====== folk.zone Policies ======

The unified policy for all folk.zone services, unless a service-specific addendum states otherwise. Canonical source: ''folkzone/POLICY.md'' in the homelab repo.

===== What folk.zone Is =====

folk.zone is an independent, community-operated collection of free and open-source internet services hosted by a single person. It is not a company and is not venture-backed. It runs on consumer hardware in a home, offered freely and without warranty as a contribution to the IndieWeb commons.

The operator may suspend, limit, or shut down any service at any time, with advance notice whenever possible.

===== Terms of Service =====

  * **Eligibility**: accounts require a valid email and acceptance of the community standards below
  * **Account responsibility**: you are responsible for activity under your account
  * **Acceptable use**: no illegal content, no spam, no automated abuse, no scraping of other users' data, no circumvention of rate limits or security controls
  * **Content ownership**: you keep the rights to what you post; you grant the service only what it needs to display and federate it
  * **Privacy**: the operator does not sell or share user data. See the privacy section for what each service stores.
  * **Account deletion**: on request, or self-serve where the service supports it
  * **Termination**: the operator may suspend accounts that violate these terms, with notice where practical

===== Community Standards =====

Core principle: be a good neighbour. This is a small commons, not a growth platform.

Always prohibited: illegal content, CSAM, doxxing, spam, malware, and automated harassment. Hate speech, harassment, and incitement are prohibited; content warnings are expected for sensitive material; misinformation posted in bad faith is treated as a standards violation, not a debate. Limited commercial use is allowed: an indie author may talk about their books; an ad campaign may not.

===== Moderation =====

  * The operator moderates, assisted by service-local moderators as the community grows
  * Actions escalate: content removal, warning, feature limits, suspension, account removal
  * Appeals go to the operator's contact address; decisions get a written response
  * For federated services, moderation extends to remote instances: known-bad instances are defederated, and the list is documented

===== Registration =====

At launch, services use invite-only or application-based registration. This is a capacity choice, not a permanent policy: the plan is to open registration as moderation capacity allows.

^ Service ^ Model ^
| social.folk.zone | Application-based |
| write.folk.zone | Invite-only |
| git.folk.zone | Open; anonymous clone permitted |
| pics.folk.zone | Application-based |
| lemmy.folk.zone | Invite-only initially |
| wiki.folk.zone | Open read; account required to edit |
| books.folk.zone | Application-based |
| pad.folk.zone | Open; no account required |
| paste.folk.zone | Open; no account required |
| go.folk.zone | Private initially; viewing is always open |
| irc.folk.zone | Open via NickServ |
| rss.folk.zone | Invite-only |
| links.folk.zone | Private initially |
| bridge.folk.zone | Open; no accounts |
| sheet.folk.zone | Open; share-by-URL, no accounts |

Registered users in good standing may receive invitations to distribute at the operator's discretion.

===== Email =====

folk.zone uses Resend for transactional email (''noreply@folk.zone''). It sends account confirmation, password reset, opted-in notifications, and critical service announcements. No marketing email, no selling addresses. See [[folkzone:email|Email and SMTP]] for the delivery setup.

===== Uptime =====

No SLA. This is a homelab: services may go down for power outages, ISP issues, hardware failure, updates, or sleep. Status is at [[https://status.folk.zone|status.folk.zone]]; planned maintenance is announced ahead of time.

===== Changes =====

Material policy changes are announced on the social service and, where supported, by email. Continued use after a change constitutes acceptance.

===== See Also =====

  * [[folkzone:start|folk.zone Infrastructure]]
  * [[folkzone:philosophy|Homelab Philosophy]]
  * [[meta:hygiene|Wiki Hygiene Rules]]
  * [[start|Return to wiki home]]