Community Guidelines

Articles is a place to talk about AI chatbots, AI companions and how AI fits into everyday life. Anyone can read it. To post, you need an account and a nickname. These guidelines apply to everything you post there and complement the Terms of Service. Where the two differ, the Terms of Service apply.

The short version: be kind, keep personal details private, stay on topic, and don't advertise.

The rules

1. Respect people. Disagree with ideas, not with people. No insults, harassment, threats, hate speech or discrimination, and no encouraging others to pile on someone. Don't mock anyone for using an AI companion or for choosing not to.

2. Protect privacy, yours and others'. Don't post personal data such as real full names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, workplaces or social media profiles, whether they are yours or someone else's. Don't share private messages or photos of other people without their consent. We remove location data from uploaded images automatically, but check what is visible in the picture itself. Screenshots of your own AI chats are welcome; crop out anything personal first.

3. Stay on topic and add something. Start topics in the section that fits, with a clear title that says what the topic is about. Search before you post, and add to an existing topic instead of opening a duplicate. Posts that only bump a thread or say nothing may be removed.

4. No spam, advertising or self-promotion. No ads, affiliate or referral links, promo codes, selling, recruiting users for other apps or services, or repeated identical posts. Links are fine when they help the discussion; links from new members are reviewed before they appear.

5. Keep it safe for everyone. Text, images, memes and GIFs must be suitable for a general adult audience. No sexually explicit content or nudity, no graphic violence or gore, and no shocking content. Anything that sexualises minors is removed immediately, the account is closed, and we report it to the authorities.

6. Nothing illegal. No content that is illegal under EU law or the law of an EU Member State, no instructions for crimes, no malware, and no prompts designed to make an AI produce harmful or illegal content. Respect copyright: memes and short quotes are fine, but don't repost whole articles, paywalled content or other people's work as your own.

7. Be honest about who you are. Don't impersonate other people, brands or the Dear my… team. One account per person; don't use extra accounts to vote, argue with yourself or get around a restriction. If a post or image is mostly generated by AI, say so.

8. Share experiences, not prescriptions. Talking about how AI affects your mood, relationships or wellbeing is welcome. Don't present AI, supplements or anything else as a treatment for mental or physical illness, and don't give medical, legal or financial advice as if it were professional advice. Nothing here replaces a doctor, therapist or lawyer.

9. If you are struggling, you are not alone. If you or someone else is in danger, call your local emergency number (112 in the EU) or a local crisis line right away. Posts that mention self-harm or suicide are read by a person before they appear. We may keep such a post private to protect you, and we will point you to help.

Our team, AI and authors

• Articles are published by the Dear my… editorial team. We use AI tools to help research and write them, articles list the sources they rely on and show when it was published and last updated, and we correct mistakes when someone points them out.
• Posts by our team carry a Team label. We never post as ordinary members and we do not use fake accounts or bots to write comments or start topics.
• Badges such as Top contributor are earned automatically from likes by other members. They cannot be bought.

How moderation works

• The first few posts of a new member are reviewed before they appear, usually within 24 hours. After that, posts appear immediately.
• Posts with links, contact details or certain sensitive words may be held for review, even from established members.
• Anyone signed in can report a post with the Report button. A post reported by several people is hidden until we review it.
• We may hide or remove posts and images, lock, move or pin topics, and suspend posting for accounts that break these guidelines. Serious or repeated violations, such as illegal content, harassment or spam, lead to a permanent ban from posting and, under the Terms of Service, may lead to the account being closed.
• We use automated filters, based on fixed rules, to hold posts for review, and we may use AI tools to help sort reports. A person on our team is responsible for every removal and every ban.
• When we hide or remove your post, we tell you in your notifications which guideline it broke. This is our statement of reasons under Article 17 of the EU Digital Services Act.

Disagree with a decision?

Email hello@dearmyai.com within 6 months of the decision, with the subject "Moderation appeal", the nickname you post under and a link to the topic. Every appeal is reviewed by a person, never only by an automated system, and we reply without undue delay, usually within 14 days. If we got it wrong, we restore the post. You can also use the other options described in the DSA Terms and Conditions, including out-of-court dispute settlement and the courts.

Reporting illegal content

Anyone, with or without an account, can tell us about content they believe is illegal by emailing hello@dearmyai.com (Article 16 of the Digital Services Act). Please include the link to the content, an explanation of why you believe it is illegal, your name and email address, and a statement that you believe in good faith that the information is accurate and complete. Name and email are not required when reporting child sexual abuse material. We confirm that we received your notice and tell you what we decided.

Your posts and your data

• You keep the rights to what you post. By posting, you allow us to show it on dearmyai.com, including to search engines, and in notification emails to members who follow the discussion.
• Only your nickname is shown publicly, never your email address or your plan.
• You can edit a post for 15 minutes after posting and delete it at any time. Your profile page lists your public posts.
• If you delete your account, your comments and topics are deleted. Where others have already replied, we keep an empty placeholder (and the title of a topic) without your text, images or nickname, so the conversation still makes sense.
• Email notifications can be turned off in Articles settings or with one click from any notification email. More details are in the Privacy Notice.

We may update these guidelines as the community grows. The date at the top shows the latest version.