Someone mentioned in chat the possibility of interpersonal conflicts between Stack Exchange participants spilling over into the real world and resulting in socially inappropriate behavior off-site.
Does the Code of Conduct (CoC) regulate our behavior off-site as it pertains to interactions with or affecting the community or company? Another way of asking the same question is whether the CoC has extraterritorial jurisdiction. For example, if I want to post a message on Reddit about my experiences on Stack Exchange, is it sufficient to obey Reddit's code of conduct or do I need to be concerned about potentially being suspended on Stack Exchange if my behavior would have been improper if it had been done here?
There are arguably two main possible scenarios here:
- The behavior would be in violation of the CoC if done here, but is allowed according to the rules of the venue in which it is actually performed.
- The behavior is a violation both here and there, but the other venue already has a system in place to investigate violations and issue sanctions (e.g. being banned from Reddit, having one's Tweets drastically rate-limited, expulsion from a university, being escorted out of the mall, etc.). In law, this principle is sometimes referred to as "double criminality".
If Stack Exchange's response would be different depending on which of the above happens, what is the rule?
In response to a comment by Tinkeringbell, if I want to interact with Stack Exchange participants off-site and/or engage in behavior potentially affecting them, do I have to follow the SE CoC in order to not get banned here or do I simply need to obey the rules of the venue where I am?
In response to a comment by Sonic, Wikipedia's concept of "off-wiki harassment" could apply here. That is, does Stack Exchange prohibit or provide for specific remedies for "off-Stack harassment" or does it defer such off-site activity to the codes of conduct of the places where said harassment might occur (e.g. if someone uses Wikipedia as the venue to engage in a harassment campaign against a Stack Exchange user, then Stack Exchange will refer and defer any complaints about said harassment to Wikipedia)?
they'll have to prove it's really you.
They should have to prove it's really you, but I don't think you can count on that. SE hasn't entered into any agreement with you that enforces fair treatment or any particular standard of evidence, other than "their sole discretion"