Civics

Civics is ATRL's space for discussing politics, current events, public policy, and global issues. As a progressive and inclusive community, ATRL encourages thoughtful, good-faith discussion while expecting members to engage respectfully with one another.

Community Standards

When participating in Civics:

• Debate ideas, arguments, and public policy, not other members.

• Personal attacks, harassment, baiting, antagonistic behavior, and trolling are not permitted.

• Engage in good faith. Deliberately misrepresenting another member's position or arguing primarily to provoke others may be treated as trolling.

• If another member asks to end a conversation, respect that request. Continuing to quote or pursue them afterward may be treated as harassment or trolling.

• Challenge ideas, not another member's right to participate.

• Retaliatory or bad-faith reporting may result in moderator action.

Posting Guidelines

Political debate is encouraged. Passionate disagreement is expected. Personal hostility is not.

• Keep posts relevant to the topic.

• Avoid intentionally derailing unrelated discussions into political debate.

• Engage with the discussion rather than spamming slogans, talking points, or inflammatory rhetoric.

• If a discussion has reached an impasse, move on rather than prolonging hostility.

Zero Tolerance Policy (ZTP)

The Zero Tolerance Policy applies in full throughout Civics. Content rooted in hatred, discrimination, or the denial of another group's humanity is not protected as political opinion and will be moderated accordingly.

This includes, but is not limited to, promoting, defending, or glorifying extremist or hateful ideologies, discriminatory rhetoric, the denial, justification, or celebration of genocide against protected groups, threats or calls for violence against any individual or group, and attempts to evade the ZTP through coded language, euphemisms, discriminatory tropes, or by reframing discriminatory rhetoric as legitimate political discussion.

Political Base Threads

Civics includes two types of base threads:

Casual Conversation

For lighter discussion, quick reactions, and general political conversation.

• General & Casual Politics Thread

Debate Threads

For structured discussion and sustained political debate.

• US Politics Thread

• UK Politics Thread

Moderators may redirect discussions when appropriate to preserve the purpose of each thread.

Moderation & Enforcement

Moderators may address conduct that undermines productive discussion or escalates hostility, even if it is not specifically described above.

When determining appropriate action, moderators may consider a member's overall pattern of conduct, not just individual posts. Political discussions can escalate quickly, so Civics is moderated more actively than most sections of ATRL.

For answers to common questions and examples of how these guidelines are applied, please see the FAQ in the second post of this thread.