Rules for Member Accounts & New Users
Usernames
When creating a new account, you will be asked to select a username. The following policies apply to usernames:
- Usernames cannot contain special characters beyond `.` `-` or `_`
- Usernames cannot contain the phrase "virtamate" or any phrase which suggests a staff role such as "moderator", "admin", "developer" etc
- Usernames cannot contain offensive or libelous words or phrases, or any username that is designed to provoke other users
- Some usernames may be rejected if they could cause issues for the moderation team, such as long or nonsensical strings (i.e. "000000123456" or "asdfghqwerty" etc)
Age Restriction
All visitors to our website must be at least 18 years old and have reached the age of majority in the region where you live. In order to browse the Hub, you must accept the rules for visiting the site.
Duplicate Accounts
Members are permitted to own multiple accounts on the Hub, with the following restrictions:
- Using a separate account to artificially inflate your own reactions or reviews is strictly prohibited and can result in a ban.
- Any use of a duplicate account to impersonate another user, commit fraud, pretend to be someone else, or otherwise inhibit the enjoyment of the site for other users will result in a ban of your duplicate accounts and a warning or possible ban of your primary account.
- If you are using a duplicate account in order to release content, that content must be substantially different than the content released by your other accounts. Creating duplicate accounts to release similar or identical content is considered spam. Content creators using multiple accounts must identify their primary account in their posts to promote transparency. If the moderation team feels that the sole purpose of your duplicate account is to boost subscribers for multiple paid content platform accounts, your duplicate account may be removed from the Hub.
- Duplicate accounts that release content will be treated as one account for the purposes of weekly posting limits, warnings, and any disciplinary actions. If one account violates our policies, all duplicate accounts will receive the same restrictions as determined by the moderation team.
- For those accounts whose primary location is shared with another Hub member, such as people sharing the same apartment, location, or log-in device, these multiple accounts will be treated as one account belonging to the primary (or original) account holder for the purposes of weekly posting limits, disciplinary action, etc. Be sure you trust your roommates/friends if you are sharing a location with them!
- Sharing account logins with other users is prohibited.
Spam & Banned Users Filter
If your account registration is rejected, or is later flagged as spam or suspected of being a duplicate account of a previously-banned user, you may open a support ticket to discuss the situation with the moderation team.
Our staff will not request personally identifying information, so in the case that there is sufficient cause to suspect fraudulent behavior from your account then your account may be monitored or require an extended period of content approval before any monitoring or restrictions can be lifted.
Hacking / Fishing / Spam
As per our site rules, any account associated with hacking or fishing attempts, use of any spider or robot or other automatic process, monitoring or copying any material of the website, or any other use which can interfere with the proper working of the website may be banned without notice.
Limitations for New Accounts
- All new accounts will go through a period of time where their content submissions will require moderator approval. This time period will be at least 60 days. To request that your new account's approval requirement be lifted, your account must be at least 60 days old and have released at least 3 free resources. This does not guarantee that you will be given freedom to post indiscriminately. The moderation team can add or remove the approval requirement at any time, but will not consider lifting the requirement for any account newer than 60 days or with fewer than 3 free resources on the Hub. If your account meets these requirements and your content still requires moderator approval, you may open a support ticket to make the request to lift the restriction. Any content rejections or warnings received during the 60 day period may restart the clock.
- New accounts may not post paid content or post links to paid subscriber accounts ("support me" links) until their account is at least 30 days old. The intention is for you to familiarize yourself with our policies and our community and to release some free content before diving into asking people for money. This restriction also helps us reduce the number of fraudulent accounts joining the Hub.
- Any account that has been dormant for a long period of time and then suddenly attempts to post paid content may be subject to the same restrictions as a "new" account.