Community Guidelines

Last updated: August 6, 2026

NextLine only works if people feel safe writing here — and safe reading what strangers wrote in response. These guidelines explain what we expect from everyone on the platform. They apply everywhere: posts, continuations, comments, direct messages, and profiles.

Breaking these guidelines can lead to a warning, content removal, temporary suspension, or a permanent ban — see our Account Enforcement Policy for specifics.

1. Respect Others

NextLine is built on people continuing each other's work — that only works with basic respect. We don't allow:

• Hate speech — attacking people based on race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, caste, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, or serious illness.
• Harassment or bullying — repeated unwanted contact, pile-ons, or content designed to demean a specific person.
• Threats — of violence, harm, or any credible threat against a person or group.
• Personal attacks — targeting a real person (as opposed to critiquing their writing).
• Doxxing — sharing someone's private information (home address, phone number, workplace, ID documents, etc.) without their consent.

2. Content Rules

Welcome here: poetry, stories, quotes, shayari, dialogues, scripts, movie scenes, original lyrics, fiction of all kinds, inspirational writing, humor, and educational content.

Not allowed:

• Pornography or sexually explicit content
• Any content that sexualizes or endangers minors — zero tolerance, reported to relevant authorities where required by law
• Content that glorifies or incites violence, terrorism, or extremism
• Instructions or promotion of illegal activity
• Promotion or sale of illegal drugs
• Content that encourages self-harm, suicide, or eating disorders (see our Safety Policy for how we handle content from someone who may be at risk, which is treated differently from content that promotes harm to others)
• Spam, scams, or fake giveaways
• Links to malware, phishing pages, or other malicious software
• Copyright infringement — posting someone else's writing as your own
• Low-effort AI-generated spam posted purely to farm engagement
• Repetitive or duplicate posting designed to flood feeds

3. Collaborative Writing Rules

The branching format is what makes NextLine different, and it only stays fun if people play along in good faith:

• Respect the tone and context of what you're continuing — a continuation should feel like it belongs.
• Don't post a "troll" continuation purely to derail or ruin someone else's thread.
• Avoid meaningless, one-word, or filler continuations that add nothing.
• Avoid offensive continuations that violate these guidelines even if the original post didn't.
• When in doubt, write the continuation you'd want to read if you were the original author.

4. Spam Policy

Not allowed:

• Mass-posting the same or near-identical content across many threads
• Copy-paste spam in comments or continuations
• Emoji spam with no real content
• Fake engagement — buying, trading, or artificially inflating likes, follows, or comments
• Bot or automated posting activity

5. Username Policy

Only lowercase letters (a–z), numbers (0–9), periods (.), and underscores (_) — see Terms §4 for the exact format rules. Not allowed: impersonating another person or account, offensive or misleading usernames, or using a trademark you don't have permission to use.

6. Profile Rules

No fake identities, no impersonation of real people or organizations, and no illegal content anywhere on your profile — bio, banner, or avatar included.

7. Comment Rules

Be respectful. Constructive criticism of someone's writing is welcome and encouraged — that's how people improve. Harassment dressed up as "just feedback" is not.

8. Follow System Rules

Private accounts control who sees their writing. Don't attempt to bypass a private account's approval process (for example, through a second account, or by pressuring someone into accepting a follow request). Respect a "no."

9. Reporting System

How to report: Every post, comment, and profile has a Report option. Pick the reason that fits best (spam, plagiarism, harassment, hate speech, NSFW content, copyright, or other) and add any details that'll help our team.

Review process: Reports go to our moderation team, who review the reported content against these guidelines and our Content Moderation Policy. We prioritize reports involving safety risks (threats, self-harm, child safety) for faster review.

Possible actions: depending on severity, a report can result in no action (if nothing was found to violate our guidelines), a warning to the poster, content removal, or account suspension — see our Account Enforcement Policy.

Appeals: if you believe a moderation decision on your account or content was a mistake, you can appeal — see Content Moderation Policy §Appeals.

We also encourage you to use Block for accounts you'd simply rather not interact with, even if nothing they've done rises to a reportable violation.