What is covered
Everything a member can write or show on Banter: threads and replies in Banter's own community, photo posts and their pictures, comments, private messages between members, events members add to the calendar, profiles (handle, name, car), and the text Banter's writing service produces for a member (answers, summaries, drafts, facts). Content from other sites that a member reads through Banter with their own sign-in is that site's; Banter shows it only where the site allows and hides it in Banter when a member reports it.
What is not allowed
The Community Rules in full. In short: no insults, hate or discrimination; no harassment, threats, bullying or stalking, and no sharing of anyone's private information (an address, a phone number, a workplace, a license plate with a location); no impersonation; no spam and no selling or advertising without permission; nothing illegal (stolen vehicles or parts, fraud, counterfeit goods, VIN tampering, unlawful emissions tampering, copyright infringement); no sexual content, nudity or intimate images of anyone, real or made, and nothing that sexualizes a minor; no graphic violence; nothing that promotes street racing, takeovers, reckless driving or avoiding the police on public roads (track and drag-strip content is fine); honesty; and respect for other communities and their rules.
Before others read it: the automated screening
- The word list. A short list of words with no place on Banter (slurs, a wish for someone's death) is refused before the post, reply, caption, comment or message is saved. The member sees one sentence and can change the wording. The list is kept on the server and changed without a release.
- The screening. Within seconds of being written, every thread, reply, comment and message, and every photo post with its pictures once they are up, is read by an automated check that uses the same language model service Banter's summaries use (Anthropic). It answers with one of seven categories (none, harassment, spam, illegal, sexual, private information, off topic) and how sure it is. The words and pictures go to the service and nowhere else; the service does not keep them. Banter keeps the verdict, the checks and the cost, never the content.
- What happens. A clear violation is hidden at once and the author is told which rule in their inbox, with the support address. Sexual or illegal content is hidden even when the check is only fairly sure. A member whose content was acted against before gets less benefit of the doubt. Anything the check is unsure about stays up and goes to a person the same day. Ordinary posts appear at once; nothing waits in a queue.
- Events are checked before they are listed (dates, place, link, duplicates, the word list and the model); an event that promotes something unlawful is declined with the reason, and an uncertain one waits for a person.
Reporting and blocking
- Every thread, reply, photo post, comment, message, event and profile has Report in its menu, with a free-text reason. Everything the writing service produces (an answer, a summary, a draft, a facts block) has Report beside it; those reports carry the text and go straight to a person, never back to the model.
- Every member can block another from a profile, a post or a conversation: a blocked member cannot message or follow them, and neither sees the other's photos. Members under 18 can message only people they follow who follow them back.
- Every member can hide a photo post from their own feed without reporting it, and dismiss any announcement from Banter.
- A report is triaged automatically within seconds (duplicates and content already gone are closed; a clear violation is hidden at once; the rest is flagged), and every flagged item is put in front of a person.
Response time, people and records
- Target: every flagged item is looked at within 24 hours of the report or the screening; most within the same working day. A scheduled check every morning lists what is waiting; nothing is actioned without a person's decision.
- Responsible person: Patrick Baginski, founder (support@carbanter.com). Backup: the company's registered agent forwards post; a second reviewer is named before the team grows beyond the founder.
- Records: every automated verdict and every decision by a person is kept with its reasons on Banter's server for one year. Hidden content is kept, hidden, so that an appeal can be read, then deleted with the account or after one year.
Repeat offenders, appeals and escalation
- Strikes: a first clear violation hides the content and tells the member the rule. A second within 90 days adds a warning from a person. On a third, or on any content that sexualizes a minor, threatens violence or is plainly criminal, the Banter team ends the account; the person can write to support@carbanter.com once.
- Appeals: a member whose content was hidden can write to support@carbanter.com; a person who did not make the first decision reads the content and answers within 7 days. A wrongly hidden post is restored.
- Escalation: content that appears to show the sexual abuse of a minor is reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (18 U.S.C. §2258A) and preserved as the law requires (see the Child safety standards); a credible threat of violence is reported to law enforcement; copyright notices follow the copyright notice procedure (designated agent on file with the U.S. Copyright Office) with a counter-notice window and a repeat-infringer rule.
Contact
support@carbanter.com for reports, appeals and questions about this page; privacy@carbanter.com for privacy; copyright notices as the Terms of Use say. Banter for Car Enthusiasts LLC, care of ZenBusiness Inc., 41 State Street, Suite 112, Albany, NY 12207.