Community Rules

Community is the social side of Elenie Marine: boaters, businesses, and events on the same water. Boating is a family thing — kids grow up at the helm, earn their boater cards, and plenty of teenagers are the designated skipper getting everyone home. Young boaters belong here. That shapes every rule below, and the spirit of all of them fits in one sentence: talk here the way you'd talk at the fuel dock with families around. If you're ever unsure whether something belongs, that sentence is the test.

1. Who can join

Community is part of your Elenie Marine account. You must be at least 13 to have an account — never younger, no exceptions. If you're 13 to 17, you may use the service only with a parent or guardian's permission; they should read these rules with you, and they share responsibility for your account. Joining Community is a choice — nobody is in it until they opt in — and joining shows other members your @username, display name, profile photo, bio and home port (the last three only if you add them). Anything more about you is shared only if you post it yourself.

3. Built safe for young boaters — by design, not by promise

Some protections here are architecture, not policy, which means nobody can talk their way around them:

• There are no private messages on this platform. Every conversation happens in the open, where the community and moderation can see it. Anyone pushing to move a conversation somewhere private is stepping outside the safety of this space — treat that as the signal it is, and report it.
• Location is never attached to anyone. The app never shares where you are or where you've been — nothing you post carries a position, so there is nothing to accidentally reveal. A home port appears on your profile only if you type one in.
• One family-safe standard for everyone. The content bar doesn't lower because an audience is adult — the dock is shared.
• Every safety tool works at every age — block, report, comment locks, and alert controls (section 7).

For parents and guardians: a member profile shows a chosen @username, a display name, an optional profile photo, bio and home port, and what they post — never a position. You can review these rules and the Privacy Policy any time; California law also lets anyone under 18 delete what they've posted, and account deletion is self-serve. Concerns about any interaction your young boater has here: [email protected] — a person reads it, and anything touching a minor's safety is treated as the most urgent thing on the desk.

4. The everyday rules

• Be straight with people. Post what's true to the best of your knowledge. Deliberately false waterway or safety information is grounds for immediate termination (Terms, section 4) — people navigate by it.
• Respect privacy — especially location. The app never shares anyone's position; extend the same care in what you write. Don't post someone's home dock, slip, or whereabouts without their say-so — and never a minor's, even with good intentions.
• Keep promotion honest. Selling your own boat or mentioning your business in conversation is fine. Flooding feeds with ads is not — businesses have a real lane for that: verified listings, promotions, and clearly-labeled sponsored placements.
• One account, your account. No ban evasion, no sockpuppets, no coordinated pile-ons.

5. New accounts and links

Because link spam and scams arrive on day one everywhere, posts containing links from accounts that haven't yet earned trust are held for a human look before they publish — held, not lost, and you're told when it happens. Accounts earn more room as they participate in good standing.

6. How moderation actually works

Three honest facts about enforcement here:

• A person decides. An automated screen may hold something for review, but no machine removes content or punishes anyone on this platform. Every removal is a person's decision, with a reason recorded.
• Consequences are stepped. Depending on severity: a hold for review → removal with the reason shown to you → a restricted account (tighter limits) → a hidden profile → suspension or termination. Zero-tolerance violations skip the ladder, and the minor-safety rules in section 2 skip everything.
• You can appeal. Every moderation decision that touches you arrives as a notification with the reason, and an appeal is one tap away, right where the consequence shows. A person reads every appeal; accepted appeals undo the decision.

7. Your own tools

You don't have to wait for a moderator. Block removes someone from your experience entirely and silently — they are never told. Report sends content to human review — the person reported is never told who filed it. Post authors can close comments on their own posts, and you can mute any notification category under Alerts — except moderation notices, which always arrive.

8. Paid visibility is always labeled

Sponsored placements and sponsored posts are always marked as such, are reviewed by a person before they run, never target anyone by personal characteristics, and never dress up as regular community posts. Because ages aren't tracked here and the audience includes young boaters, ads for age-restricted products — alcohol, tobacco or vape products, cannabis, firearms or ammunition, fireworks, gambling or lottery, and the like — are not accepted at all. If you ever see paid content pretending to be organic, report it — that's our rule being broken, and we want to know.

9. Changes and contact

Material changes to these rules are announced in-app before they take effect, and this page always states its version and date. Questions, or something these rules don't cover? [email protected] — a person reads it.