MelanatedKindred Community Guidelines

Welcome. MelanatedKindred exists to be a place where Black culture, ideas, and community can be shared and celebrated — and where the people who show up here are treated with care. These guidelines explain what we expect from everyone on the platform, and what you can expect from us in return.

Our Purpose

MelanatedKindred is built around three things: real connection, protecting the ideas and content people share, and lifting up Black-owned businesses. Everything below exists in service of that.

1. Treat People With Respect

• No harassment, hate speech, threats, or targeted abuse of any kind.
• Disagreement is fine. Attacking someone personally is not.
• Impersonating another person or organization is not allowed.

2. Your Content Belongs to You

This is a core value here, not an afterthought:

• You retain ownership of everything you post — your words, your photos, your ideas.
• When your content is shared or reposted within the app, your name stays attached to it. It cannot be edited out.
• If you believe someone has taken your content or ideas without credit, use the "Report Stolen Content" option on the post in question. This is reviewed separately from general moderation reports, and we take it seriously.
• Please don't post content that isn't yours to share, or that infringes on someone else's rights.

3. Privacy Is Yours to Control

• You choose whether your account is public or followers-only. Followers-only accounts require you to approve who can see your content — nobody gets in automatically.
• If someone is bothering you, you can block them. A block removes any follow connection, stops them from viewing your profile or content, and prevents them from following, messaging, liking, or commenting on anything you post. They are not notified that they've been blocked.
• We don't tolerate attempts to work around someone's privacy settings or a block.

4. Supporting Black-Owned Business

• Business accounts are welcome to promote themselves in the Support Black Business section.
• Businesses self-identify as Black-owned at signup. We rely on honesty here, and misrepresentation can result in account removal.
• Business promotion should be genuine — no deceptive claims, fake reviews, or spam.

5. What's Not Allowed

• Illegal content or activity.
• Explicit, graphic, or sexually exploitative content.
• Spam, scams, or deceptive links.
• Deliberate misinformation.
• Content that promotes violence or harm against any person or group.

6. Reporting and Enforcement

• If something violates these guidelines, use the Report option on the post, comment, or conversation in question.
• Reports are reviewed by real people on our moderation team — not decided by automated filters alone.
• Depending on severity, outcomes can range from content removal to account suspension or permanent removal.
• We aim to review reports promptly, and we take context seriously — including the ways moderation on other platforms has sometimes unfairly flagged Black creators, dialect, and cultural expression. That history informs how we review here.

7. A Living Document

These guidelines may be updated as the platform grows. We'll always aim to keep them written in plain language, not legal jargon, so everyone actually knows where they stand.