It seems like a good idea to codify something more specific than the front page summary of “Be respectful, and don’t spam.” That’s the gist of it, but here’s some specifics:
1. Be Respectful.
1.1. Don’t attack or flame others. Make an effort to find civil and respectful ways to express your disapproval.
1.2 Don’t be a troll. Don’t post stupid things just to get a rise out of someone. Rustle jimmies somewhere else.
1.3. Don’t be a bigot. Do not make offensive generalizations about groups of people. This explicitly includes, but is not limited to, racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, and xenophobia.
1.4. Don’t use slurs. If a word is broadly considered to be very offensive, then do not use it. Allowances will be made for quotations and other appropriate uses.
1.5. Don’t post explicit content to places that are not meant for it. It is not acceptable to post pornography where people would not reasonably expect to see it.
1.6. Don’t upload explicit content. Link to content uploaded somewhere else, instead. Please be respectful to the instance host, by not exposing them to legal liability for hosting strictly-regulated media.
1.7. Don’t abuse privileges. Moderators who are using their power maliciously or as a joke that degrades others’ experience of the instance may have their privileges revoked.
1.8. Don’t promote or endorse violence. Don’t threaten to harm others. Don’t celebrate injury or death or war. Don’t encourage self-injury or suicide.
1.9. Don’t post obviously illegal things. No CSAM. No drug sales. Et cetera. This is a zero-tolerance policy. Discussion of emulation and piracy is explicitly allowed, but do not upload or directly link to illicit content.
2. Don’t spam.
2.1. Don’t make bot accounts. Not unless you have prior approval. Ask the admins before you make a bot account of any kind.
2.2. Don’t post with inhuman frequency. Otherwise you will be assumed to be a bot.
2.3. Don’t post the same thing repeatedly. No one likes having to scroll through a lot of identical posts or comments.
2.4. Don’t astroturf. Paid trolls and astroturfing bots are not welcome here.
2.5. Don’t post machine-generated content without identifying it as such. It’s okay to share generative AI content, but don’t try to pass it off as having been made by a human.
2.6. Don’t post surveys, adverts, or personal GoFundMes. Don’t ask for people’s money or information without prior approval from the admins. Sharing crowdfunding links or information about adverts, as opposed to marketing or asking for money for personal use, is allowed.
2.7. Don’t promote scams or fraud. Obviously. Do not try to trick others with MLM or rug-pull crypto schemes.
Offenders may be warned and offending content may be removed, and severe or multiple offenders may be banned.
Individual communities may have their own rules that they enforce, in addition to these instance-wide rules. Moderators of individual communities are expected to enforce the instance-wide rules in addition to their own.
I’m here to create a space for discussion. I’m not here to ruthlessly moderate what you post. You’re not going to be punished for letting off steam every now and then. Use your judgment, be reasonable, don’t go overboard, and we should be fine.
If you have questions or suggestions, feel free to comment here or to DM an admin.