Community Guidelines

1. Scope

These Guidelines apply to everything you do on Vortex: messages and images in guilds, channels, and direct messages; usernames, profiles, status messages, and bios; uploaded files and avatars; tickets and reports you submit; the Vortex Discord bot and linked Discord server; and any other feature we add over time. They apply to everyone - regular members, subscribers, partners, and staff alike.

2. Zero-Tolerance Violations

The following result in an immediate, permanent ban and, where required by law, a report to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) and/or law enforcement. There is no warning tier for these and no appeal that restores the account.

• Any child sexual abuse material (CSAM), any sexualization of minors (real or fictional, including drawn/AI-generated), or any attempt to solicit, groom, or sexually exploit a minor. All uploaded images and videos pass through automated content moderation before they're shown to another user, and we act on both automated flags and user reports for this category - see our Privacy Policy for how that works.
• Credible threats of violence, terrorism, or mass harm.
• Organizing, promoting, or facilitating human trafficking or child exploitation of any kind.
• Sharing another person's private information without consent (doxxing), including addresses, phone numbers, financial information, or non-public identifying documents.
• Sharing non-consensual intimate imagery, or threatening to share it ("sextortion").
• Directing coordinated harassment, brigading, or raid campaigns at a person or group, on or off Vortex.

3. Conduct Standards

3.1 Harassment & hate

• No harassment, bullying, stalking, or targeted insults aimed at a specific person.
• No hate speech or symbols that attack people based on race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, or serious illness.
• No encouraging or promoting self-harm, suicide, or eating disorders.

3.2 Safety & illegal activity

• No sharing malware, phishing links, or content designed to compromise someone's device or account. Links posted in chat are automatically checked against Google Safe Browsing and may be blocked or flagged.
• No facilitating the sale of illegal goods or services (drugs, weapons, stolen data, counterfeit goods, hacked accounts, etc.).
• No scams, phishing attempts, pyramid/Ponzi schemes, or fraudulent solicitation of money, gifts, or Vortex credits.

3.3 Spam & platform abuse

• No spam, mass-mentioning, message flooding, or automated messaging outside of approved bot integrations.
• No exploiting bugs, using unauthorized third-party clients, or attempting to bypass rate limits, filters, or moderation systems.

4. Content Standards

• Usernames, status messages, bios, avatars, and uploads must follow the same rules as chat messages - the fact that something is a profile field rather than a message doesn't exempt it.
• Sexually explicit or graphic content is not permitted anywhere on Vortex, including in channels, DMs, avatars, and uploads.
• Extremely graphic violence, gore, or content whose primary purpose is to shock or disturb is not permitted.
• Don't post content you don't have the rights to. See the Content & Intellectual Property section of the Terms of Service for how to report copyright infringement.
• Guild owners and moderators may set additional, stricter rules for their own guilds and channels (for example, a profanity filter toggle), as long as those rules don't conflict with these Guidelines.

5. Account & Platform Integrity

• One account per person. Don't create alternate accounts to evade a mute, ban, or suspension.
• Don't impersonate Vortex staff, other users, public figures, or organizations.
• Don't buy, sell, or trade Vortex accounts, or share your login credentials with anyone else.
• Don't attempt to manipulate leaderboards, levels, badges, or other progression systems through automation, exploits, or coordinated fake activity.

6. Commerce, Store & Gifting

• Don't attempt to buy, sell, or trade Vortex credits, ranks, gifts, or redeem codes for real-world money or goods outside of the official store and billing flow.
• Don't abuse the gifting, redeem code, or referral systems (for example, generating or trading leaked/stolen codes).
• Chargeback abuse - disputing a legitimate Vortex charge with your bank while keeping the purchased benefit - is treated as fraud and will result in the benefit being revoked and the account being suspended, in addition to any billing consequences described in the Terms of Service.

7. Minors & Age-Appropriate Use

Vortex is intended for users age 13 and up, consistent with our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. In addition to the zero-tolerance rules above:

• Don't ask another user for their age, location, school, or other identifying details in a way intended to target minors.
• Don't direct minors to off-platform chats, sites, or apps not intended for their age group.
• If you believe a user is misrepresenting their age to bypass our age requirements, report it - see Reporting below.

8. Staff, Moderators & Guild Owners

Guild owners, guild moderators, and Vortex staff are held to the same rules as everyone else, plus:

• Moderation powers (mute, kick, ban, role management, message deletion) may only be used for legitimate moderation purposes, never for harassment, extortion, or personal disputes.
• Staff will never DM you first asking for your password, payment details, or to move a purchase off-platform. If someone claiming to be staff does this, it's a scam - report it immediately.

9. Vortex on Discord

Our Discord server and bot extend Vortex into Discord (account linking, moderation commands, and channel bridging). While using them you must also follow Discord's own Community Guidelines and Terms of Service. Moderation actions taken through the Vortex bot apply to your Vortex account (not your Discord account directly), but Discord's own moderators and Trust & Safety team act independently and can take their own action on Discord regardless of anything happening on Vortex.

10. Reporting a Violation

You can report a violation in any of these ways:

• Use the in-app report option on a message, profile, or upload where available.
• Open a support ticket from Contact Us.
• Email admin@vortexos.net for anything you can't resolve through a ticket.
• If you or someone else is in immediate danger, contact local emergency services first - reporting to us is not a substitute for that.

Filing a knowingly false report to get someone else punished is itself a violation of these Guidelines.

11. How Enforcement Works

Outside the zero-tolerance list above, enforcement is generally progressive and based on severity and history, not a fixed script:

• Warning - a recorded notice for a minor or first-time issue.
• Mute - temporary loss of messaging privileges, guild-wide or platform-wide.
• Ban - temporary or permanent loss of account access.
• Feature restriction - loss of a specific privilege (uploads, store purchases, guild creation, etc.) without a full ban.

Severity, intent, prior history, and platform-wide risk (for example, fraud or a safety issue) can result in Vortex skipping straight to a longer ban or permanent termination even for a first offense. Infractions are logged against your account and are visible to staff handling any future incident.

12. Appeals

If you believe a moderation action was made in error, you can appeal it by opening a ticket from the suspension/appeal screen shown on your account, or from Contact Us if you can still access it. Appeals are reviewed by staff who did not issue the original action where practical. Zero-tolerance permanent bans described in Section 2 are not eligible for reinstatement, though you may still appeal a case of mistaken identity or a false report.

---

We may update these Guidelines as Vortex grows and new situations come up. Material changes will be reflected in the "Last updated" date above, and significant changes may also be announced in-app. Continued use of Vortex after a change takes effect means you accept the updated Guidelines.