E2 · Office of Community Moderation

Community Moderation

How we keep E2 kind, and what happens when someone isn't.

E2-CM-001 · Effective October 11, 2026

E2's paramount rule is kindness. That is not a slogan; it is the operating principle of this community, written into every membership agreement. This document is the enforcement plan behind the promise: what we expect, how we respond when someone falls short, and the lines we will not cross while doing it.

Our goal is not zero incidents. In any group of a hundred people, one or two will test the edges; that is typical human behavior, not a crisis. Our goal is fast, fair, boring resolution, so the community barely notices the machinery working.

I. The standard

Every member agreed, in writing, to refrain from harassment, hate speech, spam, fraud, impersonation, and unlawful conduct. Beyond the letter of that agreement, we hold one working definition: don't make E2 worse for someone else. Disagreement is welcome. Debate is welcome. Contempt is not.

We judge patterns, not moments. Everyone has a bad day. A single sharp comment is a conversation; a sustained posture of negativity, manipulation, or cruelty is a pattern, and patterns are what we act on.

II. The front door

The best moderation happens before anyone misbehaves. Our filters are deliberate:

• The agreement itself. Every member signs a contract whose first rule is kindness. People who sign such a thing self-select.
• Friction on purpose. Eighteen and up, a drawn signature, a printed name, a checkbox. Each step costs a little effort, and each step screens out someone who isn't serious.
• Founding invitations. The first hundred members are chosen, not merely accepted. They set the culture the next ten thousand will inherit, so we choose them the way you'd choose dinner guests.
• Vouching with accountability. When a member invites someone in, their name goes on the invitation. If the invitee breaks the standard, both get reviewed. An invitation is a reputation put on the line, and that is exactly the point.
• Probation for new members. New members can't send messages to strangers or post links until they've been around and normal for a while. Scammers won't wait out a probation period; real people don't mind one.
• Visible kindness. Good behavior gets noticed and named. A community that celebrates its best members needs less policing of its worst.

III. The enforcement ladder

When the standard is broken, we climb one rung at a time. Every step is private. There are no public trials on E2.

1. The private conversation

   Assume a bad day first. A moderator reaches out directly, names what was seen, and asks what happened. Most problems end here, because most people, spoken to with respect, course-correct.

   Typical outcome: understanding reached, behavior changes, nothing further.

2. The formal warning

   If the pattern continues, the member receives a written warning: what happened, which standard it broke, what must change, and what comes next. Specific, dated, and kept on file. No ambiguity, no surprises later.

   Typical outcome: the member adjusts, or reveals they have no intention of adjusting.

3. The cooling-off suspension

   A temporary suspension of defined length. Not a punishment so much as a pause: time for the member to decide whether E2 is for them, and time for the community to breathe. The member is told exactly when it ends and what return looks like.

   Typical outcome: return with a clean slate, or confirmation that the fit isn't there.

4. Removal

   Membership is revoked, quietly. No announcement, no spectacle, no public record. Membership fees are not refunded on removal for cause, as stated in the membership agreement. The door is closed, and the community moves on.

   Typical outcome: a kinder E2.

Fast track: threats of violence, doxxing, sexual exploitation, fraud, or any conduct targeting children skips the ladder entirely and goes straight to removal, with law enforcement notified where the law requires it.

IV. Reporting

Any member who experiences or witnesses a breach of the standard can report it privately to [email protected]. Every report is read by a human. We acknowledge receipt, we investigate quietly, and we do not reveal who reported what.

Retaliation against anyone who reports in good faith is itself a breach of the standard, and climbs the ladder on its own.

V. Appeals

Anyone subject to a warning, suspension, or removal may appeal once, in writing, within fourteen days. The appeal is reviewed by someone who was not involved in the original decision. The reviewer's word is final. This exists because moderators are human too, and humans get things wrong.

VI. Protecting the moderators

Moderation burns people out. It exposes them to the worst of a community while asking them to embody its best. So we protect the people doing it:

• The moderation team stays small and aligned on values. We add moderators slowly and deliberately.
• Difficult calls are debriefed, not carried alone. No moderator sits with a hard decision in silence.
• Moderators rotate off duty. Nobody moderates forever without a break.
• Abuse directed at moderators is treated like abuse directed at any member: it climbs the ladder.

VII. The scale plan

At a hundred members, moderation is personal. The team knows everyone, and most issues are handled with a conversation.

At five hundred, this document becomes the training manual. Written guidelines, two or three trusted moderators, and the reporting channel carry the load the founders once carried alone.

Beyond that, the ladder doesn't change, only the staffing does. The principles scale; the personal touch gets distributed, never discarded.

One structural advantage makes all of this possible: E2 is independently held, with no investors and no growth-at-all-costs pressure. We can afford to remove a paying member. Most communities cannot say that, and it shows.

Kindness is the rule. Fairness is the method. Boredom is the goal.