Please post Community Guidelines somewhere prominent

Having the community guidelines be more prominent was brought up in a post 4 years ago https://support.khanacademy.org/hc/en-us/community/posts/360076310612-People-having-to-search-for-guidelines, but that post is now closed to comments, and it seems that nothing was done.

Bumping this. Any way I could communicate with you offsite? Email?

Thanks for sharing JaniceHolz! Yes I definitely agree that our guidelines could be a lot more visible.

We're working on some guidelines updates currently (updating the actual content of them), but I'll bump these visibility issues as well!

Thanks, Evan.

I made a related post a few minutes ago:

https://support.khanacademy.org/hc/en-us/community/posts/37471991001101-Is-copying-without-citation-in-an-Answer-against-KA-Guidelines

It might be useful in the Guidelines to state the purpose of each type of post, then give specifics.  For example, maybe the purpose of a Question post is to get help in understanding the course material.  If that is the purpose, we can extrapolate that a post asking "how is this hard?" goes against the guidelines.

JaniceHolz Yes, that's something I added to the draft revisions! I also included info about the Tips & Thanks section, as well as how to report other issues such as technical issues, content mistakes, etc.

Yay!

I also often see someone posting unrelated things in someone else's question.  I dislike that because it makes it harder for OP to follow the thread that is supposed to be helping them with the course material, and it generates notifications to everyone in the thread.  However, I don't think it's clear whether that is against the guidelines.  Maybe that could be included as well, one way or the other.

JaniceHolz Thanks! I've made a note to add something about that as well.

Yay!  Revised guidelines are up!

The format and organization seem well-thought out and easy to read and understand.  Including direct links is terrific.

I appreciate the specific examples of personal information to not share.

Some of the new language about profile guidelines will be very useful, as I have seen nicknames in the past few months that I wondered about – now I know the nickname "SalKhan" (among others) was not ok.

A couple things we talked about are not in the new guidelines.  Are more revisions coming?

> Please remember to include guidance on the purpose of Questions, maybe something like "The purpose of a Question post is to get help in understanding the course material".

Also, why do some courses encourage the users to post discussion in Questions?? 

Big History Project "in the Questions Area below, explain why you think that claim is true or false" (https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/big-history-project/life/life-and-big-history/a/activity-claim-testing-what-is-life)

3rd grade Science (MATATAG) "You can join the conversation with other Khan Academy learners in the comment section below." (https://www.khanacademy.org/science/3rd-grade-science-matatag/x54502edf5ba25683:1st-quarter/x54502edf5ba25683:science-process-skills-1/a/closer-activity-making-predictions)

Encouraging non-question discussion in Questions seems like it will make it much more likely that users will make similar posts in other courses.  Could KA change those courses to have the discussion specifically in Tips & Thanks instead?

Other topics that might be good to include in the guidelines

Is it ok for a user to post practice problems?  Where? (I'm guessing Tips & Tricks and/or the Support Community, as well as in computer programs.)  {If a user posts practice problems elsewhere, which option do I select when flagging the post?}  

 - - - - - - -
Suggestions (in the order they appear in the guidelines):

"Give great answers"

• Could the guidelines instruct people to post responses as an Answer or Comment in the thread they are responding to? Sometimes a user posts a reply as its own Question. Sometimes they are responding to a recent Question, sometimes to an Answer or Comment from years ago. {How should I handle such posts? If I flag it with no comment, it seems unlikely the KA Guardian will understand what's going on.}

"Share your own tips and tricks for using Khan Academy"

• Please add "in the Tips & Thanks tab".  Otherwise this seems like it will lead people to continue posting tips in Questions.  (Am I correct that tips are only supposed to be posted in Tips & Tricks (or as a response)?)  (I know this is also discussed under "Use the correct forums", but that will probably be overlooked by many, so putting it immediately with the advice to share tips seems quite important.)

"Link to relevant Khan Academy content"

• it seems like there should be a footnote that those links will be auto-hidden until/unless approved by a moderator (unless internal links are no longer being auto-hidden, in which case the article about links should be corrected).

"Before asking a new question, do a quick search …" 

• It would be useful to give pointers on how to search.  Do you mean by looking through the first couple screens of Questions & Answers? If so, Recent, Top Voted, or both?  What about also suggesting they look in Tips & Thanks – after all, isn't that where helpful Tips are supposed to be posted? 
  (Eventually there could be a whole article on how to search for information on KA - including searching KA content, Help Center, and Support Community -- and this part of the guidelines could link to it.)

"Don’t:"

• Will there be a subheading for Don't plagiarize?
  I would include:

1. don't make a post that just copies part or all of the video description or transcript;
2. don't copy another user's Question, Answer, or Tip as a new Question [leave some leeway for people to respond to a new Question by copying – with credit – from another user's previous Answer or Tip, and to post another user's Answer – with credit – as a Tip];
3. always give credit for anything you copy from another source (whether another user, a website, or AI).

"Low-quality comments, spam, or nonsense"

• Is asking "Where will I ever use this?" or "Why do we have to learn this?" allowed?  [IMO, it gets really annoying] These posts happen many times a day in 6th grade math, and probably other courses as well.  If they are not allowed, I would include some form of them in the list.

"off-topic discussions"

• I am unclear as to whether discussions focused on learning are allowed on computer programs, even if they do not relate to that specific program.  For example, is it against guidelines for someone to ask me on my ContactPage program how I became a programmer?  Is it against guidelines for a user to ask on someone's HomePage program if they have tips for studying?  I'd like the guidelines to be clearer about this.
• Is it against guidelines to start a new topic in an existing thread?  I would prefer people don't, and it seems like maybe that would fall under "off-topic", but I don't think the guidelines are clear about it. (Maybe that is coming in the next revision?)

"Your username, nickname, and bio must follow all of the Community Guidelines."

• Does that mean that nicknames and bios that include stuff about religion can/should be reported?  Will the nicknames "I will send you to Jesus" [actual nickname I saw] and "I will send you to Satan" be treated the same?
• Please add how someone reports a profile that violates the guidelines (I do not see a way to flag a profile). Does it have to be through the Help Center? Would it be considered "Inappropriate behavior on Khan Academy": "Other inappropriate behavior"?

"Do not respond to the post yourself"

• Since it can take days or weeks for Flagged posts to be responded to, and since many users have never seen the guidelines, is it okay to make a response post that is just "KA Guidelines [link to these guidelines]"?
• {Sometimes someone posts a Question for which it is not clear if it is ok or violates the guidelines. For example, sometimes someone complains that they don't understand the video.  I think maybe the best is if I offer to help, but then if they say they don't want help I would stop responding and flag the Question.  Is that ok/recommended?}
• Sometimes the reason that a post violates the guidelines might not be obvious.  Is it ok for a user to make a comment such as "This is copied from CleverJane's Answer to TeddyBear's Top-Voted Question from 3 years ago." so that the KA Guardian will know what the problem is?  [I can get around that by using the form Evan gave me, but most users don't have that option.] 

"Was this article helpful?"

• Did 874 people already vote on the article in the last few days?  Or did the counter not reset when the article was updated??

------------------- 

I appreciate all the work that went into this revision.  I took 2-3 hours to compile this feedback.  I hope it is useful.

Also, why do some courses encourage the users to post discussion in Questions?? 

I've shared this with our team and have asked if the content teams can review/update these articles to suggest posting in the Tips & Thanks instead.

Is it ok for a user to post practice problems?  Where?

It's fine for users to post practice problems in the Questions, as long as they're posting on a relevant video/article. I think it's good to have some additional examples here for learners that are needing extra practice/help. If the problem isn't related to the content item, then you could flag---unrelated problems should be posted in the Study Group forum in the support community.

I think that is covered by this:

Irrelevant comments - Make sure your questions and comments are relevant to the subject area you're posting in. If your message isn’t directly related to the learning content on Khan Academy, please post it in the appropriate subforum within the Support Community

Sometimes a user posts a reply as its own Question. Sometimes they are responding to a recent Question, sometimes to an Answer or Comment from years ago.

If a user hasn't responded correctly, you can flag the post as "off-topic" and we will delete it. Usually it's pretty clear to us by the content that it was incorrectly posted.

It would be useful to give pointers on how to search.  Do you mean by looking through the first couple screens of Questions & Answers? If so, Recent, Top Voted, or both?  What about also suggesting they look in Tips & Thanks – after all, isn't that where helpful Tips are supposed to be posted? 

Agreed, I've shared this feedback. I usually suggest looking through the first couple pages of top-voted posts, plus any pinned posts.

Will there be a subheading for Don't plagiarize?

Yes, let me check on this. I made some changes to my draft revisions after sharing them and I think those changes were overlooked.

Is asking "Where will I ever use this?" or "Why do we have to learn this?" allowed?

I think this is generally fine, but the policies on duplicate posts still apply. So if there's more than one of these on a content item, the duplicates can be flagged.

I am unclear as to whether discussions focused on learning are allowed on computer programs, even if they do not relate to that specific program. 

Generally discussions on programs should be focused on that program itself, or other coding topics. We've been fairly lenient with this so it's hard to provide super specific rules since a lot of this has been a case-by-case basis. Basically we're just trying to avoid programs being used as "chatrooms" where groups of users are chatting about random stuff as if it was a private group chat.

Is it against guidelines to start a new topic in an existing thread?

Yes, users should post their own Question rather than posting a Comment about a different topic under another question. Is this a common thing? I've seen lots of off-topic Comment-type posts that should be flagged, but I can't say that I've seen many that are another topic but that are still helpful (even as a standalone question).

Does that mean that nicknames and bios that include stuff about religion can/should be reported?

Let me check on this. In the past we have not enforced that particular aspect of the guidelines for profile information, unless the content is inappropriate (which I think those examples you gave are).

is it okay to make a response post that is just "KA Guidelines [link to these guidelines]"?

Preferably not, just since this tends to create further arguments amongst users. Additionally, by not responding we're not giving any attention to these user's posts, which will hopefully help discourage the behavior. If it's a recent post that's flagged, it is typically reviewed in under 48 hours, so the user should be contacted by us within that timeframe.

Sometimes someone posts a Question for which it is not clear if it is ok or violates the guidelines. For example, sometimes someone complains that they don't understand the video.  I think maybe the best is if I offer to help, but then if they say they don't want help I would stop responding and flag the Question.  Is that ok/recommended?

In this case, perhaps you could flag the post and then ask them to repost a new question that is more specific? Some of these posts end up getting flagged by others or by our auto-flagger, so there's a chance you may apply the effort to try to help the user and the question could get deleted anyways. If the question is highly unspecific and not likely to be helpful to any other users as well, then it can be flagged.

Sometimes the reason that a post violates the guidelines might not be obvious.

In your case, I prefer you use the report form. But for others, yes, I'm fine with users commenting some additional context if it's necessary. 

Did 874 people already vote on the article in the last few days?

The counter does not reset when we publish changes to a support article

Thank you for your detailed and helpful response; I am going through it.

I notice you did not respond to some of my points and suggestions.  Are you planning a part 2 to your response?  If not, I can repeat those points.

Evan Lewis

I notice you did not respond to some of my points and suggestions.  Are you planning a part 2 to your response?  If not, I can repeat those points.

I have some comments & questions already; would you like me to wait until I can post them all at once, or post them as I have them ready?

(I'm feeling rather discouraged and frustrated, which has led to me answering fewer 6th grade math questions, meaning more go unanswered.)

Thank you for everyone who had a part in making a link to the Guidelines show up below the Question field in the discussion areas below videos & articles in the courses.  (That still doesn't put a link anywhere convenient for those who only respond to Questions, but it's a lot better than not having it there.)

-------------------- 

Evan,
I'm still unclear on how to apply the guidelines in quite a few situations I experience; will you be able to respond to more questions about the guidelines at some point?  Is there someone else I can ask?

JaniceHolz Sorry that I missed some things, that was not my intention :) Can you post your follow-up questions whenever you have a chance? I'm happy to look through and respond to those when I'm able to. I should have some more time next week.

Also, I did check with the team and we decided that the prohibition on religious/political content will not apply to profile information (nicknames, usernames, and bios), unless the content is otherwise inappropriate (profanity, inciting violence, etc.)

Thank you for the follow up on both points.  I'll try to post my follow-up questions by Tuesday so they're available for you when you have more time.

I'm sorry this is taking a while.  I had the first part of my follow up ready just now, then it disappeared.

Evan Lewis

I think I may have to give up on Khan Academy. It has become far too frustrating.

As far as I can see, hardly any flagged posts have been removed in the last 3-4 weeks (I tracked a few that I flagged within 3 hours of being posted, and all but one are still up and still flagged.)  I was trying to see if I was flagging the correct things, but I cannot tell if I am or not, since the ones I tracked have not been dealt with for so long.

When I tried to get support for correcting captions from KA's accessibility team, I got one response that ignored my questions, and no response to my follow up email.  KA talks a lot about transparency, but provides very little.

A learner in 6th grade math was frustrated that they gave the correct answer to a question in an Exercise set -- the one also given in the hints -- but it was still marked wrong.  I tried it for myself, found the same problem, and reported it.  KA staff said it was a known problem they are working on.  I asked "why is there no alert on the exercise so that learners don't get frustrated when they run into this known issue?"  The response was "I have shared this idea with the Learner product team to take into consideration."  That sounds like corporate speak to soothe someone and not actually do anything.  Again, no transparency.

I am still getting conflicting information from KA.  For example, I reported that one of my posts to Tips & Thanks did not show up, and Johanna D. responded that "Our system automatically hides hyperlinks in comments"
https://support.khanacademy.org/hc/en-us/requests/494675
However, the comment did not even have hyperlinks, it had timestamps.  I can think of no reason the KA system should hide those.

Often, when I get a response from KA, the person has misunderstood something central to the issue I wrote about.  I may sometimes miscommunicate, but I think I am generally fairly clear, and it seems that either KA hires people who do not comprehend well or they don't give them enough time to do their job properly.

The problems I have with my profile (where comments sometimes appear in random order) happens on multiple computers but apparently KA can't replicate it, so they want me to record something -- but I don't know what, since I never know the problem is going to happen until after it has, so do they want me to record every single comment I try to post?  (I tried to ask for clarification, but apparently I hit the wrong button, so the system thought the ticket was closed.  I am trying to reopen the ticket and get that clarification.)

The Top Voted Questions and Answers on many 6th grade math videos are a trainwreck, with sometimes off-topic Questions or Answers that are more than 2 years old being the first things displayed.  I thought I read somewhere that KA goes through the Top Voted Questions periodically.  

When I write clear and concise responses to Questions in 6th grade math, I get accused repeatedly of being a bot.

Trying to help others with Python Challenges is immensely frustrating because I can only test someone's code -- or even see the instructions for the step they are on -- if I am on the same step as they are for that challenge.  I'd go into detail as to what would work better, but I have little expectation KA would actually change anything.

I'm frustrated and find myself spending little time on this site in the last couple weeks.  Thank you for what help you have provided.  I wish trying to fix things here didn't feel so hopeless.

~ Janice

Evan Lewis

a) You wrote that you "asked if the content teams can review/update these articles to suggest posting in the Tips & Thanks instead" [rather than in Questions].
I sometimes come across these articles that have not been updated.  Is there a way I can help with this change by alerting someone when I find such an article, maybe by adding it to a list I share with you or by using Report a Mistake or ... ?

(I found such an article today in 8th grade math.)

b) 3 months ago, you wrote "If it's a recent post that's flagged, it is typically reviewed in under 48 hours, so the user should be contacted by us within that timeframe."  In July, I tracked some of the posts I flagged so that I could find out whether the posts I was flagging were actually considered inappropriate/off topic.  Out of 4 posts that I flagged within 2 hours of their posting, 3 were still present & flagged 18 days later.
Does that mean that they were still in the queue waiting to be reviewed?
Was mid-July just a particularly long wait for flags to be reviewed?

Thanks,
Janice

JaniceHolz If you come across these articles, could you please make a list and share them with me? I think we're much more likely to see these updated if I can provide the team with a specific list of articles vs. just general feedback. I've already shared this once but I'll bump the team on this again.

Without knowing which specific posts you flagged it's hard to say, but I'm guessing they were waiting in the queue to be reviewed for that long. From what I've seen, your flags have always been accurate. We had a huge influx of content at the start of August when schools started back up again, so there was a backlog of things to review. It's still true that most content is reviewed within 48 hours, but the relatively small portion of each day's content that doesn't get reviewed gets backlogged until things get caught up, which may end up being much longer.

I spent the past several days working on this and am happy to say almost everything is caught up now! Currently, with the exception of Answer type posts, the newest flagged content is from 2024. So anything you flag now should be reviewed pretty quickly (assuming it's a recent post that is flagged).

[First paragraph was posted October 14, 2025]
Thank you (and the other KA Guardians) for all your work in reviewing flags.  (Now that US schools are back in session, the garbage posts have gotten even more plentiful.)  And thank you for letting me know that from what you've seen my flags have always been accurate.  I sometimes spend quite a while going through the dozens of Answers to a Top-Voted Question, comparing the content and date posted, then flagging those which are redundant (or unhelpful).

Articles telling Learners to post in the comments rather than in Tips & Thanks:

• 6th grade math Volume with cubes of fractional side lengths "Do you have another way of finding volume when the rectangular prism has fractional side lengths? Tell us about it in the comments."
• Computers and the Internet PII (Personally identifiable information) "Do you have any questions about this topic? We'd love to answer—just ask in the questions area below!"