Community

Community Guidelines.

B-side is a small social network for adults who want to be themselves online. These are the rules that make that possible.

Effective: Q4 2026 (closed beta launch) · Version: 0.1 draft

We wrote these guidelines so they can be read by an actual person in five minutes. They reflect the kind of place we're trying to build — one where people can express themselves without being either commodified by an algorithm or harassed by strangers.

B-side is friends-first. Most of what you'll see comes from people you chose. That makes the rules below easier to enforce — but it also means we take violations seriously when they happen.

01 What B-side is for

B-side is for sharing what you're into, with the people you've chosen. Music. Photos. Notes. Small wins. Long-form rambles. Postcards to your friends. The expressive, taste-revealing parts of yourself that the rest of social media has flattened out of you.

B-side is not for marketing, growth-hacking, lead-gen, follower-farming, or building an audience to sell things to. There are other places for that. This is a different place.

02 Who B-side is for

Adults, 18 and older. No exceptions. We require age verification at signup and we ban accounts we discover are operated by someone under 18.

We expect you to be the person you say you are. Stage names, pen names, and chosen names are welcome. Impersonating a real person who isn't you is not.

03 Not allowed — ever

These behaviors result in immediate permanent ban, no warning, no appeal:

Sexual content involving minors. Any of it, in any form, real or generated. We scan all uploaded images and report violations to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, as we are required to by U.S. federal law.

Credible threats of violence. Toward an individual, a group, or yourself. We will involve law enforcement when there's reason to.

Sustained harassment or stalking. Especially when it crosses into someone's offline life.

Non-consensual intimate imagery. Including "deepfakes" of real people, revenge porn, and unauthorized intimate photos.

04 Not allowed — content removed, account at risk

These get content removed and may lead to suspension or ban depending on severity and history:

Sexual or adult content. B-side is not an adult platform. No nudity, no explicit imagery, no sexual content. There are platforms designed for that — we're not one of them.

Hate speech. Slurs, dehumanizing language, or content attacking people based on race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, or age.

Doxxing. Sharing someone's home address, phone number, workplace, or other private identifying information without their consent.

Spam & scams. Bulk unsolicited messages, fake giveaways, crypto pump-and-dumps, phishing, romance scams, get-rich-quick schemes.

Impersonation. Pretending to be a real person who isn't you. (Stage names, chosen names, and parody clearly labeled as such are fine.)

Copyright infringement. Posting full songs, films, books, or large portions of someone else's work that you don't have rights to share. Brief quotes, commentary, and remixing fair-use-style are generally fine; uploading a whole album rip isn't.

Glorification of self-harm. Content that promotes, instructs, or romanticizes self-harm, suicide, or eating disorders. Discussing your own experience honestly is welcome; instructing or encouraging others is not.

Illegal goods. Sales of drugs, weapons, prescription medication, stolen goods, or other things that are illegal where you or the buyer live.

05 How we screen uploads

Every photo uploaded to B-side — profile photos, album photos, post images — passes through automated screening before it's shown to anyone else:

CSAM hash-matching. Every image is checked against known child sexual abuse material using industry hash-matching databases (the same category of tooling used across the industry). Matches are never shown, are removed automatically, and are reported to NCMEC's CyberTipline as required by law.
Automated content classification. Images are scored for nudity, sexual content, and graphic violence. High-confidence violations are blocked automatically; borderline results are queued for human review before any action is taken.
Human review. Reported content, and anything automated screening flags as ambiguous, is reviewed by a person — not just an algorithm.

Automated screening reduces exposure, but it isn't perfect in either direction: it can occasionally flag something that isn't actually a violation. That's why borderline calls go to a human, and why every enforcement decision can be appealed at safety@bside.social.

06 What we encourage

Be specific. The thing that makes a profile feel real is the small particular: the obscure song, the bookshelf detail, the half-finished thought. The internet is starving for specifics.

Tell one person. If you like something here, send it to a friend who'd also like it. That's how this place stays good.

Disagree generously. The Top 8 is not a leaderboard. The guestbook is not a quote-tweet pile. Read the room.

Report what's wrong. A small site only stays a good site if the community helps moderate it. If you see something that breaks these guidelines, hit the report button.

07 How enforcement works

Tier 1 — Warning & content removal

Most first-time minor violations. We remove the content, send you a notification explaining why, and you keep your account.

Tier 2 — Temporary suspension

For repeat violations or single violations of moderate severity. Usually 7 days. Your content stays up where it doesn't violate rules; you can't post, DM, or comment during the suspension.

Tier 3 — Permanent ban

For severe violations, repeated tier-2 violations, or any of the "never" categories above. Your account is closed; your content is removed. You may not return on a new account.

We aim to respond to reports within 24 hours during beta and faster as we scale. We don't yet have an in-app dispute resolution system; appeals go to safety@bside.social and we review them within 7 days.

08 Reporting

From any profile, post, or message, you can tap the report icon to flag the content for review. Reports are anonymous by default. We do not share who reported what with the reported user.

For urgent safety issues (threats of violence, child sexual content, ongoing harassment): email safety@bside.social directly, especially during early beta when in-app tools may be limited.

If you're in immediate danger, please contact local emergency services first.

09 Block & mute

You can block any user from your profile or theirs. Blocked users cannot see your content, send you messages, or interact with your posts. They are not notified that you've blocked them.

Mute is a softer version: muted users can still interact with you, but their content is hidden from your feed and profile. Useful when you don't want a confrontation but also don't want to keep seeing someone's posts.

10 A note from the builders

We are a small team. We will get some of this wrong. When we do, we want to hear about it. The best version of B-side is a place built with its members, not for them.

If you have feedback on these guidelines, on a moderation decision, or on the place B-side is becoming, write to hello@bside.social. A real person reads every email.

— Gra-Vy · Grace & Davey