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Website League Community Code

Website League Community Code

Last updated: January 25, 2025.


Table of Contents

Part I.  General Rights and Duties of Users 1

Part II.  Abuse and Harassment 4

Part III.  Privacy and Legal Compliance 5

Part IV.  Node and League Integrity 5

Part V. Other Prohibited Material 6

Part VI.  AI-Generated Material 8

Part VII.  Adult Material 9

Part VIII.  Tags and Content Warnings 10

Part IX.  Other Behaviours to Avoid 11


Part I.  General Rights and Duties of Users

Rule 1. Duties and Rights of Users and Prospective Users

1-1. Anyone using the Community Code shall interpret it per the Interpretive Code.

1-2. No one shall become a User if they are younger than the effective age of majority.

1-3. Users shall, as far as they reasonably can:

(1). follow the Community Code in their interactions with other Users;
(2). resolve conflicts amongst each other without escalating them such that Node Staff need to intervene; and
(3). use technical measures available to them, such as muting and blocking, to end or halt disputes which cannot be resolved but which do not inherently violate the Community Code and which do not threaten the well-being of the League and its Users.

1-4. Users should report to the relevant Node Staff any conduct which violates the Community Code.

1-5. Users should use their Node’s “report” function to make reports. However, Users may use other channels to make such reports if they determine that such channels would be more appropriate.

1-6. Users may appeal any moderation decisions taken or implemented against them.

 
Rule 2. Duties and Rights of Node Staff

2-1. Node Staff shall adhere to the Community Code in a manner which does not take inappropriate advantage of their status as Node Staff.

2-2. Node Staff shall uphold the Community Code on their Node.

2-3. Node Staff on each Node shall cooperate to arrive at whichever additions to the Community Code are appropriate for their Node.

2-4. Node Staff may make additions to the Community Code applicable only to their Node, which:

2-5. Node Staff shall cooperate with other Node Staff both within and outside their Node in capacities including:

2-6. Node Staff shall ensure all custom emoji, icons, and other imagery offered by their Node adheres to the Community Code.

2-7. Node Staff shall respect members’ privacy. This includes:

2-8. Node Staff, in enforcing new or Node-specific Rules which are likely to be unintuitive to some Users, shall exercise a degree of leniency appropriate to Users’ current understanding of those Rules.

2-9. Node Staff shall encourage Users to resolve disputes socially or use User-side moderation tools to mitigate or prevent conflict wherever such is reasonable and will not endanger any Users.

2-10. Node Staff may take whatever action on their Node they determine to be necessary to uphold the Community Code or maintain the well-being of the League, including:

2-11. Node Staff may use automated tools to assist in detecting potential violations of the Community Code on their Node; however, Node Staff shall not allow automated systems of any kind to make moderation decisions.

2-12. Node Staff should evaluate all meritorious appeals of moderation decisions diligently. Regardless, Node Staff may dismiss appeals summarily if they believe such to be appropriate.

2-13. Node Staff may apply whatever discretion they determine to be necessary to enforce the Community Code, including using moderation responses to actions which are not literal violations of the Community Code.

2-14. Node Staff shall prioritise their own obligations, health, and well-being above the health of their Node when one must prevail over the other.

2-15. Node Staff shall discourage, and may take measures to prevent, the development of practices in the community which aim to circumvent the technical restrictions set out in Rule 3-8.

 
Rule 3. Duties and Rights of Node Operators

3-1. Node Operators shall not take inappropriate advantage of their status as Node Operators.

3-2. Node Operators should facilitate the work of Node Staff by providing access to moderation tools including:

3-3. Node Operators shall make all reasonable efforts to keep their Node accessible and operational for registered users.

3-4. If a Node Operator is unable to keep their Node accessible and operational for registered users, the Node Operator shall clearly communicate such to the Node’s Users.

3-5. Node Operators shall keep their Node operating in compliance with the Community Code.

3-6. Node Operators shall clearly state on a portion of their Node’s website which is accessible to non-Users the following information:

(2). that direct messages, private mentions, and similar “private messaging” features can be viewed by Node Staff, where a Node accepts sign-ups; and
(3). the effective age of majority for the Node.

3-7. Node Operators shall comply with all software licences applicable to the software running on their Node.

3-8. Where such is possible in a Node’s existing server software, Node Operators shall ensure that their Node does not make available:

 

Part II.  Abuse and Harassment

Rule 4. Bigoted and Oppressive Conduct

4-1. Users shall not post hateful or violent rhetoric directed toward any group of people based on race, ethnic or national origin, caste, sexual orientation, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or disease.

4-2. Users shall not act in a manner which has the effect of enacting, entrenching, or advancing bigotry or violence based on race, ethnic or national origin, caste, sexual orientation, gender or queer identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or disease.

 
Rule 5. Other Harmful and Violent Conduct

5-1. Users shall not abuse, harass, or threaten others. This includes:

Part III.  Privacy and Legal Compliance

Rule 6. Privacy

6-1. Users shall not disclose the private information of anyone without their consent, including:

6-2. Users shall not post intimate photos or videos of anyone without that person’s consent, including:

6-3. Users shall not harmfully impersonate others in a manner that is intended to, or does, mislead, confuse, or deceive others.

6-4. Users shall not publish or link to material which they know is likely to damage or disrupt another person’s network devices or infrastructure (including computers and phones) or compromise their privacy, including malware.

 

Part IV.  Node and League Integrity

Rule 7. Users’ Role in Protecting the League

7-1. Users shall not sell access to the League or any Nodes in unintended ways, including registering accounts with names the User believes might become valuable in the future for the purposes of selling them later.

7-2. Users shall not attempt to interfere with the technical operation of any Node or the Website League itself.

7-3. Users shall not evade bans (whether on one node or League-wide) or otherwise create multiple accounts with any intent to circumvent the moderation actions of Node Staff.

7-4. Users who suspect that any Node or the League has any technical issues which could impede the safe operation of the Node or the League should contact the relevant Node Staff or others who are in a position to remedy the technical issues.

7-5. Users shall not post material which implicates themselves in conduct which, if encountered by law enforcement or regulatory authorities in any relevant jurisdiction, might result in the User being subjected to sanctions against their liberty or other legal rights.

7-6. Users shall not post material the presence of which on a given Node might result in any relevant Node Staff being investigated by said authorities or being compelled to participate in any legal proceedings.

7-7. Users shall not post material which is illegal in any relevant jurisdiction or use the Website League to conduct or facilitate activities illegal in any relevant jurisdiction.

7-8. Users shall not post any material which could induce liability for the posting User or any Node or its Node Staff on grounds including defamation, copyright infringement, or dissemination of trade secrets.

 
Rule 8. Node Staff’s Role in Protecting the League

8-1. Unless prohibited from doing so by law in any relevant jurisdiction, Node Staff shall remove from their Node any material:

8-2. Node Staff may prevent their Node from caching or otherwise storing material posted on other Nodes which falls within the terms of Rule 8-1 with respect to either the originating or receiving Node.

8-3. Node Staff may take moderation or reporting actions with respect to material of the sort described in Rules 7-5 through 7-8 including:

 

Part V. Other Prohibited Material

Rule 9. Disinformation, Misinformation, and Malinformation

9-1. Users shall not post material that actively glorifies or promotes:

9-2. Users shall not post misleading material that would be likely to cause physical harm, which includes:

(1). harmful misinformation about world events, including:

(a). pandemic denial;
(b). genocide denial; and
(c). conspiracy theorism;

(2). other material which appears to provide medical advice which is in fact harmful;
(3). material which is likely to mislead people into unintentional property damage or injury; or
(4). material which is likely to mislead people into endangering themselves in the face of natural disasters or other natural phenomena.

9-3. Users shall not post material that interferes with the integrity of public office elections, at levels including:

which includes material designed to intentionally suppress, intimidate, or confuse voters.

 
Rule 10. Spamming, Fraud, and Grift

10-1. Users shall not engage in spamming, which includes:

10-2. Users shall not promote any products, services, investments, or business opportunities related to blockchain technologies unless they unambiguously do not fall into any of the categories listed at Rule 10-1(5).

 
Rule 11. Material Requiring Exceptional Enforcement Measures

11-1. For the purposes of this Part, "child sexual abuse material" means:

11-2. Users shall not post child sexual abuse material on any Node, regardless of whichever local laws are applicable to that Node or the User posting.

11-3. Node Staff shall:

11-4. Node Operators shall permanently break federation with any Nodes which fail to respond to any attempted posting of child sexual abuse material per Rule 11-3 within a reasonable period of time.

Part VI.  AI-Generated Material

Rule 12. Obligations of Users Posting AI-Generated Material

12-1. Users shall not post material produced by “off the shelf” generative models (”AI-generated” material) to the Website League without labelling it:

12-2. Users should tag partially AI-generated posts as being “AI-generated”.

12-3. Users shall not:

Part VII.  Adult Material

Rule 13. General Rules on Adult Material

13-1. For the purposes of this Part, “adult material” means:

13-2. Users shall ensure that any adult material they post is posted using technical measures allowing other Users to have it be hidden by default.

13-3. Users shall not post adult material on their profile picture or header image.

 
Rule 14. Material to which Additional Requirements Apply

14-1. Users shall not post sexually explicit non-photorealistic visual art of characters who are, or are apparently, minors.

14-2. Users shall not post art which Node Staff determine could be reasonably interpreted to be of a suggestive nature involving minors without a descriptive, clear content warning.

14-3. Node Staff may take moderation measures including deletion with respect to any material that falls within the scope of Rule 14-2, whether it has adequate content warnings or not, if they determine that such is necessary.

14-4. Users shall not post written material discussing sexual experiences involving minors, including when the minor in question is or was the User posting, which constitutes any of the following:

 

Part VIII.  Tags and Content Warnings

Rule 15. Obligations of Users Respecting Tags and Content Warnings

15-1. For the purposes of this Part, “sensitive material” includes:

15-2. Users should apply descriptive, clear tags to any posts containing sensitive material.

15-3. Users shall apply descriptive, clear content warnings to any posts containing:

 
Rule 16. Rights and Obligations of Node Staff Respecting Content Warnings

16-1. Node Staff may take measures to remedy posts containing sensitive material with inadequate content warnings including:

16-2. Where a Node’s software does not permit addition or modification of content warnings by Node Staff, Node Staff may summarily delete posts containing sensitive material made with inadequate tags or content warnings if they determine that the circumstances are too urgent for them to wait for the posting User to edit the post themself.

16-3. Node Staff shall take measures to prevent posts containing the material described in Rule 15-3 from being displayed to Users without adequate content warnings, including hiding the relevant post.

16-4. Node Staff may take moderation actions such as deleting the relevant post(s) or banning the relevant User in the event of repeated or particularly severe breaches of Rule 15-3.

Part IX.  Other Behaviours to Avoid

Rule 17. Reposting and Attribution

17-1. Users shall not post or repost other people’s material without attribution. Furthermore: 

17-2. Users shall only post the contents of private conversations where it is compatible with the Community Code. For clarity:

17-3. If the creator of any given material reasonably requests the removal of any of their material posted on the Website League, Node Staff may perform such removal if the reposting User does not.

17-4. Node Staff may ban accounts on the basis that their primary form of posting is unsourced reposting.

17-5. Node Staff may take whatever moderation actions they determine to be necessary and proportionate to stop patterns of infractions of Rules 17-1 and 17-2.

 

Rule 18. Discretion with which to Address Patterns of Detrimental Conduct

18-1. Node Staff may limit, suspend, or ban any User for reasons outside the Community Code or any given Node’s rules when a User’s conduct is determined to be detrimental to the well-being of the League or any given Node. Examples include:

18-2. In applying Rule 18-1, Node Staff should usually avoid discouraging arguing, snide remarks, and overt displays of anger against other Users. However, Node Staff may take administrative and moderation action against Users with an excessively frequent or intense pattern of such conduct.

18-3. Users should make use of user-side safety tools such as muting or blocking as a first-line response. However, Users should report any patterns of conduct as described in Rule 18-1 which appear to them to be excessively intense, protracted, or otherwise severe.

18-4. Node Staff shall not interpret Rule 18-1 as permitting excessive policing the tone of users or ignoring the context in which remarks are made.

18-5. Node Staff shall apply Rule 18-1 with a conscious, active awareness of the way in which their moderation actions might have discriminatory or bigoted effects regardless of intent, and shall actively consider the immediate, historical, and societal context surrounding any conduct which they perceive as potentially warranting action per said Rule.