Community Standards

Community Guidelines

Our guidelines ensure that PoliRank remains a space for constructive political discourse, factual reviews, and meaningful civic engagement.

Our Community Principles

PoliRank is designed to empower citizens with data-driven insights about their political representatives while fostering constructive political discourse. These community guidelines help ensure our platform remains a valuable resource for democratic engagement.

By participating on PoliRank, you agree to follow these guidelines in all your interactions, reviews, and discussions. Our moderation team actively enforces these standards to maintain the integrity and quality of our platform.

Why These Guidelines Matter

Political discourse can be passionate, but our mission is to improve democratic systems through constructive feedback and meaningful civic engagement. These guidelines help ensure that PoliRank remains a place where diverse political viewpoints can be expressed while maintaining respect, factual accuracy, and constructive intent.

Core Guidelines

Be Respectful

Treat others with respect, even when disagreeing. Political discourse can be passionate, but personal attacks, hate speech, or derogatory language have no place on our platform.

Do's

  • Express disagreement with ideas, not personal attacks on individuals
  • Use civil language when critiquing representatives
  • Acknowledge differing viewpoints with respect

Don'ts

  • Use hate speech or derogatory language targeting protected characteristics
  • Engage in name-calling or personal insults
  • Make threats or use intimidating language

Be Factual

Our platform values evidence-based discourse. Make claims that can be verified and backed by credible sources when reviewing representatives or participating in discussions.

Do's

  • Provide specific examples when reviewing representatives
  • Include sources when making factual claims
  • Focus on verifiable performance metrics

Don'ts

  • Spread misinformation or unverified rumors
  • Make vague claims without supporting evidence
  • Present opinions as established facts

Be Transparent

Transparency builds trust. Disclose relevant affiliations when reviewing representatives or participating in discussions that may be influenced by your connections.

Do's

  • Disclose if you work for a political campaign or organization
  • Mention if you have a personal connection to a representative
  • Be honest about your political involvement

Don'ts

  • Hide affiliations that might influence your reviews
  • Create multiple accounts to post similar content
  • Misrepresent your identity or motives

Be Constructive

Focus on providing constructive feedback that helps improve political representation and discourse, rather than purely negative criticism.

Do's

  • Provide specific, actionable feedback in reviews
  • Highlight both strengths and areas for improvement
  • Suggest potential solutions when identifying problems

Don'ts

  • Post reviews that are purely vindictive
  • Make broad, generalized criticisms without specifics
  • Focus only on negatives without acknowledging positives

Enforcement & Moderation

How We Enforce These Guidelines

Our moderation approach is designed to maintain a high-quality platform while respecting diverse viewpoints. We use a combination of automated systems, human moderators, and community reporting to enforce these guidelines.

Reporting Content

If you see content that violates our guidelines, please report it using the flag icon. Our moderation team will review all reports promptly and take appropriate action.

Moderation Actions

Depending on the severity and frequency of violations, moderation actions may include content removal, warnings, temporary restrictions, or permanent account suspension.

Enforcement Levels

Our enforcement follows a graduated approach based on the severity and frequency of violations:

1

Educational Warning

For minor first-time violations, users receive a warning with specific guidance on how the content violated our guidelines and how to improve.

2

Content Removal

Content that clearly violates our guidelines will be removed, and the user will be notified of the specific violation and any additional actions.

3

Temporary Restrictions

Repeated violations or more serious breaches may result in temporary restrictions on posting reviews, participating in discussions, or other platform features.

4

Account Suspension

Severe violations, patterns of abuse, or failure to improve behavior after multiple warnings may result in permanent account suspension.

Special Considerations

Impersonation

Impersonating elected officials, candidates, or other individuals is strictly prohibited. Verified representatives have official badges on their profiles. If you believe someone is impersonating a representative, please report it immediately.

Election Periods

During election periods, we implement enhanced monitoring and verification procedures. Reviews posted during election periods are subject to additional scrutiny to prevent misuse of our platform for election interference.

Representative Responses

Verified representatives have the right to respond to reviews about them. These responses are subject to the same community guidelines. Our system ensures equal opportunity for representatives across the political spectrum to engage with constituent feedback.

Appeals Process

We understand that moderation decisions may sometimes require additional review. If you believe a moderation action was taken in error, you can appeal through the following process:

  1. 1

    Review the Guidelines

    Before appealing, carefully review these community guidelines to understand the specific violation cited in the moderation notice.

  2. 2

    Submit an Appeal

    Use the appeal form in your account settings to explain why you believe the moderation decision should be reconsidered. Be specific and reference the guidelines in your explanation.

  3. 3

    Appeal Review

    A senior moderator who was not involved in the original decision will review your appeal and provide a response within 5 business days.

Multiple unfounded appeals or abuse of the appeals process may result in temporary suspension of appeal privileges. Appeals for severe violations like hate speech, threats, or impersonation may be declined at our discretion.