A sense of community can flourish when users are able to communicate freely. Narrowly tailoring your terms of service or community guidelines to prohibit only illegal content or specific harmful behavior that undermines the purpose of your service will help you limit the time you spend monitoring speech and the risk of being inconsistent or biased in the application of your policies.

Vague prohibitions of “offensive” or “inappropriate” speech leave users uncertain as to what they can and cannot say, which can both chill acceptable speech and drive away users who have lost trust in moderation enforcement that appears discriminatory or arbitrary. On the other hand, clear, understandable policies encourage users to contribute rich content and respectfully engage with others. Policies should be easily accessible by users, who should also be notified when policies are updated or revised.

If users are subject to extreme penalties for minor violations of your policies , they may lose interest in engaging with your service. Instead, ensure that consequences are proportionate to the rule violation and equally applied to users. Doing so helps you earn the respect and loyalty of all of your users.