Guidelines
Effective Date: September 16, 2026
America’s Faultline exists to examine difficult issues through facts, evidence, context, and open discussion.
Political disagreement is expected.
Personal hostility is not.
These guidelines are intended to create a community where people can disagree strongly while still discussing the evidence.
1. Debate the Issue, Not the Person
Challenge arguments, evidence, policies, statements, and conclusions.
Do not attack other members personally.
Disagreement is welcome.
Harassment is not.
2. Strong Political Disagreement Is Allowed
Members may criticize political parties, elected officials, candidates, government agencies, courts, media organizations, public institutions, legislation, policies, and political movements.
No political viewpoint receives immunity from criticism.
At the same time, criticism should remain focused on public actions, statements, evidence, policy, and ideas rather than personal abuse directed at other members.
3. Support Factual Claims
When making significant factual claims, provide supporting evidence when reasonably possible.
Useful sources may include:
government records;
legislation;
court documents;
official statements;
public reports;
video;
transcripts;
statistical data;
research;
reliable reporting.
The stronger the claim, the stronger the supporting evidence should be.
4. Primary Sources Are Encouraged
Whenever practical, link directly to the underlying material rather than relying only on someone else’s summary of it.
Examples include:
the actual bill;
the actual court decision;
the complete speech;
the full interview;
the government report;
the original dataset;
the hearing transcript.
Readers should be able to examine evidence for themselves.
5. Do Not Misrepresent Sources
Do not knowingly:
alter quotations;
remove essential context;
misstate what a document says;
present edited media as complete;
fabricate citations;
link to material that does not support the claim being made.
If a source is disputed, explain why.
6. Distinguish Fact From Opinion
Opinions are allowed.
Analysis is allowed.
Speculation is allowed when clearly identified as speculation.
Do not deliberately present personal interpretation as an established fact.
Useful phrases include:
“In my view...”
“The available evidence suggests...”
“One interpretation is...”
“This remains disputed...”
7. Correct Mistakes
Everyone makes mistakes.
If information you posted turns out to be incorrect, correct it.
Changing your conclusion after seeing better evidence is not a weakness.
It is how evidence-based discussion is supposed to work.
8. Read Beyond the Headline
Whenever practical, read the article, document, ruling, study, or source material before commenting on it.
Headlines and short social-media excerpts often omit important context.
9. No Deliberate Misinformation
Do not knowingly post fabricated claims, forged documents, manipulated evidence, or intentionally deceptive information.
Good-faith mistakes are different from deliberate deception.
10. Provide Context
Facts can be technically accurate while still being misleading if essential context is omitted.
When context materially changes the meaning of a claim, include it.
11. Do Not Treat Disagreement as Proof of Bad Faith
People can review the same evidence and reach different conclusions.
Do not automatically accuse another member of dishonesty simply because they disagree with you.
When possible, explain why you believe their reasoning or evidence is incorrect.
12. No Personal Harassment
Do not:
threaten other members;
stalk users;
publish private information;
repeatedly target another member;
encourage harassment;
engage in coordinated personal attacks.
13. No Doxxing
Do not publish private identifying information about another person without authorization.
This includes private:
addresses;
phone numbers;
email addresses;
financial information;
account credentials;
private family information;
confidential records.
Public information concerning public officials may sometimes be relevant to reporting or discussion, but private personal information should not be published merely to intimidate or harass.
14. Avoid Dehumanizing Language
Political arguments can become intense without reducing people to slurs, stereotypes, or dehumanizing characterizations.
Attack the argument.
Challenge the conduct.
Question the policy.
Do not dehumanize people.
15. Stay on Topic
Keep comments reasonably related to the article or discussion.
If a different issue deserves a substantial discussion, start a separate topic where appropriate.
16. Do Not Spam
Do not repeatedly post:
identical messages;
promotional links;
unrelated political material;
fundraising requests;
advertisements;
mass-produced comments.
17. Promotional and Campaign Material
America’s Faultline is not a campaign platform.
Links to campaign materials may be relevant when discussing a candidate, statement, advertisement, policy position, or election issue.
The community should not be used primarily for repetitive campaign promotion, fundraising, or organized political solicitation.
18. Quoting Public Figures
When possible, provide enough of a statement to preserve its meaning.
If a short quotation could reasonably mislead readers about what was said, provide additional context or link to the complete source.
19. Polling and Statistics
When discussing polling or statistical claims, include relevant information when available, such as:
who conducted the poll;
when it was conducted;
population surveyed;
sample size;
question wording;
margin of error;
source of the data.
Numbers without context can be misleading.
20. Screenshots Are Not Always Enough
Screenshots can be altered, cropped, outdated, or stripped of context.
When possible, accompany screenshots with a link to the original source.
21. Breaking News Requires Caution
Early reports are often incomplete.
When discussing developing events, distinguish between:
confirmed information;
official claims;
media reports;
eyewitness accounts;
allegations;
speculation.
Updates and corrections should be expected as evidence develops.
22. Anonymous Sources and Unverified Claims
Claims based solely on anonymous or unverifiable sources should be treated cautiously.
Users may discuss such claims, but should identify their uncertain status.
23. AI-Generated Content
AI-assisted content may be used, but users remain responsible for what they post.
AI systems can invent quotations, citations, statistics, legal cases, historical facts, or sources.
Verify important claims before posting them.
Do not present fabricated AI output as authentic evidence.
24. Images and Video
Do not knowingly post manipulated images or videos in a way that falsely represents them as authentic.
Satire, parody, artistic edits, or demonstrations should be clearly identified where confusion is reasonably possible.
25. Respect Copyright
Do not reproduce entire copyrighted articles or substantial portions of copyrighted works without permission.
Quote only what is reasonably necessary and link to the original material when possible.
26. No Illegal Content
Do not use America’s Faultline to facilitate unlawful activity.
27. Use Descriptive Discussion Titles
When starting discussions, use titles that explain the subject.
Good:
Senate releases revised text of immigration bill
Less useful:
You won’t believe this
Descriptive titles make the site easier to search and reference later.
28. Moderation
Moderators may:
edit or remove content;
move discussions;
close discussions;
issue warnings;
restrict accounts;
suspend accounts;
permanently ban accounts.
Moderation is intended to preserve productive discussion, site security, and compliance with applicable rules.
29. Do Not Evade Moderation
Do not create alternate accounts or use other means to bypass warnings, suspensions, bans, or restrictions.
30. Report Problems Instead of Escalating Them
If you believe content violates these guidelines, use the reporting tools when available.
Do not respond with harassment or retaliation.
31. Evidence Matters More Than Political Identity
A claim does not become true because it was made by a Republican, Democrat, conservative, liberal, independent, journalist, activist, elected official, government agency, or popular social-media account.
Claims should be evaluated according to the evidence supporting them.
32. The Purpose of the Community
America’s Faultline does not expect readers to agree.
The purpose is to make disagreement more useful.
That means being willing to ask:
What actually happened?
What was actually said?
What does the document actually say?
What evidence supports the claim?
What evidence challenges it?
What remains uncertain?
Strong opinions are welcome.
Strong evidence is better.
America’s Faultline
Facts. Evidence. Context. Discussion.