Netiquette on WG-Gesucht.de: These are our rules of conduct for communicating and advertising

The most important thing in a nutshell:

• Insulting, racist, sexist, and discriminatory wording and content as well as threats are not permitted in ads and messages.

• WG-Gesucht.de is a platform for offering and searching for accommodation. Using our platform for advertising purposes, classified ads or dating is against the terms and conditions.

• Ideally, please answer all messages. However, always consider why another person may not be able or willing to reply.

• Respect and politeness are the basis for dealing with other users and with our team.

• If you are insulted, block the user, and report him to us instead of becoming abusive yourself.

• Violations of the rules of conduct will be punished. Depending on the severity or previous abnormalities, a warning, a temporary suspension, or a permanent ban are possible.

Only if everyone keeps to a fair and respectful tone, a friendly atmosphere is possible. Therefore, several rules of conduct for communicating and advertising are applicable on WG-Gesucht.de. Insulting, racist, sexist, and discriminatory wording and content as well as threats are not permitted in ads and messages. In addition, the following applies:

Be respectful and polite

The sound makes the music. EVERYONE deserves to be treated politely and with respect, even if you do not share the same opinions. Always start your first message with a salutation. Address the advertisers by their first names or family names depending on how they indicated their names themselves. Correct spelling and grammar are also important. Do not capitalize every letter. Please always remember that any message can be reported to our team. If you insult another user, we will have to block your account. If another user is abusive to you, block the person instead of being abusive as well. It does not matter who started it - if both users violate our netiquette rules, we unfortunately must block both accounts. This also applies if the contact was made via our platform and the insult is sent via WhatsApp, for example.

Take the other person's perspective

Looking for accommodation can be frustrating, especially if you do not get any replies. We therefore ask all users – people offering and people searching for accommodation - to reply to messages, even in the case of a rejection. For example, you can use our template function to reject an application. But please also try to be understanding if you do not receive a reply. Perhaps the other person is currently under exam stress or ill? You should also avoid contacting an advertiser just to point out that the rent is expensive. Maybe the advertiser is just passing on his landlord's default. If questions arise, answer them only if you feel comfortable doing so and, if necessary, explain why you do not want to answer a particular question. As a rule, please always think about how you would feel if you received a message as you are formulating it.  

Stick to the essentials

WG-Gesucht.de acts as a platform for offering and searching for housing. Even if a request is very appealing, please only contact others if you really have suitable accommodation to offer. Not because the person "smiles so sweetly" and you would like to "have a coffee sometime". Users on WG-Gesucht.de are looking for tenants or accommodation and not for new partners. WG-Gesucht.de is also not a classifieds portal or suitable for advertising other products. Should you discover an ad or receive a message that does not relate to accommodation search, please report it to us. You can find the "Report" function for ads at the bottom of the page and for messages via the three dots on the right above the message field.

This is what happens when the netiquette rules are violated

Unobjective, insulting and transgressive content in messages or ad texts is not compatible with a fair and respectful tone. In the interest of all users, we therefore reserve the right to punish the violation of our netiquette. If we receive a corresponding report, a quality assurance employee checks the incident manually. This employee then decides how to proceed. Depending on the severity of the violation or previous abnormalities, a warning, a temporary suspension, or a permanent ban are possible. The account concerned will be informed about the respective measure by email.

On our own behalf

We always try to listen to our users' concerns. A salutation, an exact description of the problem and the indication of your name are the prerequisites for good communication. If you have a problem with your account, you should either write directly from the registered email address or include your email address and/or ad number in your message. This will save you and our colleagues a lot of time. Furthermore, our Customer Care team processes all enquiries chronologically. Writing to us more than once does not speed up the process. The first message is the one we see and deal with first.

Please keep to the netiquette - so that everyone feels comfortable on WG-Gesucht.de. Thank you very much! If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact our Customer Care team at kontakt@wg-gesucht.de.