CivicSpike Member Agreement
1. What CivicSpike is
A place where people write what they know for other people. Everything here is written by a human. You may not post anything written or generated by a machine, and you may not run an account for someone who is not you. On Home, posts rise when readers finish them and learn something.
2. Your account
Your account is an ID and a backup code. We do not ask for your email, phone number or real name, and we cannot recover a lost ID or backup code, so keep them somewhere safe. You must be at least 13 to have an account.
3. No tolerance for abuse
CivicSpike has no tolerance for objectionable content or abusive members. Do not post anything hateful, harassing, threatening, sexual, violent or otherwise objectionable, and do not bully, threaten or impersonate anyone. Our editors look at every flag and every block within 24 hours. Anything that breaks these rules is removed, and a member who posts objectionable content or abuses others is removed from CivicSpike.
4. Flags, blocks and standing
Any member can flag an article, a question, an answer or an addition, for one of four reasons: the source it cites does not say what it says; it gives direct medical advice, telling readers what to take or do for their health rather than sharing what happened to you; it is harmful or offensive; or it is an advertisement, written to sell or promote a product, service or business. Every flag goes to our editors, and an article that enough different members flag is removed at once. You can block any member: their writing disappears for you straight away, they are not told, and our editors are, so they can look at what that member posts. If your work is removed you may get a warning, a seven-day restriction, a thirty-day suspension, or removal from CivicSpike. The reason is always shown to you. An article removed by member flags can be appealed once; a removal by the editors is final.
5. What stays
Nothing you write is changed after it is posted, not by you and not by us; the only exception is a source the editors add to an older Health article or answer, marked as theirs. Apart from removals under sections 3 and 4, something is taken down only when a legal order requires it. When you delete your account your name comes off your writing but the writing stays. Because your writing stays, by posting you give CivicSpike the right to keep showing it.
6. Health
Health articles and answers are written by members, not medical professionals, and they are not medical advice. Check with a doctor before you make any decision about your health. Every Health article, and every answer to a Health question, links a source a reader can check.
7. WayThrough
Directions in WayThrough come from other members who got through something, not from professionals. Check any office or organisation before relying on it; we tell you what we have and have not verified about each one. If you are in danger, call emergency services first.
8. Points and CivicCoins
You earn points when people read and learn from your writing, and a CivicCoin for every 1,000 points. CivicCoins have no cash value, cannot be purchased, sold or transferred, and no future monetary value is promised at this time.
9. Deleting your account
From My Account, at any time. Your ID is retired for good; your name, backup code, device, points, CivicCoins, follows, blocks, notifications, puzzle history and riddle answers are deleted. Your articles, answers and replies stay, credited to a former member.
Privacy Notice
What we keep
Your ID, the display name you chose, your backup code (stored scrambled, so we cannot read it), a sign-in key for each phone or browser you have signed in on, your points and CivicCoins, any warnings, restrictions, suspensions, removals and safety notes on your account (including in WayThrough), with your appeals, and when you agreed to this agreement. From your phone: a token that lets it receive notifications, and a random number the app makes once on it (the same for every account signed in on that phone, so WayThrough never gives a case to another account on the same phone). What you post: articles, questions, answers, replies, pictures and videos, and in WayThrough your case (what you are stuck on, your state and your deadlines) or, as a helper, the moves and questions you send, the places you add or link, and the cases you were given. What you do: which articles were shown to you on Home, what you read, mark as learned, share, flag or report, the members you block (and what you were reading when you did), your puzzle results, your answers to the daily riddle and any note you send about one, the circles you follow, and your notifications. In WayThrough we also keep the offices you search for (the words, the state and what you picked), so we can make the list of offices better; after 30 days your ID is taken off them. For a short time we also keep the name of the browser that asks to sign in as you on the website (two hours), the names given to your pictures and videos while they upload (one day), a record of the notifications sent to your phone (two weeks), and a scrambled form of the internet address each new account came from (one day, not linked to the account, so nobody can make accounts in bulk). That is the whole list.
What we do not do
We do not ask for your email, phone number or real name. We do not show ads, do not sell or share your data, and do not track you across other apps or sites.
Where it lives
On servers run by our database provider, protected by access rules so that only the app and the website can read it.
Questions
Write to info@civicspike.com.