Ever get cornered at a party by a crypto bro? Feel trapped listening as your great-uncle talks very confidently about lizard people and George Soros? Or just get stuck in some mile-a-minute sales pitch?
Itâs awful in real life, and itâs way too common online, too. So much of social media has become a place where we're forced to deal with people and content that weâd really rather just⊠not.
At Sunslider, our goal is to make sure your online experience is treated with a level of respect that todayâs tech giants would never dream of giving you. And yes, that means that some content isnât welcome. More importantly, it means that weâre building tools that let you stay in control of your experience, even if that means our network doesnât get the engagement boost that comes from negativity and aggression.
Free Speech? Absolutely.
Let's get it straight: free speech means the government can't arrest you for what you say. And as a native-born American, that is a principle that I really, truly believe in.
But I also prefer living in Europe because it does a better (not perfect! better) job of recognizing that we all are part of a collective society. The responsibility to that collective means that choices should be made to ensure things keep running smoothly.
(From https://xkcd.com/1357/; Note: Randall has not endorsed Sunslider or our content guidelines, although we hope he'd be in agreement with them.)
The oligarchs running other social platforms want you to believe that "free speech" means letting anyone say anything, no matter how harmful. Why? Because controversy drives engagement, engagement drives ad revenue, and ad revenue lets them hire the crew that drives their mega-yacht.
We're taking a different approach.
A Community Built on Respect
Our Content Guidelines are now publicly available on our site. Even with our official launch several weeks away, these are the foundational principles for how content will be moderated on Sunslider. These aren't just rules; they're a reflection of what we believe:
People deserve to feel safe online. Full stop.
Context matters. The same content can mean different things depending on who's posting it and why.
Moderation should be transparent. You deserve to know why decisions are made.
Users should always stay in control. You should be able to easily shape your own experience.
For the full details, please read the complete guidelines â after all, theyâre the ones youâre agreeing to by signing up for the app.
But here's the TL;DR version: Sunslider prohibits hate speech, harassment, pornography, gratuitous violence, fraud, and spam. We have zero tolerance for Nazis. And we've built tools that let you control your own experience, like easy blocking and the power to delete comments made on your own content.
Your Right to Choose
If you build a site where anything goes, where âengagementâ is a north star fed by controversy and negativity, youâll eventually end up with⊠[side-eyes Twitter ]well, that.
Sunslider wonât make those mistakes. (Weâll make other ones! New ones. Hopefully less damaging ones đ)
We're building a place where you can share your life with the people who matter â without having to wade through a cesspool to do it. That's not censorship; it's curation. And in a world where our attention is being constantly harvested, curation matters.
You might be thinking, "But what if my political views aren't welcome?" Let me be clear: expressing political opinions â even controversial ones â is absolutely fine. We're not here to police political discourse. Post whatever opinion you want, left, right, center, diagonal: so long as it isnât threatening or demeaning others, itâs fine. We may disagree with it, but weâll defend your right to say it.
What's not fine is making other users feel unsafe or unwelcome because of who they are.
More Than Just Social Media Guidelines
These community standards aren't just words on a page. They're how we're operationalizing our values in practice, not just in words:
We're investing in proper content moderation that respects both users and moderators.
We've built user controls that are easy-to-find and that actually work.
We recognize there are cultural differences in expression and interpretation.
We understand that sometimes content that appears to violate our guidelines can serve a legitimate public interest.
A Social Network For Sharing Moments, Not Trapping Attention
The reason most social networks eventually fail their users is simple: over the long term they're designed to maximize shareholder value, not user experience.
When your business model depends on keeping people angry and engaged, your content policies will always be a façade. But Sunslider's business model isn't about extracting maximum value from each user. It's about creating a community people actually want to be part of, a community where theyâre happy to share.
By remaining independent and focused on sustainable growth rather than exponential revenue, we can make decisions that put users first. Always.
What Happens When Things Go Wrong
Every content policy faces edge cases. We'll make mistakes. When that happens, we'll be transparent about it and work to do better.
If you see something that shouldn't be on Sunslider, report it. If you find someone posting things you just donât want to see, block them. If you think we've made the wrong call on a moderation decision, tell us. We might be building the platform, but youâre building the community. Weâre committed to helping that happen in a positive, sustainable way for everyone (except Nazis â they can go jump).
The Bottom Line
Other social networks want you to believe the choice is binary: either accept a completely unmoderated hellscape or surrender to heavy-handed censorship.
But thatâs just another false dichotomy, there to make you think those monopolies are the only game in town. There's a better way â one that respects both freedom of expression and our shared responsibility to create a healthy community.
This is what Sunslider stands for. If you like the sound of it, we'd love for you to join us.