Community guidelines

Strong opinions welcome. Abuse isn't.

SayWhat! exists for open letters — including critical, angry, and unflattering ones. The “hate mail” reaction is part of the game: a way for readers to signal a letter stings. But a sentiment flag is not a license, and there is a firm line between saying something harsh and crossing into abuse.

What's allowed

• Criticism, satire, parody, and strongly-worded disagreement.
• Open letters, petitions, praise, and heartfelt fan mail.
• Naming public figures, brands, and organisations in relation to their public conduct.

What's removed, regardless of any flag

• Threats and incitement — threatening violence, or encouraging others to harm someone.
• Targeted harassment — coordinated or repeated attacks on a person.
• Doxxing — publishing private information (addresses, phone numbers, private contact details).
• Defamation — false statements of fact presented as true that damage a real person's reputation.
• Sexual content involving minors, and any other illegal content. This is reported to the relevant authorities.
• Hate speech — attacks on people based on protected characteristics.
• Spam and impersonation — including writing as someone you're not.

Protecting people

We do not allow letters that target minors. Recipients or their representatives can request removal or ask to be blocked from being written to — see the takedown & removal process.

Reporting

Every letter and comment has a Report control. Reports go to a human review queue. We may hold, remove, or ban depending on severity, and we log moderation actions for accountability.

These guidelines summarise our policies; the binding terms are in the Terms of Service.