Community Guidelines

Bindery is a place for communities of readers led by tastemakers to gather and discuss books and writers they love. We celebrate a diversity of thought, expression, and discussion, and support the free exchange of ideas as long as the discussion does not create a hostile environment for others.

Bindery is an intersection between a social platform and a publishing house. The following guidelines detail what is acceptable in Bindery spaces, both in online communities as well as in the books we produce.

Our community guidelines are in place to ensure the safety of tastemakers, authors, and subscribers. We have the exclusive right to interpret and enforce these rules at our discretion.

Mature and Violent Content

We love that online tastemakers in the book space have grown the reading market overall to include larger numbers of younger audiences. We want to make sure that those readers, often under the age of 18, are safe to use any Bindery space.

To help users make decisions about appropriate content, we distinguish books we publish that contain adult content (mature themes) from all-audience content by applying an 18+ flag. Tastemakers should flag themselves as 18+ if they create any content in their community space that may be considered inappropriate for younger audiences.

Community content that we would consider requiring an 18+ flag includes illustration or imagery of people who are nude in sexual contexts, audio content that is explicitly sexual, or content containing graphic violence. Content that is permissible for all audiences includes representations of the nude human form in art and comedic profanity, and certain types of age-appropriate fictional violence offered within broader context.

Books published for adult audiences in many genres contain mature themes, and we understand the importance of these topics in the cultural dialogue. We work with experienced editorial teams and cultural relevance readers to ensure that the books published through Bindery walk that line carefully. We have zero tolerance for the glorification of real-world violence against humans or animals, or for sexual violence, including rape, child exploitation, or bestiality. We do not allow or publish extreme fringe sexual fetish content or any content that is hard to distinguish from non-consensual sex. We believe sexuality is a natural, healthy, and essential part of the human experience, pleasure is good, and all sexual orientations and relationship styles should be supported. We celebrate and support the publication of books in genres that portray consensual sexual acts, such as erotica, as long as mature content meets these guidelines.

Hate and Harassment

Bindery is intended to be a home for book tastemakers and a safe space for both authors and tastemakers. There is zero tolerance under this roof for hate speech. Hate speech includes attacks on people based on race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, or immigration status, as well as calls for violence, exclusion, or segregation based on any of these characteristics. This list is not exhaustive. If you see what you believe to be hate speech in a Bindery community, please report it.

No user may intimidate, threaten, bully, or harass anyone else in any manner. Our harassment policy includes doxing, a tactic used to intimidate by sharing personal information in public spaces.

Bindery welcomes dialogue about books and stories, and we recognize that in the course of literary discussion, strong disagreements can occur, and certain stories can be triggering to certain readers. Please remember that authors are people who have put themselves out in the world with creative work; we do not allow direct personal attacks on authors on our platform. If you don't prefer an author’s work, you don't have to read or recommend it. Literary criticism is welcome if framed in such a way that promotes open discussion between readers. Bindery doesn’t tolerate harassment of any kind, inside or outside of our platform. Bindery reserves the right to remove users from the platform who it finds to be personally harassing authors, tastemakers, or anyone expressing their honest viewpoint about a work.

Harmful and Illegal Activities

People affiliated with dangerous, hateful, or violent groups, or people espousing their related ideologies, may be restricted from participating in a community on Bindery. These kinds of groups include terrorist organizations, organized criminal groups, hate organizations, and disinformation organizations. Discussion of these groups for awareness or debunking purposes is allowed both in community content and published material. However, any subscriber who supports or praises these groups may have their account removed. Any tastemaker who makes credible violent threats, commits violent crimes, coordinates harm, or encourages others to do any of these activities may be banned from using Bindery.

Bindery payments are processed through Stripe, which prohibits certain types of businesses from using their service. Please refer to the Stripe Service Agreement and Stripe’s restricted businesses for more information.

Moderation and Comments

Transparency and open communication are core values at Bindery. We will always first educate tastemakers if a rule has been broken and communicate how to fix the issue. In cases of a violation that is intentional, repetitive, or extreme, we may suspend or remove an account, or ban a tastemaker or subscriber from Bindery.

We welcome authors who want to join a Bindery membership if they're interested in participating in the tastemakers' publishing process as a community member. However, any harassment of tastemakers through any channel, including email, direct messages, or comments, as well as any offers for compensation to gain favor or special treatment, are strictly prohibited and grounds for removal from Bindery.

Authenticity

Bindery tastemakers may not post creative works that infringe on others’ intellectual property rights. This includes music, artwork, and excerpts from unpublished manuscripts not explicitly agreed to by the work’s author.

No one likes to be spammed, so in order to ensure a positive user experience, spam and phishing are not allowed.

We don't allow impersonation, which includes posing as another person, brand, or organization.

Disputes

The philosophy behind these guidelines applies to all users on the Bindery platform. While tastemakers are responsible for moderating their communities, there are some occasions where Bindery will enforce these guidelines upon subscribers directly.

Tastemakers and users can confidentially report content that is in breach of these community guidelines by emailing safety@binderybooks.com. If you feel unsafe, don't hesitate to contact local law enforcement.