Server rules

Below is a summary of rules you need to follow if you want to have an account on this server of Mastodon:

1. Comrades should follow the Basic Interaction Guidelines, reasonable expectations, etc.
2. Comrades must not endanger the glitch.cat.family community.
3. This server holds no guarantees or obligations towards those not working in solidarity with its interests.

About this Document

This document is an overview of the glitch.cat.family (henceforth, GlitchCat) instance of the Mastodon‐compatible Fediverse. If you are a member of GlitchCat, it is expected that you have read and understood this document.

This is not a legal document and nor is it a set of rules. Instead, it provides a number of expectations and best practices which are relevant to members of this instance. Moderation action occurs at the discretion of the administrative team, who you should trust to act in a responsible matter before you sign up for an account here.

Using anything in this document in an attempt to silence, speak over, or punish GlitchCat members for perceived slights or violations will not be tolerated. It is administrators’ responsibility to maintain the good conduct of members on this service, not yours.

About this Instance

glitch.cat.family is a small, community‐oriented Mastodon‐compatible Fediverse (Kibicat Mastodon) instance managed as a joint venture between the cat and KIBI families.

Technical aspects of this server are managed by @aescling (Matrix: @aescling:cat.family), who you should approach for concerns regarding downtime, federation, etc. Community relations, moderation, ⁊·c are managed by @Lady (Matrix: @kibigo:cybre.space). A general administrative account is present at @ShipsCat (email: ShipsCat [at] cat.family) for server announcements and the like.

As administrators of this server, the above people can (but often won’t) see everything you do or post on this site. Do not do or post anything which you would be uncomfortable with them finding out about. If you are on another server, do not federate with this server if you are not comfortable with the above people’s ability to handle your information in a safe and responsible manner.

Who Can Join this Instance?

At the moment, instance registrations are reserved to “people who have a good reason to be here”; i.e. friends and close aquaintances of the people running it. We are not interesting in hosting users who do not have at least one good, existing point·of·contact here who can help to mediate moderation disputes. If you have a close friend here who can vouch on your behalf, you can contact @Lady to find out if the administrators agree—please don’t take rejection personally.

This instance is not presently equipped to support minors (people under the age of 18); please look elsewhere (or simply wait a couple of years).

What this Instance Provides

GlitchCat aims to offer three main things to its members :—

• The technological ability to interact with the Mastodon‐compatible fediverse.

• Conflict mediation, both between members of this instance and between individuals on this instance and the fediverse more broadly.

• A local scene, wherein the people on the local timeline are likely to share interests and/or be friends with someone you know.

Nonguarantees

On the other hand, GlitchCat does not guarantee any of the following things :—

• (Im)permanence. This instance makes no guarantees about uptime and your posts may all disappear tomorrow. Or they may be up for the next two decades. Take appropriate precautions for both.

• Privacy. Treat DMs like notes you pass around in class. Your teacher might read them, the kids along the way might read them, the person you hand it to might mishear where it’s supposed to go, and the class’s pet rooster might gobble it up before it ever gets there. These things might be awkward, but they’re usually survivable. If they aren’t, don’t make the post.

• Freedom. The purpose of this instance is not to free you from anything—your responsibilities, your dayjob, your angry exlover. The purpose of this instance is to give you the agency to handle these matters with tact, and within the context of a community which has your back. You will still be held accountable for your actions, you will still be bound by social norms and conventions, and you will still lose your job if you don’t show up for work. (We cannot help you there.)

• Visibility. We cannot guarantee your posts will be available to X person or Y instance, and we cannot guarantee that the posts of W person or Z instance will be available to you here either. We might suspend your fav at any moment.

Resolving Problems

Regardless of where your account is located, if you are made to feel immediately unsafe, or feel that immediate administrator action is needed, please message @Lady directly instead of (or in addition to) filing a report. We will talk about the problem and attempt to come up with a resolution which works for you.

For things which are not immediate threats, but which you feel that administrators (on this instance or another) should be made aware of, the Report functionality is well‐suited to the purpose. This instance makes no guarantees regarding speed or efficacy when resolving reports. If something is a real issue for you, please just message us about it (we don’t bite).

If you are on another instance and do not feel comfortable speaking with the administrators of this server, reach out to your local administrator and have them interact with us on your behalf. If you are yourself an instance administrator and you do not feel comfortable speaking with the administrators of this server, you should not be federating with us.

Basic Interaction Guidelines

The following are basic guidelines (and bits of advice) regarding interactions on the Internet. Please take a moment to consider them. Following the guidelines stated here will help to make a more enjoyable experience for everyone.

“I‐statements”

A lot of problems can be avoided simply by speaking in the first person. This will be referred to as “using I‐statements” for the remainder of the document, in that it generally involves beginning a statement with the word “I”. This is not to say that you should make every conversation topic about yourself. Instead, the idea is that when you already are talking about your thoughts and feelings regarding something, to simply make that explicit and acknowledge that not everyone might feel the same way.

Genealogy of Discourse

You should be vaguely aware of where the language you use comes from, or at least be willing to learn. You should accept responsibility for how those histories might affect people’s understanding of you and what you post.

If you regularly use language or share memes with a history of ableist, racist, sexist, or otherwise bigoted usage: Come to terms with the fact that some people will assume you are ableist, racist, sexist, or otherwise a bigot! To the extent that this infringes on the safety and comfort of other persons on this instance, moderation action will be taken.

Don’t Be a Jerk

The exact parameters of what qualifies as “jerkiness” are intentionally not defined, because anything we put here may be used as ammunition in the future against reasonable people acting reasonably upset. It is the sole responsibility of administrators to look at a situation in context and decide whether a response is justified or not. However: As a member of GlitchCat, you are expected to represent the instance well. If you make the rest of us look bad, we may be showing you the door.

Safety & Comfort

In order to serve its intended purpose, this server must remain a place where its members continue to feel safe and comfortable showing up and posting. At the same time, it is not the intent of GlitchCat to prevent people from taking on potentially hazardous or uncomfortable topics in spaces appropriate to them. The following expectations apply to public and unlisted posts, including reblogs; i.e., posts in places where an average person browsing the site might see. They do not apply to posts with a limited audience, or to content on other sites or platforms, so before you start flaming about draconian policies, bear that in mind.

People on other instances who frequently post in violation of these expectations may find themselves silenced.

Addiction

In the interests of making GlitchCat a safe place for those with a history of addiction‐related trauma, and sober persons of all varieties, it is expected that you will not make posts which glorify or romanticize addiction, or the consumption of addicting substances. (It is okay to say “coffee is delicious”, but not “caffeine is life”.)

In general, when talking about personal opinions, beliefs, or experiences regarding addiction or addicting substances, you should use I‐statements (described above). Please content‐warn these posts.

Violence

Please try to avoid publicly using violent language or rhetoric on GlitchCat, including advocation of violence on others, and including fantasy violence (e.g., “trebuchet TERFs”). While it may seem trivial to most people, this sort of talk can be trauma‐inducing for those who have existing personal histories of violence in their lives. Regardless of your opinions on political violence, there is an appropriate time and place for discussing it, and in public with a bunch of strangers is not it.

When discussing actual, real‐life instances of violence (justified or no), please content‐warn these posts. GlitchCat does not consider destruction of property to be violence.

Sexuality

Sexuality is a very broad topic rife with trauma, and everyone experiences it differently. Try to use I‐statements when discussing matters of sexuality, and don’t assume that other people will approach sexual matters the same way that you do.

It is expected that you will not make people uncomfortable by being sexual in their mentions. Do not flirt with minors. If you are a minor, do not flirt with the people on GlitchCat.

Please content‐warn anything pertaining to sexuality which could not be safely printed in an issue of Teen Vogue magazine.

Politics

It is expected that your reason for talking politics on GlitchCat be one of the two things:

• Working out your own thoughts and opinions; refining your own theory / praxis / understanding.

• Organizing political action (although consider whether a public, insecure platform is really the best place for this).

Do not talk politics for the sole purpose of criticizing or changing the opinions of other people on the network. This is a form of slacktivism, and it does not lead to meaningful change.

Abuse

The goal of GlitchCat with respect to abuse is to maximize the agency of survivors (people whomst other people did fucked‐up shit to; etcetera). Please talk to administrators if another person is making you feel unsafe; we will generally not take action without your explicit consent.

Our approach is informed by Thoughts about Community Support around Intimate Violence.

You are allowed to be angry with your abuser on GlitchCat.

Important Notice

A content warning is not a suitable excuse for violating the above expectations. It is not the responsibility of other people to disclaim any/all content you find objectionable.

You Should Let Us Know About…

• Past abuse, bad breakups, funny feelings, etcetera (where relevant). Of course, it is entirely up to your discretion what you want to share, but we don’t want to accidentally stick you in a room with someone who makes you feel unsafe. If that has a chance of happening, let us know.

• Your latest project. We will signalboost, and we would be happy to help organize as well.

• Things we could do better! We want to know!

Miscellaneous Items of Official GlitchCat Policy

The GlitchCat administrators are prone to making informal declarations of GlitchCat policy, usually for their own amusement. We are now compiling those declarations below:

• Weirdos are welcome here.
• , , and
• Promoting NFTs violates the “Don’t Be A Jerk” portion of our Basic Interaction Guidelines.
• Snacks for @Satsuma
• Cats
• Sleeping pupy
• ​​
• Naps for Satsuma
• Many deserve headpats
• Dragons
• Miko is a good boy
• Eve is a good kitty
• Big tails never fail
• Gayocats are wonderful creachers
• Being a kitten is a very important job
• GlitchCat is a porn-friendly instance.
• GlitchCat isn’t technically a Cat Returns fan instance… but only technically
• GlitchCat is also technically not a cat Lucina fan instance… but only technically
• Bartolemeow and Nyacola are good kitties
• Remember to send hugs to your local syscatmin
• RIP cybre. long live cybre
• When-Eevee-is-ball is good content
• The administration of this server does not believe in Ohio.
• When kitten has decided that it is the season for snuggling
• #Cats are trending
• Bug Pokémon are great
• Girls
• GlitchCat is a Mae Borowski stan instance
• The GlitchCat administration are contractually obligated to make gay jokes at every available oppurrtunity
• The canonical domain name of the instance should have been sleeping DOT cat DOT family. We regret the error
• GlitchCat is an Eevee stan instance
• Satsuma’s hot takes are a permanently bannable offense
• It is always gayocat shipping time
• Clodsire is not a whale.
• “if you’re somewhere where pluslifes will arrive by [insert whatever your next big cultural gathering is here] and can afford the upfront costs, maybe consider buying a reader and a 10pack of tests (either covid or combined covid + flu for a steeper price)”

Attributions

• This instance uses various emojim by Nina, which are publicly licensed CC-BY-SA