MyTake.org FAQ / Guidelines

MyTake.org is a platform for writing and publishing political essays with accurate citations. We think that good ideas can outcompete bad ideas - no censorship required!

However, MyTake.org will not allow itself to be used as a platform for bullying private individuals, or for inciting violence against anyone.

Harassment

Do not publish anyone’s personal information - including the private contact information of public officials. It’s unlikely that anyone’s cell phone number or home address will be a useful part of a political argument.

It is acceptable to post the public contact information for companies, government agencies, and political figures. “Call your congressperson at their office number” is fine.

Do not incite, threaten, or encourage violence against anyone.

It is acceptable to advocate for military or police action.

Obviously, there is some contradiction between the two previous rules. MyTake.org will not be a partner to violent extremists.

Spam

MyTake.org is for real people giving their take on political issues. When other people read those takes, they might star or follow the author. We use those stars and follows to help curate high-quality takes. Disingenuous manipulation of any of these systems counts as spamming.

Here are some examples of spam:

  • Posting content for the primary purpose of advertising a website or product.
  • Reposting content from other sources.
  • Posting duplicate content.
  • Buying or selling follows or stars.
  • “I’ll star your take if you star mine.”

Copyright and trademark infringement

Don’t violate the copyrights and trademarks of others. We respond to notices of alleged infringement according to our terms of service.

Deceptive conduct

Parody and satire are fine, even encouraged! But make sure that you won’t actually fool anyone into thinking that you are the person or organization being parodied.

  • The bio must state that the account is not affiliated with the targeted subject by using words such as “parody”, “satire”, or “fake”. There’s no specific requirement, but it cannot be confusing to any audience.
  • The name and username must not be the exact same as the targeted subject, and must have a word such as “parody”, “satire”, or “fake”. For example, if you are parodying Alexander Hamilton, your username can’t be @alexanderhamilton.

Don’t link to malicious software in your posts. Don’t use deception to generate revenue or traffic.

Usernames

MyTake.org usernames are handed out on a first-come, first-served basis. Unless you have a registered trademark for an account name, we will not accept a request to claim an existing username.

So long as you are reading, starring, or publishing takes on MyTake.org, your account is active. If you have not published any takes and your account is inactive for 6 months or more, we may remove your account.

How to report a violation

At the bottom-right of every take there is a “report” button. Just specify what kind of violation it is and we’ll respond within 24 hrs.

If you break the rules

If you violate these rules, we’ll send you an email to see if there’s a broader context that we’re missing. If you don’t respond, or your response doesn’t clear things up, then we may suspend your account or your content. We strive to be a place where controversial statements can be made, but we reserve the right to suspend accounts or remove content, without notice, for any reason, particularly to protect our services, infrastructure, users, or community.

We may enforce, or not enforce, these policies at our sole discretion. These policies don’t create a duty or contractual obligation for us to act.

This document is CC-BY-SA. It was last updated December 19, 2017. Originally adapted from the Medium Rules. You can subscribe to changes in this document on GitHub.