Community Guidelines

These Community Guidelines describe how we expect writers and readers to behave on GoldenPalm Novels. They're written in plain language and are meant to be practical, not legalistic. The binding legal agreement between you and GoldenPalm is our Terms of Service at /terms; this document exists alongside those Terms and helps explain how they work in practice. For copyright-specific issues, see our DMCA Policy at /dmca.

General Community Rules

• All users must treat each other with respect: no harassment, bullying, or targeted abuse.

• No hate speech based on race, gender, nationality, religion, or identity.

• No impersonating admins, moderators, or authors.

• No spamming, comment flooding, or excessive self-promotion outside designated areas.

• No manipulating rankings or engagement through bots, fake accounts, or multi-account abuse.

• No threats or encouragement of violence or self-harm.

• No doxxing, stalking, or sharing another user's private information.

• Report harmful or suspicious activity to moderators rather than escalating it yourself.

• Evading a ban or suspension with a new account is not allowed.

Author Rules

• Publish only stories, chapters, and cover art you wrote or created yourself, or have clear permission to use.

• Do not repost stories taken from other platforms, or copy another author's characters without permission.

• Keep chapter updates honest; no placeholder or empty "updates" posted just to appear active.

• Respond to readers respectfully; no attacking or insulting readers in author notes or comments.

• If a story is on hiatus or discontinued, mark it as such rather than leaving readers guessing.

Content Ratings & Tagging

• General: no sexual content; no more than mild violence or language.

• Teen: romantic and emotional tension is fine, but nothing explicit; violence can be more intense but not graphic.

• Mature (18+): for stories with more intense themes. Sexual content is fade-to-black or implied only. This isn't a platform for graphically explicit sexual writing. Intense violence, gore, or disturbing themes can also warrant a Mature rating on their own, even without sexual content.

• Use content-warning tags (Violence, Gore, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Sensitive Content) alongside the rating to be specific about what's actually in the story.

• Mislabeling content to dodge a rating, or disguising mature content as something milder, isn't allowed.

Prohibited Content

These are never allowed, regardless of rating or tagging:

• Any sexual content involving minors, or content that sexualizes minors in any way.

• Glorification or erotic portrayal of rape or sexual violence. Depictions of sexual violence may only appear as non-erotic, clearly condemned narrative events, with content warnings.

• Bestiality, necrophilia, or incest used as erotic material.

• Real-world hate propaganda, extremism, or terrorism glorification.

• Graphic gore written purely for shock or fetish value.

• Using a real, identifiable person's name or likeness without consent.

Fan Fiction Rules

• Fan fiction is welcome. Mark it as Fan Fiction rather than Original, and clearly state the source universe.

• Do not claim ownership of characters you didn't create.

• No fan fiction about real people (celebrities, public figures, etc.); fictional universes only.

• NSFW fan fiction must only involve characters established as adults.

AI Disclosure

• If a cover was generated by AI or a story was meaningfully assisted by AI, disclose it using the platform's disclosure tools. Hiding AI involvement is a trust issue, not a technicality.

• Fully AI-written stories submitted as original human writing are not allowed.

• Consider hiring an artist for cover art where you can. Original commissioned art supports real creators and stands out more than stock or AI imagery.

Comments & Reviews

• Reviews should address the story, not the author personally.

• No review bombing or coordinated harassment.

• Constructive criticism is welcome; insults are not.

• Use spoiler tags when discussing plot details readers may not have reached yet.

Reporting & Enforcement

• Use the report feature on any story, chapter, comment, or review that breaks these guidelines.

• Moderators review every report and act based on severity and history; from a warning, to content removal, to account suspension.

• Severe or repeated violations result in permanent removal from the platform.

If content breaks these guidelines, use the report feature to flag it. For copyright infringement specifically, follow the procedure in our DMCA Policy at /dmca. That's the fastest way to get infringing content removed. For account-level appeals, contact support@goldenpalmnovels.com.