nyuuzyou/wikis huggingface dataset:
Paralyzing Statements

We use the term paralyzing statement to mean a statement that has the effect of stopping (paralyzing) a conversation or discussion. While we have not directly described paralyzing statements in the rules of communication, these statements often break the rules of communication in various ways.
Most examples of paralyzing statements that we have encountered are statements that reinforce a static and rigid view of people and social structures, suggesting that they are not susceptible to deliberate, positive change. Some examples include: 
* "They're never going to change that policy."
* "That's just the way things are."
* "That's never going to happen."
These statements include patterns of speech that break our rules of communication, often in multiple ways, and that are also irrational or contain logical fallacies. These statements describe the future (which is uncertain) in certain terms, and they depict something in black-and-white terms (as being strictly impossible) when there is clearly not a consensus that things fit into this category (if there were a consensus that a goal was impossible, someone wouldn't have brought it up in the first place). They also present a subjective opinion as fact, without using I statements. It's important to look at a situation realistically, but statements like this may be over-generalizations and don't leave any room for the possibility of things changing. A more truthful statement might be:
* "They've had this policy for decades and they haven't shown any signs of being willing to change it."
Sometimes paralyzing statements can be presented in an indirect way, such as through non-verbal signals such as a dismissive tone of voice or negative body language.
==Paralyzing statements as a form of indirect disapproval==
People can sometimes use paralyzing statements as a way of indirectly voicing disapproval of a goal. This sort of usage is contrary to our rules of communication, which specify to state directly if uncomfortable with the conversation or wishing to change the subject. In this case, if a person disagrees with the goal, they can do this, but it would be contrary to the spirit of our rules of conversation to attempt to shut down the conversation without directly voicing an objection.
Category:Communication
Participation

Rather than identify members, we identify only participants. Participation fulfills some of the roles and functions that membership fills in some organizations, but is distinct in other ways. Becoming a participant does not require any commitment of future involvement or allegiance to the group. 
Participants are given access to edit the wiki and contribute to discussions on the wiki.
==Becoming a participant==
In order to officially become a participant in our group, someone must:
* Make a commitment to follow the rules of communication and our process of communication in meetings and on the wiki.
AND
* Either:
:* Attend a meeting in which we use the rules and process of communication, and follow these rules.
:OR
:* Have a conversation with two existing participants (either together or separately) about our group, and the rules and process of communication, while following the rules.
==Record of participants==
* Participants can choose to be listed on our list of participants. Do not add people to this list without their consent.
* People are not required to be on our list of participants in order to be considered participants.
==Removing participants==
* People stay considered as participants unless they are removed by consensus at a group meeting.
* The following are grounds for removal:
:*A person consistently breaks the rules of communication in writing, on the wiki or in any other official written medium of Why This Way.
:*A person refuses to follow the rules and process of communication.
:*A person uses or threatens to use violence in a meeting, or harasses anyone during a meeting.
:*A person uses or threatens to use violence against anyone, or harasses anyone, in any circumstance, and a participant in Why This Way believes that the incident could negatively affect the group.
* Violence, threats, or harassment in a meeting are also grounds for a person's immediate removal from the meeting.
* If any participant causes a severe problem on the wiki (such as vandalizing pages), anyone can contact a wiki administrator, who can temporarily bar their account from editing until the matter is resolved at a meeting.
* When discussing removal of a participant, that person is allowed to attend the meeting where their removal is discussed. At this meeting, that person is only required to follow the rules of communication to whatever minimal degree the other participants are comfortable with. If the person oversteps these boundaries, they can be removed from the meeting immediately.
* Removal of participants is not permanent; consensus at a meeting and an 8-day waiting period to check for objections from participants not present are required for a person who has previously been removed to become a participant again through the normal process.
Positivity

Positivity is a general topic that encompasses both positive thinking and dynamics within conversations. There can be a lot of subjectivity about whether or not people perceive something as negative or positive. We do our best to acknowledge this subjectivity, and avoid talking or building our belief system on the arbitrary interpretations of certain events as positive.
In Why This Way, we want to cultivate a positive attitude in our group, yet while retaining an openness to discussing and entertaining ideas that may be perceived as negative by some or even all people in our group. There are certain types of negativity that we expressly avoid, like attaching negative labels to people or groups of people, or reading negative intentions into people's words or actions.
==Focusing or drawing out positive elements==
===In conversation and discussion===
Focusing on positive elements in a discussion can be an important way to maintain constructive dialogue in environments where people are becoming frustrated. For example, when people seem to be arguing with each other, fighting back and forth, focusing on common ground, on basic points that everyone present agrees on, can help both to reach consensus, and to maintain a more positive and respectful atmosphere.
===In encouraging personal growth===
Focusing on positive attributes of a person, or positive behaviors, can be a way to influence a person in a positive way. For example, if a person is reflecting on or talking about a situation which they think they handled poorly, it can be helpful to point out the things about the situation that you think the person did handle well. As another example, in critiquing a person's work, it can be helpful to not only emphasize points of potential growth, but also strengths of the person's work.
Category:Communication
Punctuality

Punctuality refers to a person's arriving at an event or completing a task by an agreed-upon time.
The word "punctuality" usually has a positive connotation, but we have discussed ways in which punctuality can be unhealthy if it is emphasized to the detriment of other values.
==Harm from over-emphasis on punctuality==
===Internally-imposed punctuality===
People can sometimes feel constrained by a vague sense of obligation to be on-time in arriving at a meeting or completing a project. A person universally holding themselves to a high standard of punctuality without weighing the stakes of being late can be problematic, because it can cause unnecessary stress and/or cause a person to hurry in ways that are harmful. Hurrying or acting hastily can cause a wide range of problems, such as endangering people's physical safety if a person speeds in car, or sacrificing the quality of work being done if a person hurries a task.
A person's vague sense of obligation can be the result of irrational or fallacious thinking about the consequences of being late. For example, a person might exaggerate the negative impacts of being late, or reason that people will be unhappy or upset with them for being late when in reality people would not be. Clear thinking about punctuality involves weighing the costs and benefits of lateness in a rational way, and can lead to better prioritization about when punctuality is more or less important.
===Externally-imposed punctuality===
In some public schools in the United States, especially at the middle school level, but also at the high school level, teachers and school administrators can sometimes strictly enforce rules about arriving at classes or other events or activities on time, using disciplinary measures such as detention or suspension for students who are late. We have discussed the potential for this type of treatment of students to create an unhealthy internal sense of punctuality, in which a student develops a vague sense of obligation for being on-time, without learning to weigh the costs and benefits of punctuality.
Employers can also impose requirements or penalties relating to punctuality.
Category:Miscellaneous
Rape Culture

Rape culture refers to elements of culture that point to the idea that rape or sexual assault is an "acceptable" behavior, as we clarify below. The term has been used in sometimes inconsistent ways, and we have discussed and reached some degree of consensus on what we in Why This Way consider to be part of rape culture.
==What do we consider part of rape culture?==
* Victim blaming, including ideas in which people who are the objects of a person's attraction are seen as being responsible for the actions of that person
* The idea that a sexual encounter or favor can be "earned"
* A cultural narratives which depicts men as lacking self-control about acting on their sexual desires
* Elements of culture which contribute to people being much less likely to believe accusations of rape, relative to the degree to which rape actually happens
* Any cultural incentive or pressure on people to not talk about rape, sexual assault, or sexual abuse, which can include
:* Ideas that promote fear of damaging someone's reputation
:* Negative stigmas placed on people who are raped or sexually assaulted
* Narrower definitions of rape that define non-consensual sexual acts as "not rape".
* Rape being punished less severely than crimes generally agreed upon as being less harmful
==What does "acceptable" mean?==
Merely saying that rape is "acceptable" in a certain social context, without further explanation, is vague and breaks our rules of communication, as a masked should statement.
The ways in which rape culture points to rape being "acceptable" include:
* People who commit rape avoiding consequences in the criminal justice system
* People who commit rape avoiding social consequences
* People finding reasons in the moment that they use to justify raping someone
* People avoiding taking responsibility for admitting that they raped someone
Category:Miscellaneous
Rights

In Why This Way, we avoid talking about rights, like human rights or legal rights, without specifying a frame of reference. For example, governments and legal systems may define legal rights, and the United Nation defines a list of human rights, and different political groups advocate for sometimes competing or conflicting rights. Because Why This Way includes people with different political views, religious beliefs, and national origins, there is no universal framework for rights in the group, and discussion that centers around rights can become clouded or problematic.
Instead of framing things within a framework of rights, we frame our views in terms of a healthy state, described in our beliefs. This state encompasses or addresses some things that are normally thought of as basic rights, but in a somewhat different way. For example, instead of saying that people have a right to basic needs like food, shelter, safety, we say that in a healthy state, people feel that their basic needs are met. We also use the framework of consent to discuss or assess various situations: most situations in which most of the common legal rights or generally-agreed-upon human rights are being violated involve a situation in which a person is being somehow coerced or forced into a situation without their consent.
==Rights and should statements==
When rights are viewed as universal, they can become equivalent to or tied to should statements, which violate our rules of communication. For example, the idea that a person has a right to something can be seen as being equivalent to "a person should be able to do something".
Category:Miscellaneous
Self Motivation

Self motivation or intrinsic motivation refers to a person's innate motivation. It is contrasted with extrinsic motivation, an externally-imposed form of motivation. The distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation can be blurry in many cases, but in some cases it is clearly evident.
One of the characterizing features of Why This Way and our system of beliefs is that we place a high importance on self motivation. However, because self motivation is hard to define and often leads to subjective statements, we have not yet included any direct statements about self motivation in our beliefs.
Category:Mental Health
Short-term Goals

This page highlights some of the short-term goals of Why This Way, projects that we are working on currently.
* Organize a panel discussion
* Set up an accounting system
* Further develop the educational system:
:* Library
:* Reading group
:* "Tree of knowledge" / certification system
* Work on system of food certification
* Sustainable landscaping projects with native plants and semi-wild areas
==Panel discussion==
We have discussed the idea of hosting a panel discussion. Some of the things we would need to do include:
* Work out the details of how to run the discussion
* Pick a topic or topics to discuss
* Decide on a date
* Find a space
* Publicize the event
==Accounting system==
We need to develop an accounting system that allows for completely transparent display of our finances, in accordance with our Organizational Policies, before we are able to raise and spend any money as an organization.
User:cazort is currently working on the accounting system.
==Education==
===Library===
We have discussed setting up a library system whereby users can set aside or mark books they own, which they are willing to share with others. We can then develop an online catalogue for these books, and a system for checking them out so that people can check who has a book at a given point in time.
Category:About Why This Way
Simplified Rules of Communication

This page offers a simplified version of our Rules of Communication with the intention of making our rules more easily used by other organizations. This list includes the aspects of the rules that we have agreed to be most important and most easy to follow, but omits some of the rules that we have agreed may be less important and tougher to understand or follow.
==Simplified Rules==
This section is incomplete.
* Do not attach negative labels to people or groups of people.
* Use I statements like "I think" or "I believe" when making a statement that someone else may not agree with.
* Do not state negative assumptions about anyone else's thoughts, intentions, or motivations.
* Do not blame anyone for negative outcomes.
Category:Miscellaneous
Smoking

This page is about smoking of tobacco products like cigarettes.
Smoking interacts in complex ways with our beliefs; it is an activity that can impose on and harm others, but efforts to control or discourage it can sometimes be carried out in ways that conflict with our beliefs as well.
Tobacco smoking can be an example of an addiction.
==Shaming of smokers==
Our practices specify for us not to try to make people feel guilt or shame. We would thus oppose any attempt to deliberately cause smokers to feel guilt or shame through a marketing campaign. PR campaigns can also violate our rules of communication in various ways, such as by attaching negative labels to smokers, presenting one-sided information, exaggerating, or demonizing people who smoke.
===Shame and addition===
We have discussed the possibility that shaming of smokers could actually make it harder for them to quit smoking, by fueling a general unhealthy psychological state in which a person is more vulnerable to addiction.
==Smoking without directly impacting others==
Because cigarette smoking can pose health risks to others, smoking in places where other people would be exposed to your cigarette smoke without their consent, would exist outside what we describe as a healthy state for society.
If you are going to smoke, to do so more in accordance with our beliefs, we have proposed that smokers:
* Smoke away from crowded public spaces, and doorways or passageways which people may need to travel through
* Obtain consent before smoking around other people
===Designated smoking areas===
We have discussed designated smoking areas, including both designated outdoor areas in crowded outdoor areas, and ventilated indoor lounges, as a way to facilitate smokers smoking in places that imposes less on other people. We have no consensus about who would pay for these areas and how/where they would be built or maintained.
Category:Miscellaneous
Sustainability

Sustainability can be seen as the capacity for a society to endure. One of our beliefs is that, in a healthy state, society is sustainable. This belief is very concise and general, in part because we recognize that people do not necessarily agree on what exactly constitutes sustainability.
==Wild ecosystems==
Wild ecosystems play an essential role in maintaining an environment suitable for human society to thrive, in terms of regulating climate, providing a buffer against pollution, and providing natural products that can be harvested to benefit society.
We have discussed the goal of leaving 70% of the land used by our organization as intact wild ecosystems. Wild ecosystems help promote sustainability in numerous ways, and also protect biodiversity. Biodiversity is important to protect, in terms of sustainability, because new species only develop over very long time-scales, and the negative human impacts on biodiversity have been much greater, over shorter time-scales.
==Efficiency in resource usage==
Resource usage is related to sustainability because many resources, including energy and various material resources, are either partially or fully non-renewable, or have negative impacts on environment or society associated with their use, production or extraction, or storage. An example would be pollution caused by electricity generation. We often talk about sustainability with the implicit understanding that saving energy or increasing the efficiency with which resources are used is one way of promoting sustainability.
Category:Sustainability
Television

This page is about our views on Television, including watching television, and the placement of television sets in public spaces. We have a wide range of views on television, ranging from people who do not own televisions and rarely or never watch them, to people who watch them more regularly.
Some of the concerns we have discussed about television include the potential of television to encourage a sedentary lifestyle, which can have negative impacts on health, the potential for television addiction, and ways in which television could interfere with community.
We have also discussed potential benefits to television, including reducing feelings of loneliness or social isolation, which is sometimes associated with depression, and as a way of introducing new facts or ideas.
==Televisions in public spaces==
When a television is placed in a common area or other central location, especially when it is a larger, louder TV, it can make this space unwelcoming to people who do not wish to watch TV. We have discussed but not reached a complete consensus on the idea of keeping televisions out of public spaces except spaces where TV is integral to the purpose of the space itself, like a sports bar or dedicated TV lounge. We have also discussed the idea of setting TV lounges in side rooms, rather than main gathering spaces or thoroughfares.
Televisions in public spaces can subject people to media and advertisement without their consent. This is especially true in places, such as waiting rooms in doctors offices or hospitals, where the person's presence in the space is a result of some other purpose and not a deliberate seeking out of spending time in the space itself.
==Television, loneliness, and social connections==
We have discussed the potential of television reducing loneliness in the short term. This could be beneficial for an individual looking to stave off more severe feelings of depression attached to loneliness. But, in the long-run, for a community of people, this might not be the healthiest solution. If more people turn to television as a way of feeling socially connected, it could take away from community and real social interaction, and could also contribute to a more sedentary lifestyle, which is known to aggravate depression.
Viewed in this way, television could be viewed as a useful short-term tool for addressing severe feelings of loneliness, but not as a long-term, holistic solution for loneliness in society.
Category:Miscellaneous
Violence

This page is about physical violence. People can use the term "violence" to refer to non-physical acts that have similar effects as physical violence, such as verbal or emotional abuse, or systematic oppression, but we have generally used the term "violence" to refer to physical violence.
We see violence as existing outside of a healthy state as described in our beliefs.
==Treating violence like a contagion==
In Why This Way we have generally agreed upon the approach to reducing or preventing violence, that involves viewing it as a contagion, a phenomenon that is likely to spread through communities or networks of people. This view is based on the observation that if a person witnesses violence, they become more likely to commit an act of violence themselves.
===A response to violence===
After a violent crime is committed, people with roots or connections in the community where the violence was committed, can be sent out to this community, to talk to the people most directly impacted by the violence. This includes the people who witnessed the violence, as well as people who live in the immediate vicinity, and people who are closely connected to the people involved in the violence.
These people sent into the community can talk to people, and provide education or information about the harm caused by violence, and also offer support, such as providing information about counseling or other resources.
Category:Miscellaneous