A community should be something people genuinely enjoy being part of. It should be fun, relaxed, welcoming, and built around a shared interest without becoming more complicated than the reason people came together in the first place.
That is what these community guidelines are here to protect.
There are no unwritten social rules to learn, no community politics to navigate, and no special set of expectations reserved for certain people. The same guidelines apply whether you are joining us for the first time or have been here for years.
The community is actively moderated by multiple moderators who operate from the same community guidelines. The purpose of moderation is not to control the community, but to preserve the kind of community people want to be part of.
Everything that follows starts there.
Respect People and Their Boundaries
Treat people with respect and respect the boundaries they set.
Harassment, threats, intimidation, unwanted attention, persistent contact, or repeatedly ignoring someone’s boundaries are not acceptable. If someone declines an invitation, ends a conversation, does not want to share something, or simply says no, respect that decision.
A boundary does not require an explanation that you agree with before you respect it.
People will occasionally misunderstand each other or overstep without realizing it. What matters is what happens next. Recognize the boundary, adjust, and move forward.
Do Not Make Disagreements Personal
Misunderstandings and disagreements are normal. They are not, by themselves, a community problem.
They cannot become personal.
Disagree with what someone said or did without attacking their character, assigning motives, insulting them, holding a grudge, retaliating, recruiting other people into the conflict, or carrying the disagreement into unrelated interactions.
The same applies when someone disagrees with a moderation decision. Questions and additional context are welcome. Turning the disagreement into a personal conflict with another member or moderator is not.
Deal with what happened and move forward. Do not turn a disagreement into a campaign against the person involved.
Respect Privacy
People decide what they share, who they share it with, and what remains private.
Do not share someone’s personal information, contact information, location, private conversations, messages, photos, or other sensitive information without their permission.
Something learned through a friendship or private interaction remains deserving of the same respect. Access to information does not create permission to distribute it.
Do Not Use Information as Leverage
Community relationships should not be a source of social currency or ammunition.
Do not fish for personal information, gossip about members, repeatedly investigate who knows whom, or collect details about people’s relationships and private lives simply because you have access to the community.
Sharing something personal does not automatically create trust or require someone else to share something in return. Do not overshare for the purpose of manufacturing familiarity, buying someone’s confidence, or accelerating a relationship.
Information learned through friendship, private conversation, disagreement, or vulnerability should not later be weaponized. The same applies to old disagreements that were already addressed and resolved.
Talk to people, not about them. Treat what people share with care.
Let Relationships Develop Naturally
The community creates opportunities for people to meet. What develops from there belongs to the people involved.
Being part of the same community does not automatically create friendship, trust, private access, or an obligation from another person.
Do not force familiarity, repeatedly pursue private conversations, pressure someone for personal information, or treat friendliness as an invitation to a closer relationship.
Someone can ride with you without wanting a friendship. Someone can answer a question without becoming your personal resource. Someone can be friendly without owing you additional access.
Let relationships develop at their own pace.
Participate in Good Faith
Participate because you genuinely want to be part of the community.
Ask questions. Share what you know. Help people. Learn. Ride. Participate in conversations and activities. Disagree when you disagree.
Do not use participation primarily to manipulate people, manufacture relationships, create conflict, collect information, build an audience, gain inappropriate access, advance a concealed outside interest, or take advantage of relationships within the community.
Having outside interests is completely normal. Concealing a relevant outside interest while using the community to advance it is different.
Respect People’s Choices
Advice and recommendations are welcome. Pressure is not.
People make their own decisions about their bikes, parts, modifications, shops, services, purchases, riding styles, friendships, and participation in other communities.
Share your experience. Explain what you recommend and why. Disagree if you disagree. Then let the other person make their own decision.
“I had a good experience there” and “I would recommend this instead” are ordinary contributions. Continuing to push after someone has already made their position clear is different.
Nobody needs to win every conversation.
Keep Financial Interests Transparent
People buy, sell, trade, recommend products, use shops, provide services, and do business with one another. There is nothing inherently wrong with any of that.
The community itself is not a business opportunity.
Do not participate primarily to find customers, generate leads, sell merchandise, promote services, collect referrals, or systematically turn community relationships into financial opportunities.
Recommendations should be genuine. If you have a financial, employment, business, referral, compensation, discount, free-product, partnership, or other material relationship that would reasonably change how someone understands your recommendation, disclose it.
Repeatedly steering people toward the same shop, business, product, aftermarket brand, service, or person can become a community issue when there is an undisclosed interest or a pattern of using community relationships for personal benefit.
Advertising should not be disguised as advice.
Do Not Recruit or Poach
People are free to participate in other communities, ride with other groups, prefer other brands, shop wherever they want, and associate with whoever they choose.
That freedom is not the issue.
Do not gain access to this community and systematically use its members, relationships, or private spaces as a recruiting pool for another community, business, organization, audience, brand, or commercial interest.
Mentioning another group, recommending something, or inviting someone somewhere is normal. Building relationships primarily to redirect people elsewhere is different.
Do Not Create Obligation
Generosity should be generosity.
Do not use favors, gifts, discounts, information, technical help, introductions, access, rides, services, or other assistance to create an expectation that another person owes you something afterward.
Nobody owes someone friendship, loyalty, business, attention, access, introductions, or continued communication because that person helped them.
If something comes with expectations, make those expectations clear before the other person accepts it.
Access Is Not an Entitlement
Some parts of the community require familiarity and trust before access is extended.
Owning the product, attending an activity, knowing another member, or asking to participate does not automatically guarantee access to chats, groups, private activities, or other parts of the community.
Sometimes the answer may simply be “not yet.”
It is reasonable to ask why or provide additional context. It is not appropriate to use threats, pressure, company relationships, personal relationships, complaints, public accusations, or other forms of leverage to force a different outcome.
How someone responds to a boundary matters. Attempting to pressure, retaliate, circumvent, or apply outside pressure because a boundary was maintained can itself become a community issue.
Contribute Without Creating Drama
Different opinions, criticism, questions, mistakes, humor, and disagreement are all normal parts of a community.
Manufactured conflict is not.
Do not troll, bait people for reactions, deliberately provoke arguments, repeatedly derail conversations, recruit people into personal disputes, or turn ordinary problems into ongoing community drama.
If something can be resolved directly and respectfully, give it that opportunity. If it affects the community or cannot be handled appropriately, bring it to a moderator.
Do not turn one problem into ten.
Share What You Actually Know
Useful communities depend on people being able to trust the information being shared.
Recommendations, technical claims, criticism, praise, and advice should come from actual experience or information you reasonably believe to be accurate.
Do not knowingly spread false or misleading information or present speculation, rumor, or personal opinion as established fact.
There is nothing wrong with saying “I don’t know,” “this is my opinion,” or “this is what worked for me.”
Look at Patterns, Not Personalities
These guidelines are about behavior, not deciding whether someone is a good or bad person.
One awkward interaction does not define someone. One recommendation does not make someone a salesperson. One disagreement does not make someone disruptive. Being friendly, enthusiastic, quiet, outgoing, opinionated, unfamiliar, or different is not a violation.
Patterns are different.
Repeatedly ignoring boundaries, pushing the same financial interest, continually seeking unusual levels of access, creating obligation, recruiting people, generating conflict, or changing behavior when told no can establish a pattern that needs attention.
We give people the benefit of the doubt without requiring anyone to ignore repeated behavior.
The goal is not to label people. It is to recognize when behavior begins affecting other people or the community.
Moderation Follows the Guidelines
The community is actively moderated by multiple moderators who operate from these same guidelines.
Moderation decisions are based on behavior, context, severity, and patterns of participation, not whether a moderator personally likes or dislikes someone.
Not every mistake requires a consequence. A misunderstanding can remain a misunderstanding. A small issue may need nothing more than a conversation or clarification. Repeated behavior may require a warning or limitation. Serious behavior may justify immediate action.
Moderation may include a conversation, clarification, warning, limitation of participation, temporary removal, permanent removal, or a decision not to extend additional access.
Questions about moderation are allowed. Additional context is welcome. Disagreement with a decision is allowed.
Harassing moderators, retaliating against members, recruiting others into a dispute, applying outside pressure, attempting to circumvent a decision, or turning moderation into a personal conflict is not.
The guidelines apply to moderators too. Their purpose is to give everyone the same standard to work from.