On this platform there are undergraduate students, graduate and postgraduate students, young scholars and seasoned scholars – a beautiful mix. Here we exchange ideas and receive directions, guidance and connect with each other. Given our diversity, majority of the people do not have English as their first language. This means that some questions just like some answers are sometimes not so clearly articulated, but we try to create dialogue nonetheless.

On every professional platform there are written and unwritten rules of engagement:

1) Do not offend, degrade, undermine or use it to vent your qualms about any private issue – stay professional and respectful.

2) If you feel a question is ‘stupid’, ‘incomprehensible’ or whatever, remember that you are not a RG police so you can ignore it and move on.

This is because every registered user has the right to ask what they want and everyone has the right to answer or stay quiet. We can call this tolerance and patience.

3) However, this tolerance does not apply to cases of cyber bullying, or offensive behaviour. We must all come to the rescue of anyone who is pushed down. It is a civic responsibility.

4) If someone answers your question and it is still not the most satisfactory, be courteous enough to thank them and move on. At least, they tried.

5) As scholars, we represent the voice of reason and civility. This is not like some other type of social media platform where people come to troll or hide behind anonymity to say less desirable things.

6) Whatever you put on here is a form of intellectual footprint. “We have not come to curse the darkness but to light the candle of hope” – to use the words of President Kennedy. Let us be supportive, render courtesy to each other, promote peace and freedom (Lehrfreiheit and Lernfreiheit) and most importantly, let us be eager to learn in humility because we are ever discovering how much we don’t know. Let’s try to keep the highest standards of professionalism and brotherhood/sisterhood in a world that has become so divisive and polarized.

7) Here, castes dissolve and sense of superiority due to one’s financial situation or country of origin doesn’t matter. Each one is a mere mortal trying to earn a living and at the same time doing their bit to contribute to the global sustainability. What counts is how much you are able to give to this community and the world, not how much you can gain. We can always report extreme cases to RG.

This is my little contribution to your question.