# Community Guidelines **Version {{ policy_version('guidelines') }}.** DevPlace is a network for developers. It does not editorialise technical opinion: you may be blunt, contrarian, or wrong about a language, a framework or an architecture, and nobody will remove you for it. What it does enforce is a short, fixed list of prohibited categories. Everything below is prohibited everywhere on the platform. Each heading is a reason key you can select when you report something. The same list, exactly as every client renders it, is published at [report reasons](/reports/reasons). ## `hate` - Hate speech and discrimination Content that attacks, dehumanises or advocates exclusion of a person or group on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, disability, disease, age, sex, gender identity or sexual orientation. ## `violence` - Realistic violence and threats Threats of violence against any person, glorification of violence, and realistic depictions of violence or gore. Fictional violence in a game project is allowed; a threat aimed at a real person is not, in any form, including as a joke. ## `weapons` - Weapons and dangerous instructions Instructions for building weapons, explosives, or other devices whose purpose is to injure people. Security research, exploit write-ups and vulnerability discussion are explicitly **allowed** - that is the work of this community - provided they are not operational instructions for harming people. ## `sexual` - Sexual and pornographic content Pornography and sexually explicit material. Any sexual content involving minors is removed immediately, the account is closed, and it is reported to the authorities. ## `religious` - Content targeting religion or belief Content that attacks or demeans a religion or its adherents. Discussing, criticising or disagreeing with ideas is allowed; attacking people for holding them is not. ## `misinformation` - False and misleading information Fabricated claims presented as fact where they can cause real harm, especially about health, safety or elections. Being wrong in a technical argument is not misinformation. ## `exploitative` - Exploitation of a person Content that exploits, endangers or sexualises a person, including any depiction of a minor in a sexual context, and content that targets a person because of their vulnerability. ## `harassment` - Harassment and bullying Sustained targeting of a person, pile-ons, doxing, unwanted contact after being asked to stop, and publishing private information about someone without their consent. ## `spam` - Spam and unwanted promotion Bulk or repetitive posting, unsolicited advertising, link farms, engagement manipulation, and content whose only purpose is to drive traffic elsewhere. ## `intellectual_property` - Copyright and trademark infringement Publishing content you have no right to publish. See [Notice and takedown](/docs/intellectual-property.html) for how to file and how to counter-notice. ## `self_harm` - Self-harm and suicide Content that encourages, instructs or glorifies self-harm, suicide or eating disorders. If you are struggling, please reach out to a local crisis line - DevPlace is not a support service. ## `illegal` - Illegal activity Content that facilitates crime: trade in controlled substances, stolen credentials or data, fraud kits, malware distribution to third parties, or evasion of sanctions. ## `other` - Something else Anything that is clearly wrong but does not fit a category above. Describe it in the detail field; a moderator reads every report. ## What is explicitly allowed To be unambiguous, because this is a developer platform and a naive reading of the list above would break it: - security research, exploit development, malware analysis and reverse engineering; - profanity, strong opinions, and harsh technical criticism of code, tools and ideas; - discussion of weapons, violence or crime as subject matter in research, journalism, fiction or a game project; - error messages, stack traces and payloads that happen to contain offensive strings. The line is intent and target. Analysis is fine. Aiming it at a person is not. ## Reporting Every surface that can carry user content carries a **Report** control. Select the reason, add detail, and submit. Reports are private: the person you reported is never told who reported them. Every report is acknowledged and reviewed within {{ moderation_sla_hours() }} hours. Track yours at `/reports/mine`. ## Enforcement Depending on severity and history a moderator may remove the content, issue a warning, suspend the account for a period, or close it permanently. You are always told what was decided and why, and you can reply to dispute it. See [How moderation works](/docs/content-moderation.html).