How the Circle works

A circle is the meeting under the tree where a matter is talked through until everybody who has something to say has said it. Nobody is above the circle and nobody speaks for anybody else. That is what this wall copies.

Nobody is named

Whether you have an account here or not, every story goes up under a two word handle taken from the landscape of the country. Your account is never linked to your writing on any screen anybody else can see. You do not have to register to write, and registering does not make your name appear.

The rules, and why each one is there

• Tell your own story. What happened to you, in your own words.
• No links of any kind. Not to a website, not to a video, not to a job advert.
• No telephone numbers, email addresses or messaging handles, yours or anybody else theirs.
• No curriculum vitae. This circle is for the story, not for the document.
• Do not name an individual person. Name what happened. An organisation may be named.
• No swearing. People read this at four in the morning when they are at their lowest.
• Your real name is never shown. You post under a two word handle whether you have an account or not.

What the safety gate does

Every headline, every story and every reply is read by the same gate before it is published. It refuses swearing, links, telephone numbers, email addresses and messaging handles outright, and it holds anything that names an individual person alongside an accusation so that a person can read it first. A held story is not a rejected story. It usually goes up within a few hours.

• No swearing. A calm sentence is believed more anyway.
• No links of any kind, and no telephone numbers, email addresses or messaging handles.
• No naming and shaming of individual people. Write about the organisation and about what happened to you.
• No curriculum vitae here. This wall is for the story, not for the document.
• Your real name is never shown. Everybody posts under a two word handle.

Why no links and no curriculum vitae

Both rules exist for the same reason. The moment a wall like this allows links, it fills with people selling something and with job adverts that do not exist. The moment it allows a curriculum vitae, it stops being a place to talk and becomes a place to be judged. If you want employers to find you, that is what Hire Me Now is for. This wall is for the story.

Reporting

Nothing is taken down by a machine because somebody pressed a button. A report puts the story in front of a person, and a person decides against these rules. A story you disagree with is not a story that breaks the rules.