Community Guidelines

1. Be Respectful

UniPulses is a place for open, honest conversation — but pseudonymity is not a license to be cruel. Treat others the way you'd want to be treated in a campus study lounge.

• No hate speech. Do not attack, demean, or dehumanize individuals or groups based on race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, age, or serious medical condition.
• No bullying or harassment. Do not target individuals with personal attacks, threats, intimidation, or sustained unwanted contact. This includes pile-on behavior where multiple users coordinate to attack someone.
• No threats of violence. Do not post content that threatens, encourages, or glorifies violence against any person or group, even in a joking or hypothetical manner.
• Disagree constructively. You can disagree with ideas, opinions, and policies — but attack the argument, not the person. Ad hominem attacks, name-calling, and bad-faith trolling are not welcome.

2. Protect Privacy

Pseudonymity is a core feature of UniPulses. Respect it — both yours and others'.

• No doxing.Never share or threaten to share another person's private information, including real names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, photos, financial information, or social media profiles, without their explicit consent.
• No identity reveals.Do not attempt to identify or reveal the real-world identity of another pseudonymous user. Speculation about who someone "really is" is not allowed.
• Protect your own privacy. Be mindful of what you share. Combining details across multiple posts can sometimes make you identifiable. We recommend against sharing highly specific personal details.
• No non-consensual images. Do not post photos or videos of others without their consent, especially in contexts that could embarrass or harm them.

3. Post Authentic Content

UniPulses is organized into Spaces — topic-based communities within your campus. Help keep them useful.

• Post in the right Space. Choose the Space that best fits your topic. A question about dining halls belongs in a campus-life Space, not a CS course discussion.
• No spam. Do not post repetitive, irrelevant, or unsolicited content. This includes excessive self-promotion, affiliate links, referral codes, and copy-pasted content across multiple Spaces.
• No impersonation. Do not pretend to be another person, a university official, a professor, or an organization. Parody or satire accounts must be clearly labeled as such.
• No misinformation.Do not deliberately post false or misleading information, especially regarding campus safety, health, university policies, or emergency situations. If you're sharing something unverified, say so.

4. Keep It Legal

Do not use UniPulses to facilitate or promote illegal activity. This includes, but is not limited to:

• Buying, selling, or trading controlled substances, weapons, stolen goods, or counterfeit items.
• Soliciting or offering services that violate applicable law.
• Posting content that infringes on the intellectual property rights of others, including copyrighted material, without authorization.
• Posting sexually explicit content involving minors (this will result in an immediate permanent ban and a report to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children).

5. Academic Integrity

UniPulses is a great place to discuss courses, professors, workload, and study strategies. However, we draw a clear line at academic dishonesty.

• Allowed: Discussing course difficulty, sharing study tips, recommending resources, comparing professors, asking conceptual questions, and sharing your general experience with a class.
• Not allowed: Sharing exam questions or answers (before, during, or after an exam), posting homework solutions, soliciting someone to complete assignments for you, or distributing copyrighted course materials (e.g., textbook PDFs, lecture recordings) without permission.

If you're unsure whether something crosses the line, err on the side of caution. When in doubt, discuss concepts rather than specific assessment content.

6. Voting and Engagement

The voting system is how the community surfaces the most helpful, interesting, and relevant content. Keep it fair.

• No vote manipulation. Do not use multiple accounts, coordinate with others, or use automated tools to artificially upvote or downvote content.
• Vote on quality, not agreement. Upvote content that contributes to the conversation, even if you disagree with it. Downvote content that is low-quality, off-topic, or violates guidelines — not simply because you hold a different opinion.
• No brigading. Do not organize or participate in coordinated efforts to mass-vote on specific content or target specific users.

7. Reporting and Moderation

If you see content that violates these guidelines, please report it. Every report is reviewed — you are helping keep your campus community safe. When reporting, select the category that best describes the issue:

1. Spam — Repetitive, irrelevant, or unsolicited content.
2. Harassment — Bullying, threats, hate speech, or targeted attacks.
3. Misinformation — Deliberately false or misleading content that could cause harm.
4. Inappropriate content — Sexually explicit material, graphic violence, or content that violates academic integrity.
5. Other — Anything else that violates these guidelines or our Terms of Service.

Reports are confidential. We will never reveal who reported a piece of content. Abusing the reporting system (e.g., mass reporting content you simply disagree with) is itself a violation of these guidelines.

8. Direct Messages

Direct messages (DMs) are subject to the same rules as public content. Specifically:

• Do not use DMs to harass, threaten, or send unwanted sexual content.
• Do not use DMs to spam users with promotional content or solicitations.
• Do not use DMs to circumvent a block — if someone blocks you, respect their decision.
• You can report abusive DMs using the same reporting flow as public content.

9. Display Names

Your display name is how other users see you on UniPulses. While you do not need to use your real name, your display name must not:

• Impersonate another person, professor, university official, or organization.
• Contain slurs, hate speech, or sexually explicit language.
• Be designed to confuse or mislead (e.g., names that look like system messages or moderator badges).
• Include another person's real name or private information.

We reserve the right to reset display names that violate these rules.

10. Enforcement

We use a combination of automated detection, community reports, and human review to enforce these guidelines. Our enforcement follows a graduated approach:

1. Warning. For first-time or minor violations, we may issue a warning explaining which guideline was violated and how to avoid future issues. The offending content may be removed.
2. Temporary suspension. For repeated violations or more serious offenses, your account may be suspended for a period ranging from 24 hours to 30 days. During a suspension, you cannot post, comment, vote, or send DMs.
3. Permanent ban. For severe violations (e.g., doxing, threats of violence, CSAM, or persistent harassment after prior warnings), your account will be permanently banned. Permanent bans may be accompanied by a report to law enforcement where appropriate.

The severity of enforcement depends on the nature and context of the violation, your history on the platform, and the potential for harm. We strive to be fair and consistent, but reserve the right to take any action we deem necessary to protect the community.

If you believe an enforcement action was taken in error, you may appeal by contacting legal@unipulses.com with your username and a description of the situation. We review all appeals and will respond within 7 business days.