We’ve explained that our Membership Agreement is core rules about how Bright works -- in many ways, they’re the list of things we all have to do for Bright to function as a good place. Community standards are different but no less important. They help us understand what’s acceptable, what’s desirable, and what we need to work on. They are guidelines, though, and not rules -- there are no ironclad ways of saying what is okay in a community, and that, itself, is a good thing. Communities adapt and change; so will these guidelines. At the same time, violating these Community Standards damages everyone’s experience, and so there are consequences for breaking them -- up to and including terminating memberships and lifetime bans*.
Think of these as the framework for engaging on Bright in a positive way, and in a way that will bring the best of the internet to you, and to others.
We act with integrity on Bright
Disagreements are fine (they’re a good thing!), but disagreements have to remain civil. There can’t be personal attacks, dirty deletes, dishonest quotes, or anything that is dishonest or misleading. And we absolutely don’t spread misinformation or disinformation.
We treat one another with respect on Bright
Bright is no place for bigotry of any kind. This is not the place for any view of other people that reduces a human person to a single trait and then demeans that trait. Every single Member of Bright is entitled to be treated with dignity, even (or especially) when we’re disagreeing.
We understand that context matters on Bright
Life is complicated, and circumstances almost always have more facets to them than we might want to admit. That’s not to say that everyone is equally correct or entitled to their own facts, just that we have to be humble when we read what someone else has said or look at what they’ve posted. Bright is a place where humour, satire, parody, sarcasm, and irony are welcome; could you imagine the Internet or life generally without them? The key is understanding the context for how something is said or posted, and “it was just a joke” is never a good context for otherwise harassing or abusive behaviour.
We treat privacy like it’s a core value for everyone on Bright
We’re serious about privacy. It’s a major reason we built the company, and promoting privacy and personal autonomy drives what we do. But Members have responsibilities about privacy too. We can’t share one another’s details without asking, or reveal someone’s real identity if they’ve used a pseudonym. Everyone has the right to decide how much of themselves they want to share on Bright, and everyone should respect that.
We know that quality is essential on Bright
Finding the best of the internet on Bright means keeping out the seemingly endless amount of fake news and clickbait everywhere else. One reason why we don’t allow bots is that they churn out low-quality content that distorts and disrupts the conversation. Bright, on the other hand, promotes reliable, accurate, honest, material that’s also well-written, interesting, and meaningful -- and it doesn’t matter if it’s about global events or London weather (spoilers: it’s raining). The key is that we should all look for the best information, the most reliable sources, and the most interesting content and rate it accordingly.
We work together on Bright
One way that Bright empowers Members is by giving them the power to help determine what is shared. Our rating system is unique both because it gives Members more choices to express how they feel about the content and because it helps them shape how others see that content, too. Making that system thrive means that everyone has the ability and the responsibility to do fact-checking, verify posts, identify experts, and spot wrongly-tagged or misidentified posts. It also means that Bright is a place to learn and discuss things -- for want of a better phrase, a place for people to discuss things like grownups. That means that, even if you can dunk on someone for a post you didn’t like, you won’t, because it doesn’t help them and it doesn’t advance the conversation. By sharing responsibility for this work, our community builds on its strengths and creates a sense of real ownership in the network and in what we see.
*We understand that context matters and that anyone can have a bad day. Sometimes corrective action is the better course than punitive action, and we'll make those determinations when and where appropriate. These guidelines help all of us keep the community on Bright as safe, vibrant, healthy, and positive as it can and should be.