Your community rules should explain decisions, not just forbid behaviour

A member posts a question in the wrong channel. Another replies with a screenshot from a paid course. Someone else joins a heated discussion, then reports it because the tone has changed. You now have to decide what happens next, often while several members are watching. Your community rules cannot remove every judgement call, but they can make your decisions easier to understand.

Start with the decisions you keep having to make

Do not begin by trying to write a complete code of conduct. Begin with your moderation history, even if that history is only a handful of awkward messages. List the decisions you have made or expect to make: removing promotions, moving posts, handling personal criticism, protecting paid material, pausing a member’s access or closing a thread.

For each decision, ask what you were trying to protect. A rule against unsolicited selling may protect members’ attention. A rule about sharing screenshots may protect the value and privacy of paid work. A rule about personal attacks may protect disagreement itself, because people are more likely to contribute when they can challenge an idea without being targeted.

Turn each boundary into a small explanation

1. 1Name the behaviour in plain language. Write ‘Do not post affiliate links outside the recommendations thread’, rather than ‘No commercial activity’.
2. 2Explain the reason in one sentence. ‘This keeps the main discussion useful for members who are looking for help, not offers.’
3. 3Give a permitted alternative. ‘You can share your own work in the monthly showcase thread.’
4. 4Describe the response. ‘A moderator may move or remove the post and will tell you why when context is unclear.’
5. 5Say whether the rule applies everywhere. Specify whether it covers direct messages, events, comments, recordings and member-to-member contact.

This structure separates intent from impact. A member may not have meant to advertise, but a repeated promotional post still changes how the space works. Explaining the decision lets you act on the visible effect without pretending to know someone’s motives.

Describe participation, not just misconduct

A list of prohibitions gives members a narrow target: avoid getting in trouble. It does not tell them how to contribute. Add a short section called ‘What helps here’ or ‘How to take part’. Include actions people can copy: ask a specific question, share what you tried, credit another member’s idea, mark a suggestion as a suggestion, and leave room for a quieter reply.

Make moderation predictable without making it rigid

Members do not need a punishment menu for every possible mistake. They do need a general sequence. For example: a moderator may first clarify or move a post; repeated or deliberate breaches may lead to a warning; continued breaches may lead to restricted access or removal. Serious harassment, threats, doxxing or attempts to defraud people may skip the earlier steps.

Say who moderates. If you are the only person, write that plainly. If you have moderators, state what they can decide and when you will review an appeal. Also explain how a member should raise a concern privately. A public argument about moderation can become a second moderation problem.

Include the boundaries around your product

If your community sits alongside a course, coaching offer or membership, state what access means. Does membership include discussion and events, or personal feedback from you? Are posts retained after someone leaves? Can members download recordings? May they quote teaching outside the space? Clear rules reduce the chance that a member treats informal conversation as a private consultation or redistributes paid material.

Your storefront should support the same explanation. On store.fan, you can present a community as part of a paid offer rather than treating it as an unstructured chat tab. If the offer also includes lessons, describe that boundary beside the relevant online course or membership, so buyers can compare what they receive with what participation requires.

Review the rules when the community changes

Rules written for 20 members may not fit 200. New channels create new edge cases. A guest expert may need a different disclosure rule. A live event may need guidance about recording and questions. Review the rules when you add a format, change the offer or make a moderation decision that members could reasonably find surprising.

Keep a private decision log with the date, the relevant rule, the action taken and the reason. You do not need to publish personal details. The log helps you spot vague wording and apply your own standards consistently. It also gives you material for a later rule update instead of forcing you to reconstruct the decision from memory.

Once your rules explain the reasoning, moderation becomes part of the product rather than an interruption to it. If you sell access through store.fan, paid plans start with a 14-day trial, sales go straight to your Stripe account and store.fan takes 0% of sales; Stripe’s own processing fee still applies. The free plan is link-in-bio only, so check that the plan fits the way you intend to sell and run the community.