I know there's occasional issues regarding how some people interact on IRC and mailing lists, and I also know there's no magic bullets to ensure a friendly environment. But I jotted down this as a draft for the content of some solution or another. I don't know the form it would take, but at least it's a start at the substance.
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Tor Project channels such as mailing lists and IRC are primarily populated by diverse, uncompensated volunteers and privacy enthusiasts, with a wide range of native languages and computer experience, dwelling in an array of real-life conditions.
The average online participant is motivated to assist others or seek help in circumventing censorship and mitigating surveillance.
On that note, we implore everyone to maintain a friendly and collegial tone. You are unlikely to personally know other online dwellers, so realize their own physical circumstances may be very different from your perceptions.
Online Tor channel participants might not be fluent in the most commonly used languages, in particular English. Interpretations and tones are easily deceptive, even among speakers of English variants. Conducting oneself with patience and understanding is vital in keeping online discourse collaborative and productive.
In other cases, online Tor participants may not be expert computer users. Clearly phrasing technical questions isn't an innate ability, and more experienced users should look to ask simple, non-patronizing questions to help them articulate issues they face.
Finally and maybe most importantly, online participants may be in high-pressure environments, from dodging the watchful eyes of management or more starkly, evading an oppressive government. Possible repercussions for engaging in the Tor online community could mean loss of employment, harassment or worse.
Keep that in mind when engaging in online Tor channels. Patience and understanding, in addition to a imaginative empathy, allows us to make our community stronger and more capable of assisting each other.