Community guidelines

The short version

Argue about the book as hard as you like, and stay civil to the reader you're arguing with.
Keep spoilers away from readers who haven't finished the book.
Talk about any book, but keep sexual and gory images out.
Post as yourself, and keep other people's private details to yourself.
No pirated copies and no spam. Authors are welcome to share their own books openly.
Report what breaks a rule. Mute or block what only annoys you.

Be decent to each other

Disagreeing about a book is half the fun. Keep the disagreement about the book.

Criticise the book, not the reader: Call a book dull, badly written or overrated. Don't call the people who loved it stupid.
No harassment: No insults, threats, repeated unwanted replies, or rallying others to pile on someone. If someone asks you to leave them alone, do.
No hate: Nothing that attacks people for their race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability or age. Discussing how a book handles those subjects is welcome.
Leave authors' lives alone: Criticise their books as hard as you like. Don't attack them personally or tag them into abuse.

Cover your spoilers

A reader halfway through a book should be able to scroll past your post without learning how it ends.

In a post: Say at the start that it gives something away, and leave the details out if you can.
In a review: Mark the review as containing spoilers, or select the lines that give things away and blur just those.
In a comment: Comments have no cover, so keep them vague unless the post is already about the ending.
Across a series: Talking about book three can spoil books one and two. Treat it as a spoiler.

Books with mature themes

Talk about any book, including romance, horror and books about abuse or violence. The line is at images.

One line never moves No sexual material involving minors, ever. Discussing a book that deals with abuse is fine; sexualising children is not. It is removed and the account is banned.

Discuss anything: Themes, scenes and how they made you feel are all fine to write about.
No sexual or gory images: No nudity, sexual images or graphic violence, including photos of explicit pages or illustrations.
Cover graphic passages: Quoting a sexual or violent passage in a review? Blur it the way you would a spoiler, so readers choose whether to see it.
Add a content note: A line at the start, such as "mentions self-harm", helps readers decide whether to open it.

Be who you say you are

Seekquel only works if readers can trust what other readers write.

No impersonation: Don't pretend to be an author, a publisher, the Seekquel team or another reader.
No extra accounts: Don't use a second account to rate, review, like, vote or report.
Keep private details private: Don't post someone's address, phone number, workplace, screenshots of their messages or photos of them without their consent.
Rate honestly: Rate books you actually read or tried. No review bombing, and no ratings traded for favours.

Authors and self-promotion

Authors are welcome, and so is talking about your own books.

Share it openly: Post about your book the way a reader would: what it is, why you wrote it, where to find it. Say that it's yours.
Don't repeat yourself: The same announcement over and over is spam, however good the book. Verified authors can send release news to their followers from their author page.
Don't message readers to promote: An unrequested message about your book is spam.
Don't pay for ratings: No review swaps, and no gifts or giveaways that depend on a rating or a review.
Let reviews be: You can reply to a review of your book. Don't argue with the reviewer, ask them to change their rating, or send your readers after them.

No pirated books

Talk about any book here. Pirated copies, and directions to them, are removed.

No unauthorised copies: Don't link to or upload pirated ebooks or audiobooks, or tell people where to find them.
Quote, don't copy out: Quote a passage you loved. Copying out a whole chapter counts as sharing the book.
Credit other people's work: Photos of your own copy are yours to post. Don't pass off someone else's photo or artwork as your own.

No spam

A post should be worth reading for the people who see it.

No ads or referral links: No affiliate links, referral codes or advertising. An author saying where their book is sold is fine.
No repeats: Don't post the same thing many times, or the same comment under many posts.
No engagement bait: No "like this if" posts and no follow-for-follow.
Links are fine: Link to an article, a review you wrote elsewhere or a bookshop you like, as long as the link is the point of the post.

What to report

Report anything that breaks these rules from the menu on the post, review, comment or message. Pick the reason that fits:

If someone is in danger Contact your local emergency services first. Reports are read by people and are not instant.

Harassment: Insults, threats or a pile-on aimed at a person.
Offensive or inappropriate: Hate, slurs, or anything else offensive that no other reason covers.
Sexual or graphic image: Nudity, a sexual image or graphic violence in a photo.
Spoiler violation: A spoiler left uncovered, where you couldn't avoid it.
Spam: Ads, repeated posts, engagement bait, or an author promoting at people.
Link to a pirated book: A link to, or directions to, a pirated copy of a book.
Impersonation or private info: Someone pretending to be another person, or posting private details about someone.
Looks AI-generated: A post or review that reads as if a machine wrote it. It goes to a moderator and hides nothing on its own.
Other: Anything else that breaks a rule. Say what in the details.

Not a report

An opinion you disagree with: Reply, or scroll on. A low rating of a book you love breaks no rule.
Wrong book details: Fix them from the book's page, where a correction reaches the catalogue.
Someone you'd rather not see: Mute or block them. See your own tools below.

What happens after you report

Reports are anonymous. The person you reported is never told who it was.

It leaves your feed: A post or review you report disappears from your feed straight away. Nobody else's feed changes yet.
Enough reports hide it: When enough readers report the same thing, it is hidden from everyone while it's checked, and its author is told. Looks AI-generated reports don't count toward this.
Someone decides: A moderator decides what happens to anything reported. When reports have hidden a review or comment, readers with a record of accurate reports can also vote in Community review on whether it comes back.
What can happen: It comes back, or it is removed. Someone who keeps breaking the rules is suspended for a time or banned.
Follow it: My Reports lists every report you've filed and where it stands.
If it was yours: If something of yours was hidden or removed and you think that was wrong, contact us from the Support page or at [email protected] within six months, and a person looks at it again.

When nothing is broken

Some things are annoying without breaking a rule. These are yours to use without asking anyone.

Mute someone: From their profile. Their activity stops appearing in your feed.
Block someone: From their profile. It ends any follow between you and keeps them out of your messages.
Tidy your own post: Remove any comment on a post of yours, or turn its comments off.
Mute a conversation: Stop notifications from a comment thread you're done with.
Hide profanity: Strong language in posts, reviews, comments and messages is masked unless you switch that off in Privacy settings.

These rules will change as the community grows. If one seems wrong or something is missing, tell us on the feedback board.Open the feedback board