The Talking Sober moderation team has reviewed and updated the forum rules and guidelines. We ask all members to read and abide by these rules. We welcome feedback - please send any feedback in a private message to @moderators. This thread is closed to comments in order to keep it tidy for further announcements and updates. Thank you for your cooperation in ensuring this community continues to be a positive resource. 
Talking Sober Rules and Guidelines
Talking Sober is a community where we talk about staying or getting sober. We as a community aim to help ourselves and others by participating here. Think about your post before you publish it. We are all here seeking help or offering help to others. If your post does not do that, please don’t post it.
Be mindful that this is a space for people experiencing a range of addictions, including alcoholism, drug addiction (including opiates, prescription narcotics, benzodiazepines, cocaine, methamphetamine, cannabis and others), gambling, porn and masturbation, sex and love, and others - this list is not exclusive. What one person may find appropriate may negatively impact another’s sobriety.
Here are the rules and guidelines for Talking Sober:
- Above all, be civil. Be respectful of the topics and the people discussing them, even if you disagree. Do not attack, name call, bully, belittle, gang up on, badger or harass other community members.
- Don’t post anything that a reasonable person would consider offensive, abusive, or hate speech. Racism, misogyny, homophobia and the like will not be tolerated.
- Respect confidentiality. Do not expose people’s private information without their consent.
- Do not post while you are under the influence. These posts can negatively impact other members’ sobriety. There is a special opt in category (Seeking Help) for those posting whilst under the influence.
- Rather than posting about using, try to keep your focus on how you want to stop using. This is a sobriety focused site - promoting moderation can negatively impact members’ sobriety - such posts may be moved to Seeking Help.
- Do not post sexually explicit material (no visible nipples and/or genitalia).
Visible coverage tops/shirts and bottoms are required in all selfies, memes and photos, regardless of gender. Please do not post photos in swimwear regardless of gender. - This is not a dating site - refrain from asking about dates or hookups in public or private message.
- This is not a marketplace, self-promotion, or fundraising platform. Do not list or attempt to sell services or raise money. Do not post links or usernames to your personal social media accounts. Don’t post spam, auto-generated content, employ bots of any kind, or otherwise vandalize the forum.
- Stick to the language that the topic was originally created in. All languages are welcome, but please do so in separate topics.
- Respect the conversation. Stay on topic in a thread and do not derail the discussion.
- Do not promote illegal activities.
- You need to be 18+ to create a user account. You’ll receive a confirmation box when registering it. Being dishonest will lead to a permanent account suspension.
- Please refrain from posting about politics. Political discussions will be removed by moderators without bias.
- Multiple accounts for the same person are not allowed.
- In consideration for our members, sensitive images that may be upsetting, e.g. guns, open wounds, etc. should be blurred and a TW (trigger warning) added to the title of the thread or beginning of post. (To blur, select image while in edit mode, tap the cog icon, scroll to find the blur option, and tap.)
Personal and sensitive subjects are often shared. Post with the best intentions and assume other members are doing the same. If a post is troubling or distressing, consider taking a step back and reading it again later from the perspective of good intent.
Attacks of any kind, direct or indirect, will not be tolerated. If you believe a post to be genuinely troubling or in violation of these guidelines, please contact a member of the moderator team. Refrain from responding to the member in public discussion with additional hostility.
Please also see our FAQ Frequently Asked Questions for further guidelines (see below where to find FAQ).
Posts that break these guidelines will be addressed by the moderator team. Moderators reserve the right to edit, blur or delete content, and/or close topics. Repeated offenses will lead to official warnings and account suspension. If someone disagrees with a decision taken by a moderator they should private message @moderators and the issue will be reviewed by another moderator.
(Last updated: 21 June 2023 )
