The lemmy.world terms of service are not exactly a work of clear legal craftmanship. I don’t always think it’s a bad thing to change the TOS to match this situation that just came up, so that we’ll have a consistent policy written down that everyone’s had time to look over. But it’s clearly been thrown together by a bunch of amateurs who are, for some reason, cosplaying as a mini-Facebook with all the mode of speaking and fake professionalism that entails.

Read our Terms of Service carefully before using this website (“the website"). These Terms of Service (“the Terms of Service” or “the document”) govern your access to and use of the website. The website is available for your use only on the condition that you agree to the Terms of Service set forth above and below. If you do not agree with all of the Terms of Service, then do not access or use Lemmy.World. By accessing or using the website, you and the entity you are authorized to represent (“user” “you” or “your”) signify your agreement to be bound by the Terms of Service.

That part sounds very lawyerly. Then the rest of the document is clearly a wiki that’s been edited by a variety of volunteer admins as time goes on as different situations come up, with random pieces of general internet advice intermixed with what the rules of the site are, not clearly separated into which one is which.

Before using the website, remember you will be interacting with actual, real people and communities. Lemmy.World is not a place for you to attack other people or groups of people. Just because you disagree with someone doesn’t give you the right to harass them. Discuss ideas and be critical of principles. Show the respect you desire to receive.

Everyone has a right to browse and interact with Lemmy.World and other federated instances free of harassment and/or threats of violence. Please try and be kind to your fellow human, or at least civil. Trolling users is only funny if both parties find it funny. Trolling mods and/or site admins is ill-advised.

Do not engage in content manipulation such as posting spam content, vote manipulation through using several user accounts or consistently down-voting a user. Vote for the content, not for the person.

Those are all good advice. Will I get banned for violating them? If I consistently downvote a user I don’t like, or if I don’t show the respect I desire to receive? Or if I’m trolling, and someone doesn’t find it funny?

Do I just need to intuit that if I use multiple accounts to make fake downvotes, I’ll be banned, but if I just consistently downvote another user when I see them, I won’t be? The whole reason for having a TOS is so that users, and admins, won’t need to intuit things like that.

Then there’s this. Wait for the end, there’s a punchline:

6. Violent Content

No visual content depicting executions, murder, suicide, dismemberment, visible innards, excessive gore, or charred bodies. No content depicting, promoting or enabling animal abuse. No erotic or otherwise suggestive media or text content featuring depictions of rape, sexual assault, or non-consensual violence. All other violent content should be tagged NSFW.

6.1 War Footage

Any graphic war footage taken by either private individuals or media outlets is prohibited. Exceptions may be made for photos and videos of historical significance.

6.2 Violent Content (Exceptions)

Depictions, imagery or otherwise ancient artwork in any form, other publicly available media entertainment content depicting gore or sexual content may be excluded and allowed, as long as they are fair use, in the public domain, or tolerated by the copyright owner, and in compliance with our Content Policy, as well as all applicable laws and their local laws. For example, films depicting war or historical reenactments.

Well, that seems perfectly clear. Any graphic war footage is prohibited, except war footage. That’s allowed.