1. Guiding principle: open, but not without limits

We want a space where different people feel welcome: trip reports, discussion, culture, niche humour, and controversial topics are generally fine, as long as no one is harmed and democratic values are not trampled on.

We take cues from well-run Fediverse instances: little moral policing, a lot of trust in the community — but firm action when content or behaviour dehumanises or threatens others, or when the platform is abused as a vehicle for hate or extremism.

2. What we do not tolerate

• Hate speech and group-based hostility: no incitement to violence, no criminal incitement to hatred against groups, no systematic demeaning of people based on characteristics such as origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or comparable categories — regardless of “irony” or memes.
• Political extremes: no propaganda or organising for extremist, anti-constitutional, or violence-oriented movements (regardless of direction). Factual political debate is allowed but is not really what this platform is for.
• Harassment and threats: no targeted mobbing, doxxing, stalking, or repeated provocation aimed at intimidating others.
• Illegal content and security risks: no instructions or promotion of criminal acts, no malware, no circumvention to harm third parties.

3. Respect, discussion, and sensitive content

Content that may be distressing to others (e.g. explicit sexual material, violence, traumatic topics) does not belong here.

4. Trips, articles, comments, and community features

User-generated content should be factual, fair, and respect third-party rights. In particular:

• no deliberately false ratings or manipulation of feedback;
• public trip plans may be viewed and copied by others; private plans are visible only to invitees;
• invitations and friendships are your own responsibility — in conflicts, reporting helps more than escalation.

Disclaimer:

• Mostly Harmless does not guarantee the accuracy of user-generated content
• Travel planning is at your own risk
• You are responsible for booking and carrying out your trips
• Mostly Harmless is not liable for damage due to force majeure or system outages

5. Spam, advertising, and automation

Bulk messages, unsolicited advertising, and purely commercial accounts with no benefit to the community are unwelcome. Do not load technical interfaces in ways that harm stability or other users (no aggressive bots or crawlers against the operator’s wishes).

6. ActivityPub and federation

Content may become visible in the Fediverse. We may limit or block instances that systematically spread hate speech, illegal content, or large-scale abuse — similar to how many instances maintain moderation lists. Where reasonable and proportionate, we document specific lists and decisions in a traceable way.

7. Moderation and sanctions

Please use the in-app reporting paths or the contact form. We follow a common tiered approach: notice or warning, temporary restrictions, temporary ban, permanent ban — depending on severity, repetition, and context. Banned accounts may appeal; we respond within a reasonable time with understandable reasons.

8. Technical note on logs and data

For security and abuse handling, limited technical metadata (e.g. IP addresses) may be retained for a bounded period. Details, retention, and your rights are in the Privacy Policy.

Deletion and privacy:

• Users may delete their mostlyharmless.travel account at any time.
• Mostly Harmless may suspend mostlyharmless.travel accounts for breaches of these rules.
• When an account is deleted, personal data is handled in line with the GDPR. Content already published to the Fediverse may continue to exist on other instances.

9. Changes to these rules

We may update these community rules when services or legal requirements change. We announce material changes with reasonable advance notice (typically at least one week) so you can adjust.