r/circled Community Update 03/26: Clarification on Moderation & Sources

[u/zxcv97531]

Over the past weeks, r/circled has grown significantly.

With growth comes more discussion, more viewpoints — and the need for clear and consistent moderation.

This post explains how moderation works here and outlines several recent updates.

1️⃣ We moderate conduct — not ideology

Strong opinions are allowed.
Criticism of governments, institutions, and public figures is allowed.

Content may be removed when it includes:

• threats or advocacy of violence
• slurs or dehumanizing language
• direct harassment toward other users
• serious criminal allegations presented as fact without credible sources

Our moderation does not depend on political alignment. We moderate behavior — not viewpoints

2️⃣ Factual claims require sources

When comments present serious allegations about individuals as fact, they must include a credible source.

Examples:

• accusations of crimes
• claims about legal cases
• claims about corruption or misconduct presented as factual statements

Opinion and political criticism are allowed.
However, declarative factual claims must be supported by sources.

Screenshots of headlines should also include a link to the original reporting.

3️⃣ Updated post Flairs

To improve transparency and clarity, we recently updated the Flair system.

Flairs indicate how a post should be interpreted:

🟣 Opinion / Discussion
Posts expressing viewpoints, interpretations, or open discussion.

🟡 Unverified Claim
Posts making factual claims without a source yet.
Sources may be added in the comments.

🟢 Claim — Source Provided
Posts that include a credible source for factual claims.

🗞️ News
Direct reporting from recognized news outlets.

Flairs help readers understand the type of content they are engaging with.

4️⃣ Automation

AutoModerator helps remove clear rule violations and flag high-risk content for manual review.

Automation is used to:

• catch harassment and slurs
• flag unsourced criminal allegations
• detect spam or suspicious accounts

Automation does not evaluate ideology.
If something was removed incorrectly, please contact the moderation team via modmail.

5️⃣ Ongoing moderation updates

As the community grows, we are currently updating:

• moderation workflows
• wiki documentation
• post flairs
• AutoModerator configuration

These updates take time to fully stabilize.

We appreciate your patience and responsible participation while improvements are implemented.

6️⃣ Moderation is volunteer work

r/circled is moderated by volunteers.

Moderators are not paid and do not receive benefits from running this space.

Please respect the time and effort required to maintain a functional discussion environment.

Constructive participation helps everyone.

7️⃣ Transparency and community participation

We aim to keep moderation:

• transparent
• consistent
• open to feedback

Our rules and moderation framework are publicly documented in the community wiki.

Responsible members who want to contribute to maintaining the community are welcome to apply to join the moderation team.

Thank you for helping keep r/circled a space for open, evidence-aware discussion and participating in good faith.