After much effort, as names, definitions, sights, and other data of sense, are brought into contact and friction one with another, in the course of scrutiny and kindly testing by men who proceed by question and answer without ill will, with a sudden flash there shines forth understanding about every problem, and an intelligence whose efforts reach the furthest limits of human powers.
- Plato
Welcome citizens, agents, friends...
I want to start with these pledges, because I think it's important that you, the potential civic agents, understand we're trying to do the right thing, whether it makes money or just breaks even:
🧠CivilSimian Pledges
No Hidden Algorithms
We pledge to never manipulate what you see without your knowledge. All filters, rankings, and visibility systems will be openly documented, user-adjustable, or voted on by the community.
No Data Harvesting for Profit
We pledge never to sell or exploit your data. Security is a big deal, and we'll have to develop it over time. Preserving anonymity will be a central focus.
No Silent Bans or Suppression
We pledge never to secretly shadow ban anybody. All moderation decisions are transparent and appealable. You will always know where you stand. That being said, we won't allow bad faith actors in at any capacity. Think of this site as a good faith meeting place.
Human-Centric Design
We pledge to design for clarity and agency, not addiction, distraction, or surveillance. I do understand these sites have to make enough money at least to sustain themselves, but, social media sites exploit every single slippery angle they can find. Again, we do have to make enough money to survive, but if it comes down to slippery or nonexistence, we'll vote on it and keep it transparent.
Transparency by Default
We pledge to keep all governance documents, system changes, and moderation policies fully visible and easily accessible. There will be no backdoors, secret councils, or terms you didn’t agree to. That being said, TOS's do change. We all have to agree to those realities. I will be trying to publish the top contributions in book format, so, think about that. Anything posted to this site maybe published to support the site.
Community Over Control
We pledge to co-develop the system with the community. CivilSimian will evolve based on open input, transparent vote, and community consensus. That being said, sometimes what is popular isn't always functional. We'll address these balanced issues transparently. I think in this situation the executive of the organization has the most executive power of everybody in the organization, but, whoever it is, they should never see themselves as detached from the foundation. That kind of thinking may lead to some kind of gamified payback scheme where there is some kind of wealth sharing.
Integrity Over Popularity
We pledge to prioritize ethical consistency, life-affirming values, and long-term benefit over short-term traffic. We will do what is right, not just what is easy. But, popularity is not always a bad thing. Also, standing against what's popular may be necessary if you want to do what is right.
No Celebrity Amplification
We pledge to treat every voice equally. Visibility is earned through ideas, not fame or external status. No influencer boosts, no special treatment. We may need verification systems like other sites have, but, the integrity and power of your profile will be based on your participation. I plan to have a secret panel in the dashboard that tells you where you stand on different metrics according to the users on the site. The site will have overall metrics too for all to see.
A Right to Leave Without a Trace
We pledge to let you leave with your data. At any time, you can download your contributions or delete your account, and we won’t hide the button. At the moment you have the right to delete. We'll put in download functionality later.
Life Comes First
We pledge to protect human dignity, ecological sanity, and collective well-being above all else. That being said, just by running the site we are using power and contributing to the destructive side of things. So, it's a balance we can discuss on the site.