Discussion rules

Address the point, not the person

Criticise claims, reasoning, sources and likely consequences. Do not insult, threaten, shame, dogpile or speculate about another contributor’s identity, health or motives.

• Do not encourage anyone to investigate, contact or punish another person.
• Do not use a general debate to make allegations about an identifiable person.
• Disagreement with an identity, subculture or lawful adult interest is not permission to harass people.

Protect personal information

Do not post real names, handles, profile links, contact details, locations, workplaces, private messages or other information that could identify or locate someone. This applies even when the information appears elsewhere online.

Make claims you can defend

Separate evidence from inference and opinion. Explain what a source supports rather than dropping a link without context. Claims of criminal or sexual wrongdoing require reliable evidence and must not identify a person on this service.

• Do not fabricate quotations, evidence or identities.
• Do not present rumour as fact.
• Correct material errors when reliable evidence shows that a claim is wrong.

Keep sensitive discussion adult and non-graphic

Thunder Debates is an 18+ text-only service. It is not a venue for explicit sexual description, sexual content involving children, child sexual abuse material, grooming, threats, instructions for serious harm or links to prohibited material. Use the minimum detail needed to discuss policy, evidence, risk or safeguarding.

Do not manipulate participation

One person may hold one Agree or Disagree reaction on each point and one upvote or downvote on each comment. Do not coordinate votes, automate participation, post duplicates, misuse accounts or discard cookies to evade limits or restrictions. Suspicious activity may be excluded while it is reviewed.

Reporting and enforcement

Use the private Report control on a point or comment instead of repeating harmful material in public. Automated rules and authorised moderators may hold, redact, remove, restore or lock content, invalidate manipulated votes and restrict accounts, anonymous identities or network access.

• A redaction marker remains when moderators remove unsafe details from otherwise publishable content.
• A moderation appeal can be submitted from the Complaints and appeals page.
• Repeated false, retaliatory or abusive reports may themselves lead to moderation.