Community guidelines

Be kind and respectful

Disagree without putting people down. Do not post the same thing again and again, or advertise.

Spam and rudeness lead to a warning, then a 7-day mute on the wall, then a ban. A mute stops only wall posts and replies; chats, requests, messages and reports stay open to you.

No sexual content, threats or targeted harassment

Sexual content, threats, harassing a particular person and sharing intimate images lead to an immediate ban. Serious cases are passed to the college, which can open your identity under the privacy promise.

Describing what happened to you, including sexual harassment or assault, is not breaking this rule. Write it as you need to.

Do not name or identify other people

Leave out names, phone numbers, links, email addresses and anything that points to a real person, including yourself. A message with a phone number, a link or an email address is held until a moderator reads it.

The one exception is a report to a committee, where you may name the people involved.

Talk about hard things safely

You can talk about feeling low, hopeless or wanting to die. Do not describe methods of self-harm or suicide, and do not present them as a solution. Wall posts are checked against this before they appear.

If someone tells you they are in danger, point them to In danger now and stay with them in the chat.

Volunteers listen; they are not doctors

Volunteers never diagnose, advise on medicines, move a chat off the app, meet you in person or share contact details. If you need more, a volunteer can ask a doctor to join the chat, only if you agree.

Doctors on Talk offer support and a first conversation. Diagnosis and medicines happen when you choose to see a doctor in person or in an identified consultation.

Chats are text only

You cannot send images or files in a chat. Evidence for a report is added only in the Report tab, where hidden data is removed from photos before they are stored.

One account for each person

Use your own email address. Bans apply to the person, not only to a code: a banned person cannot come back with another variant of the same address.

In danger now? Call, do not wait for a reply

Replies are not instant. If you or someone near you is in immediate danger, use the helplines under In danger now.

Reporting and blocking

• In a chat you can report the chat or one of the other person's messages, and block the other person. A blocked person is never matched with you again and is not told.
• On the wall, a moderator reads every post and reply before anyone else sees it. If a published post or reply breaks these rules, use Report on it: a moderator can remove it, and the author is told it was removed, never who reported it.
• When an account is closed, its posts and replies under the code that broke the rules leave the wall. If the account is opened again, they come back.
• To appeal a mute or a ban, write to the Grievance Officer with your code.