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Community Guidelines

Last Updated: February 21, 2026

Hey there! Welcome to Coves. We're building a place where people can have conversations, discuss topics, and find communities they care about. These guidelines exist to keep Coves a place where everyone feels welcome. They're pretty straightforward.

These are the platform-wide rules that apply to the official Coves instance at coves.social. Since Coves is open source, other people may run their own instances with their own moderation policies. These guidelines apply to ours. By using our instance, you agree to follow them.

Be Respectful

Don't:

  • Target someone with hate speech based on race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, disability, or any other characteristic
  • Make threats of violence against other users
  • Pile on, dogpile, or coordinate attacks against other users
  • Stalk or repeatedly contact someone who has asked you to stop
  • Post content that promotes or glorifies animal abuse

Do:

  • Use the block button if someone's bothering you

Protect People's Privacy

What's private should stay private. Don't share other users' personal information without their consent.

This includes:

  • Real names, addresses, phone numbers, or email addresses
  • Workplace or school information
  • Photos or videos of someone taken without their knowledge
  • Private messages or conversations shared without permission
  • Any information intended to identify or locate another user

If someone shares something with you in confidence, keep it that way.

No Spam

Nobody likes spam.

Don't:

  • Post the same thing over and over across communities and posts
  • Use Coves primarily to promote your product, service, or website
  • Use bots or automated tools to post without an authorized aggregator
  • Manipulate votes or engagement metrics
  • Post misleading links or clickbait

Sharing something cool you made? That's fine. Making every post an ad? That's spam.

Keep It Legal

Don't use Coves to break the law.

Don't post content that:

  • Violates any applicable laws or regulations
  • Promotes or facilitates fraud or scams
  • Distributes malware or malicious software
  • Facilitates the sale of illegal goods or services

Protect Minors

This is non-negotiable. We have an absolute zero-tolerance policy when it comes to the safety of minors.

The following will result in immediate and permanent removal:

  • Child sexual abuse material (CSAM) of any kind — real, synthetic, AI-generated, or illustrated
  • Grooming, solicitation, or predatory behavior toward minors
  • Sharing personal information about minors
  • Any content that sexualizes or exploits children in any way

We report all confirmed CSAM to NCMEC and law enforcement. No warnings, no second chances.

Coves is for users 18 years of age or older. For full details, see our Child Safety Policy.

No Self-Harm Promotion

Don't post content that promotes, encourages, or provides instructions for self-harm or suicide. If you or someone you know is struggling, please reach out to a crisis service in your area. You can find local resources at findahelpline.com.

Use Content Warnings

During the alpha period, NSFW content is not permitted on Coves. In future versions, mature content will be supported with proper content warning tags and moderation oversight, allowing users to decide for themselves what they want to see.

What Happens If You Break the Rules

We use a three-strike system. Each strike is logged against your account:

  1. Strike 1 — The offending content is removed from the Coves AppView and you receive a one-week suspension
  2. Strike 2 — Content removed and another one-week suspension
  3. Strike 3 — Permanent ban from Coves

Strikes are cumulative and don't expire. After a permanent ban, you may appeal after one year.

Ban evasion: Creating a new account to get around a ban counts as an immediate Strike 3. Don't do it.

Exceptions: Some violations skip the strike system entirely. Posting CSAM, grooming, or any content that endangers minors results in an immediate permanent ban with no appeal. We report these to NCMEC and law enforcement.

A note on content removal: When content is removed, it's removed from the Coves AppView — meaning it won't appear on Coves for any user. However, because Coves is built on the AT Protocol, the original record may still exist on your Personal Data Server (PDS). We moderate what's visible on our platform, but we don't have the ability to delete data from your PDS.

How to Report

If you see something that violates these guidelines, report it. Every post and comment has a report option in its menu. When you report, you'll be asked to choose a reason:

  • Spam — Unsolicited advertising or repetitive content
  • Harassment — Bullying, threats, or targeted attacks
  • Privacy violation — Sharing private information without consent
  • Illegal content — Content that violates laws or regulations
  • Child safety — Content exploiting or endangering minors
  • Other — Anything else that violates these guidelines

You can also add a short explanation to give us more context. Our team reviews every report.

How to Block

If someone is bothering you, you don't have to wait for a report to be reviewed. You can block them instantly:

  • Tap the menu on any of their posts or comments
  • Select "Block User"
  • Their content is immediately removed from your feed

Blocking is private — the other person won't be notified.

What's Welcome Here

Coves is a place for open conversation. Journalism, political commentary, educational content, personal stories, and honest debate are all welcome. We moderate behavior, not opinions. You won't be punished for having a controversial take, but you will be held accountable for how you treat other users.

A Note on Coves and the AT Protocol

Coves is built on the AT Protocol, which means it's part of a larger decentralized network. Your account and identity exist on your Personal Data Server (PDS), not on our servers. These guidelines and our moderation only apply to the official Coves AppView at coves.social. Other instances of Coves or other AT Protocol services have their own policies and moderation. If you're banned or have content removed from our AppView, your AT Protocol identity and data on your PDS are unaffected — you can still use other services on the network.

Questions?

If you have questions about these guidelines or need to reach us for any reason:

Email: support@coves.social Website: coves.social

These guidelines may be updated from time to time. We'll do our best to let you know when things change, but it's a good idea to check back occasionally.

Thanks for being part of Coves!