Peer-view is a free online resource for discussion and collaboration between researchers and academics of all disciplines. Users are able to post about their research, discuss topics of interest, or simply share their many musings with other academics on the platform. Peer-view was created and is managed by a team of researchers at UC Berkeley.

Site Structure

Users can create communities on Peer-view dedicated to any topics of their choosing. Users may then create posts in these communities and discuss with others in the comments section of posts. On community creation, users can choose whether the community allows for public posting or moderator-only posting. Public posting allows all validated users of the site to post in the community (e.g. forum). Moderator-only posting on the other hand only allows for posting by the moderators of that community (e.g. blogs). Communities may be public or private view; posts in public view communities can be seen by all visitors of the site, whereas posts in private view communities can only by those subscribed to the community. Subscription to private communities also requires permission from the communities moderators (see private communities below). In addition, verified users are able to create their own profiles on Peer-view by clicking on the Profile tab in the navigation bar. For more information on profiles users can visit the Help tab on the navigation bar after signing in.

Site Policies

To help protect our users, the following policies around accounts and content are enforced on the site.

Account verification

Users must create an account using their institution/work email. This is to prevent impersonation of users and to protect the data of other users. As an added layer of security users must also verify their accounts after creation by submitting their names and employment information post account creation. Verification is performed manually by the Peer-view team and may take up to 24 hours. Users may optionally upload any documents they feel may be helpful in validiting their identity. Examples include pictures of your employee/institute ID with current enrollment date, transcripts, enrollment verification letters. Please note that once your account has been verified all uploaded verification documents will be immediately deleted so as to protect your privacy. An account that has not been verified will be able to read the site as usual but will not have access to all its features. Unverified users will not be able to post, like, comment or report posts, and will not be able to subscribe to communities or moderate them.

Moderators

The site is designed to be self-moderated by the users. Each community is managed by a list of moderators who help to maintain it. Please note that moderators are volunteers so please be kind to them! For more information on site moderation, please log in and visit the Help tab on the navigation bar.

Private communities

On community creation, the creator will have the option of making it private. Posts on private communities are visible only to its subscribers. Users wishing to subscribe to a private community must apply to join and can only be allowed in by one of its moderators. It is possible to make a private community unprivate or vice versa only if all the community moderators agree to do so.

Content Moderation

Authenticated user may report inappropriate posts/comments using the Report button. In the case that a post/comment receives twenty reports in a span of a week, it will be temporarily hidden from the community and referred to a moderator. The post can be unhidden by a moderator of that community if they deem the content to be appropriate or deleted from the community permanently otherwise. Posts that have been unhidden by a moderator are protected from being re-hidden for a month. Users responsible for a deleted post will be suspended from posting on that community for a week. If a user is suspended three separate times from a community over the span of six months, they will be permanently banned from that community. Any user who is banned from three communities will be banned from the site.