Content Policy


Introduction

Knol is a free service from Google that allows you to communicate, collaborate, and share your knowledge with the world.  We believe that Knol increases the availability of information, encourages freedom of expression, and makes possible new connections between authors and readers.

We respect our users' ownership of and responsibility for the content they choose to share. It is our belief that censoring this content is contrary to a service that bases itself on freedom of expression.  In order to uphold these values, we need to curb abuses that threaten our ability to provide this service and the freedom of expression it encourages. As a result, there are some boundaries on the type of content that can be hosted with Knol. The boundaries we've defined are those that both comply with legal requirements and that serve to enhance the service as a whole.

Please respect these guidelines. From time to time, we may change our content policies so please check back here.

Guidelines

PORNOGRAPHY, ADULT CONTENT, AND OBSCENITY:

  • Pornography, Nudity, and Sexually Explicit Material: We do not allow image or video content that contains nudity, sexually graphic material, or material that is otherwise deemed explicit by Google, unless it is used as a relevant illustration for a medical or educational knol.  If your knol does contain appropriate adult or explicit material, please mark the page as containing mature content as a courtesy to other Knol users, so that they will have the choice of viewing or not viewing this content.  You can do this either in the subtitle or in the opening paragraph of your knol.  We reserve the right to put such content, or any knol containing mature content, behind an interstitial.
  • Pedophilia, Incest and Bestiality: Users may not publish written, image, audio or video content that promotes pedophilia, incest and bestiality.
  • Commercial Pornography: We do not allow content that exists for the primary purpose of monetizing porn content or driving traffic to a monetized pornography site.
  • Child Pornography: Google has a zero-tolerance policy against child pornography, and we will terminate and report to the appropriate authorities any user who publishes or distributes child pornography, or who promotes material that is or purports to be child pornography.

HATEFUL CONTENT: Users may not publish material that promotes hate toward groups based on race or ethnic origin, religion, disability, gender, age, veteran status, and sexual orientation/gender identity.

VIOLENT CONTENT: Users may not publish direct threats of violence against any person or group of people.  We also ask users not to publish content that contains graphic violence.

COPYRIGHT: It is our policy to respond to clear notices of alleged copyright infringement. More information about our copyright procedures can be found here.

PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION: We do not allow the unauthorized publishing of people's private and confidential information, such as credit card numbers, Social Security Numbers, driver's and other license numbers, and other personal information that is not publicly accessible.

IMPERSONATION: We do not allow impersonation of others through our services in a manner that is intended to or does mislead or confuse others.

COMMERCIAL ACTIVITY:  You may use Knol to create articles for your business or to promote your lawful products or services that are not otherwise prohibited by our Content Policy or Terms of Service, unless you are in Cuba, Iran, Burma (Myanmar), North Korea, Syria, or Sudan.  There are some commercial uses we don’t allow.  We don’t allow pages that have the primary purpose of redirecting visitors, acting as a bridge page, or driving traffic to another website.  We also don’t allow Knol pages that have the primary purpose of profiting from displaying ads from any publisher network, such as pages created with little or no unique content that exist only to display ads.

UNLAWFUL USE OF SERVICES: Our products and services should not be used for unlawful purposes or for promotion of dangerous and illegal activities. Your account may be terminated and you may be reported to the appropriate authorities.

SPAM, MALICIOUS CODES AND VIRUSES: We do not allow spamming or the transmission of malware and viruses or anything that might disrupt this service or harm our users. Spam includes, but is not limited to, sites that fail to meet Google's quality guidelines due to the use or promotion of such techniques as cloaking, keyword stuffing, search engine spamming, and doorway or bridge pages.


Take Action

Flag inappropriate content

If you believe that someone is violating our Content Policy or our Terms of Service, please click on the “Flag inappropriate content” link on the Knol page or on the Comment that contains the objectionable content.  If you report abuse, we’ll review your report and take action if appropriate.

FAQs

What happens if a page doesn't meet the content policy guidelines?

If Google flags a page for removal, we cease serving it to the public. It may remain temporarily in a non-editable transitional state where it may be visible to its author. After some point, it may be deleted.  Some accounts associated with flagged content may be terminated -- see the Term and Termination section of the Terms of Service.

Will  you reinstate removed content?

Google generally does not reinstate removed content. However, if you believe your knols were taken down in error, you may send email to knolhelp@google.com.

My content was flagged and removed. Can you tell me specifically what content was not acceptable?

Under most circumstances we will be unable to provide individual explanations of why specific content was taken down. We cannot provide any instructions on what will make content acceptable, beyond referring you back to this Content Policy document, and pointing to the examples on our Best Practices page as describing "ideal knols". For general guidance on creating good web content, see Google's Webmaster guidelines.

Why are "Top Pick" badges added to or taken away from knols?

The Top Pick badges are placed by an algorithm, not an individual human's decision. All knols need to meet the minimum standards described by this content policy -- see here for more details.

Comments

why have i been flagged????

my article was flagged and so not displayed but no explanaton has been given.

Oct 28, 2009 12:24 AM
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presentation for school

I am wondering, if you can help me out with my presentation
it is about knol and I need some information to present this site..

thank you
Nawaf

Last edited Oct 24, 2009 2:23 AM
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My Knol is Missing

Hello,
I was working on my 3rd Knol earlier this evening. I had saved it seven times, and published it after the sixth time. I logged in to work on it some more, and it is completely gone from the listing of My Knols. I am very new at this, and am wondering where it went? Thanks, Angela

Last edited Oct 7, 2009 5:44 AM
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Content policy - Hateful content

I propose to add biological, social or economic condition as hateful topics.

This would include, for example, blue eyes, married or single, or poor as groups not to be targeted by hateful content.

I also could find no place to submit comments directly to knol administration.

Last edited Sep 16, 2009 5:57 AM
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My knoll is flagged and hidden from public display?

Top on my collection is written "This collection has been flagged and hidden from public display". What does mean and what is reason of flag?

Last edited Aug 25, 2009 4:54 AM
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My Knol is also flagged as soon as I created it..lol

There is something wrong with this knol stuff. I just created it and its flaged as soon as I saved it..lol..Extremely professional stuff by GOOGLE.Will you please Check my content??
And pls filter the content filter..ThankYou.

Last edited Aug 17, 2009 8:55 AM
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My knob has been flagged, why?

http://knol.google.com/k/event-supplies/seen-to-be-green/1us7bljj79fwj/1

There is nothing wrong with my content, i checked it against your guidelines. It seems your automatic filter is a bit over sensitive. Can you fix please? thanks.

Last edited Aug 14, 2009 12:01 PM
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Confused

I have a website that has 100% original content. I didn't publish the contents anywhere else except my site. Now my questions are:

1. Can I publish the same content [article] in knol?
2. If I publish it in article sites, can I still submit it in knol?

Thanks

Last edited Aug 12, 2009 1:42 PM
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Knol Flagged, didn't mean to publish yet

Hi,

I created a knol collection today, at this address:

http://knol.google.com/k/sam/flatwater-kayaking-basics/1ouffbv27753/8#

and published it with hardly any content, only so I could add another few unpublished knols to the collection. I'm working with a few co-authors, and wanted to make sure that they could see my collection structure... almost immediately, the published knol collection was blocked from public view. Is there any way I can get this knol reinstated? I want to keep it unpublished, and bring it out when it's full of useful content.

My other option is to delete it and create a new collection when I'm ready, but I'd rather not go that route.

Thanks,

~Sam

Last edited Jul 13, 2009 3:52 AM
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Knol Help
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