These rules apply to Banter's own community (the threads, replies, photos and comments marked with the Banter plate), to messages between Banter members, to profiles, and to events members list on Banter's calendar. They are part of the Terms of Use. What you post or list is yours: you are responsible for it, and Banter does not write, endorse or verify it.
Forums, Reddit communities and clubs that you read through Banter have their own rules and their own moderators. When you post there, their rules apply.
The rules
1. Be respectful
Disagree about cars, bikes, rigs, boats or aircraft as much as you like, but address the point, not the person. No insults, name-calling or personal attacks. No hate or discrimination based on race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, disability or any similar characteristic.
2. No harassment
Do not threaten, bully, stalk or intimidate anyone, or encourage others to do so. Do not keep messaging someone who has not answered or has asked you to stop. Do not share anyone's private information, such as their address, phone number, workplace or license plate with their location, without their permission.
3. Be yourself
Do not impersonate another person, club, business or Banter itself. Do not run more than one account to mislead others or to get around a block or a suspension.
4. No spam, and no selling without permission
Do not post the same thing again and again, post links unrelated to the conversation, or send unwanted messages to people you do not know. Do not advertise, sell, or promote a business, product, service or referral link in Banter's community or in messages unless Banter has given you written permission. Sharing an honest experience with a shop or a part is welcome; advertising is not.
5. Nothing illegal
Do not post or arrange anything that breaks the law, including stolen vehicles or parts, fraud and scams, counterfeit goods, removing or altering vehicle identification numbers, tampering with emissions equipment where that is unlawful, or content that infringes someone else's copyright or trademark. Do not post sexual content, graphic violence, or anything that sexualizes minors. Banter's standards against child sexual abuse and exploitation are on the Child safety standards page.
6. Keep it safe on public roads
Do not organize, promote or celebrate street racing, street takeovers, sideshows, drifting or burnouts on public roads, reckless driving or excessive speed on public roads, or post how to avoid police. Share speed and performance runs only when they were made on a closed course, a track or another lawful setting. Track days, autocross and organized events are where speed belongs, and they are welcome. An event listing that describes any of the above is not listed.
7. Stay honest
Do not deliberately post false information, especially about safety, recalls, airworthiness, seaworthiness or the condition of anything you sell or describe. If you post something written with Banter's help, you are responsible for checking it. Leave the "by Banter" label on anything Banter wrote for you if you share it.
8. Respect other communities
Do not use Banter to recruit members away from another forum in a way that breaks that forum's rules, or copy its threads into Banter's community. Link to the original instead.
9. List only real, lawful events
When you list an event, give its real date, place and organizer, and say whether you run it. List only events that are lawful and that you have the right to list. An event is shown as "Listed by @you, not organized by Banter"; Banter does not organize, endorse or verify it, and people who go attend at their own risk and confirm the details with the organizer. Do not list the same event twice.
How content is reviewed
Banter is small, so most of the checking is done by software, and a person steps in only where the software cannot decide. In plain words:
Events
- Every event a member lists is checked automatically before it appears, usually within a minute. The check looks at the basics (a title, a place that names a town or venue, a date in the future and within eighteen months, an end after the start, a link that answers), whether the same event is already listed that day, the standing of the member's account (how new it is, whether others have blocked or reported them), and a short list of words that describe things Banter never lists, such as street racing or takeovers. It then asks an automated review service, "Review by Banter", whether the listing reads as a real, lawful event for its kind (a car meet, a ride, a rally, a boat show, a fly-in), and how sure it is.
- An event that passes everything, with the review sure, is listed. An event that plainly fails (a disallowed activity, a date in the past, something that is not an event) is not listed, and the member sees the reason and can edit it once and send it again.
- Anything in between (a vague place, a link that did not answer, a possible duplicate, a brand-new account, or a review that was not sure) is flagged for a person, who lists it or declines it, usually within a day. Until then only the member who listed it can see it.
- An event that is edited after it was listed goes through the check again.
Everything you write (from version 1.2)
- A short list of words is refused before a post is saved (slurs and a wish for someone's death). You see one sentence and can change the wording.
- Everything else is screened within seconds of being written: threads, replies, comments and messages at once, photo posts with their pictures about a minute later. The automated review service compares the words, and the pictures, with these rules and says which rule, if any, is broken and how sure it is.
- A clear break of the rules is hidden at once, and you are told which rule in your inbox. Sexual or illegal content is hidden even when the check is only fairly sure. Anything the check is unsure about stays up and goes to a person, usually the same day. Ordinary posts appear at once; nothing waits in a queue.
Reports
- Every report is checked automatically first. A report of something that was already removed, or of something reported in the last hour, is closed, because the first report is being handled. Otherwise the reported content is compared with these rules by the automated review service.
- A clear break of the rules is removed at once (for example a threat, an advertisement, something illegal or sexual, or someone's private information), and the member who posted it is told which rule it broke. When the two people have blocked each other, when a member reports their own content, or when the content is a profile or a gathered event, nothing is removed automatically.
- Everything else goes to a person, who reads the content and the context and decides to remove it, keep it or warn the member, usually within a day.
What gets removed
Content that breaks these rules, content that is unlawful or infringes someone's rights (see the copyright notice procedure), spam, and event listings that are not real, not lawful or not an event. Accounts that break the rules seriously or repeatedly are suspended or closed. A removal is not a judgement that you did anything else wrong; write to support@carbanter.com if you think it was a mistake and we will look again.
The automated checks use an outside service to read the words of a listing or a reported post; nothing else about you is sent, and nothing is kept by that service. Automated checks make mistakes in both directions, which is why a person decides everything the software is not sure about, and why a review is never a guarantee that something on Banter is accurate, lawful or safe.
How to report
If you see something that breaks these rules, report it. Your report is private: the person you report is not told who reported them.
- A thread: open the thread and choose "Report this thread".
- A person or a message: open the conversation or the person's profile and choose "Report", then say briefly what happened.
- A photo, a comment or an event: open it and choose "Report" from its menu.
- Anything else, or if you cannot use the app: write to support@carbanter.com with the person's handle and what happened.
If someone is in danger, contact the emergency services first (911 in the United States), and then tell us.
How to block
Open the conversation or the person's profile and choose "Block". A person you block cannot send you messages; if they try, they are told only that the message could not be delivered, not that you blocked them. You can unblock them in the same place. Blocking does not remove what they posted in the community; report a post if it breaks the rules.
What moderators do
Every report is checked automatically within minutes (see How content is reviewed), and a person looks at every report the automated check could not settle within 24 hours. The person reads the reported content and the context needed to judge it, and then does one or more of the following:
- take no action, if the content does not break the rules;
- remove the content;
- warn the person who posted it;
- suspend the person from posting and messaging for a period;
- close the person's account for serious or repeated breaks of the rules;
- report content to the authorities where the law requires it or where someone may be in danger.
A private message is read by a person only when one of the two people in the conversation reports it, or when the automated screening flags it. Content that is plainly illegal or dangerous is removed as soon as it is reviewed. The whole process, with response times, appeals and who is responsible, is on How Banter moderates.
If your content was removed or your account was limited and you think it was a mistake, write to support@carbanter.com and we will look at the decision again.
Changes
We may update these rules as the community grows. The effective date at the top shows the latest version.