Community Guidelines

Community Guidelines

Last updated: September 17, 2026

SourceBoard exists to help people investigate sources, compare evidence, preserve useful context, and discuss information without turning uncertainty into manufactured certainty.

These Community Guidelines apply to posts, comments, replies, profiles, media, source submissions, reactions, cosmetic submissions, and other user activity.

1. Evidence before certainty

SourceBoard is built around provenance.

When identifying a creator, source, publication, location, date, or origin:

• distinguish confirmed information from speculation;
• provide supporting links or context when available;
• avoid presenting guesses as established fact;
• correct material errors when better evidence appears;
• do not fabricate screenshots, citations, publication records, or source trails; and
• do not intentionally remove context in order to mislead others.

A confident tone is not a substitute for evidence.

2. Do not manipulate source resolution

Do not attempt to manufacture an Accepted Source or Verified Source through:

• coordinated false comments;
• fake accounts;
• fabricated evidence;
• impersonation;
• misleading canonical links;
• edited screenshots presented deceptively;
• paid or coordinated manipulation;
• harassment of post authors or reviewers;
• reputation farming; or
• abuse of reports or appeals.

Good-faith disagreement about evidence is allowed.

3. Respect other people

Do not use SourceBoard to:

• harass;
• threaten;
• stalk;
• intimidate;
• encourage targeted abuse;
• shame or humiliate private individuals;
• coordinate dogpiling;
• repeatedly contact someone who has clearly asked to be left alone; or
• attack people based on protected or sensitive personal characteristics.

Criticism of ideas, claims, public work, or public conduct can be legitimate. Targeted abuse is not.

4. Privacy and personal information

Do not publish or solicit private personal information where disclosure would create a meaningful privacy or safety risk.

This includes, depending on context:

• private addresses;
• private phone numbers;
• personal email addresses;
• financial account information;
• government identifiers;
• passwords or authentication material;
• private medical information;
• non-public location data;
• private communications obtained without authorization; and
• information that could enable stalking, identity theft, or physical harm.

Publicly available information can still be abusive when aggregated or republished primarily to threaten, intimidate, or expose someone.

5. Impersonation and deceptive identity

Do not impersonate another person, organization, creator, journalist, moderator, SourceBoard staff member, or public entity in a deceptive way.

Parody, fan, commentary, or roleplay accounts should not materially mislead people about who operates the account.

6. Fraud, scams, and deceptive links

Do not use SourceBoard to distribute or promote:

• phishing;
• credential theft;
• advance-fee scams;
• fraudulent investment schemes;
• fake support;
• malware;
• malicious downloads;
• deceptive redirects; or
• knowingly unsafe links.

7. Spam and low-quality manipulation

Do not flood SourceBoard with repetitive, irrelevant, machine-generated, promotional, or manipulative content.

Examples include:

• repetitive comments with no source value;
• mass posting for points;
• artificial engagement;
• repetitive friend requests;
• copied replies posted across unrelated discussions;
• automated content that overwhelms human discussion; and
• promotional posts whose primary purpose is advertising rather than participating in SourceBoard's source-finding purpose.

8. Intellectual property

Do not knowingly upload or distribute content that you do not have the right to use.

When identifying or discussing a source:

• attribution does not create permission to reproduce a work;
• linking to an original source is generally preferable to re-uploading unnecessary copies;
• quote only what is reasonably needed for discussion or verification; and
• respect valid copyright or takedown decisions.

9. Sensitive and graphic content

Where SourceBoard provides sensitive-content labels or visibility controls, use them accurately.

Do not use graphic, sexual, violent, or shocking media merely to harass, threaten, or ambush other users.

Content that is lawful and genuinely relevant to source identification may still require warning, limited visibility, or additional moderation.

10. Sexual exploitation and non-consensual intimate content

SourceBoard does not permit sexual exploitation, sexual content involving minors, or non-consensual intimate imagery.

Do not request, share, trade, identify, or facilitate access to such material.

Content involving exploitation may be removed and escalated where legally required or appropriate for safety.

11. Harmful or illegal activity

Do not use SourceBoard primarily to facilitate serious wrongdoing, including:

• trafficking;
• exploitation;
• credible threats;
• violent criminal activity;
• distribution of stolen credentials;
• malicious intrusion;
• sale or distribution of clearly illegal goods or services; or
• instructions whose primary purpose is enabling imminent harm.

Contextual discussion, journalism, education, or documentation may be treated differently from facilitation.

12. Self-harm and crisis content

SourceBoard may limit, remove, or intervene on content that encourages, glorifies, or provides targeted facilitation of self-harm.

Good-faith discussion, recovery, reporting, and support are not prohibited merely because the subject is difficult.

13. Hate and dehumanizing abuse

Do not promote dehumanization, exclusion, or violence against people based on protected or sensitive characteristics.

SourceBoard may distinguish between hateful advocacy and contextual discussion, counterspeech, documentation, satire, historical analysis, or journalism.

14. Misinformation and disputed claims

SourceBoard is not a general-purpose authority that decides every contested fact.

However, SourceBoard may act when users intentionally fabricate evidence, impersonate sources, manipulate provenance, or present falsified material as authentic.

For ordinary factual disagreements, users should provide evidence and allow source history to remain reviewable.

15. Public figures and journalism

Public figures, companies, media organizations, and other public actors may be discussed critically.

Users must still avoid:

• fabricated evidence;
• false impersonation;
• targeted harassment;
• publication of unlawfully obtained private information; and
• knowingly deceptive source attribution.

SourceBoard labels do not convert allegations into established facts.

16. Reports

Use reporting tools for genuine concerns.

Do not submit reports primarily to:

• silence disagreement;
• retaliate against criticism;
• overwhelm moderators;
• manipulate source status;
• harass another user; or
• repeatedly relitigate a final decision without new information.

17. Enforcement

SourceBoard may respond to violations through actions including:

• warnings;
• labels;
• hiding or removing content;
• limiting features;
• reducing abusive visibility;
• restricting posting or comments;
• reversing manipulated rewards;
• reviewing source status;
• temporary suspension; or
• permanent account action.

Enforcement may consider severity, context, intent, repetition, harm, prior history, and cooperation.

18. Context matters

The same content may be treated differently depending on context.

SourceBoard may consider whether material is being used for:

• source identification;
• reporting;
• academic analysis;
• documentation;
• satire;
• criticism;
• abuse;
• harassment;
• exploitation; or
• evasion of enforcement.

19. Good-faith correction

Users are encouraged to correct mistakes rather than defend an incorrect attribution for reputation or status.

Good-faith error is different from deliberate fabrication.

20. Appeals and review

Where an appeal or review process is available, users should provide:

• the affected content or account;
• the decision being challenged;
• the reason the decision may be wrong; and
• any new evidence that materially changes the assessment.

An appeal does not guarantee reversal.