Community Guidelines

Create a supportive and inclusive environment

The topics discussed here matter to us. Be respectful of the topics and the people discussing them, even if you disagree with some of what is being said or don't find a topic relevant to you.

Community members (a.k.a. puttypeep) often open up and share personal stories, challenges, goals, and more. Help us foster authentic dialogue across differences in culture, experience, and opinion by responding with sensitivity and curiosity.

Speak from your own experience

When engaging in the community, use "I" statements as much as possible and avoid making generalizations or assumptions about other people and their experiences (e.g., "You think..." or "People like you believe...").

Be helpful and improve the discussion

Help us make the Puttyverse a constructive space by always trying to improve the discussion in some way, however small. If you're not sure your comments add to the conversation, consider what you want to say and try again later.

Include context when you share something

Always provide context when you embed a photo, video, or share a link. Tell us why a resource or reply matters to you and offer a short description, so that other members know what they're about to see, watch, or read.

Also weigh the balance between a topic title that's intriguing and one that doesn't require someone to click through to understand what it's about.

Be kind and respectful, even when you disagree

It's fine to disagree with something another puttypeep said or did. But remember to criticize ideas, not people. As the saying goes, anyone you're interacting with may be fighting a battle you know nothing about.

Please avoid:

• Name-calling
• Ad hominem attacks
• Responding to a post's tone instead of its actual content
• Excessive sarcasm — it's often lost in translation and can backfire
• Knee-jerk contradiction

Instead, provide reasoned counter-arguments that improve the conversation.

Always be civil

Nothing sabotages a healthy conversation like rudeness or insensitivity. So:

• Don't post anything that most people would consider offensive, abusive, or hate speech. Sexually explicit content or dehumanizing a person or group based on their identity is never OK.
• Respect each other. Don't harass, grief, gaslight, impersonate, or expose private information.
• Respect our spaces. Don't post spam or otherwise vandalize the discussion spaces.

Respect the confidentiality of what's shared

Seek permission before you name, tag, or otherwise identify members in spaces outside the Puttyverse. And seek the creator's permission before quoting or reproducing anything outside the Puttyverse.

Promote awesome things in the right places

A big reason people love being here after so many years is the non-commercial spirit and very limited self-promotion. Money can get in the way of what we're here to do — be a source of inspiration and support for each other.

There are two main ways to self-promote or promote someone else:

• Small (and big) wins: Give yourself a well-deserved pat on the back using the "small (and big) wins" topic. Just know that specific calls to action — asking puttypeep to share, "like," or fund/buy something — aren't allowed. Focus on lessons learned.
• Flaunt It Wednesday (FIW): Blatantly and proudly do any self-promotion during the one-day window of our weekly FIW post. It's also OK to promote a fellow puttypeep or something you strongly believe in (no affiliate links, please).

Feel free to share non-commercial stuff with your usual level of enthusiasm and discretion.

Keep it tidy

Make the effort to put things in the right place so we can spend more time discussing and less cleaning up:

• Don't cross-post the same topic in multiple places without a Puttyteam member's OK
• Rather than taking an existing post in a radically different direction, start a new post that references the original
• Move one-to-one conversations from public threads to private messages
• Rather than replying with "+1" or "Agreed", use the Like button
• @ mention any puttypeep you're talking about so they get notified

Never post misinformation, conspiracy theories, or propaganda

We don't like censoring anyone, but the Puttyverse prioritizes anything that's demonstrably true over dubious claims without sources or that can't be easily fact-checked. Online misinformation can cause real harm and we won't allow the Puttyverse to amplify it.

Never violate intellectual property laws

Post your own content, provide references, attribution, and credit where appropriate, and avoid sharing or uploading anything you aren't legally allowed to share.

You're free to come and go as you like

This applies to the community as a whole and pretty much anything within it. You have permission to:

• Quietly observe in the background
• Join an event, decide it's not for you, and leave
• Cancel your subscription and come back at a later date. The current record for a puttypeep doing this is seven times!

If you don't see what you want, create it

The Puttyverse is, always has been, and always will be a co-created community. The majority of our events, groups, and conversations only exist because some awesome puttypeep said "this would be neat, so I'll make it happen!"

If you don't see something you think should exist — or exists but doesn't work for your lifestyle, time zone, or approach — we encourage you to take the lead and create it yourself. Reach out to us at team@theputtyverse.com with your ideas.

If you're feeling lost or overwhelmed, reach out

There's a lot going on in the Puttyverse — that's what happens when you have a community of hundreds of multipotentialites that's been growing since 2012! It's easy to get overwhelmed.

If you're feeling lost, confused, shy, or just aren't sure how to get involved, post in our Support space or reach out via email. We really, really mean it. We love helping puttypeep get oriented and you won't be bothering us at all.

If you see a problem, report it

When you see problematic behavior, even if it seems trivial, please report it using the three dots next to the post. Don't worry about adding work for us or what we'll think of you — we won't judge you.

Reporting draws our attention to the content, which we'll consider in light of these guidelines. The person you're flagging won't know you flagged their content. We'll review and act on reports within 24 hours.

Resolving conflicts and disagreements

If you have a conflict or misunderstanding with another member and feel comfortable reaching out to them directly, try resolving it that way first. Direct conflict resolution between two adults is often the fastest and most effective approach.

However, sometimes it's most appropriate for someone else to step in. Contact team@theputtyverse.com with any interpersonal issues, what you've already tried, and what steps you'd like us to take.

Consequences (dun dun dunnnnn)

Okay, really, no scary sound effects should be necessary here.

If you intentionally or accidentally do something that violates these guidelines, we may take any of the following actions depending on the circumstances:

• Reach out to discuss the problem
• Hide, archive, edit, or remove content
• Close further replies on a forum thread
• Bring two or more puttypeep together to try to resolve a conflict directly
• Temporarily or permanently remove a member from the community
• Cancel an account

We have to keep the best interests of the entire community in mind at all times. Nobody is above consequences, not even us — we're human and we make mistakes, too.