Community Posting Guidelines

To keep the Ostrich community valuable for all members, follow these posting guidelines. Violations may result in post removal, warnings, or account suspension. When in doubt, err on the side of transparency and specificity.

Authenticity and disclosure

Post as yourself — use your real professional identity. If you work for, consult for, or have a financial stake in a company you're mentioning, disclose it clearly at the start of your post: "Disclosure: I work for [Company]" or "Disclosure: My firm is a partner of [Company]." Disclosing affiliation is not just required — it's the fastest way to gain trust when answering questions about your own product.

Content policy

Posts and replies must follow these rules. Violating any of them may result in removal:

• No confidential information: Never share pricing, contracts, NDA-covered roadmaps, or internal data about vendors or clients. Even anonymized details can violate NDAs.
• No harassment: Personal attacks, doxxing, or targeted abuse of individuals is a permanent ban offense.
• No spam or manipulation: Don't use bots, fake accounts, or coordinated upvoting/downvoting to artificially rank posts. Affiliate links and MLM recruitment are banned.
• No misinformation: When you make factual claims about a vendor's features or pricing, have recent evidence. Outdated information damages trust.
• Stay on topic: Off-topic posts (politics, religion, personal grievances unrelated to software) will be moved or removed.

How flagging works

Every post has a flag icon. Use it to report content that violates these guidelines. When you flag, choose a category (off-topic, harassment, spam, misinformation, NDA violation) and optionally add a comment for moderators. Flagged posts are reviewed within 24 hours. Moderators may hide the post, warn the author, or remove it entirely depending on severity. Three warnings lead to a temporary suspension; repeated violations after suspension result in permanent ban.

Consequences of violations

Minor violations (spam, off-topic posts) result in removal without warning. Moderate violations (undisclosed affiliation, outdated claims) result in a warning and optional edit chance. Severe violations (harassment, confidential data, ban evasion) result in immediate suspension or permanent ban. The moderation team acts independently of the reported content — if you report something, you won't be notified of the outcome.

• Disclose affiliation every time you post about a company you're connected to
• Never share pricing, contracts, or confidential information
• Three warnings = temporary suspension; repeated violations = permanent ban
• Flag violations; don't call them out in replies
• Moderators act independently of reports