “politics as usual” space.
- Keep discussions connected to issues, public systems, and the project’s goals.
- Avoid turning every thread into a generic partisan fight.
- Do not use the forum as a campaign tool or to recruit for unrelated organizations.
People should be able to work on media, AI data centers, immigration, and other issues without every thread collapsing into the same national talking‑point war.
5. Protect each other’s safety
Safety is everyone’s job, not just moderation’s.
- Do not post someone else’s personal details (doxxing) without explicit, informed consent.
- Be cautious when sharing stories that involve other people; remove or blur identifying details when in doubt.
- Take care with screenshots and cross‑posting; what feels low‑stakes to you may not be for the person involved.
- Respect requests to correct or remove content that creates clear, reasonable risk.
For more detail on risk, anonymity, and data practices, see the Safety & Access and Privacy Policy pages.
6. Choose your level of identification wisely
Different people face different risks.
- You may choose to participate under your own name or a pseudonym.
- You are responsible for thinking through what is safe for you before you share.
- Others must not pressure you to reveal more identifying information than you are comfortable with.
If you are unsure, start conservatively and adjust later. The project is designed to support long‑term participation, not instant exposure.
7. Share clearly, cite honestly
This community aims to build usable, reusable knowledge.
- Share sources when you make factual claims.
- Be clear when you are sharing personal experience vs. reporting external facts.
- Do not plagiarize or pass off others’ work as your own.
- Respect copyright and licenses; link when in doubt.
Good faith, well‑cited contributions make it easier to turn discussions into issue hubs, commons pages, and handbooks that others can build on.
8. No exploitation or abuse
Certain behaviors are never acceptable here:
- Harassment or targeted abuse.
- Hate speech or attacks based on identity (race, religion, gender, sexuality, disability, immigration status, etc.).
- Sexual harassment or explicit content aimed at individuals.
- Encouraging self‑harm or violence.
Moderators may act quickly in these cases, including removing content, restricting access, or removing accounts.
9. Moderation and enforcement
Moderation is there to protect the purpose and people of the project, not to pick sides in every disagreement.
Possible responses include:
- Gentle reminders or public nudges.
- Private messages asking for changes.
- Editing, moving, or removing posts.
- Temporary limits on posting.
- Removal from specific areas or, in serious cases, the project’s community spaces.
We will aim for proportionate responses and will do our best to explain when we take significant action, but we cannot promise to debate every decision at length.
10. If something’s wrong
If you see something that violates these guidelines or seems unsafe:
- Use the forum’s report tools if available, or
- Contact us directly (mention “Community Guidelines” or “Safety” in your message).
Include links, screenshots, or specifics when you can. That makes it easier to see what is happening and respond appropriately.
11. Work in progress
Just like the rest of America’s Plan, these guidelines are a living document.
- As the community grows, we will update this page based on real experience.
- We will try to explain major changes and the reasons behind them.
- Feedback from affected communities will carry particular weight in shaping future versions.
You can think of this page as part of the project’s “handbook” layer: an evolving description of how we agree to treat each other while we do difficult work together.
This article was researched and drafted with AI assistance under human review. See our full AI and editorial practices.