Account Types

Hachyderm generalizes accounts into one of two account types for moderation:

• User accounts, also referred to as general accounts (Skip to User Accounts)
• Specialized accounts (Skip to Specialized Accounts)

Specialized accounts are, broadly, any account where the account is not for the purpose of an individual user who represents themselves on the platform. Some examples of specialized accounts include, but aren’t limited to: novelty accounts, bot accounts, corporate accounts, event accounts, project accounts, and so on.

For specialty accounts: we recognize and have rules around some. If an account is not a user account and not one of the recognized specialized account types below, then it is not an account type permitted on this server. If you are interested in creating an account that is not a user account or a recognized specialized account type, then you need to reach out to us at admin@hachyderm.io.

Unrecognized specialized accounts will be removed. Recognized account types that do not follow the rules of their account type will be moderated as needed.

Note: The Hachyderm Moderation Team does not try to proactively determine your account type.

In most cases, unless you’ve reached out to us via admin@hachyderm.io, then the first time we encounter your account is when it has been reported for a rules violation based on your perceived account type. In general, unless we see a discrepancy that indicates otherwise, we will moderate based on that perceived type.

For all account types: username parking is prohibited on this server. Please only create an account that is in active use, even if only lurking. Accounts that appear to be “parked” will be suspended.

User Accounts

User accounts are also referred to as General Accounts, which are briefly described on our General Accounts page.

Similar to all other accounts, General Accounts must follow server rules.

There are some exceptions that would result in General Accounts being moderated more strictly:

• Accounts Causing Confusion
• Influencer Accounts

Please review the below sections for details about each of the exceptions

Accounts Causing Confusion

If your account has habitual posts that result in confusion about the purpose of the account, your account could be subject to moderation. It’s recommended that you review the list of Recognized Specialized Account Categories and the list of Disallowed Specialized Account Categories to confirm that a significant portion of your posts don’t fall into these categories.

In addition, if you are an individual user then you shouldn’t have a username or an about page that might indicate that you are a company, project, or other form of specialized account. As a specific example, if you have an account name like MyUserCompany or MyPodcast, then you will be considered that specialized account type based on name or about page and be bound by those rules.

As always, our group of volunteer moderator will always do their best to abide by the Moderator Covenant.

Influencer Accounts = Large Userbase Accounts

Anyone who has more than 10K followers on an existing platform is what we refer to as an Influencer Account. The only special rule here is that we request that you reach out to us in advance at admin@hachyderm.io before migrating as we will likely need to assist with the migration to prevent follows getting “stuck”, etc.

Specialized Accounts

The common rules for all specialized account types are:

• Your username and display name must clearly indicate what you are.
  This means for companies, OSS projects, community events, podcasts, newsletters, etc. then the username must match the company / project name. For most other account types this means “describe what you are” via username, e.g. “CuratedTechJobPosts”.
• You must be verified with your company, project, etc. page.
  If your company, project, newsletter, etc. has a web page, then that web page must be verified on your profile.
• All specialized accounts are welcome to become verified with Hachyderm.

Guiding Principles for All Specialized Accounts

Similar to the way that Don’t Be A Dick is the guiding principle for the user accounts, with other rules calling out common “Whataboutisms” for that rule, specialized accounts also have three main guiding principles.

We don’t want a digital shouting match on Hachyderm.

What does this mean? Essentially, it means we recognize that some of the motivation behind creating highly repetitive posts is because Entity A posts N times, so Entity B posts M times to be visible over Entity A. And so on. The result is a posting race so that an entity’s posts can be “heard” above the “cacophony” of other posts.

The goal of some of the rules and restrictions we impose on specialized account types is to curtail a discordant symphony of competition that drowns out collaboration and connection.

We don’t want to host an ad server.

The goal of the remaining rules and restrictions that we impose on specialized account types is to prevent hosting an abundance of ad and marketing focused content. The world is plastered in ads, but we believe what is needed and craved is connection and collaboration. With Hachyderm, we seek to nurture a space where these can thrive.

The goal of rules related to this principle is not to make it so our accounts that have services and ideas they may also be selling unable to interact on our platform. Instead, it is our hope and design that accounts this is relevant to reimagine how they can interact with our community in a way that will foster connection and collaboration with Hachydermians.

We want community consent to be the default.

There is a lot of content on the internet that can be either harmful or fun, depending on its frequency and presentation. Bots, newsletters, and so on are execellent examples of this: having a bot respond with “honk” when summoned can get a laugh. A bot that auto-responds with gas prices when you mention certain keywords is not. When we are moderating specialized accounts, and drafting policies around them, the goal is to put that account type in alignment with user consent so that people in our community can effortlessly opt into and out of the content as often as each person requires.

This doesn’t mean that you can’t post about what is relevant to your account type. This does mean we ask you do so in a way that engages with humans the way you’d wish to be interacted with.

These principles are outlined further in our Specialized Account Expectations. Some specialized accounts need to agree to the Specialized Account Expectations as part of account creation; others, only if they become verified.

Recognized Specialized Account Categories

• Corporate - For businesses, companies, and similar. Corporate accounts:
  • Are invite-only. For information email us at admin@hachyderm.io.
  • Must agree to the Specialized Account Expectations (formerly Corporate Covenant).
  • Must follow the the rules for their account type.
  • Pay for Hachyderm access (as of 1 Mar 2023). Additional information is on the corporate accounts page.
  • Note: Unofficial corporate accounts will be suspended. You must email us at admin@hachyderm.io prior to creating your account.
• Events - For community events, including conferences and meetups.
• Projects - For Open Source Projects.
• Curated - These can be accounts that are re-posting / hosting other content, for example a curated newsletter, or for individuals that are creating and hosting their own content. Examples of curated content can include, but aren’t limited to: newsletters, podcasts, and streamers.
• Automated - Most commonly, but not exclusively, bot accounts. Any posts that are programmatic and/or scheduled in nature.
• Hybrid - This is when an account falls under more than one category. Typically, but not exclusively, this is companies, events, projects, etc. making use of automated posts. In this case, the account must adhere to all the rules for the different types they house.

Of the above, only the corporate accounts are invite-only / require approval. That said, we do recommend that all specialized accounts reach out to us prior to creating an account so we may assist with the expectation setting for your account type.

Disallowed Specialized Account Categories

The following are disallowed as general content on the server, thus are also disallowed as a dedicated account type.

• NSFW / 18+ - This is mostly due to our need to be able to comply with 18+, which isn’t in the Mastodon tooling at this time. (See our Sexual Content Policy for more information.)
• Fundraising - No accounts can fundraise on Hachyderm.
• Unofficial company / corporate accounts - As this account type is invite only, unapproved accounts will be banned.
• Unrecognized specialized account - Essentially if you are not a regular user, and not one of the explicitly allowed types, you should reach out to admin@hachyderm.io prior to making an account.

Frequently Asked Questions

Below are the FAQ for all Hachyderm accounts.

Can I post about my company?

Yes. Posting about your company is different from a corporate account. Feel free to say whatever you want about your company.

Can I post about my project?

Yes. Posting about your project is different from an open source account. Feel free to say whatever you want about your project.

Can I create a bot account?

Not without working directly with the moderators.

Can I create an anonymous account?

Yes. However, we do not want a single person to operate a high number of accounts.

We understand the importance of being anonymous from a security, gender, safety, and mental health perspective.

Can I create multiple accounts?

Yes. Within reason. We expect you to use your best judgement in not flooding our servers. We understand you might need more than one account. However, it is not a free for all. We understand security, gender, safety, and mental health, and safe space from work are all reasons to create multiple and anonymous accounts.

Can I create accounts for pets, characters, or imaginary friends?

We prefer if you didn’t. We are trying to build a curated network of professionals on Hachyderm and would encourage you to move these accounts to another instance.