Specialized Account Expectations
The following account types should adhere to the expectations as part of signing up for Hachyderm:
- All specialized accounts that fall under the definition of a:
- All specialized accounts that wish to be Verified
- All Corporate Accounts for Nivenly Trade Members
Expectations for Specialized Accounts
If you are a corporate account, or you are a specialized account that is going to be verified, we need you to understand and adhere to our guiding principles in addition to the rules governing your account type.
1. Be a Hachydermian: Fines Doubled In Work Zone
We expect you to set the bar for what it means to be a Hachydermian, and the rules apply extra to you.
I agree to be a steward and role model in the Hachyderm community. I understand that my presence as a specialized account implies the rules will be more strictly applied to me than normal accounts.
The Hachyderm community is a diverse community comprised of many people with many economic beliefs and situations.
For companies in particular: We expect you to have a mature understanding of various economic structures around the world, and find a strong balance in your position as a corporation.
In the Hachyderm community, you will find strong capitalists and even anti-capitalists. We expect you to consider these different perspectives while creating content on Hachyderm.
As a specialized account, both our rules, and the rules governing your account type, apply more to you than to the average user. This means that the consequences of a rule violation applies more to you than others. In other words, your “fines will be doubled” if you end up violating our rules. We will warn you first that you have violated a guiding principle, and if it continues, then we will ask you to leave.
Ultimately, you are setting the bar for Hachyderm users, the exclusive corporate accounts, as well as other specialized accounts.
2. Be Who You Want To Work With
We expect you to do unto the community as you would have done unto you.
“Create the market you would want to shop at”.
I agree to build a market that I would want to shop at. I agree to set the bar for having world-class engagement on Hachyderm.
We find value in drawing the analogy to forced advertising at the gas station.
As a gas station owner, forced messaging makes sense because of the higher return on advertising.
As a gas station customer, there is nothing more annoying than being forced to listen to an ad while pumping gas.
We want people to want to shop at your gas station, which means you need to consider their experience first.
We have high expectations for our community filling their cars with your metaphorical gas.
3. Say It Once: “The Wikipedia” policy
Measuring spam is hard. We expect you to stay away from repetitive content.
I agree to share new content and do my best to prevent repetitive content. I understand that words can be changed but messaging can remain consistent. I agree to only share my message once.
We don’t have time to chase you around.
We find value in what Wikipedia calls Use our own words.
The best practice is to research the most reliable sources on the topic and summarize what they say in your own words.
We understand that while technically not repeating the exact same words, you can deliver the same message.
We expect you to say your message once, and not repeat the same message time and time again.
We are explicitly trying to avoid the “cron job” effect that we see on Twitter with promotional accounts.
When in doubt, craft new words and form a new opinion. Otherwise, it likely is repetitive content.
In short, we hold you to a high bar to be “the first of your kind”, otherwise we expect you to be contributing to the existing resource when applicable.
We understand that this impacts some specialized account types more so than others. We expect all specialized accounts to use good judgement when they need to approach this rule.
We don’t want Hachyderm to turn into a promotional recycling center. We want you to be either sharing new content, or mentioning the original source and adding to it.
4. “We Know It When We See It” Policy
Ultimately, the community comes first and the community’s response to your content will be our guiding light.
I understand that policies are difficult to enforce. If it is made obvious to me that Hachyderm is no longer benefiting from my presence, I will politely step down as a specialized account and move to another server.
If your content becomes “invasive” or “unwanted” or seems to be causing problems, we will ask you to move your account to another server.
Basically, we look at “bad actors” like we look at pornography. We know it when we see it. We reserve the right to ask you to leave at any time.
5. Mods are Volunteers, Not Hall Monitors
Your account needs to be a win for everyone involved, including our moderators.
I understand that it is my job to self-moderate. If moderation from Hachyderm is involved, we have failed twice. First in self-moderation, and 2nd in violating a specific policy.
Ideally, a specialized account should be helping to keep bad actors out while also setting an extremely high bar of what it means to be a good community member.
If at any time the Hachyderm moderators are spending more time chasing your account around than our community is getting out of your presence, it’s time to go.
Our moderators are here to keep the community safe.