We want to be good party hosts! This means more than having a good spread on the table and beer in the fridge, though. It means a lot more! It means making sure everyone feels safe and welcome at the party. It means

No Punching Down

While it’s not necessarily always clear which direction is ‘down’, generally speaking, if you’re a white, heterosexual, cis-gendered, affluent, neurotypical man in Europe or a territory colonized by one or more European countries, giving someone attitude for not being one of those things is kind of a dick move, and while there are plenty of parties out there that welcome dicks of all shapes and sizes, this isn’t that kind of party.

You’re free to disagree with whomever you please, but always remember to check your privilege before getting vocal about it, and to mind how you’re speaking up to someone who may be reacting to circumstances with a very different load of baggage than you’re carrying. The facts and details of other peoples’ lives and experiences are not topics for debate. If someone is describing an alien experience to you, you can take it as an opportunity to listen and to try and understand, or to walk away from the conversation. Haranguing or harassing someone by JAQing off (repeatedly asking questions in bad faith) will result in an account suspension.

Speaking of which…

No Harassing Others

This should go without saying, but trying to continue a conversation after you’ve been asked to back off, following other users from discussion to discussion in an effort to get their attention, or otherwise attempting to extend your interactions with another person after they’ve made it clear (to any reasonable person) that they’re no longer interested in interacting with you is unacceptable behaviour.

Just, like, in life. But also here. Don’t do it.

No Doxxing

It’s a type of harassment, and we just covered that.

Include Alt-Text Descriptions of Posted Visual Media

Please include descriptions of any photos, images, or videos that you post in the media’s caption field. To access the caption field, right-click on the file in the post editor and select “Add caption”.

No Bigotry

This is covered above, but it’s worth making explicit. This is an explicitly anti-racist, anti-homophobic, anti-transphobic, and anti-fascist party. The knowing use of slurs or other derogatory terms for or related to vulnerable or marginalized groups, or members there of, will not be tolerated. Benefit of the doubt will be short lived.

If you cannot respect that, you’ll be shown the door.

No Nazis

No classical Nazis, no neo-Nazis, no tiki-Nazis, no khaki-Nazis, no Nazis-in-suits. This also includes organizations, groups, and individuals who don’t call themselves Nazis, but still are. If you’re not sure if you’re a Nazi or not, you should probably leave, too. You really should be rather certain that you’re not a Nazi, if you’re not, and so should the people around you.

No Tankies

No promotion of or playing apologetics for auth-left ideologies or regimes.

No Promotion of Self Harm

Trying to convince someone else to self-harm or to commit suicide is a crime. It’s also just a really shitty thing to do. Shitty people don’t get invited to parties.

If you’re currently experiencing suicide ideation or fantasizing about harming yourself, you’re welcome to talk about your experiences, and you’re encouraged to seek help! Consider using content warnings when discussing your own experiences with self-harm, as a courtesy to others who may also be struggling with self-harm or suicide ideation, or who have lost loved ones to depression.

Consider Using Content Warnings

Content warnings are not mandatory, but they’re greatly appreciated. If you have something to share that you think will be difficult for others to see, especially members of vulnerable or marginalized communities, or people who have suffered trauma, you’re doing those people a kindness by giving them a warning about what you’re presenting.

Content warnings should be meaningfully descriptive, so that users can give informed consent to viewing your shielded post. Using content warnings to misinform others about what you’ve placed below the fold will be considered abuse and harassment, and you’ll be asked to leave the party.

No Misinformation, No Anti-Science

People are wrong all of the time. I’m wrong, you’re wrong, we’re all wrong. But there’s a difference between being mistaken and purposefully spreading misinformation. Willfully misinforming others, refusing to listen experts, attempting to discredit the scientific consensus with LinkedIn grade pseudo-scientific gibberish, linking to long-discredited hobby sites, or refusing to provide supporting evidence for claims that dismiss the scientific consensus just makes you a giant party-pooper, and we want to keep the party rockin’.

Avoid Using Link Shorteners

The text field here is plenty big. You have plenty of space. Meanwhile, link-shorteners obscure the content that is being shared, and can be used to track users without their consent or knowledge.

No NFTs, No Crypto, No MLMs

Get a job. Somewhere else.

No Advertising or Spam

You’re welcome to promote your own personal work or services, commercial or otherwise, but if you make a living directly exploiting someone else’s labour, keep it to yourself.

In fact…

No Capitalists

Not to be confused with commerce, which is the exchange of goods and services, capitalism is a political-economic framework where owners of property extort and exploit people without property to generate wealth, while paying them a fraction of the value of the wealth they generate. Capitalists are people who own things for a living. They’re people who employ others to make money for them, and who need not do any labour of their own to make ends meet.

That’s not to say capitalists don’t have jobs. A great many of them do, it’s just that those jobs tend to involve using the power of their equity to make other people do what they want.

If you make more than enough to pay for food, shelter, and basic comforts through investments, through employing others, or through owning other peoples homes, you’re not welcome at this party. Though, I’m sure you have fancier places to be, anyway.

No Cops

No employees of any law enforcement or intelligence agency, or of any agency that is empowered to use the state’s monopoly on violence against residents.

No Flooding

That is, don’t try to fill the Local or Federated timelines with posts. This is a communication platform, and flooding is a type of communication jamming. Don’t do it.

No Sexually Explicit Content

This one’s a hand-me-down from the media storage providers. Posting sexually explicit content will get our media hosting shut down.

No Content that is Illegal in Canada or the United States

There are plenty of things that are ethical but illegal, but this isn’t a secure place to discuss them. There are also plenty of things that are unethical and illegal, and they’re not welcome here.

There are also lots of things that are unethical and totally legal, and you can fuck right off with those, too.