Editorial policy
Humans of the Balkan’s is an initiative that we started wishing that is helps promote good will and friendship in the region. As it is the case with every Humans of… initiative, we want to help diversities get a human face and make them resonate through personal experiences in forms of stories. It is our belief that in this way we can all join in in promoting understanding and friendship.
When writing a Humans of the Balkan’s story
We ask you to take into consideration several rules that we made and want to abide to while contributing to the content of the Humans of the Balkan’s platform.
- Our stories cannot offend human dignity in any way!
We don’t want to label anyone on any grounds and we don’t use offensive language or swear words. - Any kind of personal attack, offence or threats are strongly forbidden.
- We discourage using a form of the story to promote any commercial product or service.
- Take care of your own privacy all the while avoiding to share other people’s information without their explicit consent.
- Please, do not use third party content (text or visual) without the permission of the author.
In order to make everyone play by these rules, we have a team that reads through every story before we allow it to be published. As soon as your story is published, you will be able to see it on your authors profile and on the interactive Map of the Balkan’s.
Themes for Humans of the Balkan’s stories
They can be different! We do not scare away from “hard” topics. That is why we shall never avoid publishing a story because it is:
- Showing consequences of any violation of human rights and liberties.
- Documents consequences of violence and/or hate speech.
- Humanizes or express critical attitude of the current regional issues.
- Promotes a different perspective regarding culture, social, religious, economic or political issue.
Our team of editors has come up with some proposed subjects and questions and made a short instruction for the authors on how to make a good Humans of the Balkan’s story. Time for you to be creative (and responsible). We will take care of protecting both the platform and the culture of the dialogue on it.
When you comment on Humans of the Balkan’s stories
Same rules as for the authors apply here as well! We want a constructive dialogue one could expect from friends in a pub or between colleagues at work. To that end:
- Try to be clear, precise and concise – don’t be repetitive.
- Attack the idea, not a person who supports it!
- Be honest and show good will while wording your points.
- Flaming and trolling are strictly forbidden! Any comment that contains hate speech, personal attacks or are found to inflame tension will not be approved.
- Stick to the subject. If you feel the need to connect, by all means, go to the personal profile of the author and try to connect using the contact details he/she has left there.
We would like you to know that we are here, willing to hear any suggestion, proposal or any problem you may come across. Have in mind that we will take care of any complaints as soon as possible and that we shall use all the options that WordPress and this platform allows to combat unwanted behavior and internet violence. That might, in extreme cases, include lending personal data or even the personal IP address to the authorities in charge.