Rules of Rat Piano
1. Everyone has to be 18 or older. While we're against ID-based systems of checking age, we do need you to give us some kind of verification from social media that you are 18 or older (i.e. accounts with your age on it). It is recommended you give your exact age in your intro or verification, but if not, it has to be an age range more specific than "18+" (e.g. "25+"). You also have to be willing to give your exact age privately if a mod or the owner ask. This rule is about body age, not internal age. Syskids/age regressors/etc. can talk freely here.
2. In addition to being an adult, everyone also has to be mature. Take responsibility for yourself, including your headmates. Accept criticism gracefully. Don't have meltdowns in the server if you can possibly help it (and, if you can't help it, maybe learn better emotional self-regulation before being in a server like this). If you are breaking this rule in the server, I may politely call you out on it in the server.
3. This server is trying to be a pleasant environment. Be nice to each other. No harassment. No bigotry. Don't be a nuisance. Take responsibility.
4. In addition to a pleasant environment, this server is also trying to be a personal friend space and not a general community server. If you're trying to join this server from a public space, I may not let you in if I don't think I'd vibe with you, and I might remove you from the server if I feel like you're not a good presence in my life. If I met you from another server, I can tolerate your presence there, but I would prefer not to have you here. Please do not mythologize this server as your safe space or your community. I don't LIKE removing people from my life, so I'm not going to go around banning people left and right, but I am not AFRAID to remove people from my life when I need to, so just be aware.
5. I do not want to have to add more rules, but I may as necessary. Don't be the reason I have to add a new rule or policy. The exception is that it is okay to request policies in the interest of accessibility or combatting bigotry.
I don't feel like I can fully ban venting or politics from this server, because I believe "venting" can be subjective, and so can "political". I also wouldn't want to FULLY ban those things. However, things like political doomposting, really heavy and nihilistic venting, public spiraling, making the people of the server take care of you, etc. are forbidden. This ties into Rule 3, but it warrants being spelled out.
There are multiple vent channels, so that people who don't like venting don't have to see it. If venting arises in other parts of the server, please spoiler it. You don't have to spoiler it or censor it quite as much in your personal channels, but be mindful of the server's expectations for mature conduct.
#venting is for what you would think of as "regular-grade" venting. If topics that are normally deemed to be heavy come up in that channel (e.g. incest, organized abuse, sexual abuse, etc.), please spoiler them. Use your best judgment about "heavy topics".
#heavy-venting is intended to be a vent channel where heavier topics don't have to be spoilered. This is not "heavy venting" in the sense of "please heavily utilize this channel".
#adult-vent is for venting that is related to adult topics, including sex and addiction. While it is tempting to vent about discourse-related topics in here, please refrain from doing so.
I used to combine SFW and NSFW spaces, but now I don't think that's the best way for me to do things, and I don't really WANT to moderate a lot of NSFW anymore, especially on Discord. At the same time, I am still anti-censorship, and I believe sexual and kink topics have a place in all adult spaces.
Therefore, this server has some channels dedicated to certain discussions of NSFW and adult topics (including substances), but this server isn't supposed to be heavily geared towards NSFW. Please keep NSFW images to a minimum (and keep it to art or selfies), and spoiler them if outside NSFW areas and/or particularly explicit. NSFW text is fine in NSFW areas and if spoilered elsewhere.
Adult topics (e.g. sex, kink, substances) can be mentioned in all parts of the server if you censor anything you consider gratuitous. The specific channels are just spaces to keep gratuitous talk without censoring it.
Where it comes to kinks, this server operates on the principle of Your Kink Is Not My Kink And That's Okay. People who mention kink may mention being into kinks that you are not into. Please do not complain about kinks you dislike. Some valid criticisms are fine if they come up, but be mindful that this is meant to be a largely discourse-free environment, and to be nice to each other.
Due to purely legal concerns, please do not spend much if any time discussing fiction that depicts underage characters in sexual situations, especially and namely for gratification, or where their presence is intended as a kink. The same policy goes for discussions of real-life discussions of pedophilia or zoophilia; some mentions as related to personal trauma (in accordance with other rules) is fine. Some discussion of darker themes (e.g. fictional incest) is okay.
If enough interest in posting more NSFW arises, I may be willing to run a space like that on another platform (e.g. Stoat) with help from someone else. DM me if you have interest in something like that.
Our system dislikes internet discourse and people who identify too strongly with it. However, we are inclusionists and support "contradictory identities". We support systems that are not traumagenic. We enjoy fiction and kink with dark themes, so we would be considered "anti anti", but we think people are short-sighted and binaristic about shipcourse labels.
We believe the transID community should use a different term for their experiences (e.g. desirdae), but we support some of the experiences, especially if alternative labels are used. We are pro stigmatized mental health conditions. We are anti contact for consent-related paraphilias, and we do not support the radqueer community or want anything to do with them.
We would prefer our friend group share or at least accept these stances, and we require them to be okay with us having dark kinks, to be okay with all mental health conditions, and to be anti-contact for consent-related paraphilias.
Personal channels are a feature of this server that contribute to the friend group feeling of them. You can post anything you want in there within what the server allows. You can talk a little more gratuitously about trauma or heavy/adult topics, but please keep the rules in mind like not making others take care of you or that the server isn't meant to be too NSFW.
Topics I intend to talk about include media I like, my self-ships, my otherkin/therian experiences, other identity stuff, my creative projects, and my cooking, and I would love to hear about others' excursions into the same topics, but please share whatever interests you have!
In the interest of keeping the server active and making sure no one feels left out, it's recommended you add some kind of comment or response to anything you see someone else post in their channel. If not, you can emoji-react to their posts. You could also post things in people's personal channels that remind you of them (e.g. if there's a user who likes axolotls, posting pics of axolotls in their channel for them to see).
Once you have been verified, please use the #personal-channel-request channel to request your personal channel if you didn't already request one in your verification.
I prefer to handle most questions privately, because in order to answer them, I sometimes find myself having to explain my thought processes, and I dislike doing so in a semi-public space where I may not explain things right on the first try.
Please use the #owner-mod-ping channel to ping me (or, if applicable, a moderator) to DM me about the matter privately.
Depending on what it is, I may add a new policy or rule addressing whatever you brought up. This does NOT fit under "don't be the reason I have to add a new rule"; that's more in reference to when people cause problems and FORCE me to add new rules. New rules added as per private discussions are up to my own discretion.