We don’t currently have any community guidelines in the sidebar. We should probably have some. Do people have opinions on what sort of guidelines we should aim for? I’m a fan of the HN guidelines (whatever you may think of the site at large):
https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
Here’s the first few that are most relevant:
Be kind. Don’t be snarky. Converse curiously; don’t cross-examine. Edit out swipes.
Comments should get more thoughtful and substantive, not less, as a topic gets more divisive.
When disagreeing, please reply to the argument instead of calling names. “That is idiotic; 1 + 1 is 2, not 3” can be shortened to “1 + 1 is 2, not 3.”
Please don’t fulminate. Please don’t sneer, including at the rest of the community.
Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that’s easier to criticize. Assume good faith.