Techlore’s communities are designed to be healthy, constructive places to discuss privacy and security. We want to accommodate community members at every step of their journey, regardless of their experience, knowledge, or threat model; and not act as gatekeepers that drive people away. Remember, our mission is to “spread privacy & security to the masses”
To that end, we expect everybody participating across every Techlore platform—including our forum, YouTube & PeerTube comments, Discord server, and GitHub—to abide by the rules outlined here. If you’re in our forum, please utilize the flagging system to help us moderate our community.
Rules 
#0
Every platform has its own guidelines you must follow. Ensure you are following the ToS for every platform you join.
#1
Create an environment where people aren’t afraid to speak and ask questions. This means: No flaming, personal bashing, excessive trolling, out of control arguments, insults, and similar behavior. If something gets out of hand, ping the mods and let them handle it. Don’t take moderation into your own hands unless you’re using the flagging system in our forum.
#2
Everyone deserves equal treatment and equal respect. No gatekeeping! Everyone is joining from different stages in their privacy journey, so instead of disrespecting others, share ideas and information with them to help them grow.
#3
To incorporate all ages and demographics, NSFW topics and content are strictly not allowed. This includes – but is not limited to – videos or images depicting sexual actions, whether real or illustrated; verbal descriptions of sexual acts; and any other discussions related to these topics.
#4
Discriminatory jokes and hate speech are not allowed. Hate speech is an attack on an individual or group based on their race, ethnicity, national origin, sex, gender, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, or disabilities.
#5
All illegal content is strictly prohibited. This includes (but is not limited to) illegal licenses or key generators, ‘cracked’ software, illegal media content, personal threats, and other such topics and behavior. It is of the utmost importance that the security and privacy community is completely disassociated with illegal activities.
#6
Respect the moderators and all moderator decisions. If you have an issue with a moderator decision, please submit a report with as many details as possible to our contact page. Do not argue with the moderator either in chat or in direct messages, nor make any attempts to circumvent any actions they have taken. Not respecting this policy may result in an immediate ban.
#7
Community bans apply across all Techlore communities. Do not attempt to circumvent bans on a platform like Discord by joining other Techlore-operated platforms like our forum, for example. Doing so will result in a permanent ban extension.
Additional Community Guidelines 
These aren’t strict ‘rules’ but general guidelines we expect you to follow when chatting in Techlore communities. We expect all our community members to act in good faith, and if you continually disregard our guidelines you may lose certain privileges in our community. Continually violating these guidelines may result in formal warns or bans!
#1
We expect members to follow a Burden of Proof model, where it’s the sole responsibility of the person making a claim to supply evidence of the claim. Ex. If you claim something is untrusted, you have to supply your reasoning & evidence for why you believe it to be untrusted. This allows community members to understand your reasoning and make educated assessments on the evidence provided, as well as engage in an open dialogue. Don’t expect others to do all this research, and don’t continually argue or disagree if you are unwilling to do so. It’s not others’ job to disprove you. It’s your job to provide evidence and proof.
#2
Avoid discussing controversial or offensive topics. While occasionally warranted, oftentimes topics like politics or religion distract from our goals of education in the privacy and security space, and those topics may be better served elsewhere. Consider whether the discussion fits the room topic, it may not be constructive in Privacy and Security, but may be well received in Chat, for example. More offensive topics including acts of violence, suicide/self-harm, or school shootings are always off-topic and should be avoided. Hate speech including racist, homophobic, sexist, or ableist slurs are always strictly prohibited pursuant to our rules above.
#3
Please avoid avatar/profile names that may confuse you with a moderator, admin, or another user. If we notice community members are confused by your profile choices, we’ll ask you to make necessary changes.
#4
We ask people to disclose conflicts of interest in relevant discussions. For example, if you develop a messenger and enter a thread discussing another messenger, we ask you to clearly disclose your conflict of interest to the community for transparency. We also discourage our platform being used by services to critique a direct competitor. For example, if you manage a VPN service, it is discouraged for you to open a thread criticizing another VPN provider. We want to avoid our platform being abused by services for self-gain, and we feel these criticisms should come from the community—not a direct competitor. If a service wants to criticize a competitor, it can always be done away from our platform.
Moderation Information 
The moderation team is given a lot of flexibility in their role to make our communities a great place for everybody, but typically we follow a three-warnings/mutes system before a ban. It is at the discretion of the moderators to issue mutes, warnings, kicks, and bans; and they will do so based on the severity of whatever activity may have been performed.
Our moderation team is charged with enforcing the rules above, but they are not the sole final arbiters of the policy. You may appeal or contest any moderation decision, but you must do so by submitting a report with as many details as possible to our contact page. Do not argue your case in public channels, do not direct message the moderator in question with your complaint, and do not attempt to circumvent any bans that may have been placed in order to do so.
All moderator-enacted bans are considered “bans under review” and will be evaluated by an administrator later.
While moderators have the ability to manage community behaviour, they are not immune to the community rules. If you find a moderator is in violation of any of our rules, report them to our contact page.