ℹ️ Community guidelines

Introduction

At Micro.blog, we believe there needs to be a line between the social network and the content at your own site. Your web site is your own, where you have the freedom to write about whatever you want, but a service like Micro.blog has a responsibility to build a safe community for its users.

Replies In The Micro.blog Timeline

The primary focus of the community guidelines will be replies posted to other Micro.blog users. Many great friendships and interesting conversations can start as an @-reply. We are committed to making Micro.blog a place where these interactions can happen. Unfortunately, abuse and harassment frequently come in the form of an @-reply from someone you don’t follow.

To combat this type of abuse and harassment, Micro.blog can help filter replies out of your timeline. Potentially harmful replies to you that are flagged will be separated from your regular mentions. You can also mute any user to hide their posts.

We may also curate replies to protect users when emerging problems are not automatically flagged. Replies and mentions will be subject to the basic community guidelines below. We will remove unsolicited posts that are intended to spam or harass Micro.blog users. We review all posts that are reported to the community manager by other users.

If you are being harassed on Micro.blog, or if you notice someone else being harassed, please contact the Micro.blog Community Manager at community@micro.blog. There is also a “report user” option in the three-dot menu on the user’s profile page. This will automatically send a report to us, but without any details. We will follow up with you if we need additional details. The Micro.blog team will keep the names of those who report harassment confidential.

Please refrain from calling out suspected community violations on the timeline itself. It can be interpreted as harassment, an attempt to silence another microblogger by threatening to report them.

Content in Posts

The community guidelines also apply to content that appears on Micro.blog. Our mission is to foster a community that values respect and open communication in an atmosphere that is free of abuse or intimidation. Blog content hosted by Micro.blog will be subject to the guidelines below.

The following will not be tolerated in @-replies or in posts (including photos) that appear on Micro.blog.

  • Hate speech: Content that attacks other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or disease. We will not host microblogs that disparage or incite harm towards others on the basis of these categories.
  • Threats of violence: You may not threaten violence towards others or use the platform to organize, promote, or incite acts of real-world violence or terrorism.
  • Harassment: Repeatedly targeting other people with unwanted @-reply messages.
  • Posting private information (aka doxxing): You may not publish or post other people’s private and confidential information, such as credit card numbers, street address, or Social Security/National Identity numbers, without their express authorization and permission. In addition, you may not post intimate photos or videos that were taken or distributed without the subject’s consent.
  • Illegal activities: You may not use our service for any unlawful purposes or in furtherance of illegal activities. International users agree to comply with all local laws regarding online conduct and acceptable content.

Spam Policy

Micro.blog is a service for individuals to share their writing and other creative endeavors. Organizations can also use Micro.blog to share news and information about their products, programs and services.

Unfortunately, the internet has become a place where entities, whether individuals or organizations, have taken advantage of the internet’s vast reach and inexpensive communications to automate account creation and posting in order to gain search engine placement for their product’s keywords. This kind of spam is a drain on Micro.blog’s resources. Its purveyors exploit an open system and a free account option that is intended for individuals who want to blog.

To protect our service from those who would use it for unscrupulous commercial gain, we delete spam accounts with a five-day warning via email.

Here are the things we consider to be spam

  • Building backlinks and publishing SEO-optimized articles that don’t offer any real value.
  • Repeatedly posting the same content.
  • Certain types of business in particular will be flagged for spam: escort services, bitcoin trading, casinos and gaming, multi-level marketing, medical treatments and prescriptions. This list of examples is not all-inclusive.
  • Contacting people on Micro.blog for commercial purposes without their consent.

Micro.blog has blocked search engine crawlers for free accounts, so there is no value in opening an account for pure SEO purposes.

Hosting spam accounts is the antithesis of our mission. We will be vigilant and proactive in shutting down such accounts when they are created. If you receive a notice from us that your account will be deleted for spamming our platform, you can appeal that decision by responding to the notice.

What Happens If Someone Violates These Guidelines

We recognize that the circumstances under which a violation has occurred will vary, and we will tailor our response to the situation that has been reported. We’ll review each abuse report on a case-by-case basis. In each case. The actions that we will take include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • A warning to discontinue behavior that violates the guidelines, with specific details on how the guidelines have been violated. Repeated warnings will lead to blocking and removal from Micro.blog.
  • Posting to Micro.blog-hosted sites will be temporarily or permanently disabled.
  • Specific posts will be blocked from Micro.blog.
  • Mentions will be hidden from the default timeline for a user.
  • Micro.blog account will be closed.

Thanks for helping us encourage a safe and welcoming community on Micro.blog. We’ll update these guidelines as needed.

3 Likes