Community Guidelines

1. What ChamberLight Is

ChamberLight is a neutral, nonpartisan platform for civic transparency. Our mission is to help U.S. citizens track the performance and public reception of their elected representatives through community-sourced news, voting records, and public data. We are not affiliated with any political party, campaign, or government entity.

2. What Makes a Good Submission

Good submissions are the foundation of ChamberLight. A strong submission:

• Links to a published news article, official record, or credible public source about an elected representative's actions, statements, or voting record.
• Is relevant to the representative's role in government and their public conduct.
• Can come from any news source—local papers, national outlets, nonpartisan watchdogs, or official government records. We welcome ideological diversity in sources.
• Includes an accurate, non-editorialized headline that reflects the content of the linked article.

3. How Categories Work

ChamberLight organizes submissions into three reception categories:

• Praised: The representative's action or position is receiving broadly positive public reception.
• Mixed: The representative's action or position is receiving a divided or nuanced public response.
• Called Out: The representative's action or position is receiving broadly negative public reception or criticism.

These categories reflect how the action is being received by the public—they are not editorial judgments by ChamberLight. The same action may appear in different categories depending on the source and context. The community's votes help calibrate categorization over time.

4. Content That Will Be Removed

The following types of content are not permitted on ChamberLight and will be removed:

• Misinformation: Fabricated stories, doctored media, or content from known disinformation sources.
• Spam: Duplicate submissions, promotional content, or off-topic material.
• Harassment: Personal attacks, threats, doxxing, or content targeting private individuals (as opposed to public officials acting in their public capacity).
• Irrelevant content: Submissions that are not about a representative's public conduct, voting record, or policy positions.
• Hate speech: Content that promotes violence or discrimination against individuals or groups based on protected characteristics.

5. Commenting Expectations

Comments on ChamberLight should contribute to informed civic discussion. We expect:

• Civility: Disagree with ideas, not people. Personal insults, name-calling, and bad-faith arguments are not tolerated.
• Substance: Comments should add context, share relevant information, or offer a considered perspective. Low-effort reactions are discouraged.
• Perspective badges: ChamberLight offers optional perspective badges (e.g., constituent, expert, local journalist) to add context to comments. We encourage their use to help readers understand where a perspective is coming from.

6. Gaming & Manipulation

The integrity of ChamberLight depends on authentic participation. The following are strictly prohibited:

• Sockpuppet accounts: Creating multiple accounts to amplify your influence on voting, submissions, or discussions.
• Coordinated voting: Organizing groups to upvote, downvote, or report specific content in a coordinated manner.
• Astroturfing: Disguising paid or organized campaigns as organic community activity.
• Vote manipulation: Using automated tools or services to artificially influence content rankings.

We employ technical measures to detect manipulation and take it seriously. If you suspect coordinated manipulation, report it to our moderation team.

7. Consequences

Violations of these Community Guidelines may result in the following actions, depending on severity and frequency:

• Warning: A notice that your content or behavior violates our guidelines, with an explanation and request to correct course.
• Content removal: Removal of specific submissions, comments, or other content that violates these guidelines.
• Temporary suspension: A time-limited restriction on your ability to submit, comment, or vote.
• Permanent ban: Permanent removal from the Platform for severe or repeated violations.

All moderation actions are logged and can be appealed. See our Moderation Policy for details on the appeals process.

8. Contact

If you have questions about these guidelines or want to report a violation, contact us at moderation@chamberlight.com.