Studo Chat is a place to exchange study-related topics: You can ask your fellow students questions about courses, give learning tips for exams or inform them about the next student festival.
The Studo Chat community is polite, helpful and respectful. Help by supporting and spreading these values to be part of the Studo Chat community.
Whether you ask questions or share your experience and knowledge: Help us create a community where students feel welcome, regardless of their experience or identity.
The cornerstones of Studo Chat communication
When you are in the Studo Chat and ask others for help, make it easy for them to help you. Also check if the question has already been asked and answered in the channel, also by using the search. Do some research before you ask your question. Be clear and friendly.
Ask your question in the channel that fits the question best. Consider whether your question is university-related (e.g. "Uni Wien" channel) or whether your question could be relevant for all students in a city (e.g. "Wien" channel). In particular, accommodation, food and living belong to the city channel. The "Studying in Austria/Germany" channel is for study-related content only. For discussions of other kind please use other chat platforms.
When helping others in the Studo Chat, be patient and friendly. Not everyone has the same knowledge as you. Support your fellow students. A good answer often includes a link to further information or a source. When a question is asked, an answer can be defined as an "accepted answer" by the person asking the question. Therefore give a complete answer in a message. Your Studo Points will be pleased by the upvotes of the answer 🙂
Respect the language skills of your fellow students. Note that not every student understands languages such as Spanish, Croatian or Russian. Studo Chat is a place where not only the person asking the question is helped, but also many other fellow students who are happy about your helpful answers. In order not to exclude anybody, please ask your questions in English in case of doubt. Answer and discuss in the language of the questioner (i.e. German or English).
Communicate clearly and constructively. Give clear and constructive feedback and be open when you receive feedback. Avoid sarcasm and be careful with jokes. Ignore situations and comments that make it difficult for you to remain friendly, or report them if they are inappropriate. Replying to "troll posts" is not desired - if a troll post is deleted, your reply would be without context.
Be aware of the guidelines of your university. If your university has a policy regarding external help with homework, make sure you are aware of it before requesting or giving help in Studo Chat. Respect the restrictions of your university or course (e.g. you may receive help but not complete solutions). Never use solutions or partial solutions that you do not understand. It will definitely not help you later on (in later tasks, tests, after your education etc.) and at best it could be very embarrassing if you are asked to explain your solution. Cheating on exams is not tolerated by your university and Studo. The aim of your education at a university is not to submit answers, but to acquire knowledge.
Communicate about study-related topics in Studo Chat. Studo Chat is not a dating app, an app for sharing jokes or memes, a platform for selling non-study related items, or a platform for convincing people about politics and worldviews. Use other platforms for this purpose.
Inappropriate behaviour
No condescending or unfriendly language. Even if it was not your intention, it can have negative effects on others.
No discrimination. Studo Chat is an open place. We do not tolerate insults or exclusion based on gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, religious orientation, age, origin, place of residence, field of study, special needs or illness. These are just a few examples. When in doubt, keep your statement to yourself. This applies not only to Studo Chat users, but also to third parties (e.g. public figures).
No harassment. Bullying, intimidation, vulgar language, direct or indirect threats, sexually suggestive remarks, inappropriate communication, persistent interruptions of the discussion, and statements that express a desire or hope that someone will be harmed will not be tolerated in Studo Chat.
No disregard for applicable law. Violations of the law will not be tolerated in Studo Chat. The same applies to invitations to inappropriate behavior or to recommendations to commit unlawful acts. This also includes pointing out ticket checks in public transport. Also, be aware that there may be legal formalities for certain messages (e.g. the indication of a minimum salary for job advertisements).
There are several apps that allow students to communicate with each other. Studo Chat is not a substitute for hyperlocal communication, but enables helpful communication of study-related topics. Behaviour that is allowed or even desired in other apps does not have to be welcomed in Studo Chat. On the other hand, in the Studo Chat it is appropriate to communicate non-anonymously and in direct exchange. The Community Guidelines apply to 100% for every chat channel.
In addition to these Community Guidelines, the Terms of Service for Studo Chat apply, which primarily govern the legal aspects of communication in the Studo Chat.
Reporting
All students help to build a polite, helpful and respectful Studo Chat community. If you find inappropriate behavior, you can report the message. Reported messages are forwarded to moderators. Multiple reported messages are immediately hidden before moderators review the message. In any case, the reported message will be manually reviewed by the moderators before any possible consequences follow.
Moderators only review messages that have been reported by users. However, in Studo Chat we want to avoid the cancel culture as a form of protest against different opinions. For this reason, messages from users who frequently and systematically report others will not be considered until another person has reported the same post. Therefore, please use the report function carefully and only in cases where you think there is a clear violation of the Studo Chat Community Guidelines.
Consequences
We take your reports seriously. Students who do not respect the Community Guidelines must expect the following consequences:
A warning. Most messages that do not comply with the Community Guidelines are one-time mistakes. The reported message will be hidden and the author will receive a warning and a reduction of Studo Points.
Temporary Studo Chat write ban. For repeated misbehavior, the Studo Chat account can be temporarily blocked from writing new messages. The student who is prevented from writing new messages will receive a message to contact the Studo support. If the misbehavior is recognised, students can participate actively in the Studo chat community again after the temporary suspension.
Full Studo Chat write ban. In case of severe violations of the Community Guidelines or repeated write bans, a Studo Chat account can be permanently blocked from writing new messages.
A temporary or full Studo Chat write block is therefore not applied to a specific message, but to a sum of non-compliance with the Studo Chat Community Guidelines.
Also Studo Chat is open for feedback
Studo Chat is a very young community. The Studo Chat Community Guidelines are inspired by StackOverflow's successful Code of Conduct. If you think that the Community Guidelines need adjustments, improvements or changes to make communication polite, helpful and respectful, please send us your suggestions at support@studo.com with the subject "Community Guidelines".