Conduct and Content

Conduct and Content Standards

[Note that this is a full version of the condensed list of Server Rules posted on the Certified.Social Mastodon server instance. It should be considered authoritative in regard to the Terms of Service.]

Updated: 20 November June, 2023

IMPORTANT: Anyone involved in posting content to a Certified.Social Client account, especially the main account holder, should and is expected to take several minutes to read these Conduct and Content Standards (also known as the “rules”). By using the Site and holding an account on this Server (i.e. being a Certified.Social Client), you are agreeing to be bound by and to abide by these Standards. If you do not agree to these Terms, you should not use the Site or Server. You may think you know all the rules of decent conduct, but please don’t risk missing something specific to the Certified.Social server.

Enforcement will be deliberately and diligently and equitably applied at the discretion of our staff. Our goal is to resolve any rules violation within 24 hours of its discovery in a fair and equitable manner, assuming good faith on your part. If you are a victim of any rules violation, we will be equally aggressive within our capabilities in protecting you.

Certified.Social reserves the right to delete a Client’s account or content at any time for any reason, according to our Terms of Service. Certified.Social may also issue warnings to the client as warranted. At our discretion we will give a Client adequate time and instructions to export their data before an account is deleted. Upon account deletion Certified.Social will refund the pro-rated balance of the current year’s membership fee, minus a termination fee. We believe such an action, which we hope will be rare on this server, is not an example of “cancel culture” but rather of “consequence culture“.

Clients and prospective Clients may contact certifiedsocial@protonmail.com to request clarifications or ask questions about any of these rules. These rules apply to both public and private messages posted on this server. Advocating or encouraging of any of the below behavior on this Mastodon server or others is grounds for suspension or removal of your Certified.Social Client account. Engaging in such activity on other Mastodon servers, other social media, or other public outlets may still be grounds for having your Client account here suspended or terminated.

Our Moderation Approach

There is no such thing as absolute free speech in any public forum. From the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution to the holiday dinner table, as a society or community we always decide that certain topics or modes of speech stand as exemptions. The question, then, becomes a matter of degree and number and nature of those exemptions. This is an often delicate and complex balancing act — Popper’s Paradox of Tolerance serves as one example.

Certified.Social would like to grant its clients the widest latitude possible for expressing themselves and their opinions. We assume good faith on the part of our Clients, understand that everyone slips up sometimes, and will work with you to resolve any problems. That said, we have no tolerance for abusive speech, endorsement of discredited ideologies and baseless conspiracy theories, calls for violence, hate speech, promotion and advertising of questionable products and services, etc. We believe that even with these exceptions, detailed below, there is still plenty of room for open discourse, humor, respectful disagreement, and good-faith debate on controversial subjects.

As one of many Mastodon servers in the Fediverse, Certified.Social has the ability to block certain other servers and individual users and content on them at its discretion. This form of moderation will as a matter of course reduce the size of your audience significantly in comparison to lightly moderated platforms like Twitter or Facebook. At the same time, the outcome should allow you to focus your attention on a higher quality audience more likely to share your core values. We understand that some readers may fret that this architecture will create “filter bubbles” and “echo chambers”. However, Certified.Social is happy to exist in bubbles without fascists, confidence artists, bigots, state-sponsored disinformation agents, and other trolls and bad actors who are allowed to post without consequence on centralized forums that take a “free speech absolutist” approach.

Constructive criticism regarding our standards is welcome from current and potential clients. We will be glad to discuss individual instances of rules violations directly with our clients via Private message, e-mail or phone, but please note that we enforce the spirit as well as the letter of the rules. Attempts at rules-lawyering or at weaponizing our standards (e.g. claiming “reverse discrimination” based on one of them) will fail. Please read our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy for more details and legal definitions.

Finally, before we get to the specific standards, some general but non-binding guidelines on posting.

  • Certified.Social clients tend to be high-profile individuals with a disproportionate influence on public opinion. Please remember: with great power comes great responsibility.
  • Your Certified.Social account carries your good name. Try to make each comment substantive and meaningful and reflective of your authentic self. If you post a link to a video or image, please frame it with your own comments and give credit to creators.
  • Avoid offering unsolicited advice on lifestyle choices and practices, especially concerning parenting, food, health, sex, drugs, and employment.
  • We all make mistakes. A real and sincere apology goes a long way in redressing them.
  • Start by assuming good faith on the part of other members of this server and the Fediverse.
  • Choose kindness and understanding and empathy.
  • If you’re going to take a shot at a person or a group, try to “punch up” at the powerful and privileged rather than “punching down” at the vulnerable or marginalized.
  • Avoid posting spoilers for current TV shows, movies, games, music, etc. for any reason.
  • Be cool and — per the Mastodon ethos (and Bill and Ted) — Be Excellent to Each-Other.

Conduct Standards

  • One primary personal and/or Mastodon account per Client/user on this server. You may maintain other accounts on other Mastodon servers, but Certified.Social accepts no liability or responsibility for any consequences accruing from activity under those accounts. However, Certified.Social may at its discretion terminate the Client’s Certified.Social account based on activity contrary to these standards that occurs in other public venues.
  • No stalking or harassment of or unwelcome sexual attention toward any user on this or other servers. This includes simulated physical contact (e.g. textual descriptions or emoticons) without consent or after a request to stop. If someone asks you to stop interacting with them you are expected to stop. Do not attempt to circumvent blocks of your account, including creating new accounts on other instances. If you are the victim of such attacks please let us know as soon as possible. You can report a user by pressing the “…” button and then “Report.” For urgent concerns, please send a private DM to @admin@certified.social or e-mail us at certifiedsocial@protonmail.com.
  • Don’t engage in or encourage harassment, bullying, victim-blaming, brigading, dogpiling, or threats or violence directed at anyone, including but not limited to users on this and other servers. We understand the difference between serious threats/wishes/encouragement of harm on the one hand and hyperbole on the other, and reserve the right to make the distinction in any given case.
  • Do not attempt to re-center discussions concerning marginalized or persecuted people around the feelings or priorities of more privileged people. Express support and solidarity with the suffering of specific groups, but not at the expense of or via the mischaracterization of other groups. Criticism of others is fine, but when possible try to show some understanding and don’t make it all about you.
  • Consider the complexity of a situation or topic before issuing a simplistic comment on it. While there are often situations where right and wrong are clear, there are just as often ones where over-simplying is not helpful.
  • Do not repeat yourself, post walls of text, copy-paste generic talking points, or engage in sealioning or “JAQing off” or similar bad-faith or fallacious tactics. After three decades on the Internet, our staff has seen it all.
  • Do add Content Warnings (CW) on posts that you feel may not be appropriate to and/or trigger some users. This includes everything from TV/film/game spoilers to discussions of sensitive subjects like abuse, trauma, depression, and suicide. Please see below for posts that always require CWs.
  • When interacting with others, please be as respectful as to their stated choice of pronouns, honorifics, and names.
  • Do not make assumptions as to anyone’s mental state, race, gender, ethnicity, religious beliefs, group affiliation or sexual orientation or identity without corroboration. [thanks to BoingBoing.net for this excellent guideline]
  • Do not post statements or material that might be defamatory or considered slanderous or libelous to individuals or organizations. Lèse-majesté is explicitly excepted from the this rule. Express your opinion, but if you’re making a serious accusation back it up with supporting evidence. By holding an account on the Certified.Social Mastodon server you agree to indemnify Certified.Social and its Parent Corporation from any resulting legal action in any jurisdiction and to take full responsibility for the statement upon yourself.
  • No impersonation of other individuals, public figures, or organizations unless clearly marked as a parody.
  • All realistic AI-generated and edited and/or “deepfake” video or audio content (“synthetic media”), including embedded content, must be clearly disclosed and labelled as such in the comment in which it is posted. No posting or re-posting of synthetic media of public figures (defined as any individual 18 years of age or older with a significant public role, such as a government official, politician, business leader, or celebrity) endorsing any product or service or violating any Certified.Social’s other Conduct and Content Standards as listed here, unless clearly labelled and identified as parody. Absolutely no posts or re-posts of synthetic media of any individual under the age of 18 or that contains the visual and/or audio likeness of any real private figure (i.e. an individual not meeting the definition of “public figure” above).
  • No “doxxing”. Do not post the e-mail addresses, phone numbers, home addresses, or personally identifiable information of individuals (especially those who aren’t public figures) for any reason. Do be considerate when re-posting  or linking to publicly available information about an individual.
  • Do not post as your own any content that you do not own or have the right to post. Do not post or link to hacked or stolen materials or link to content making use of such materials. Per our Terms of Service, we take DMCA takedown requests seriously and may at our own discretion remove or hide posts that are the subject of such requests after contacting you. We believe that posting fair-use content (e.g. image memes, parodies, etc.) is acceptable and will do our best to defend such posts on your behalf.
  • Do not post any general medical or legal or financial advice unless you are a credentialed or certified expert in the field. We also ask that you consider carefully recommending any exercise or fitness plan. Please also see the list of prohibited products and services below, which apply to all Certified.Social Clients.
  • No bots or auto-posting scripts, please. Certified.Social is for humans!
  • No scraping content from the Site’s or Server’s Web interface or API.
  • Avoid posting URL-shortened links that obscure the target link.

Content Standards

  • No racist, sexist, casteist, ableist, ageist, homophobic, or transphobic content or support for such positions. No discrimination based on physical appearance, body size, ethnicity, sexual minority or sexual orientation, neuro(a)typicality, religion (or lack thereof), or national origin. No anti-immigrant or Identitarian or incel/”Manosphere” content. No discrimination against sex workers. No kink shaming or “slut” shaming.
  • No anti-Semitic content or support for such a position. Critiques of Israel and Zionism are permitted within the rules above, but please post with care to avoid any suggestion of anti-Jewish sentiment or of analogies between Israel and Nazi Germany.
  • Avoid talking points that might be associated with TERF or anti-trans positions. This include linking to mainstream press articles or reports that might feed into anti-trans or TERF “concern trolling”. In particular, issues surrounding transitioning young people struggling with and addressing their gender identity are highly personal and private matters; unless you yourself are trans or are in the process of transitioning, we ask that you refrain from sharing or linking to any general concerns you or others might have about gender-affirming medical treatments and similar issues. If you have any doubt, there is no doubt.
  • No incitement of violence or terrorism or promotion of inherently violent ideologies (e.g. fascism, Stalinism, Identitarianism, etc.). This includes a ban on encouraging violent insurrection against or irregular transfers of power within the government of any liberal democracy, including (but not limited to) the U.S., Canada, the UK, Australia, Germany, and France.
  • No promotion of self-harm, body dysphoria (e.g. anorexia, bulimia), abuse, or sexual assault. If your post touches on these topics in good faith, you are encouraged (but not required) to apply a Content Warning and/or provide a link to a support site.
  • No promotion of baseless conspiracy theories (i.e. no conspiracism) or pseudo-science. Examples include but are not limited to election fraud claims, QAnon “theories”, Blood Libel style canards, anti-vaccine (“anti-vaxx”) denialism, anti-mask and pandemic denialism, climate-change denialism, flat-earthism, “crisis actors”, “white genocide”/”Great Replacement”, Satanic panics, etc.
  • Do not post content that is illegal in the following countries: United Kingdom, Germany. This includes (but is not limited to) Nazi and neo-Nazi symbolism and Holocaust denialism. Denying or downplaying the severity or scale of any documented genocide is also prohibited.
  • No disinformation regarding public health or public safety issues, about the climate emergency, or about political or military campaigns. Do not spread unsubstantiated rumors concerning military conflicts.
  • No religious or spiritual proselytizing. You are welcome to share the joy and comfort  that your belief system (or lack thereof) brings to you personally, but please do not attempt to use your account on this server to sell others in the Fediverse on joining your faith or to insist that they live by its rules and precepts.
  • Van Halen Rider Provision: a check if the Client or their representative has reviewed these standards thoroughly. You may be asked about this, and the answer is “purple Smarties”.
  • Images and videos of gore, torture, blood, severe injury, or graphic violence and images intended to gratuitously shock or disturb are strictly prohibited. Potentially disturbing images and videos presented in good faith should be protected with a Content Warning (CW).

Pornography, Nudity, and Sexually Explicit Content

Any such content in any form (including but not limited to images, videos, animation, cartoons, and drawings) must be posted Unlisted and/or with age 18+ Content Warnings (CWs) and/or sensitive media markers. Sexually explicit content must not be used in user avatars or header images. Please note that none of this precludes adult entertainment performers from being members of Certified.Social. Please note that we respect the FOSTA-SESTA act insofar as imposing consequences for user content that explicitly promotes or advertises sex trafficking, but do not take the position that engaging in legal and consensual sex work is equivalent to sex trafficking.

Meaningful and intentional consent is a core value on Certified.Social. Absolutely no depictions of sexual activity involving children and minors or non-anthromophized animals (furries are welcome), child nudity, or other content depicting or endorsing non-consensual sexual behavior. This includes depictions of simulated activity of the preceding nature via such means as animation, cartoons, synthetic media, etc.

Advertising and Promotion Content Standards

Certified.Social understands that selling or promoting or endorsing products and services is an integral part of many of our Clients’ careers. You may promote goods and services that you believe in or personally use in your posts or in boosts, with certain exceptions (see below). You may post ads from companies who sponsor you or who you partner with as a spokesperson or compensated endorser, but the ad always must be framed by a direct reference to your relationship with the company and should include the #ad tag. Do not post ads, compensated or not, from third-party partners or sponsors you do not have a business relationship with. Do not post spam or SEO-gaming content. Please do not make compensated promotions or endorsements the bulk of your comments.

Fundraising is allowed, with the exception of soliciting donations for your own personal or corporate use. Calls for donations to political campaigns or political parties are fine as long as the cause in question does not conflict with the letter or spirit of these Standards.

The following product and service categories and/or the companies that sell them may not be advertised or promoted or endorsed at all for direct sale in Client account content or boosted/reblogged on the certified.social Mastodon Server. Categories noted with an asterisk (*) may be advertised, promoted or endorsed on platforms or venues outside the Mastodon Fediverse without automatically resulting in Client account termination on Certified.Social:

  • Firearms, mace, tasers, and other lethal and non-lethal weapons (purpose-designed tools like everyday carry pocket knives are OK.)
  • Any indigestible or injectable or inhalable or dermatological/topical substance not approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration or any product or substance which claims unproven health benefits.
  • Any medical devices or courses of treatment.
  • Any diet or nutritional regimen or plan.
  • Controlled substances, tobacco products, vaping/smoking products, or gambling sites and apps not legal for direct sale in a jurisdiction in which the Client account holder or their corporate entity is physically present in at the time of posting the content on Certified.Social.*
  • Any financial security, stock or bond not regulated by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission or Treasury. This includes but is not limited to cryptocurrencies, NFTs, crypto-tokens, DAOs, and derivative products thereof.*
  • Any multi-level marketing business program.*
  • Any timeshare real estate products or services.*
  • Any payday loan or reverse-mortgage products or services.*
  • Any media or products that promote content or behavior otherwise banned under Certified.Social’s content standards.

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