Moderation & Safety Policy

🛡️ Purpose, Philosophy, and Authority

Witch Voices™ ("the Platform," "we," "us," "our") uses a hybrid moderation structure designed to safeguard community members, comply with state and federal legal mandates, and maintain an inclusive, abuse-free environment for spiritual discussion and metaphysical exploration.

This policy outlines how content is reviewed, the scope of moderator discretion, our tiered enforcement framework, and the statutory protections governing platform governance.

1. Statutory Safe Harbor: 47 U.S.C. § 230 Good-Samaritan Protections

Moderation across Witch Voices™ is conducted in good faith pursuant to the protections of 47 U.S.C. § 230(c)(2) (the Communications Decency Act).

Witch Voices™, its operators, staff, and volunteer moderators are immune from civil liability for any action voluntarily taken in good faith to restrict access to, filter, remove, or disable material considered obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, excessively violent, harassing, or otherwise objectionable, whether or not such material is constitutionally protected.

No Contractual Right to Service: Account creation and participation on the Platform are privileges, not civil or property rights. Witch Voices™ reserves the absolute, unilateral discretion to moderate, edit, decline, quarantine, or permanently remove any content or user account at any time, with or without cause, and without prior notice.

2. Hybrid Moderation Model

The Platform balances creative expression with community safety through two mechanisms:

2.1 Editorial Moderation (Pre-Publication Review)

Applies to featured articles, tutorials, community news, long-form educational essays, and official publications.

• Submissions are held in a pending queue and manually reviewed by designated editorial staff prior to public listing.
• Content is vetted for quality, compliance with Platform guidelines, safety risks (e.g., hazardous botanical or open-flame instructions), and original authorship.
• Staff may approve, reject, or request revisions prior to publication.

2.2 Community Moderation (Reactive & Automated Review)

Applies to forum posts, thread replies, profile statuses, comments, and open group discussions.

• Submissions appear immediately to support real-time engagement.
• Content is evaluated reactively following community flags, user reports, automated keyword/spam heuristic alerts, or routine moderator oversight.

3. Moderator Scope and Limitations

3.1 Authority Granted

Authorized platform moderators have the authority to:

• Remove, edit, redact, lock, or unpublish offending comments, threads, images, or audio assets.
• Reclassify or move forum threads into appropriate topical categories.
• Issue formal warnings, apply temporary posting cooldowns, or restrict access to specific discussion groups.
• Recommend or implement temporary suspensions and permanent user bans.

3.2 Prohibited Moderator Conduct

Moderators operate under strict community conduct rules. Moderators may NOT:

• Demand personal identifying information, real names, or off-platform contact details from users.
• Impose dogmatic religious requirements or suppress lawful discussion solely due to personal spiritual disagreement.
• Disclose private account logs, reporter identities, or confidential moderation logs to third parties.
• Abuse administrative privileges to harass, target, intimidate, or settle personal vendettas with users.

4. User Reporting System

Users who encounter content that violates our Terms of Service, DMCA Policy, or Community Guidelines may submit an in-app report or contact contact@witchvoices.com.

• Required Information: Valid reports must identify the specific URL, username, and description of the violation.
• Bad-Faith Reports: Submitting repeated, fraudulent, automated, or retaliatory reports against other users is considered an abuse of the Platform and subject to account restriction.

5. Tiered Enforcement Framework

Unless an infraction warrants immediate removal under zero-tolerance safety policies, enforcement actions follow a progressive ladder:

• Level 1 — Guidance & Soft Removal: Informal administrative reminders, tag adjustments, or content deletion without account penalty.
• Level 2 — Formal Warning: Documented account warning detailing the specific policy breached.
• Level 3 — Temporary Cooldown / Feature Restriction: Temporary revocation of posting privileges, commenting rights, or direct messaging access (ranging from 24 hours to 14 days).
• Level 4 — Account Suspension: Total account suspension for severe or repetitive policy breaches (ranging from 7 to 30 days).
• Level 5 — Permanent Termination & Ban: Irrevocable closure of the account, purge of session credentials, and blacklisting of associated identifiers.

6. Zero-Tolerance Violations

The following violations result in immediate Level 5 permanent termination without prior warning or tiered progression:

• Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM): Immediate account termination, data preservation, and mandatory statutory reporting to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 2258A.
• Credible Threats & Imminent Physical Violence: Terroristic threats, self-harm encouragement, or violent intent directed at individuals or groups.
• Doxxing: Malicious publication of private home addresses, real-world contact info, financial credentials, or private photos.
• Malicious Code: Distributing malware, trojans, ransomware, phishing vectors, or active exploits against the Platform.
• Ban Evasion: Registering secondary accounts or deploying proxies to circumvent previous permanent suspensions.

7. Appeals Process

Users subjected to formal warnings, feature restrictions, or bans may appeal the enforcement decision within fourteen (14) calendar days of the action by emailing contact@witchvoices.com with the subject line "Moderation Appeal - [Account Pseudonym]".

• Appeals must outline factual reasons why the decision was made in error.
• Appeals are reviewed by senior administration. Decisions rendered upon appeal review are final and binding.

8. Contact & Escalations

For urgent community safety escalations or inquiries regarding moderation conduct:
Witch Voices™ Trust & Safety
Email: contact@witchvoices.com