Community Guidelines

Entry posted by Harper in Community March 12

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Ditch the Label Community Guidelines

Ditch the Label's mission is to connect individuals together so that they can build community and share powerful advice and support. In order to achieve our mission, we believe that it is of the utmost importance for us to ensure that our community remains a safe and positive space for all members. These Community Guidelines outline our expectations of behaviour within the community and also details our strategy for keeping you safe and delivering you the best possible experience. All users are asked to familiarise themselves with our Community Guidelines. Violations, whether intentional or not, can result in account warnings, reduced access, bans, and in serious cases, may be reported to external authorities such as the Police.

We periodically update these guidelines and would encourage you to check back fairly regularly. If you have any questions or comments, please contact a member of staff who will be happy to help you.

About This Community and Who It's For

This community is operated by Ditch the Label, a global youth charity. It is built specifically for young people aged 13-25 and is available worldwide. Unfortunately we are unable to accept members aged 25+, unless considered a vulnerable adult. We are always happy to advise on other support services for people outside of this age range.

Registration and Personal Information

Registration and participation is free. The information you share with us in the public forum is publicly accessible. The information you share via our Confidential Support feature is confidential. Ditch the Label mentors will always maintain the utmost level of confidentiality, unless we suspect that either you or somebody else is at immediate risk of harm. In order to keep you safe, you must not disclose any personal information on this platform or to any users other than official Ditch the Label support mentors, shown with a purple username. This information includes but is not limited to:

Your full name, specifically surname
Your email address
Your phone number
Your address or location beyond closest city
The name of your school or college
Any third party social media handles

In addition, we allow you to use a personal avatar and profile header image, however, these images must not be of you. This is to maintain your privacy and safety.

We do permit public figures to use an image of themselves and their full name on our community, but these accounts must be verified by Ditch the Label. You can find out more about verified partner and staff accounts.

You can read more about personal information and why we have these rules in place here.

Freedom of Expression and Abuse

Our support community is a safe space for all users to express themselves and to talk about topics that are important to them on a judgement-free platform. We operate the strictest level of moderation in order to protect users and their protected characteristics; including but not limited to:

Race
Religion
Sexuality
Gender identity
Disability

Any content posted on our platform that is considered abusive or disrespectful towards other users and/or protected characteristics will be removed and may result in an account ban. Content that is considered to be bullying, harassing, intimidating or defamatory falls under this policy and is not allowed on our platform.

Disruption of the Peace

One of the things that makes our community so unique is the atmosphere and positive environment for our members. We do not allow content or members on the community who disrupt the peace or negatively impact the experience of other users. This disruption is often gradual and can include, but is not limited to: spamming, posting of distressing content, creating conflict and arguments, insulting other members and dominating the space. Our moderators are trained to use their discretion to manage any sort of disruption, to ensure that all members have equal access and have positive experiences. If you are concerned or feel discouraged from participating because of another member, please confidentially direct message a member of staff or a digital mentor and raise your concerns.

Age Appropriateness and Prohibited Content

Users are reminded that our platform is used by people from the age of 13 and are asked to consider the age appropriateness of content posted. Whilst we allow swearwords, slang and frank conversation, we may choose to moderate such content from time-to-time to ensure that it remains appropriate. Content that is strictly not allowed includes, but is not limited to:

Soliciting for money, fundraising, gifts, digital currency, donations or other tangible or digital goods from users or Ditch the Label staff
Illegal content
Pornography
Abusive or threatening content
Doxxing/personal information
Spam
Links to unapproved third parties
Rumours, defamation and slander
Content in violation of third party intellectual property rights
Promotion of underage drinking and/or illicit drugs
Sexual role play or role play that is deemed against the spirit of these guidelines.

Healthy Debate

We recognise that users will have disagreements from time-to-time and we ask that all debate is respectful and does not progress to conflict. You may choose to ignore/block other users at your own discretion and report content if you believe that it is in violation of these guidelines.

Anti-Flooding and Spam

We operate a strict policy against spam. Any bot accounts found to be spamming or posting automated threads will be permanently banned. We also operate an anti-flooding policy and encourage members to post in a way that is coherent and easy for other members to understand - for example, by typing everything you want to say in your response in one post and not multiple. Ditch the Label moderators may at times choose to hide posts or add account restrictions to users who 'flood' the Community with a lot of posts in a short period of time. This is never to discourage participation but to ensure that the Community remains a calm space for all members and to ensure that support is given equally to all.

Account Sharing and Multiple Accounts

We do not allow members to share their accounts with other people unless in exceptional circumstances - for example, if somebody you know is at risk and unable to create their own account in a way that would be discreet or safe for them. In such cases, please make sure you let a member of Ditch the Label Staff know. Otherwise, it is important that you keep your account safe, with a strong password and 2FA to ensure that your confidential messages and posts remain yours and yours alone. We also do not allow multiple accounts - if you would like to change your username, you can do this in your user settings. We do not allow multiple accounts as this makes it harder to track individual support requests and ultimately duplicates the workload if a similar support request is submitted more than once by one member.

Discretionary Account Suspensions

We reserve the right to temporarily suspend accounts for any reason beyond those outlined in these guidelines. When we do this, we will always contact you via email to explain why. We may also request an identity verification check and ask you to supply us with a form of ID to prove that you are who you say you are and are within the age guidelines that this community is intended for. In these cases, we process this documentation with the strictest security protocols and delete it from our systems as soon as the verification process is complete. These checks may be done at random and form part of our overarching Safeguarding Policy and commitment to maintaining a safe space for all of our members.