Community Guidelines

1. The Standard We Expect

SecondPass is built around constructive participation.

You do not need to be an expert.

You do not need to agree with everyone.

You do not need to praise work you do not like.

You should, however, participate honestly and in good faith.

Good participation generally means:

• discussing the work rather than attacking the creator;
• explaining criticism where possible;
• providing relevant technical or creative reasoning;
• acknowledging uncertainty when you are unsure;
• asking useful questions;
• sharing experience without pretending personal preference is universal fact;
• giving credit where appropriate;
• being honest about your own work and role;
• respecting other people’s intellectual property;
• avoiding manipulation of Recognition or engagement; and
• helping keep SecondPass useful for practitioners.

2. Constructive Critique

SecondPass explicitly permits critical feedback.

Statements such as:

are allowed.

Strong criticism does not become harassment merely because someone dislikes receiving it.

However, useful critique should normally focus on:

• what the issue is;
• why you think it is an issue;
• what effect it has on the work;
• how it might be improved; or
• what alternative approach could be considered.

You are not required to provide a complete solution every time.

3. Low-Effort Contributions

SecondPass is not designed around comment volume.

Short responses are not automatically prohibited, but repeatedly posting comments such as:

• “Nice”
• “Cool”
• “Looks good”
• “Amazing”
• “Check my profile”
• emoji-only reactions

does not constitute meaningful critique.

Where the interface provides Appreciation, use Appreciation rather than filling critique threads with praise-only comments.

Repeated low-effort posting intended primarily to gain visibility, Recognition or traffic may be treated as spam or Recognition manipulation.

4. Criticism vs Personal Attacks

You may criticise:

You may not turn that criticism into attacks on the person.

Disagreement is allowed. Degradation is not.

5. Harassment and Targeted Abuse

Do not harass another person.

Prohibited behaviour includes:

• repeated unwanted targeting;
• threats;
• intimidation;
• stalking;
• coordinated harassment;
• encouraging others to target someone;
• repeatedly following a user between discussions to antagonise them;
• sexual harassment;
• threatening someone’s employment, education or personal safety;
• publishing humiliating personal information;
• using private messages to continue conduct after someone has clearly asked you to stop; and
• using multiple Accounts to continue harassment after restriction or blocking.

Context matters. A single disagreement is not automatically harassment. Patterns of conduct may be considered together.

6. Hate and Discriminatory Abuse

SecondPass does not permit attacks against people based on protected personal characteristics.

This includes dehumanising, threatening or seriously abusive content directed at people because of characteristics such as:

• race;
• ethnicity;
• nationality;
• religion;
• sex;
• gender;
• sexual orientation;
• disability; or
• other characteristics protected under applicable law.

Discussion of controversial subjects is not automatically prohibited.

Creative, historical, educational or documentary work may address disturbing subjects where context is legitimate.

Using that context as a pretext to attack people is not permitted.

7. Threats and Violence

Do not:

• make credible threats of violence;
• encourage violence against identifiable people;
• glorify real-world violence in a manner intended to threaten another user;
• publish instructions intended to facilitate violent wrongdoing; or
• use SecondPass to coordinate real-world harm.

Fictional violence in:

• game art;
• VFX;
• concept art;
• creature design;
• cinematic work;
• horror;
• historical reconstruction; or
• similar creative contexts

is not prohibited merely because it depicts violence. Mature-content rules may still apply.

8. Mature Creative Content

SecondPass serves artists and practitioners whose work may involve mature subjects.

Legitimate creative work may include:

• artistic nudity;
• anatomy studies;
• medical or anatomical reference;
• horror;
• fictional violence;
• gore;
• creature design;
• disturbing imagery;
• dark themes; and
• other mature artistic material.

Where SecondPass provides content-warning or mature-content controls, use them appropriately.

Mature material may be:

• labelled;
• age-restricted;
• excluded from certain previews or recommendations;
• given a less explicit cover image; or
• restricted where necessary.

9. Minors

SecondPass requires Account holders to be at least 16 years old.

Users must not:

• sexually target minors;
• request sexual material from minors;
• groom minors;
• attempt to move inappropriate interactions with minors off-platform;
• solicit intimate imagery;
• exploit a minor’s inexperience; or
• misrepresent their identity in order to establish an inappropriate relationship with a minor.

Serious child-safety violations may result in immediate permanent removal and, where legally required, referral to appropriate authorities.

10. Privacy and Personal Information

Do not publish another person’s private or sensitive information without a legitimate basis.

This can include:

• home addresses;
• private telephone numbers;
• private email addresses;
• government identification;
• financial information;
• login credentials;
• private correspondence;
• medical information;
• precise real-time location; or
• other information that could expose someone to harm.

Do not threaten to reveal private information. This is commonly known as doxxing and is prohibited.

Public professional information may sometimes be discussed where relevant, but it must not be weaponised for harassment.

11. Impersonation and Misrepresentation

Do not impersonate another:

• person;
• artist;
• studio;
• company;
• university;
• organisation; or
• SecondPass staff member.

Parody or clearly fictional accounts must not reasonably mislead people into believing they are authentic.

You must not falsely claim:

• professional qualifications;
• employment;
• education;
• project credits;
• awards;
• clients;
• software certifications;
• industry experience;
• authorship;
• verified status; or
• affiliation.

12. Portfolio Authenticity

Your Portfolio should accurately represent your work and your role.

If a project was collaborative, identify your contribution where omission would create a misleading impression.

Do not present:

• another person’s artwork;
• purchased assets;
• stock material;
• AI-generated work;
• tutorial-follow-along results; or
• collaborative work

as entirely your own original work where that would be misleading.

Using third-party assets is not inherently wrong. Misrepresenting what you did is.

13. Copyright and Intellectual Property

Only publish material you have the right to share.

Do not upload or distribute:

• stolen artwork;
• leaked assets;
• pirated models;
• copyrighted training material distributed without permission;
• cracked software;
• commercial asset packs without redistribution rights;
• proprietary studio files;
• copyrighted textures or resources where the licence prohibits redistribution; or
• confidential client material.

You may discuss, critique or reference third-party work where permitted by law.

SecondPass may remove material following a valid intellectual-property complaint under our Copyright & Intellectual Property Policy. Repeated or serious infringement may lead to Account restrictions or termination.

14. Piracy and Cracked Software

SecondPass may host discussion about software, licensing and production workflows. It must not be used to distribute or facilitate piracy.

Do not:

• share cracked software;
• share licence bypass tools;
• request pirated copies;
• provide activation circumvention instructions;
• distribute stolen plugins;
• distribute commercial assets illegally; or
• direct users to piracy repositories.

Technical discussion of licensing systems or security for legitimate educational or professional purposes is not automatically prohibited.

15. Guides and Knowledge Integrity

The Library is intended to contain useful, focused professional knowledge.

Guide authors should make a reasonable effort to ensure their material is:

• accurate;
• understandable;
• appropriately scoped;
• based on actual knowledge or testing;
• properly attributed;
• relevant to the stated software/version where applicable; and
• not deceptively copied from another source.

A Guide may be rejected, returned for revision, archived or removed where it is:

• materially inaccurate;
• dangerously misleading;
• plagiarised;
• substantially duplicative without meaningful additional value;
• promotional rather than educational;
• too vague to be useful;
• technically obsolete without appropriate context; or
• inconsistent with the Library’s purpose.

Admin approval does not make a Guide infallible. Users may still challenge or correct published Guides.

16. Plagiarism

Do not present another person’s creative or technical work as your own.

Plagiarism may include:

• copying another user’s Guide;
• copying substantial tutorial material without attribution;
• reposting another artist’s project as your Portfolio;
• copying project descriptions to imply authorship;
• removing attribution from creative work;
• presenting another person’s critique or solution as your own original contribution; or
• substantially reproducing someone’s work while deliberately concealing its source.

Similar ideas or workflows are not automatically plagiarism. Moderation will consider the amount copied, originality, attribution, context and other relevant evidence.

17. AI-Generated and AI-Assisted Work

SecondPass does not automatically prohibit the use of generative AI in creative workflows.

However, AI must not be used to deceive the community about authorship, process or skill.

Where AI materially generated or transformed the work being presented, users should disclose that fact when it is relevant to understanding the work.

Examples where disclosure is generally expected:

• a Portfolio image substantially generated by an image model;
• generated concept art presented as the user’s own illustration;
• AI-generated geometry presented as manually modelled;
• an AI-generated texture/material presented as hand-authored;
• a Guide substantially written by AI without meaningful author review;
• generated content used to fabricate professional experience or project history.

Minor assistance does not necessarily require a prominent declaration. Examples may include:

• spellchecking;
• grammar improvement;
• brainstorming;
• code completion;
• translation;
• minor cleanup tools; or
• routine software features incorporating machine learning.

18. AI Spam

Using AI to mass-produce low-quality activity is prohibited.

This includes:

• flooding Workbenches with generic AI feedback;
• automatically generating large numbers of Contributions;
• mass-producing Guides without meaningful review;
• using automated tools to imitate expert advice;
• generating fake discussions;
• creating synthetic engagement;
• posting AI-generated praise to farm Recognition; or
• operating Accounts primarily as automated content generators without authorisation.

SecondPass values useful human participation over volume.

19. Technical Accuracy and Dangerous Advice

Users should not deliberately provide false technical advice.

Being mistaken is not a rule violation. Knowingly misleading people may be.

Where advice could create significant risk, provide appropriate context. Examples include advice involving:

• deletion of production data;
• destructive scripts;
• network security;
• hardware modification;
• electrical systems;
• account credentials;
• malware;
• irreversible project operations; or
• other potentially harmful actions.

Do not disguise malicious instructions as technical help.

20. Malware and Cybersecurity Abuse

Do not use SecondPass to:

• distribute malware;
• distribute credential stealers;
• deliver ransomware;
• conduct phishing;
• distribute malicious scripts;
• steal Accounts;
• gain unauthorised access;
• exploit another user’s machine;
• compromise SecondPass infrastructure; or
• coordinate cyber abuse.

Legitimate programming, technical-art and cybersecurity discussion is not prohibited simply because it involves code or system internals. Intent and context matter.

21. Spam and Unwanted Promotion

Do not use SecondPass primarily as an advertising channel.

Prohibited behaviour can include:

• repetitive promotional Contributions;
• unsolicited mass direct messages;
• irrelevant links;
• repeated portfolio promotion in unrelated discussions;
• affiliate-link spam;
• referral spam;
• SEO manipulation;
• fake job advertisements;
• deceptive marketing;
• posting the same content repeatedly; or
• using critique threads to sell services without relevance.

Reasonable professional self-presentation is allowed. Relevant examples include:

• linking your professional website from your Profile;
• stating that you are available for work where supported;
• mentioning a resource you created when directly relevant to a discussion; or
• sharing a useful Guide you authored when it genuinely answers the question.

Relevance and intent matter.

22. Recruitment and Opportunities

Users may discuss legitimate:

• jobs;
• collaborations;
• commissions;
• research opportunities;
• educational opportunities; and
• professional projects

where supported by SecondPass features.

Do not publish:

• fraudulent jobs;
• unpaid work deceptively presented as paid employment;
• phishing recruitment;
• pyramid schemes;
• exploitative offers;
• misleading compensation claims; or
• opportunities designed primarily to collect personal information.

SecondPass does not guarantee off-platform opportunities.

23. Recognition and Appreciation Manipulation

SecondPass Recognition is intended to represent genuine community activity. Do not manipulate it.

Prohibited behaviour includes:

• creating multiple Accounts to recognise yourself;
• coordinating reciprocal Recognition rings;
• buying or selling Recognition;
• trading Helpful acknowledgements;
• asking users to give Recognition in exchange for something;
• automated Appreciation;
• fake engagement;
• coordinated manipulation of Portfolio Recognition;
• artificially inflating Contributions;
• repeatedly recognising friends regardless of contribution quality;
• using Account networks to alter rankings; or
• exploiting technical bugs to gain reputation.

SecondPass may:

• reverse invalid Recognition;
• recalculate reputation;
• remove fraudulent activity;
• restrict affected Accounts; or
• investigate related Accounts.

A Recognition correction is not necessarily a punishment. Sometimes calculations must be corrected because of technical errors or invalid source activity.

24. Do Not Pressure Creators for Recognition

A contributor may explain why they believe their advice was useful. They must not pressure the creator to mark it Helpful or otherwise recognise it.

Recognition must remain voluntary within the rules of the applicable feature.

25. Workbench Integrity

A Workbench should genuinely represent the work, problem or question being discussed.

Do not intentionally create:

• fake problems to farm engagement;
• fabricated before/after Passes;
• false progress histories;
• staged discussions between controlled Accounts;
• deliberately misleading troubleshooting scenarios; or
• duplicate Workbenches designed primarily to gain visibility.

Passes should represent genuine iterations or relevant updates. They do not have to show improvement. A failed experiment may still be a legitimate Pass if it truthfully documents what happened.

26. Do Not Rewrite History Deceptively

SecondPass intentionally preserves iterative context.

Do not attempt to manipulate Pass history in order to falsely suggest:

• feedback was followed when it was not;
• a contribution caused an improvement when it did not;
• work was created earlier than it was;
• another user influenced work they did not influence; or
• an unsuccessful earlier version never existed.

Editing errors or improving descriptions is acceptable. Deliberately falsifying the development history is not.

27. Direct Messages

Direct messages are intended for legitimate communication between practitioners.

Do not use them for:

• harassment;
• unsolicited mass advertising;
• repeated unwanted contact;
• scams;
• phishing;
• sexual harassment;
• threats;
• manipulation;
• Recognition pressure;
• credential requests; or
• ban evasion.

If someone clearly asks you to stop contacting them, respect that request unless there is a legitimate reason to continue through an official dispute, transaction or safety process.

28. Blocking Does Not Authorise Evasion

If SecondPass provides blocking or similar controls, do not deliberately bypass them using:

• alternative Accounts;
• another person’s Account;
• new direct-message threads;
• indirect harassment through other users; or
• coordinated targeting.

Blocking does not prevent legitimate public participation in unrelated community areas, but it must not be deliberately circumvented to continue unwanted contact.

29. False Reports and Reporting Abuse

Reporting is an important safety mechanism. Use it in good faith.

Do not:

• knowingly submit false reports;
• repeatedly report someone because you disagree with their critique;
• coordinate mass reports to silence another user;
• fabricate evidence;
• threaten users with reports in order to manipulate them; or
• abuse legal-reporting mechanisms.

A report that ultimately results in no action is not automatically abusive. The issue is whether the reporting system was knowingly misused.

30. Illegal Content Reports

If you believe specific Content is illegal, use the dedicated illegal-content reporting mechanism where available.

Provide sufficient information to identify:

• the Content;
• its location;
• why you believe it is illegal; and
• the relevant circumstances.

SecondPass will assess reports rather than automatically removing Content merely because someone reported it.

Reports relating to immediate danger may also need to be directed to appropriate emergency or law-enforcement services.

31. Fraud, Scams and Deception

Do not use SecondPass to defraud other people.

Prohibited conduct includes:

• phishing;
• fake commissions;
• fake employment;
• payment scams;
• impersonating clients;
• credential theft;
• fraudulent asset sales;
• investment scams;
• fake sponsorships;
• fake verification services; or
• deceptive attempts to move users into unsafe transactions.

SecondPass may restrict Accounts while credible fraud concerns are investigated.

32. Ban and Restriction Evasion

If SecondPass restricts or suspends your Account, do not use another Account to evade that restriction.

Do not:

• create replacement Accounts;
• borrow someone else’s Account;
• ask another person to post on your behalf to circumvent restrictions; or
• create coordinated Accounts to continue prohibited activity.

Trying to evade enforcement may result in additional Accounts being restricted.

33. Automated Access and Bots

Automated access is permitted only where authorised by SecondPass or compatible with published technical rules.

Do not use automation to:

• scrape private data;
• mass-create Accounts;
• harvest user contact information;
• generate fake engagement;
• manipulate Recognition;
• overwhelm the Service;
• bypass rate limits;
• mass-message users; or
• evade access controls.

Search engines and legitimate automated systems may be treated separately according to technical policy.

34. Responsible Security Research

If you discover a security vulnerability in SecondPass, report it responsibly.

Do not:

• access data belonging to other users;
• modify data unnecessarily;
• exfiltrate databases;
• install persistence;
• damage systems;
• publish exploitable details in a way likely to cause immediate harm; or
• threaten disclosure in exchange for payment.

Good-faith security research should minimise access and harm.

35. Moderation Actions

SecondPass may take different actions depending on the issue.

Possible actions include:

• no action;
• informal guidance;
• warning;
• requesting edits;
• adding a content warning;
• changing classification or metadata;
• reducing recommendation eligibility;
• restricting visibility;
• locking a discussion;
• rejecting or returning a Guide;
• removing Content;
• reversing invalid Recognition;
• temporarily limiting a feature;
• temporarily suspending an Account; or
• permanently terminating an Account.

SecondPass does not use a mandatory fixed escalation ladder for every violation. Serious conduct may result in immediate stronger action.

36. How Moderation Decisions Are Made

Relevant factors may include:

• severity;
• context;
• intent;
• actual or potential harm;
• frequency;
• history of previous violations;
• whether the behaviour appears deliberate;
• whether illegal Content is involved;
• whether multiple Accounts were involved;
• whether someone attempted to evade earlier enforcement;
• whether a user corrected the behaviour;
• impact on other users;
• impact on community integrity; and
• whether immediate action is necessary for safety or security.

Moderation should be proportionate to the circumstances.

37. Automated Systems and Human Review

SecondPass may use automated systems to assist with activities such as:

• spam detection;
• abuse detection;
• suspicious activity detection;
• duplicate detection;
• classification;
• prioritisation of reports;
• security; or
• moderation workflows.

Automated systems may make mistakes.

Where appropriate or legally required, moderation decisions may be reviewed by a human.

38. Reasons for Enforcement

Where appropriate or legally required, users affected by moderation action will be informed about the reason.

This may identify:

• the affected Content;
• the action taken;
• the relevant Community Guideline;
• the relevant Terms provision;
• whether illegal Content was involved;
• whether automated systems materially contributed; and
• available appeal options.

Some details may be withheld where disclosure would:

• create a safety risk;
• expose another person’s private information;
• compromise an investigation;
• reveal security systems;
• facilitate abuse; or
• violate law.

39. Appeals

Where an appeal mechanism is available, eligible moderation decisions may be challenged.

An appeal should explain why you believe:

• the rule was applied incorrectly;
• important context was missed;
• the Content was misunderstood;
• evidence is incorrect; or
• the action was disproportionate.

Appeals are not an opportunity to harass moderators or repeatedly resubmit the same argument without new information.

A successful appeal may result in:

• Content restoration;
• Account restoration;
• reduction of restrictions;
• Recognition correction;
• reclassification; or
• another appropriate remedy.

40. Creative Disagreements vs Platform Rules

Moderation exists to enforce platform rules.

It is not intended to decide:

• which artwork is better;
• whether someone’s taste is correct;
• whether Blender is better than Maya;
• whether a particular artistic direction is good;
• who “won” a technical debate where multiple valid approaches exist; or
• whether criticism was aesthetically justified.

Moderators intervene when behaviour or Content crosses platform rules. They do not act as judges of artistic taste.

41. Context Matters

Content is not moderated solely by keyword.

SecondPass may consider:

Context does not excuse illegal activity or serious abuse.

42. Good-Faith Mistakes

SecondPass distinguishes between mistakes and abuse.

Examples:

• incorrect technical advice given honestly;
• accidentally mis-tagging software;
• misunderstanding a feature;
• incorrectly attributing something and promptly correcting it;
• unintentionally reposting duplicate information.

These should generally be handled differently from deliberate:

• fraud;
• plagiarism;
• harassment;
• manipulation;
• impersonation;
• malicious misinformation; or
• repeated abuse.

43. Community Quality

Not every undesirable contribution needs to violate a serious safety rule.

SecondPass may use product-quality measures to keep discovery useful. For example, Content may receive less visibility where it is:

• extremely repetitive;
• low-effort;
• irrelevant;
• misleadingly tagged;
• obvious engagement bait;
• promotional;
• duplicate;
• off-topic; or
• consistently unhelpful.

Reduced recommendation eligibility is not necessarily equivalent to disciplinary punishment.

Where required, material visibility restrictions will be explained.

44. Changes to These Guidelines

SecondPass may update these Guidelines as the community and Service evolve.

Significant changes may be communicated through:

• an Account notification;
• a notice on the Service;
• email; or
• another appropriate method.

Changes will not be applied deceptively to punish users for behaviour that was clearly permitted before a rule existed.

Serious illegal or harmful conduct may still be acted upon independently of whether every possible example was previously written into these Guidelines.

45. Reporting Problems

Use the reporting tools provided by SecondPass where possible.

Different mechanisms may exist for:

• Community Guideline violations;
• illegal Content;
• intellectual-property complaints;
• privacy concerns;
• security vulnerabilities; and
• moderation appeals.

Use the mechanism that best matches the issue.

46. The Short Version

SecondPass works best when users follow a few basic principles: