Community Guidelines
Last updated March 17, 2023
BARQ is a social platform created for and by furries. To ensure all of the users have a safe and pleasant experience when interacting via BARQ we've created some community guidelines and rules. The community guidelines are an addition to the general Terms and Conditions and focus on how to interact with each other and with the platform.
Basic Rules
Section I: Respect Each Other
1. Do not harass others. Harassment can take the form of repeated or continuous attempts to circumvent blocks from users, bans from staff, or otherwise targeted harassment. This includes organizing or promoting harassment, and attacks against individuals or groups based on race, ethnicity, caste, nationality, sex, gender identity, gender presentation, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, age, illness, disability, or other protected classifications.
2. Do not threaten others. Threats can be direct, indirect, or suggestions of threats of violence, physical or mental harm, or the unauthorized sharing of someone’s personally identifiable information (also known as doxxing). This includes organizing or promoting threats of violence, hate speech or extremism.
3. Do not mislead others. This can take the form of promoting scams, attempting to defraud other users, or otherwise using the platform deceptively. This also includes spreading misinformation which endangers public health and safety, or is being used to harass or cause harm to others.
4. Do not sexualize minors. Material or content which sexualizes children is prohibited. This includes illustrated, photographed, digitally altered, or any other material. For example: cub porn, lolicon, shotacon, or other content which displays individuals which could be reasonably assumed to be underage in a sexual, violent, or suggestive context.
5. Do not interact with minors in a sexual context. You must be over the age of 18 to interact with NSFW material or discussions on BARQ. Any user who engages with a minor in sexual content or discussion, or makes sexual material available to them, will be permanently suspended. This includes material or activity by users over 18 directed at minors, or from minors themselves. NSFW material is defined as:
- Sexual topics or discussions
- NSFW material and images marked as Mature/Explicit/Hard Kink and not in the “After Dark” section of profiles
- Sexual discussion, or the sharing of sexual images, using the chat feature
6. Do not promote, encourage, or share violent content. This includes content (images, realistic portrayals etc.) depicting, describing, or documenting suicide, self harm, gore, animal harm, reckless use of weapons, bestiality and zoophilia, or other violent and objectionable acts. This does not include consensual kink material, which should be categorized as Hard Kink. Read through our Content Policy for more information.
7. Do not violate the intellectual property of others. Uploading content that you do not have the license for is prohibited. Please ask the owner before you use someone else's art!
8. No Horny On Main. In general, BARQ is a Safe For Work (SFW) platform. This means that all suggestive or explicit content must be rated appropriately via our SMEH content rating system. This also means that your username, biography, interests and replies you post in Safe-rated discussions must be Safe For Work. If you want to be suggestive, please do this on your AD (After Dark) profile.
Section II: Respect The Platform
9. Don't spam. Don't flood groups, events, or chats with discussions or replies that can be seen as spam. We enjoy it when you engage with groups but make sure other users can also post their content.
10. Do not abuse the platform. This includes creating bot accounts (accounts run by multiple individuals or automated), fake accounts (accounts created using false, fabricated, or stolen identities), empty or “reserved” groups, or gaining unauthorized access to the platform. If you discover a security vulnerability, please responsibly report this via our security page.
11. Do not make multiple accounts. One account per human, please! Your BARQ profile allows you to list multiple characters on the same account. If you created multiple accounts by accident, please message [email protected].
12. Do not mislead staff. Do not lie to the staff or moderation team with the intent to evade moderation decisions, abuse the platform, or fabricate terms of service violations.
13. Abide by local and European law. BARQ is hosted in the EU, meaning we follow EU laws and data protection legislation. Sharing or promoting any content deemed illegal by Dutch or European law is not permitted, such as the coordination or participation of production of illegal drugs, controlled substances, firearms, blades, bribery, scams, laundering, bestiality, child pornography or piracy.
Content Policy
The new content rating system will mark art as Safe, Mature, Explicit or Hard. This will allow users to flag content in groups as Mature without having to flag the whole community as AD. This will also make it more clear to users what content is allowed on SFW and AD. A detailed list will be published soon.
Safe (S)
This content will be visible for everyone on the platform.
Examples of content deemed Safe:
- Collars and Kink gear worn in a non-suggestive setting (for example, a pup hood but otherwise fully clothed)
Mature (M)
This content is intended for users over 18 years old. Typically content discussing sex, alcohol, drugs and other adult topics. This content will be available for everyone over 18 on the app without needing to opt-in.
Content deemed Mature:
- Discussing sexual topics
- Discussing drug use
- Collars or kink gear worn in a suggestive setting
- Diaper / Diaper play / ABDL (clean)
Explicit (E)
All content showing explicit nudity (genitals, breasts with nipples showing, butts, bulges) is considered explicit and only available for user over 18 years old. This content will be hidden by default and users need to opt-in before they can see this content.
Content deemed Explicit:
- Clearly visible genitals
- Breasts with nipples showing
- Extremely big breasts
- Visible bulges or cameltoes
- Nudity in a suggestive setting
Hard Kink (H)
Hard content is considered not suitable for most users. This includes the more extreme fetishes like waterspots, scat, blood, breath-play etc. This content is only available for users over 18 years old and also has its own opt-in.
Unrated (U)
All content not yet rated by the uploader or moderators is rated Unrated.
Disallowed content
Content that includes:
- Glorification or promoting nazi, neo-nazi, fascist or alt-right signs and associated material. This includes Holocaust denail or consipracy, and similar topics.
- Sexual depiction of real animals
- Gore, Knifeplay and bloodplay
is strictly prohibited and may result in an account termination. This list is not complete and will be updated regularly if necessary. In case of doubt, BARQ team will decide what content is inappropriate or not.
Extra rules for primary images
Normally images uploaded to your gallery will only be shown to users visiting your profile. Primary images (the primary photo for your profile, group or event) are publicly shown in notifications, profile overviews etc. Because of this, primary images have more strict content rules to guarantee all users have a pleasant experience browsing BARQ.
Rules for primary images
- Primary images must be rated Safe
Rules for primary images in AD (After Dark)
- Primary profile images must be rated Safe or Mature (Explicit/Hard are not allowed)
- Primary group images must be rated Safe, Mature or Explicit (Mature and Explicit only when the group is marked explicit, Hard is never allowed).
