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Guidelines

TrevorSpace's Mission

TrevorSpace is an affirming online community for LGBTQ youth around the world. We believe that by creating a caring, safe, and comfortable place for LGBTQ youth to connect, we can support LGBTQ youth resilience and prevent suicide. To make sure TrevorSpace lives up to this mission, we ask that you carefully read and follow our Community Guidelines. 

 

Community Guidelines

These guidelines apply everywhere throughout TrevorSpace - including forums, status updates, private messages, and clubs. These guidelines are in addition to the Terms and Conditions of Use you agreed to when you created your account, and are meant to help elaborate our values. As the community evolves, these guidelines may change - you are always expected to follow the current guidelines at all times.

Our overall values can be summarized with three simple rules:

BE CARING
Everyone deserves a place where they can find love and support.

BE WELCOMING
Everyone deserves a place where they can be themselves comfortably.

TREAT OTHERS THE WAY YOU'D LIKE TO BE TREATED
Everyone deserves to be treated with patience and kindness.

The best way to enjoy TrevorSpace, and make sure you add to what makes this such a special place, is to follow those three rules. What exactly we mean is spelled out below:

Don’t demean people or groups

Don’t do anything that would make this an unwelcoming environment for someone just because of their identity or experiences.

  • Don’t use transphobic, biphobic, homophobic, racist, sexist, anti-immigrant, fat-shaming language, or anything else that excludes or demeans marginalized groups. 
    • This includes everything from slurs to indirect or coded references. 
    • Avoid starting discussions that you know will hurt someone, or make them feel unwelcome here.
  • Don’t invalidate people’s identities, feelings, or experiences. Each of us is the expert of our own experiences; respect that.
    • This includes accusing others of “faking” something, or doing something “just for attention”, and things like that.
    • It also includes saying that certain identities don’t belong on TrevorSpace, or that some identities aren’t “valid” or “real” (so don’t say that someone isn’t “really trans” because they have different experiences from you, or anything like that). 

Don’t harass people

Don’t try to make others feel uncomfortable or unsafe.

  • We can disagree with each other, or even get heated, but no name-calling. (If someone harasses you, report it to a moderator.)
  • Never, ever threaten another user, do something that threatens their wellbeing (like doxxing), or encourage them to do something dangerous to themselves or others.
  • If someone asks you to leave them alone, respect their wishes. Don’t keep messaging them, posting on their profile, or anything like that. 
  • Trying to interfere with someone else’s account or access to the site will not be tolerated. Don’t impersonate someone else, either.

No explicit content

Young people of different ages use this site, so let’s keep it safe for everyone.

  • Don’t share (or ask for) pictures or detailed descriptions of sex, naked bodies, or violence. This includes private messages. 
  • TrevorSpace is not a hookup site - don’t use it to solicit sexual encounters, sexual conversations, or sexual partners. 
  • If you are over 18, you cannot use TrevorSpace to solicit romantic or sexual relationships with users under 18.

Don’t misuse the site

The site is built and run the way it is for a reason - don’t try to bend the rules or break the site.

  • Don’t use TrevorSpace to make money, or to promote/recruit your own organization. This is a place for community and support, not for advertising.
  • Don’t make duplicate accounts to get around a suspension, ban, or some other restriction.
  • Don’t abuse the reporting system just to mess with someone. Only report posts that you think violate these guidelines, or where you think someone might be in danger. (Do not claim that someone is in danger just to try to get a moderator to review your report more quickly.)

The above guidelines are not meant to be a 100% complete list of what isn’t allowed on TrevorSpace - we consider each situation in context, and things might arise that don’t quite fit into the above list, but that we feel the need to act on in order to preserve the safety and spirit of TrevorSpace.

These guidelines apply to anything posted from your TrevorSpace account, even if you are copying it from somewhere else (e.g. an external website) or you aren't the original author. You are responsible for what you post on TrevorSpace.

But if you follow the above guidelines and keep TrevorSpace’s core values at heart, you can enjoy and contribute to what makes this such a special community! Remember:

BE CARING
BE WELCOMING
TREAT OTHERS THE WAY YOU'D LIKE TO BE TREATED

 

Reporting Problems

If you see someone doing something you think is wrong on the site, let us know! The word “Report” appears on each piece of content throughout the site - click on that link, and tell us what’s going on.

Here are some other important things to keep in mind:

  • Use the “Report” link, rather than @-ing an individual moderator or administrator.
  • Don’t try to publicly accuse or shame someone - this can make situations worse, and also makes it harder for our moderators to clean up the mess.
  • If someone is repeatedly saying really terrible things, they might be trying to create a scene or hurt others for their amusement. In these situations, it’s best to add the user to your “Ignore” list, and stop engaging with them (after you’ve reported them, of course). Blocking them doesn’t mean they “won” - just the opposite: these types of users are often trying to get you upset and stuck talking to them.

We also recommend checking out the following resources to learn more:

Site staff review all reports. Actions taken based on reports are generally private, so you typically won’t find out whether the user you reported received a penalty or not.

 

Warnings and Penalties

If you break the above rules, you will receive a warning, and your content may be edited or removed. The warning will explain what you did wrong, and you need to acknowledge the warning before you can keep posting on the site.

Warnings come with points, which is how the site tracks how severe the penalty is, and whether or not there’s a pattern of breaking the rules. If you get repeated warnings for minor violations, you may eventually get more severe penalties.

Typically, the progression goes like this:

  • 0-5 points: Warnings
  • 6-7 points: Two-week suspension
  • 8+ points: Permanent ban

When possible, we will try to give you the opportunity to correct your behavior. No-one’s perfect, and we want everyone to get a shot at participating in TrevorSpace.

However, some actions are severe enough that they will get you permanently banned immediately, without any previous warnings. The following actions are absolutely not tolerated anywhere on TrevorSpace: Hate speech, severe harassment, threats, and adults making sexual advances on someone younger than 18 years old.

We know that each situation is different, and moderating a community like this is complex. We reserve the right to handle things on a case by case basis - which can mean issuing different penalties from what’s listed above. Whenever that happens, we will explain why we are taking that action. And, again, these guidelines can change at any time.

 

Site Staff

Most community management is done by site administrators - these are the users you will see making topics in the Announcements forum, and are identified with red “Administrators” flair. In their role as community managers, the administrators may also ask for feedback from the community, or just hang out and chat from time to time.

The site administrators are supported by a group of moderators, who also work tirelessly to keep the community safe. Unlike the administrators, our moderators operate using a series of anonymous accounts, identified with teal “Moderators” flair. These accounts are just used to manage the site, not for talking - so if you try to message them, tag them, post on their wall, etc., they won’t be able to respond.

To learn more about TrevorSpace's moderation team and their policies, please read this article.

 

Suicide and Other Crisis Support

Providing support is at the very heart of TrevorSpace. In certain parts of the site, you or other members can share difficult experiences, such as discussions about suicide, self-injury, past abuse, among others.

Please give each other space to share these experiences, and treat each other with respect and consideration for your different experiences.

We also recommend you check out #chatsafe, a set of guidelines for being safe while talking about suicide online, put together by Orygen.

Additionally, if you are worried for someone’s safety or wellbeing, you can report their posts to let site staff know. We will review, and may share resources or encouragement with them. This process is entirely private and anonymous.

It's important that you know: TrevorSpace is not designed to provide individualized suicide prevention therapy or crisis intervention. There is no live human watching TrevorSpace or your profile all the time, and The Trevor Project does not provide personal counseling on TrevorSpace.

We firmly believe that everyone deserves help and support.

If you’re thinking about suicide or are in crisis:

  • In the United States, please reach out to The Trevor Project, open 24/7 and always ready to talk:
  • Outside the United States, visit Befrienders.org to find a helpline for your country.
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