Example Social Media Community and Forum Policies

These example policies are for websites and apps that need a set of policies that are both fair and respect privacy.

These policies are specifically for communities that do not let people be jerks. If you let people be jerks, these policies may not be for you since they prohibit behavior that jerks engage in.

For example, the cookies section would need to be rewritten if your site has cookies. The sections concerning sharing information would need to be rewritten if you share information with third parties. If you process information differently than what is explained in the privacy policy, you would need to change that portion of the privacy policy. If users cannot move their account to another server, you would have to delete that section in the Community Rules.

If you use a privacy-respecting fediverse software, that supports moving user accounts to another server, it is likely you would not have to change these example policies much.

Example Terms & Community Rules

These are example policies for fediverse communities.

For example, some features, such as being able to migrate your account to another server may not be available in your software. Or you may wish to have different moderation policies. Or need or want to change the age restrictions.

• Community Rules
• Terms of Service
• Privacy Policy
• Risk Assessment
• Soliciting & Promotion Policy

When viewing the source tab of each policy, you can copy the Markdown version of the policy, which will preserve the formatting that we used. It has some HTML intermingled with the Markdown, but most Markdown compatible systems support HTML.

Speech and Moderation Policy

These policies are optional, but it is a good idea to inform people of your moderation style. That way there are no surprises when moderators enforce the rules.

There are multiple ways to handle moderation in a community.

• Protective: Some communites have a protectionist stance, where the needs of the community are more important than people outside of the community. The community is specifically designed to be a safe space for people in their tribe.
• Neutral: Other communities have a neutral stance, where the rules are interpreted the same way regardless of whether they are part of the chosen community or not. They often attract a diverse set of people with a divese set of opinions.
• Open Debate: Other communities have a free speech or open debate stance, where anything legal is allowed, even if it is offensive to some people. This usually attracts people who like to debate issues and let the most pursuasive argument win.
• Anything Goes: And some communities embrace offensive speech and attract like-minded people. These communities are often blocked by other communities since their posts would violate the Community Rules on their servers.

Any of these moderation styles are fine. It is your community, which means it is your rules.

Thanks to decentralized social media, people can move to another server with rules of their liking, or may operate their own fediverse server. And people can block servers, people, and content that they do not like or want to see.

Please choose a moderation policy that is consistent with your style of moderation.

• Speech & Moderation Policy (Neutral Version)
• Speech & Moderation Policy (Protectionist Version)
• Speech & Moderation Policy (Open Debate Version)

It is best to pick the one that most realistically describes your stance on community moderation. That way participants on your server will understand the rules and how they are applied.

We have not created example polices for "anything goes" communities since all of our policies prohibit being a jerk. You will need to write your own policies if they are not consistent with our example policies.

Attribution

You are not required to give us credit for these example polices, but we would appreciate it if you do.

If you significantly modify our polices, you should say so. Also, if you remove certain provisions, like the concept of not being a jerk, or allow hate speech, we ask that you remove any attribution to us.

NO WARRANTY

THE INFORMATION IS PROVIDED “AS IS”, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT.

IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE INFORMATION OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE INFORMATION.