1. Purpose

Dear Anonymous was created to encourage meaningful, thoughtful and compassionate communication through anonymous letters. Anonymity allows people to express themselves honestly, but it also carries responsibility. These Community Guidelines exist to help ensure that Dear Anonymous remains a respectful, supportive and safe place for everyone. These Guidelines explain what behaviour is expected, how we respond to reports, and how we may moderate content. By using the Service, you agree to follow these Guidelines in addition to our Terms & Conditions.

2. Core Principles

  • Treat other people with respect.
  • Use anonymity responsibly.
  • Avoid causing unnecessary harm or distress.
  • Respect the privacy and dignity of others.
  • Help create a supportive and welcoming community.

3. Emotional Content

Dear Anonymous exists to encourage honest, thoughtful and respectful communication. We recognise that users may share personal experiences, grief, disappointment, conflict, vulnerability, relationship issues or other sensitive topics. Not every message will be positive or welcome. Some letters may contain criticism, uncomfortable truths, emotional reflections or opinions that recipients may find upsetting. Users are responsible for deciding how they engage with content received through the Service. Dear Anonymous cannot guarantee that every interaction will be supportive, agreeable or emotionally comfortable. However, content that encourages violence, abuse, coercion, self-harm, suicide or other serious harm is prohibited and may result in moderation action.

4. Acceptable Use

You must use Dear Anonymous lawfully, respectfully and in good faith. You must not use the Service to harm, exploit, threaten, harass, deceive, intimidate or abuse another person. You must also not use the Service in any way that interferes with the safety, privacy, dignity or enjoyment of other users. Because Dear Anonymous relies on anonymous communication, you must take particular care not to misuse anonymity to say or do things that would be unacceptable in a non-anonymous setting.

5. Prohibited Content

You must not submit, send, encourage or distribute content involving:

Harassment & Abuse

  • Bullying
  • Threats
  • Intimidation
  • Stalking
  • Repeated unwanted contact
  • Targeted harassment
  • Humiliating or abusive messages

Threats, Violence & Self-Harm

  • Threats of violence
  • Encouraging violence
  • Encouraging self-harm or suicide
  • Dangerous instructions
Supportive discussion of difficult feelings is permitted provided it does not encourage harm.

Child Safety

  • Grooming
  • Sexual communication involving minors
  • Attempting to contact minors
  • Requests for images or meetings

Sexual Exploitation

  • Coercive sexual content
  • Unwanted sexual advances
  • Requests for intimate images

Hate Speech

  • Content attacking protected groups
  • Dehumanising language
  • Promotion of hatred or discrimination

Privacy Violations

  • Doxxing
  • Sharing another person’s personal information
  • Attempting to identify anonymous users

Off-Platform Contact

  • Pressuring users to move to another platform for harmful or exploitative purposes
  • Attempting to bypass moderation or blocks

Impersonation & Deception

  • Impersonating another person
  • Fraud
  • Misrepresentation

Spam & Malicious Activity

  • Spam
  • Scams
  • Phishing
  • Malware
  • Commercial solicitation
  • Automated abuse

Illegal Activity

You must not use Dear Anonymous to commit, organise or facilitate unlawful activity.

6. Anonymous Communication

Anonymity exists to encourage honest expression, not to enable abuse. You must not use anonymity to:
  • Harass another person.
  • Evade moderation.
  • Create multiple accounts to bypass restrictions.
  • Manipulate or deceive users.
  • Attempt to identify anonymous users.

7. Automated Safety Measures

We rely primarily on user reports, supported by automated safety measures and human review where appropriate. Letters and replies may be automatically analysed for indicators of abuse, threats, grooming, harassment, self-harm, spam, malicious activity or other safety concerns. Automated systems help us prioritise moderation but do not make every moderation decision.

8. Reporting

You may report content that you believe breaches these Guidelines. Reports should be submitted honestly and in good faith. False or malicious reports may themselves result in moderation action.

9. Blocking & Closing Threads

You may be provided with tools to block another user or close a conversation. Blocking or closing a thread may permanently prevent future communication between both participants.

10. Human Review

Some reports and moderation decisions may be reviewed by a human moderator. However, we are not required to manually review every report or every item of content.

11. Moderation Outcomes

Where appropriate we may:
  • Allow content.
  • Delay delivery.
  • Hold content for review.
  • Hide or remove content.
  • Restrict messaging features.
  • Suspend or terminate access.
  • Block communication between users.

12. Account Restrictions & Enforcement

Where we reasonably believe these Guidelines have been breached, we may take any enforcement action we consider appropriate. Repeated or serious violations may result in permanent suspension.

Immediate Action

We may take immediate moderation or enforcement action without prior notice where we reasonably believe it is necessary to:
  • Protect the safety or wellbeing of users or other individuals.
  • Prevent serious harm or unlawful activity.
  • Comply with applicable laws, court orders or requests from competent authorities.
  • Protect the security, integrity or proper operation of the Service.
  • Prevent continued abuse, harassment, exploitation or other serious misuse of the Service.
Immediate action may include restricting or suspending access to the Service, preventing the delivery of content, removing content, blocking communication between users, or permanently terminating access where appropriate.

13. Appeals

If you believe moderation action has been taken incorrectly, you may contact us at info@dearanonymous.app. We may review our decision but are not obliged to reverse or amend it.

14. Retention of Moderation Records

We may retain moderation records, reports and enforcement history for safety, abuse prevention, audit and legal compliance. Such records may be retained only for as long as reasonably necessary.

15. Message Availability

Letters, replies and conversations are intended to be temporary. We do not guarantee that any content will remain available indefinitely. Messages may expire automatically, be deleted, become unavailable through moderation or otherwise be removed during the normal operation of the Service.

16. Platform Limitations

Messages are private and are not actively monitored in real time. Moderation systems are not perfect and may occasionally fail to detect harmful content or incorrectly flag legitimate content. We continually review and improve our moderation processes but cannot guarantee that every harmful interaction will be prevented.

17. Safety Disclaimer

Dear Anonymous is not a crisis service, emergency service or mental health provider. If you believe you or another person is in immediate danger or requires urgent assistance, you should contact your local emergency services or an appropriate support organisation.

18. Changes

We may update these Community Guidelines & Safety Policy from time to time to reflect new legal requirements, product changes or improvements to our moderation systems.

19. Contact

Email: info@dearanonymous.app