COMMUNITY STANDARDS OF THE WLSTORIES COMMUNITY

WLStories LLC is a body positive non profit support community. We are not a private community. We invite anyone and everyone to join / participate or simply view our community. Everyone can participate as much or as little as they like. (However it is strongly encouraged to show your support and spread the love to everyone in the community!)

The community standards were created to keep the community safe, supportive and body positive.

  • No advertising of any kind.
  • No selling of any products / services of any kind.
  • No harassment / bullying of any kind! Be 100% body positive only.

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  • No questioning or doubting someone’s story / photos. We are a support group. It is our job to be supportive. Questioning someone’s story or photos might seem innocent enough and while your intention might not be hurtful your actions CAN be hurtful. This usually happens when we post someone who has tattoos and submitted a transformation photo that included a mirror selfie. Please understand the basic concept of a mirror image.

Featured Requirements: 

We ask everyone we feature to follow the follow:

  • Post our page back within 10 mins of us posting you. (Since we don’t charge to post this is the least you can do to show commitment to the community.
  • Have an account that is at least 30 days old. (This prevents people setting up fake accounts to try to sell followers.)
  • Have a public account or be willing to make your account public for at least 3 days after we post.
  • Follow us on social media / be active in our community.
  • Answer any and all questions from the community and be as supportive as possible and generally be an ambassador for the online fitness community. We don’t offer “shout outs” this is a support group. We are all here to help each other not gain followers.

Forum community guidelines: 

AKA: Legal fine print.

AKA: “If you don’t have something nice to say don’t say anything at all”

AKA: “Do on to others as you would like done to you.”

AKA: “Please be a decent human being.”

This document covers all aspects of community interaction and moderation on the website, including comments or posts made on the forums or articles posted by the site publishers and social media outlets.

The purpose of the WLSTORIES Community (‘Community’) Guidelines are to make the forums a safe and enriching place for all users. We encourage our members to be welcoming to new members, offer honest and supportive advice, encouragement and motivation for their fitness journey. Members of the community conduct themselves with a high degree of integrity, decency, and respect in order to ensure that all community voices can be heard and everyone can find the support and information they need.Use of the Community is subject to these Community Guidelines; which we (Wlstories) reserve the right to modify at any time. Please direct any questions or feedback to admin@wlstories.com It is expected that everyone who chooses to participate in the community will hold themselves and each other to these guidelines and ideals in order to foster a helpful, fun, and supportive community for all.

Users Acknowledgements

  • Each member may only have one account. Members who use multiple accounts will have their accounts deactivated.
  • People under the age of 16 are prohibited from participating in the Community.
  • As a participant of the Community, the content you share will be publicly available on the Internet. You hereby acknowledge that your posts may be indexed by search engines. If you choose to suspend or delete your account, your content will remain.
  • The forums are public, and the information you post is publicly view-able. Posting personal information such as telephone numbers or addresses is strictly prohibited.
  • Categorize your topics in the appropriate category in order to ensure other members can find them. WLstories reserves the right to re-categorize or delete items which are determined to be categorized incorrectly.
  • Avatar images and usernames may not contain any insults, curses, or NSFW words or images of any kind. Avatar images and usernames are also subject to the Community Guidelines. Wlstories may remove or edit any avatar images or usernames which do not comply with the Guidelines.
  • Wlstories reserves the right to interpret and apply these guidelines at our sole discretion.
  • These guidelines apply to forums posts and all communication with
    Wlstories staff / volunteers.
  • These are general guidelines applicable to our community.
    Wlstories reserves the right to evaluate postings on a case-by-case basis and to take any action Wlstories, in its sole discretion, deems appropriate regardless of whether such guidelines are explicitly set forth herein.
  • We reserve the right to remove content that we determine, in our sole discretion, to be inappropriate and/or in violation of the Community Guidelines or the Wlstories Terms of Use.

Member Interaction

  • Stay positive and respectful. The community is made of different people from across the world who have different opinions and experiences. We will not tolerate any posts which are intended to offend or belittle another member, or the community in general. It is acceptable to respectfully critique an idea, not a person.
  • NO SELLING of any way, shape or form. Including but not limited to recruit others to join your ponzi scheme, offering of additional WLTogether community features for payment. Build friendships not bank accounts.
  • Any and all threats are taken seriously. We have an obligation to act with safety as our top priority. We reserve the right to remove or hide threatening messages. In most cases, there is an automatic three strikes permanent ban according to the community Violation Policy.
  • Following a member from post to post, or bringing up past conversations or questions for the purpose of upsetting or drawing negative attention to another member, is prohibited.
  • Everyone who meets the minimum age requirement is welcome in the
    Wlstories community and deserves to have a positive experience. Personal attacks, insults, or telling a member to leave or that they are not welcome to post is prohibited.
  • Do not post, share a link, or begin a new thread with the purpose of drawing negative attention or prompting other users to post negative content. Recapping removed posts or previous conversations, either in text or screenshot, for the purpose of drawing negative attention is prohibited.
  • “All photos especially weight loss transformation pics / side by side photos, #transformationtuesday #flexfriday and similar nature posts must remain positive and congratulatory.
  • Posts, including images, which are off topic may be removed or moved to a new or existing thread.

Restricted Content

  • You may not post content (including links to content or photos):
    • to exploit, solicit, or harm minors.
    • that is violent, racist, derogatory, incendiary, or otherwise objectionable.
    • that is abusive, threatening, slanderous, or belligerent against any individual or groups of individuals for any reason.
    • that violates federal, state or local or any other law.
    • that contains obscene, vulgar or sexually explicit material. This includes any nude or pornographic photos. (It’s honestly weird I have to say this.)
    • that glorifies self-harm, suicide, anorexia, bulimia, or any other practice that is unhealthy or harmful.
    • that exposes the personal information of another member without their consent.
    • for commercial or advertising purposes. This includes, but is not limited to, classified ads, soliciting votes for contests or answers for surveys, listing your website or blog, sharing your business contact information, crowdfunding websites, selling items or services, etc.
    • that is libelous or defamatory.
  • You may not promote or redirect traffic to sites that force the download of a virus, spyware, programs, or other content, or in any other way interfere with the operation of the Community.
  • You may not post content with the intent of trading passwords, product decryption programs, or any other programs.
  • You may not post screenshots of hidden or flagged posts, including comments and threads. You may not post recap commentary of hidden or flagged posts, including comments and threads. If you have quoted previous content which was subsequently removed, your post may also be removed.
  • You may not falsely claim credentials or expertise that you do not possess, or impersonate another user or person. Furthermore, you agree to not impersonate any person or communicate under a false name or a name you are not entitled or authorized to use.
  • You may not post content that infringes the intellectual property, privacy or other rights of third parties.
  • You do NOT have the right to republish  / re post anyone else’s content on any platform.

We reserve the right to delete or hide any such content and to ban users who post such content.

Flagging

While you may flag something to bring it to the attention of the Community Team, for example a technical problem or a member who may need some support off the site, it may be best to email this information, along with any relevant links, to info@wlstories.com Flagging is an important part of helping to keep the community safe, and members are encouraged to use the ‘Flag As Inappropriate’ link when you feel content violates the Community Guidelines. While there is a Community Team and moderators available to support the community and help maintain the Community Guidelines, it is up to each member of the community to know and understand the Guidelines and look out for violations, bringing them to the attention of the Community Team and helping remove things that do not belong. You can read more about flagging in this article. As a valued member of the Wlstories Community, we encourage you to represent the ethos of the community. This includes not only being familiar with the Community Guidelines, but encouraging others to also learn them. Inevitably, your fellow Community members will violate the guidelines. Helping each other to understand the guidelines will create and maintain a healthy, safe, and happy community that supports all members.

So, when would you flag something?

  • When a rule has been broken
  • When you encounter spam
  • When someone is or is likely to be hurt or offended by a post or image
  • When a post is miscategorized or off topic and may need to be moved

When would you not flag something?

  • When you don’t agree with what is being said
  • When there is some swearing in the post – using swear words is not against the guidelines (though swearing at someone is)

While you may flag something to bring it to the attention of the Community Team, for example a technical problem or a member who may need some support off the site, it may be best to email this information, along with any relevant links, to admin@wlstories.com If your post is flagged, you may want to review your post and consider whether it fits within the guidelines. If you are confident that your post is suitable, then there is no need to worry or take any action. The flag will be reviewed, and it may be overturned. A member of the Community Team may contact you if they need to discuss your post, or if a sanction is warranted.

Violation Policy

Wlstories  reserves the right to take the appropriate actions with member accounts who violate the Community Guidelines, which may include notifications, warnings, suspensions, and/or permanent bans from the forums and/or the site. In most situations, users will be notified of any violation and the resulting actions may be based on the Violation Policy as outlined below. Based on severity, multiple strikes may be given at one time for one offense.

  • Warning: You will receive a warning and the reasons for your warning.
  • 1st Strike: You will receive a 1 week suspension, reason for your suspension, and will be informed of the date of your reinstatement.
  • 2nd Strike: You will receive a 3 week suspension, reason for your suspension and will be informed of the date of your reinstatement.
  • 3rd Strike: You will receive a permanent ban from the WLTogether  Community.

After 6 months of no violations, any first and second strikes one has accrued will expire. Warnings do not expire.

We don’t have to go through all of the strikes, though. In severe cases, we can skip one or more strikes and move to the next stage or stages.

Suspensions and Bans restrict forum posting abilities. In most cases, you will be able to log in to use your Wlstories account and use other planning tools but will be unable to post in the forums. In severe cases, you may lose all access.

Conclusion 

Thank you for reading this. If you did you most likely did so because something happened. Bring it to our attention and within all reasonable actions we’ll try to find a solution for you. We’re all in this together. -Keith