Penbroke Community Guidelines

Effective Date: August 3, 2026
Last Updated: August 3, 2026

Penbroke is designed to be a thoughtful space for reading, reflection, and honest conversation.

These Community Guidelines explain the standards that apply when you participate in Penbroke’s community features, including questions, responses, comments, replies, reactions, profile content, and anonymous contributions.

Penbroke is operated by The Curving Point Ltd. References to “Penbroke,” “we,” “us,” or “our” mean The Curving Point Ltd.

By participating in the Penbroke community, you agree to follow these Guidelines, the Penbroke Terms of Use, Privacy Policy, and Copyright and Sharing Policy.

1. Our Community Values

Penbroke encourages discussion that is:

• Thoughtful
• Respectful
• Honest
• Curious
• Constructive
• Relevant to the book, chapter, question, or discussion
• Open to different interpretations and experiences

Readers do not have to agree with one another. Disagreement is permitted. Personal attacks, intimidation, harassment, and demeaning conduct are not.

Critique ideas without attacking the person expressing them.

2. Where These Guidelines Apply

These Guidelines apply to all community activity within Penbroke, including:

• Chapter-question responses
• Comments and replies
• Community questions
• Likes and reactions
• Profile names, photographs, and biographies
• Anonymous posts
• Reports and moderation requests
• Messages or interactions made available through future community features

These Guidelines may also apply to conduct outside Penbroke when that conduct directly threatens users, attempts to organise harassment, or creates a serious safety risk within the Penbroke community.

3. Participate Respectfully

You may express disagreement, criticism, frustration, or strong opinions, but you must do so without abusing other users.

Do not:

• Insult or demean another user
• Mock someone’s identity, appearance, intelligence, faith, background, or personal experience
• Repeatedly target or provoke a particular person
• Encourage others to attack, ridicule, or isolate someone
• Continue unwanted interaction after a person has asked you to stop
• Use replies primarily to embarrass, intimidate, or humiliate someone
• Misrepresent another user’s words in order to provoke hostility
• Disrupt discussions through repeated antagonistic or irrelevant comments

A forceful opinion is not automatically harassment. Moderation decisions may consider tone, context, repetition, severity, and the effect on the discussion.

4. Harassment, Bullying, and Threats

Penbroke does not permit harassment, bullying, stalking, intimidation, or threats.

Prohibited conduct includes:

• Threatening physical harm
• Wishing death, violence, or serious injury upon another person
• Encouraging someone to harm themselves
• Repeatedly contacting or targeting a person who has asked for no further interaction
• Sharing information intended to frighten, expose, or endanger someone
• Coordinating harassment or encouraging others to target a user
• Creating new accounts to continue harassment after being blocked or restricted
• Using anonymous posting to threaten or abuse others

Credible threats or serious safety concerns may be reported to appropriate authorities.

5. Hate and Discriminatory Conduct

Do not attack, degrade, exclude, or dehumanise people based on characteristics such as:

• Race
• Ethnicity
• Nationality
• Religion
• Sex
• Gender
• Sexual orientation
• Disability
• Age
• Immigration status
• Serious medical condition
• Other characteristics protected by applicable law

Discussion of prejudice, discrimination, religion, culture, history, or social issues is permitted when conducted in a thoughtful and relevant manner.

Content that promotes hatred, inferiority, exclusion, violence, or dehumanisation is prohibited.

6. Sexual Content and the Protection of Minors

Penbroke does not permit:

• Sexual exploitation
• Sexual coercion
• Non-consensual sexual content
• Explicit sexual harassment
• Sexual content involving minors
• Sexualisation of minors
• Requests for sexual images from minors
• Grooming or attempts to move a minor into unsafe private communication
• Sharing intimate images without consent

Any content involving the sexual exploitation or endangerment of a child may be removed immediately and reported to the appropriate authorities.

Literary discussion of adult themes may be permitted when relevant, non-exploitative, and consistent with the context of the book or discussion.

7. Violence, Self-Harm, and Dangerous Conduct

Do not post content that:

• Credibly threatens violence
• Encourages or celebrates real-world harm
• Provides instructions intended to facilitate serious violence
• Encourages suicide or self-harm
• Targets a vulnerable person with harmful advice
• Glorifies terrorist acts or violent extremist activity
• Encourages criminal conduct that could endanger others

Thoughtful discussion of grief, trauma, abuse, violence, mental health, or self-harm may be permitted when relevant to a story or reflection.

However, Penbroke is not an emergency, medical, counselling, or crisis-response service. Users facing an immediate danger should contact local emergency services or an appropriate crisis-support provider.

8. Privacy and Personal Information

Respect the privacy of other people.

Do not post another person’s:

• Home address
• Personal telephone number
• Private email address
• Financial information
• Government identification number
• Medical information
• Private messages
• Workplace details intended to facilitate harassment
• Real-time location
• Photographs or recordings shared in confidence
• Other sensitive identifying information

Do not encourage users to reveal information that could place them at risk.

You may share information about yourself, but consider carefully whether a public community discussion is the appropriate place to do so.

9. Anonymous Posting

Penbroke may allow users to contribute anonymously.

Anonymous posting means that your public profile name and photograph are not displayed with that contribution. It does not mean that the contribution is technically disconnected from your account.

Penbroke may maintain an internal connection between anonymous content and the account that submitted it for:

• Moderation
• Security
• Abuse prevention
• Report review
• Policy enforcement
• Legal compliance

Do not use anonymous posting to:

• Harass or threaten others
• Evade accountability
• Impersonate another person
• Manipulate a discussion
• Post repeated abusive content
• Avoid an account restriction
• Reveal private information
• Make knowingly false accusations

Anonymous posts are subject to the same standards as named posts.

10. False Information, Impersonation, and Misrepresentation

Do not:

• Impersonate another person, author, moderator, business, church, organisation, or public authority
• Pretend to represent Penbroke or The Curving Point Ltd.
• Create a misleading profile intended to deceive users
• Fabricate quotations or attribute statements falsely
• Present rumours or speculation as verified fact when doing so could cause harm
• Submit knowingly false reports
• Alter context in a way intended to mislead or damage another person

Users may share opinions, interpretations, personal experiences, and good-faith mistakes. Deliberate deception, impersonation, and harmful manipulation are prohibited.

11. Copyright and Creative Work

Only post material that you created or have permission to share.

Do not:

• Copy and post full chapters
• Post substantial portions of a copyrighted book
• Upload another person’s writing as your own
• Remove author or source attribution
• Circumvent Penbroke’s quotation-sharing limits
• Share pirated books, download links, or unauthorised copies
• Reproduce artwork, photography, or other creative work without permission
• Use community posts to distribute copyrighted content unlawfully

Short quotations may be shared only in accordance with Penbroke’s Copyright and Sharing Policy and any limits imposed by the app.

12. Spam, Promotion, and Manipulation

Do not use Penbroke primarily to advertise, solicit, or manipulate community activity.

Prohibited conduct includes:

• Repeated promotional posts
• Unrelated advertising
• Referral or affiliate spam
• Fraudulent offers
• Pyramid schemes
• Requests for money under false pretences
• Malicious or deceptive links
• Automated posting
• Bot activity
• Purchasing or coordinating artificial likes or responses
• Mass reporting intended to silence another user
• Repeatedly posting the same content
• Using multiple accounts to influence discussions

Occasional relevant recommendations may be permitted when they contribute meaningfully to the conversation and are not deceptive or excessive.

13. Keep Discussions Relevant

Community contributions should relate to the book, chapter, question, theme, or discussion.

A contribution may be limited or removed when it:

• Is repeatedly off-topic
• Deliberately derails discussion
• Contains excessive repetition
• Is unintelligible or meaningless spam
• Exists mainly to provoke conflict
• Reposts removed content without addressing the reason for removal
• Floods a discussion and prevents others from participating

Moderation should not be used merely to suppress unpopular opinions or respectful disagreement.

14. Sensitive Personal Experiences

Penbroke discussions may involve faith, family, relationships, grief, abuse, trauma, mental health, church experiences, and other personal subjects.

When discussing sensitive matters:

• Avoid pressuring others to disclose private experiences
• Do not diagnose another user
• Do not dismiss or mock a person’s stated experience
• Do not demand proof of trauma or abuse
• Avoid presenting personal opinion as professional advice
• Use care when describing potentially distressing events
• Respect another user’s decision not to engage

Penbroke may remove content that exploits another person’s vulnerability or creates a serious safety risk.

15. Reporting Content or Users

Use the report tool when you reasonably believe that content or conduct violates these Guidelines.

Reports may be reviewed by authorised moderators.

When submitting a report:

• Select the most accurate reason
• Include useful context where requested
• Do not submit reports merely because you disagree with an opinion
• Do not coordinate false or retaliatory reports
• Do not repeatedly report the same content without new information

The person whose content is reported will not ordinarily be told who submitted the report.

Submitting a report does not guarantee removal. Moderation decisions are based on the available information, context, seriousness, and applicable policies.

16. Blocking Users

Penbroke may allow you to block another user.

Blocking may limit the blocked user’s ability to interact with you through applicable features. It may not:

• Delete the blocked user’s previous public content
• Remove every indirect reference to that user
• Prevent content from being visible in all community areas
• Replace the need to report threatening or prohibited conduct

Use both the block and report tools when appropriate.

17. Moderation Actions

Penbroke may take action when content or conduct violates these Guidelines, the Terms of Use, or applicable law.

Possible actions include:

• Taking no action after review
• Providing guidance or a warning
• Limiting the visibility of content
• Removing content
• Closing comments or replies
• Restricting posting or interaction features
• Temporarily suspending an account
• Permanently terminating an account
• Preventing the creation of replacement accounts
• Preserving records related to abuse or safety
• Referring serious matters to law enforcement or another appropriate authority

Serious conduct may result in immediate action without a prior warning.

Moderation decisions may consider:

• The nature of the content
• The surrounding context
• The seriousness of the harm
• Whether the conduct was repeated
• Previous warnings or violations
• Whether the user attempted to evade enforcement
• Risks to users or Penbroke
• Legal requirements

18. Content Removal and Account Deletion

Deleting your account does not necessarily erase every record immediately.

Certain information may be retained where reasonably necessary for:

• Safety
• Abuse prevention
• Moderation records
• Fraud prevention
• Legal compliance
• Security
• Dispute resolution
• Enforcement of Penbroke policies

Community content may be removed, anonymised, or retained depending on the circumstances and applicable legal obligations.

Removing a contribution does not necessarily remove copies that other users previously shared outside Penbroke.

19. Appeals and Questions

Where an appeal process is available, you may request a review of a moderation decision by contacting us.

Include:

• The email address connected to your Penbroke account
• The content or decision involved
• Why you believe the decision should be reconsidered
• Any relevant context

Submitting an appeal does not guarantee that the decision will be changed.

Repeated, abusive, or fraudulent appeals may not receive a response.

20. Changes to These Guidelines

We may update these Community Guidelines as Penbroke’s features, risks, community needs, or legal obligations change.

The updated version will be published with a revised effective date.

Material changes may also be communicated through Penbroke or another appropriate method.

21. Contact Us

Questions, moderation concerns, or reports that cannot be submitted through the app may be sent to:

The Curving Point Ltd.
5900 Balcones Drive, Suite 100
Austin, Texas 78731 USA
Email: info@thecurvingpoint.com

For immediate danger or an emergency, contact your local emergency services. Penbroke is not an emergency-response service.