Civil Discourse Guidelines
Most of us carry a mental picture of the opposition that is more extreme, more malicious, and less reasonable than the real thing. Research calls this the perception gap. Assumptions is built to close it. These guidelines exist so this remains a space where curiosity beats contempt and real disagreement builds real understanding.
Our Mission
"Talk with intention, not reaction."
People weight moral values differently. Care, Fairness, Loyalty, Authority, Sanctity, Liberty, we all draw on these foundations, but in different proportions, for different reasons. What looks like moral failure from one vantage point often looks like moral courage from another. The point of this app is not to win, it is to understand why someone else arrived at a different conclusion than you did, and to make yourself legible to them in return.
Good discourse here means engaging the actual argument, not a caricature of it. It means being willing to learn, not because you abandoned your values, but because you understood theirs.
What This Space Is For
- Perspective-taking over point-scoring. Every feature, debates, challenges, polls, quizzes, is designed to reward understanding, not winning. Engage to learn what you don’t know, not to confirm what you already believe.
- Intellectual honesty. Engage with the strongest version of the view you disagree with. If you can only argue against a weak version, you haven’t understood the real thing yet.
- Curiosity as the default. When something surprises or frustrates you, treat that as a signal to get curious, not to escalate.
- Good faith participation. This is a practice space, not a performance stage. The only metric that matters is whether you understand something a little better than you did before.
Do
- Engage the argument, not the person. Challenge positions and logic. Try to find the version of the argument that a thoughtful person who holds it would recognize as their own.
- Listen before you respond. Acknowledge what the other side actually said before you counter it. The score reflects this, and so does real discourse.
- Stay grounded in the topic. Keep conversations focused on the question at hand. Tangents dilute the work.
- Be civil, even under pressure. Respect the person, even when you strongly disagree with their view. Civility is not weakness, it is what makes understanding possible.
- Own your perspective. Speak from your own experience and reasoning. You don’t need to represent an entire group, and you shouldn’t assume others do either.
Don’t
- No personal attacks or insults. Disagree with the argument, not the person making it, not the group you imagine they belong to.
- No hate, harassment, or threats. This includes slurs, discrimination, and anything that targets people based on identity or threatens harm of any kind.
- No strawmanning. Engage with what was actually said, not a distorted or weakened version of it. If you’re not sure you understood, ask.
- No bad-faith participation. Don’t use the app to troll, exhaust, or demean. Don’t try to manipulate the AI into producing content it was designed to avoid.
- No spam or abuse. No flooding, off-topic disruption, impersonation, or using the app to waste shared resources.
- Don’t use Assumptions to plan or promote self-harm. If you’re struggling, please reach out, Settings → Get Help has 24/7 crisis resources, and 988 is available any time in the US.
On Facts and Views
Assumptions does not fact-check what you or the AI say. Our focus is on civility, listening, and counterpoints, not adjudicating truth claims. You are responsible for the accuracy of the claims you make. For important factual questions, verify with independent sources. The AI can be wrong, and so can we all.
Most moral and political disagreements are not just about facts, they are about which values to prioritize when facts point in multiple directions. Understanding that distinction is part of the work.
Consequences
If you break these guidelines, we may:
- Redirect, the AI may gently steer the conversation back to constructive ground.
- Warn or restrict your account, for repeated or serious violations.
- Terminate your account, for severe or persistent abuse.
Enforcement is proportional and consistent. Full details are in our Terms of Service.
Some violations, credible threats of violence, content sexualizing minors, or coordinated planning of harm, result in immediate account termination without prior warning, and may be reported to law enforcement.
Questions or Reports
- Questions about these guidelines: help@bankedembers.com
- Reporting a problem in the app: Use "Report a Problem" in Settings, or email help@bankedembers.com.
For our full rules and your rights, see our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.