Community Guidelines

The Spirit of Vented

Vented exists so you can vent honestly about your boss, your relationships, your frustrations, and your fears, without judgment. Anonymity is what makes that honesty possible. The rules below exist only to protect it from being used against specific people.

What You Can Do

• Vent about anyone in your life using descriptions: “my boss”, “my ex”, “my coworker”
• Express strong emotions including anger, frustration, and grief
• Discuss difficult topics: mental health, relationships, trauma, addiction
• Share political opinions, no matter how polarising

What You Cannot Do

• Name a specific private individual: say “my manager”, not “John Smith at Acme Corp”
• Post someone else's phone number, email address, or street address without their consent
• Post content designed to harass, intimidate, or target a real person
• Threaten violence against any person or group
• Post hate speech, racial slurs, or content that dehumanises people based on identity
• Share content that sexualises minors
• Post terrorist propaganda or instructions for real-world harm
• Solicit, sell, or facilitate illegal transactions, including drug or weapon sales
• Impersonate another user or public figure to deceive
• Post text that isn't your own words (written by AI or copied from elsewhere)
• Spam, advertise, or scrape the platform

Anonymity and Identity Protection

Vented is not a place to call people out by name. Our content filter prevents posts from naming specific individuals or companies, which protects you and protects others from targeted harassment. Even a completely accurate vent can amount to defamation or harassment under law when it names someone publicly without consent. When in doubt: describe, don't name.

Your Own Words

Vented is built for people's own words. Please write what you're feeling yourself instead of posting text from an AI tool or copied from elsewhere. Say it yourself, however messy it comes out.

This rule is about what users post. Vented itself uses automated tools, including AI, to help check content against these guidelines, as described in our Privacy Policy. If you think a post isn't someone's own words, report it. Content that breaks this rule may be removed when reported.

Vices

Venting about your own experience with drugs or alcohol, including addiction, recovery, sobriety, a bad night, or the impact on your family, is welcome here like any other difficult topic. What is not allowed is using Vented to solicit, sell, or facilitate an illegal transaction, such as offering drugs or weapons for sale or asking someone to message you to buy them. Sharing your own story is fine; running a deal through the comments is not.

Age Requirement

Vented is for adults: you must be 18 or older to use it, checked against the date of birth you provided at registration. Date of birth cannot be changed after registration. Every category is available to every account once you're signed in, since being 18 or older is already required to hold an account at all.

Mental Health and Crisis

If your vent contains crisis keywords, Vented will display a support banner. Vented is not a substitute for professional mental health care. If you are in crisis:

• Call or text 988: Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (US)
• Text HOME to 741741: Crisis Text Line (US/UK/Canada)
• 116 123: Samaritans (UK)
• Emergency services (911 / 999 / 112) if you are in immediate danger

Legal Protection (Section 230)

As a platform hosting user-generated content, Vented operates under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (47 U.S.C. § 230). This means Vented is not legally responsible for content posted by users, so long as we act in good faith to moderate policy violations.

We respond to valid legal requests, including court orders, subpoenas, and emergency disclosure requests from law enforcement.

Reporting and Enforcement

Use the flag icon on any vent to report content that violates these guidelines. Reports are reviewed by our team. Violations may result in content removal, account suspension, or permanent ban. Severe violations including threats and CSAM are reported to relevant authorities.