Community guidelines

Why these guidelines exist

Dium hosts communities called Flows. Inside a Flow, members start Waves (questions, discussions, AMAs, live sessions and announcements), reply to each other, and send direct messages. Sponsors, exhibitors, speakers and partners can have their own Pages.

These guidelines apply to everyone on Dium, in every Flow. Flow owners can add stricter rules for their own community, but they cannot allow anything these guidelines prohibit. They sit alongside our Terms of Service.

Our aim is simple: people should be able to ask a question without being attacked, and the answers they get should be honest.

What we expect

• Be kind, even when you disagree. Argue with ideas, not people.
• Answer honestly. If you are not sure, say so.
• Say when you have a stake. If you work for, are paid by, or sponsor something you recommend, say it in the same post.
• Respect privacy. What someone tells you in a DM stays in that DM unless they agree otherwise.
• Follow the extra rules your Flow owner sets.

What is not allowed

Do not post, send or link to:

• Illegal content, or content that helps someone break the law.
• Child sexual abuse material. We have zero tolerance, remove it, ban the account and report it to the relevant authorities.
• Intimate images shared without consent, including fakes made to look real.
• Harassment and bullying, including pile-ons, repeated unwanted contact and threats.
• Hate that attacks people for who they are, such as race, ethnicity, religion, disability, gender, sexual orientation or national origin.
• Violent threats or praise for violence against real people.
• Spam, including bulk DMs, repeated posts, and fake engagement.
• Undisclosed sponsorship: promoting something you are paid for, or work for, without saying so.
• Vote and answer manipulation: trading helpful marks, using extra accounts, or paying for best-answer marks.
• Impersonation of a person, company or Dium staff.
• Doxxing: sharing someone's private information, such as a home address, phone number or private email.
• Sharing DMs without consent to embarrass or target someone.
• Malware, phishing or scams, including fake job offers in execution Waves.
• Content that infringes someone else's copyright or trademark.

Extra rules for sponsors, exhibitors and partners

• Your Page and sponsored Waves must make clear who you are. Do not make claims you cannot back up.
• Contact members only when they have engaged with you, for example by messaging you or visiting your Page. No bulk cold DMs.
• Do not ask for or offer anything in return for best-answer marks or helpful marks.
• Follow the partner and sponsor terms.

Who enforces what

Each Flow is run by its owner and the people they appoint (organizers, admins and moderators). They handle most day-to-day moderation in their Flow. Dium staff handle platform-wide actions, illegal content, and appeals.

Flow owners choose their own moderators and can set stricter rules. If you think a Flow's moderators got it wrong, you can appeal to Dium (see below).

How to report

Inside the app

Use Report on a Wave, reply, message, member or Page. Pick a reason (spam, harassment, inappropriate, misinformation or other) and add details. Reports go to the Flow's moderators and to Dium admins. Anyone signed in can report. To stop abuse of the report button, each person can file up to 10 reports a minute.

Reporting illegal content

Anyone, signed in or not, can email [email protected] [confirm the inbox for illegal-content notices]. So we can act, please include:

• A clear explanation of why you believe the content is illegal.
• The exact link (URL) to the content. Add a screenshot if the link is private.
• Your name and email address. You do not need to give these when reporting child sexual abuse material.
• A statement that you believe, in good faith, that the information in your notice is accurate and complete.

We confirm receipt of every notice, review it, and tell you what we decided and how to challenge it. [confirm target time to confirm receipt, e.g. 2 business days]

Copyright and intimate images

Copyright notices go to our designated agent: [DMCA agent name, address and email, registered with the US Copyright Office]. Requests to remove intimate images shared without consent go to [email protected] with the subject line "Remove intimate image". [COUNSEL: confirm TAKE IT DOWN Act process and 48 hour removal commitment]

What happens when rules are broken

We match the response to the harm. Most problems end at the first or second step. Severe violations skip steps.

1. Warning

   A moderator reviews a report and sends a warning. Nothing is removed.

2. Content hidden or archived

   A reply is hidden, or a Wave is archived so no one can add to it.

3. Removed from a Flow

   A moderator mutes the member, which removes them from that Flow. Other Flows are not affected.

4. Account suspension

   The account is suspended across all of Dium. See how this happens below.

5. Permanent ban

   For severe or repeated harm. Severe violations, such as child sexual abuse material or credible threats, skip straight to this step and may be reported to authorities.

How account suspension works

Flow owners, organizers and admins can flag a member they believe is harmful. Flags are counted across all of Dium:

• 5 flags from different flaggers automatically suspend the account. No person reviews this step before it happens.
• A flag from a Flow owner or organizer suspends the account immediately.
• A flagger can take back their own flag before the threshold is reached.

When an account is suspended, its Waves are archived, its replies are hidden, its direct messages are removed from view, and it is blocked on other sites that use the same Moat identity. A Dium admin can restore the account, which un-archives its Waves, brings back its replies and lifts the block.

[Confirm policy: one Flow owner's flag currently suspends an account across all of Dium. Keep it, or change the code so it applies only within that Flow]

We tell you why

When we or a Flow's moderators restrict your account or content, you should get a notice that says:

• What was restricted (for example, a hidden reply or a suspended account), and for how long.
• The facts we relied on, and whether it started from a report, a flag, or our own review.
• Whether an automated step was involved, such as the 5-flag threshold.
• Which rule or law it was based on.
• How to appeal.

[Confirm how these notices are delivered today (email, in-app notification) and build the notice if it does not exist yet]

Appeals

If you think a decision was wrong, email [email protected] with the subject line "Appeal" within 6 months of the decision. Tell us which account or content it was about and why you disagree.

• A person at Dium who was not involved in the original decision reviews every appeal.
• We reply within [target, e.g. 14 days].
• If we agree, we restore your account and content.

Appeals about trust scores or best-answer marks follow our correction policy. [COUNSEL: list out-of-court dispute settlement and court options for EU users]

Changes to these guidelines

We will post changes here with the date. For big changes, we will tell Flow owners by email at least [notice period, e.g. 30 days] before they apply.

• September 28, 2026: first version.