Contents

Introduction
The Quick Guide
What to do if things Start Getting Heated
The Fine Print
Age
Not Safe For Work Filter
Tag or title spamming
Self Promotion
Swearing
Nudity/Pornography
Inciting Violence, Hatred or Racism
Violence
Racism
Uninvited criticism
Defamation, libel or vilification
Personal attacks
Harassment
Baiting
Threatening Behavior
Copyright and other forms of IP protection
Deliberate misuse of RedBubble
Hosts
Forum Behaviour
The Decision Making Process
Appeals Process
Guiding Committee

You can download these a printable version of these guidelines via the following link:
Community_Guidelines-23_October_2009.pdf

The Quick Guide

RedBubble welcomes artists of all experience levels and from all walks of life. You probably won’t agree with everyone all the time, but please be respectful and considerate in your interactions with others. The following points provide a general guide for how you are expected to interact on RedBubble:

• Play nice. Exercise politeness and good manners.

• Be encouraging and supportive – comment on, and favourite, the work that you like.

• Respect the rights of others to have different points of view, different artistic tastes and different standards – click away if you don’t like something.

• Do provide critique and engage in debate if invited. If you want critique and debate on your work – explicitly state this in the description. The default assumption is that only encouraging and supportive comments should be made on a work.

• Upload the work that you’re proud of – RedBubble is the place for you to exhibit your best work (it’s not a photo sharing site).

The Fine Print

The following paragraphs contain the detailed guidelines for the RedBubble Community. The fine print has been made public in the spirit of open communication but it should be noted that these guidelines are adaptable and will evolve over time.

Note that if a person is suspended while they are on ‘probation’ their account will be closed.

Not Safe For Work Filter

Many browsers of RedBubble access the site from the workplace. In light of this we have implemented a filter called Not Safe For Work (NSFW). This filter can be activated when uploading an image or at any time by editing a work (see below). We ask people to activate this filter for any material containing nudity, strong language or other material not appropriate for the work environment.

Members who don’t use the NSFW filter where required will receive a notice alerting them to the guidelines.

Self Promotion

Members can self-promote in their parts of the site (i.e. journal, profile), but should refrain from uninvited self-promotion outside of these areas. For example, member should not self promote in the comments under another member’s work.

Members can promote products and services they provide in their journals or profile – but need to be clear and transparent about the details – in particular, the financial details.

Consequences:

• First instance: Message alerting people to the guidelines.
• Second instance: Warning
• Third and subsequent instances: Seven-day suspension and six month probation.
• If a person is suspended while they are on ‘probation’ their account will be closed.

Nudity/Pornography
The following material is not permissible on RedBubble:

• Sexual material: Explicit and gratuitous foreplay. Displays of sexual intercourse showing genitalia in direct contact including, but not limited to, male-to-female, female-to-female and male-to-male. Male or female masturbation where hands come into contact with genitalia in real or simulated masturbation/fondling. Semen and vaginal fluids. Urine when considered in a sexual context. “Sex toys” in use with genitalia or in a clear sexual context including but not limited to penis-rings, dildos, strap-ons, vibrators etc. Manually spread vaginas or anuses (either sex) by hand or manipulated open by any other artificial means.

• Penises and vaginas: Any image that is deemed to be gratuitous – definition of gratuitous: “unnecessary or unwarranted”. This will generally include close-up vagina images or images that show intimate details of a vagina and male nudes with an erection, or images where the penis is the focal subject.

• Nude or ‘sexualised’ children: We exercise a conservative approach to images of children, and request that children are appropriately clothed. As a general rule, ‘appropriately clothed’ means no genitalia, no uncovered bottoms and, for pubescent girls, no bare chests. There are some exceptions to this general rule – for example, appropriate photo journalism such as Nick Út’s shocking image of a badly burnt young girl in the Vietnam War (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Ut) – but where there is any doubt about an image we will remove it. We define a child as anyone under the age of 18.

• General titillation: Images constructed with the primary purpose of sexually exciting the viewer and where no attempt at an artistic statement has been made. In assessing an image’s ‘artistic statement’, any benefit of the doubt will be given to the artist.

Consequences:

• First instance: Message alerting people to the guidelines.
• Second instance: Warning.
• Subsequent instances: Seven-day suspension and six month probation.
• If a person is suspended while they are on ‘probation’ their account will be closed.

Violence

“Research on violent television and films, video games, and music reveals unequivocal evidence that media violence increases the likelihood of aggressive and violent behaviour in both immediate and long-term contexts.”1 In light of this, RedBubble has elected to place restrictions on the violent imagery permitted on the site. Graphic displays of violence where the violence has been trivialised or celebrated is not permitted and the offending work will be removed. An example of violence being trivialized is an image depicting a smiling, pain-free victim, and an example of violence being celebrated is a picture of a smiling murderer hovering over a body.

Consequence:

• First instance: Warning.
• Subsequent instances: Seven-day suspension and six month probation.
• If a person is suspended while they are on ‘probation’ their account will be closed.

^{1 (The Influence of Media Violence on Youth, Andterson et al, available at: http://www.thepci.com/articles/
anderson_Research.pdf, accessed 20 October 2009.)}

Uninvited criticism

The verb ‘criticise’ was once neutral between praise and censure. However it’s now mainly used in a negative sense. The definition of criticize that we use is ‘to find fault with – to point out the faults of a work’.

Criticism should only be provided on a work or journal where it has been specifically requested. For example, where the artist writes in the description “critique of this work is welcome” or “constructive criticism is welcome”. Criticism includes such things as:

• negative comments about the quality of a work, and
• finding fault with the arguments or ideas expressed by a work.

The rationale behind this guideline is that RedBubble strives to provide an encouraging and supportive environment. Criticism provided to people who are not prepared for it (i.e. vulnerable) can be damaging.

Consequences:

• First instance: Warning.
• Subsequent instances: Seven-day suspension and six month probation.
• If a person is suspended while they are on ‘probation’ their account will be closed.

Personal attacks

A personal attack is where a member writes hurtful or insulting things about another member. A comment such as “I think your idea is stupid” is not a personal attack – but a comment such as “I think you’re stupid” is. Personal attacks can occur via attacks on groups of members (e.g. all the members of the ‘I love flowers’ group are idiots). Provocation is not a justification for a personal attack on another member (two wrongs don’t make a right). Personal attacks are not permitted.

Consequence: Seven-day suspension and six month probation.
• If a person is suspended while they are on ‘probation’ their account will be closed.

Baiting

Baiting is behaviour with the intent of provoking an angry response or argument over a topic. Baiting behaviour includes posting controversial, inflammatory, irrelevant or off-topic messages with the primary intent of provoking other members into an angry and emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion. Baiting is not welcome on RedBubble.

Consequences:

• First instance: Warning.
• Second and subsequent instances: Seven-day suspension and six month probation.
• If a person is suspended while they are on ‘probation’ their account will be closed.

Copyright and other forms of IP protection

RedBubble respects Copyright and Trademark laws and will remove any work found to infringe Copyright or Trademark protection.

Consequences:

• The offending work will be removed from RedBubble.
• If the infringement is deliberate: immediate account closure.
• If the infringement is inadvertent and itʼs the first such infringement: Warning
• If the infringement is inadvertent and itʼs the second or subsequent infringement: Seven-day suspension and six month probation.

To report a copyright or trademark concern about a work, please use the ‘report a concern’ link that appears underneath each work (see image below). Note that when reporting a concern you must provide some evidence. This evidence could include the trademark number or a link to the legitimate work.

Hosts

Weʼd like our hosts to be a great example of how to participate on RedBubble and interact with others. Group hosts should be equipped with a good understanding of what is and isnʼt acceptable behavior as well as an insight into why weʼre trying to build a passionate, creative community. As a host, people look up to you as a leader and an example of how to behave on the site. By being active, positive and enthusiastic in your group, a host encourages others to participate. Weʼd also like our group hosts to make new people feel welcome and provide a safe, encouraging and fun environment.

What do we expect of hosts?
• Use positive reinforcement when managing group behaviour
• Lead by example
• Keep your cool, and if something gets out of hand, seek support from staff
• Respect your group members and the investment they have made in the group
• Strive for consistency with decision making
• Log on regularly to maintain your group (moderation, inviting new members et cetera)
• Check in with the Friends Of RedBubble group regularly

As a host please do not use your position to promote a cause or issue not related to the group or not of benefit to the group.

Consequence: First and subsequent instances: Note alerting hosts to the expected host behaviour guidelines.

Note: If you’re host and you get suspended you also lose hosting rights for six months.

The Decision Making Process

The following points describe the ‘rules of thumb’ used by RedBubble when making a decision based on the guidelines above.

• Any decisions made must be easily understood and accepted by members of the community not directly involved (i.e. the impartial observers must be on board with the decision).
• De-personalise any decisions (e.g. swap out the names, change genders) to see if this would change the decision.
• We should strive to avoid surprises. When someone’s account is closed or suspended, they should see it coming.
• Make decisions ‘on the balance of probabilities’ – decisions don’t have to be ‘beyond reasonable doubt’.
• An important element in determining if an exchange is a ‘personal attack’ is how the recipient has received it. If there is any doubt about an exchange the recipient should be contacted to clarify the situation. However, if an exchange is clearly a personal attack then the recipient need not be contacted prior to any response. .
• If someone has made genuine attempts to backtrack and apologise then look to downgrade the consequences. This is a card that can only be played once.
• If someone has an exemplary record on the site then look to downgrade the consequences. This is a card that can only be played once
• If the behaviour happened off site we generally only act in very serious circumstances.
• Look at the context. With content look at the work title, description and any other obvious contextual material. With behaviour attempt to understand the relationship between the parties involved.