Community Guidelines

At The Pattern, we believe that we are all part of a larger pattern, and your very existence is significant.  By better understanding your own strengths and challenges, as well as those of your friends and romantic partners, you will be empowered to make the best choices for yourself.  We created these Community Guidelines to support our mission by encouraging free and open discussion while ensuring our users can safely utilize our services in a safe place free from harassment.  The Pattern is more than an app, it is an experience.

The following Guidelines apply to all content on The Pattern.  By using The Pattern, you agree to these guidelines and our Terms of Service.  Violating these guidelines may result in deleted content, disabled accounts, and other possible restrictions.  Further, we reserve the right to block anyone who repeatedly violates these Community Guidelines.  The Pattern reserves the right to investigate and take appropriate legal action against anyone who, in The Pattern’s sole discretion, violates its Terms of Service and these Community Guidelines.  The Pattern has a zero tolerance policy regarding the application of its Community Guidelines and Terms of Service, and will take the necessary steps to aggressively enforce them.

Security

Hate Speech/Offensive Conduct

• You may not post anything hateful relating to someone’s gender, gender identity, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, national origin, age, or serious disease;
• You may not post obscene, vulgar, sexually explicit, or pornographic content;
• You may not post inappropriate or derogatory comments about another person's body size or shape, including fat-shaming, skinny-shaming, or any other phrase that might affect one's body positivity.

 Threats/Violence

• You may not post threatening, violent, or harmful content;
• You may not encourage violence against any person or property.

 Bullying/Harassment

• You may not engage in abusive behavior towards fellow users;
• You may not encourage others to engage in abusive behavior towards fellow users;
• Respect the wishes of fellow users.  If someone blocks you, do not try to contact them from another account;
• You may not engage in defamatory, libelous, tortious, or anything that could be invasive of another’s privacy.

 Self-harm

• You may not support or encourage suicide or self-harm;
• You may not post any material that supports or encourages suicide or self-harm.

 Illegal Activities

• You may not post anything that violates any applicable local, state, national or international law, or any regulations having the force of law;
• You may not post any instructional information about illegal activities.

 Terrorism

• You may not support or encourage terrorist activity or violent extremism of any kind.

Transparency

Solicitation/Spam

• You may not post anything that constitutes unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, promotional materials, commercial activities and/or sales, “junk mail,” “spam,” “chain letters,” “pyramid schemes,” “contests,” “sweepstakes,” or any other form of solicitation;
• You may not advertise or offer to sell or buy any goods or services for any business purpose that is not specifically authorized;
• You may not harvest or collect email addresses or other contact information of other users from the Service by electronic or other means for the purposes of sending unsolicited emails or other unsolicited communications.

 Impersonation

• You may not impersonate any person or entity, or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity.

 Intellectual Property Rights

• You may not violate anyone’s intellectual property rights, including copyright, patent, trademark, trade secret, or other proprietary rights and laws.

Privacy

 Personal Information

• You may not post personal information, including but not limited to email addresses, phone numbers, addresses, social security numbers, or any other sensitive information;
• You may not solicit any information from anyone under the age of 18.

Photo Policy

This Photo Policy, together with our Community Guidelines, and Terms of Service were created to ensure The Pattern remains a safe place for our community members.  The following guidelines apply to all photos posted on our Services:

• No nude photos.
• No imagery containing graphic violence.
• No photos showing children under the age of 18.
• No pornographic images.
• Face must be clearly visible.
• No photos containing weapons or hunting images.
• No photos depicting hateful imagery of any kind.
• No photos showing obscene or provocative symbols, actions, or gang signs/affiliations.
• No photos containing personally identifiable information.
• No photos depicting or describing illegal activity.

We ask that Users treat everyone with respect, honesty, and kindness to promote a safe space for sharing personal stories and experiences.

We also urge Users to exercise caution and sound judgment before communicating with others on The Pattern.