Principles
- Assume good faith and address behavior, not identity
- Apply the least restrictive action that resolves the issue
- Document every action with the standard applied and the evidence
- Recuse yourself where you have a personal or commercial conflict
Escalation
Threats of harm, illegal content, or safeguarding concerns are escalated immediately to the policy owner and, where required, to authorities.
Confidentiality
Moderators keep reports, member information, and deliberations confidential.
Records
Moderation actions and appeals are logged with timestamps and retained under the Data Retention Policy.
Changes to this document
We may update this document as our services, technology, and legal obligations evolve. Material changes are published with a new version number, an updated effective date, and a summary of changes in the version history below.
Continued use of our websites, products, services, experiences, or communities after an update takes effect constitutes acceptance of the current version.
Contact
Questions about this Moderator Guidelines may be sent to our legal and compliance contact through the contact form on this site. Please reference the document title and version number.
- Legal & compliance requests: use the Contact Legal link on this page
- Privacy and data rights requests: see the Consumer Privacy Rights policy
- Accessibility accommodations: see the Accessibility Statement
Review notice
This document is a high-quality draft template prepared for review. It is not legal advice and no guarantee of compliance is made or implied. Final responsibility for legal sufficiency rests with the organization's licensed legal counsel.
Interested in moderating?
Moderators are trained volunteers and staff who keep our spaces healthy.