Hexbear Code of Conduct

Last updated: November 7, 2025

Community Statements

We are committed to providing a friendly, safe and welcoming environment for all, regardless of gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, personal appearance, body size, race, ethnicity, age, religion, nationality, or other similar characteristic.

Palestine, and zionism:

"Israel", the zionist entity, is an explicitly settler-colonial genocidal ethnonationalist project, predicated on the dispossession and murder of the native Palestinians.

The primary mode of discrimination within the entity is Jewish supremacy, and it is supported by the global forces of capitalism, imperialism, and white supremacy.

To help maintain support domestically and abroad, the entity falsely claims to represent and protect all Jews.

Anti-Imperalism, AES, and Critical Support:

We generally oppose wars supported by the so-called "west", because they serve to maintain the global hierarchy that keeps countries outside the imperial core weak and easily exploitable.

"Critical Support" means that while we may not agree with every policy of a country that is being targeted by the US Empire, we support them in their struggle to remain independent.

We do not condemn countries that have achieved Actually Existing Socialism for not 100% matching purist ideals about what "socialism" looks like in theory. We recognize that socialism is a process, not a destination.

COVID:

Considering immunocompromized or otherwise vulnerable comrades expendable is eugenics. Refusing to acknowledge the harm COVID has done and continues to do plays into the hand of fascists. An inability to see who is and has been most harmed by COVID is a failure in basic solidarity and humanity. Most of all, COVID is a working class issue.

Don't debate people about masking/vaccines on Hexbear. Anti-vax or anti-mask attitudes are not welcome on Hexbear as the science on this is clear. Staying aware of and protecting yourself and others from covid is an act of solidarity.

Veganism:

Animal liberation is essential to any socialist movement. Users should not be anti-vegan, although we do not require users to be vegan.

Hexbear User Rules

Users:

A user is anyone who uses Hexbear. This includes everyone who signed up to Hexbear specifically, as well as users with additional permissions. Users with moderator permissions are referred to as mods. Users with administrator permissions are referred to as admins.

Hard Rules

Users in violation of these rules shall be permanently banned without appeal. Mods in violation shall be immediately stripped of moderator privileges and permanently banned without appeal. Admin in violation shall be subject to the Hexbear administrator succession plan.

1. Usernames or posts/comments containing extreme transphobia, homophobia, sexism, racism, ableism, zionism, anti-veganism, or trivializing and downplaying COVID. This includes satire or parody accounts that ironically use bigotry rather than "punch up" to power.
2. Posting information that could reveal the personal identity of any user, mod, or admin. Personally identifiable information includes address, legal name(s), specific current location. Users won't be banned for naming their home country, state/province, or age but should consider not doing so.
3. Do not make yourself or Hexbear a target for law enforcement. No direct calls to violence, or expressions of violence, towards users, or specific identifiable living individuals. This applies to specific identifiable organizations as well. Do not post anything illegal under local or international law. Do not encourage others to break the law. Do not plan or confess to crimes online.

Soft(er) Rules

Users in in violation of these rules shall be subject to the Hexbear moderator escalation plan. Users may appeal moderator actions in c/hexbear.

4. Usernames or posts/comments containing transphobia, homophobia, sexism, racism, ableism, zionism, anti-veganism, or trivializing COVID. No self-described or obvious fascists, conservatives, or reactionaries.
5. No public or private harassment, insulting, or demeaning of users.
6. Use content warnings to address problematic content & animal products.
7. Respect proper requests for disengagement.
8. No sectarianism, also when engaging with your fellow users please take the most charitable interpretation and assume good faith.
9. Try to post content in the proper community.
10. Do not post about an active mental-health or medical crisis.
11. Mods and Admins are to abide by the Moderation Escalation Plan.
12. No body shaming or lookism, regardless of the target.
13. Doctored images, fake social media posts, generated content, and satire/parody that appears real should be clearly marked as fake and/or posted in the designated communities.

Content Warnings

A content warning must be placed at the beginning of a post title or directly before the following topics or depictions:

• Self-Harm including medically assisted procedures
• Suicide/Suicidal Ideation
• Violence towards humans or animals including corpses or gore. This includes animal corpses used as food, animal products, and animal abuse.
• Traumatic societal harms such as Transphobia, Sexism, Gender Oppression, Fatphobia, Lookism, Sanism, Ableism, Racism, Ageism and other bigotry.
• Weight, Eating Disorders, Calories, Ableist Slurs, Abortion, Sexual Assault, Sexual Violence, Police Brutality, Ethnic Cleansing and Genocide, etc.
• Epilepsy and Flashing Lights

Triggering content should be placed inside a spoiler tag. Post images that depict triggering content should be marked NSFW. Post titles should contain warnings at the beginning. Use established abbreviations where possible.

Here is a screenshot of where to find the spoiler button:

Failure to use content warnings properly can result in your post being removed and/or further moderator action.

Tone Indicators

Users should work to introduce the use of tone indicators into their posts and comments. Place tone indicators at the end of the relevant content.

There is no punishment for failing to use tone indicators. However it is a helpful practice for neurodivergent comrades and overall communication on the site.

Some communities, like the ones that forbid low-quality posts, may enforce the use of tone indicators at the discretion of the respective moderator(s).

Use of Disengage

Any user may disengage from any discussion by posting a two word, and only two word, reply: "I'm Disengaging". Stipulations:

• Do not post a lengthy reply and then end it with "I'm disengaging."
• Do not disengage yet continue to reply directly/indirectly to the user or about the user.
• Do not complain when someone properly uses the feature on you.
• Do not try to circumvent these restrictions by vague posting or bringing it up later in another thread.
• Do not retroactively use disengage through editing posts or comments. Abusing disengage, failure to abide a proper disengagement, or circumventing the stipulations can result in moderator action.

Debate & Sectarianism

We don't expect every user to be perfect on every issue, but users should work to meet these community guidelines.

• Do not demean or harass others for caring about a topic or details of a topic more than you do.
• Sectarianism is not tolerated.
• Constructive engagement is more important than "dunking".
• Users are allowed to ask good faith questions, however there is little tolerance for debate against the community statements.
• Users must try and take the most charitable interpretation of fellow users.
• Users unwilling to change their minds or accept the community statements will face moderator action.
• Users unwilling to engage others in good faith or who are constantly overly antagonistic will be subject to moderator action.

Posting in the Correct Community

Try not to post content for specific communities outside of the communities created for that content. Here is a non-exhaustive list:

c/hexbearNon-technical suggestions for the site and moderator action appeals. Meta-posting about the site.

c/feedback Technical bugs & suggestions

c/fakenewsOriginal satirical content, parody, fake social media posts, or news headlines/articles

c/badposting Low quality humor or memes. Posts centered around low effort topics or self-referential humor. Anything purposefully bad or immature.

c/slop Dunking and criticism of social media posts.

Individual communities often have rules that are more specific or differ from site-wide rules. Posting certain content outside of the intended comm can result in the post being removed.

Mental-health or Medical Crises

Users are not equipped to provide care for mental-health crises nor medical emergencies.

Users experiencing an active mental health crisis, are encouraged to use local resources and try to contact someone who can properly address your needs. Users having a medical emergency, should contact your local emergency services.

Making posts on these issues can be harmful to yourself or other users and may be removed.

Moderation Escalation Guidelines

1. The user will receive their first verbal warning.
2. The user will receive their second verbal warning, and may be banned from the community for 1 day.
3. The user will receive their third verbal warning, may be banned from the community for up to 1 week, and/or banned from the site for 1 day.
4. The user will receive their final verbal warning, may be permanently banned from the community, and/or banned from the site for up to 1 week.
5. Permanent ban from the site.

Mods are required to maintain the modlog by properly citing the offending rule/guideline for every action, including previous mod actions when appropriate.

Failure to document results in the action being reversed to the previous level without prejudice. Continuous failure to document can result in censure.

The escalation plan can be expedited in cases of egregious violation. Mods have discretion on locking or removing posts/comments, as long as it's properly documented.

Appeals on Moderation Actions

Users can appeal moderator actions inc/hexbear

Please provide the link to the original thread or reply (if it hasn't been removed), as well as any communications you received from the moderator.

You can also post a screenshot from the modlog. The more context you provide, the easier it will be for someone to action your appeal.

Moderators will provide additional communications, modlog entries, and any discussion between moderators in response.

An admin will adjudicate the appeal as soon as one is available and lock posts that are resolved. Intentionally abusing the appeal process will result in a permanent site ban.

Community Moderators

Moderators have the ability to remove posts, remove comments, ban users from a community, pin your comments in a post (speak as moderator), pin posts in the community, lock posts in the community, and change the community name & details.

Mod Guidelines:

Every moderator action that asks for a reason (remove comments/post and banning) must cite the relevant rule and verbal warnings are strongly encouraged.

In addition to acting on reports, please actively moderate posts in the community when you have time.

Make use of warnings, either as a response or a pinned comment, then remove comments/posts, escalate temp bans (1 day, 3 days, 1 week) and in severe cases, permanently ban users.

When banning a user the purge/remove content option is to be used for doxxing or extreme images (CSAM, Gore Shock Images, etc.) only.

No matter the content, the remove content option is entirely, exclusively, ONLY for doxxing or extreme image and nothing else! Using the "remove content" option inappropriately when banning users will result in revoking of moderator privileges.

When you have questions about taking a moderator action please communicate them with your fellow moderators either through Hexbear direct messages or matrix.

Do not hesitate to let an admin know about a user who is breaking the Code of Conduct in an egregious manner.

Act the part:

Remember that people often assume all posts or comments from moderators are official communication.

Your normal, non-distinguished comments carry weight!

It is essential that community moderators recognize the weight their moderator privilege holds.

When you use your moderator account you are speaking on the site's behalf. What you say and the actions you take impact site culture and health.

Be serious, grounded, disciplined in your community moderation and for any community changes, discussion must be before we implement change!

Final Notes:

We are a volunteer-run internet forum. We don't have many admins and act off of consensus.

"Spirit of the Rules" Principle

The given rules in the Code of Conduct are not meant to be an exhaustive list of items that trigger moderator action.

User posts are subject to removal and users are subject to moderator action outside of the enumerated rules or guidelines.