Circle Community Guidelines

Welcome. This is a space for curious, kind, and emotionally ambitious adult individuals aged 18 or over. We gather here to reflect, support one another, and deepen our journey toward self-knowledge and emotional maturity.

To keep this a respectful and enriching environment, we ask that all members follow the principles below:

1. Be Thoughtful, Be Kind
Everyone here is doing something quite brave: trying to grow. That can be hard, humbling, and at times vulnerable work. Mockery is not welcome. Be generous with your curiosity and slow to judge. Behind every post is a person who is still learning, just like you.

2. No Hate, Ever
We stand firmly against all forms of discrimination or cruelty, explicit or subtle. This includes hate speech, bullying, harassment, or any comments that demean someone’s race, gender, sexuality, age, nationality, disability, religion, or identity. There is no emotional or intellectual value in making anyone feel small.

3. Protect Vulnerability
Many of us may share comments here that are deeply personal. Please treat what is posted as confidential unless explicitly told otherwise. Do not share screenshots, quotes, or private messages outside this space. The only exception to this is where you want to report concerning messages or posts to our moderators. (See (7) “ Reporting and Moderation” for full details of how to do this).

4. No Selling or Self-Promotion
This is not a marketplace. We’re here to share our experiences and meet like-minded people —not to promote services or products. Please avoid posting links to your blog, newsletter, social media, or business unless it is directly relevant to the conversation and offered without any promotional intent.

5. Stay on Topic
This community is centered around the themes of The School of Life: self-knowledge, relationships, work, calm, sociability, and leisure. Posts that align with these subjects are deeply welcome. Content that strays too far from this emotional terrain may be removed, not out of censorship, but to preserve the focus of our shared inquiry. The purpose of this community is to connect with one another, and around the experiences that The School of Life are running for members.

6. Illegal Content

What follows is a specific list of illegal content. Don’t post it. If you do, the post will be removed from the community as soon as we are aware of it, and your Membership will be terminated without refund:
• Content relating to terrorism;
• Content which contains child sexual exploitation or abuse;
• Content which relates to assisting suicide;
• Content relating to drugs and psychoactive substances; and
• Other illegal content (relating to: threats to kill; public order offences; harassment and stalking; fear or provocation of violence; firearms and other weapons; assisting illegal immigration or human trafficking; sexual images and exploitation; proceeds of crime and fraud, including financial services crimes and foreign interference; and animal welfare offences).
Please click here or visit https://www.theschooloflife.com/terms and then “Circle Community Guidelines” for details of how to report content and our policy on moderating content.

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7. Reporting and Moderation
You may be aware of the UK’s Online Safety Act 2023. We use our best efforts to comply with OFCOM’s Codes of Practice in our moderation of the Community. This requires The School of Life to take certain steps to protect our community from seeing illegal content. Like other forums, we use AI to search for certain keywords and images and flag their use to our human moderators who then decide whether the post is breaching our Community Guidelines and/ or the law. Our moderators may block or remove those posts. They act as quickly as possible to minimise the amount of time that illegal content may be present, but our moderation is not 24/7. We describe what constitutes “illegal content” at No. 6 of our Circle Community Guidelines. Illegal content will always be blocked or removed as soon as we are aware of it.

Note that direct messages are not moderated by The School of Life staff. Please be kind, respectful, and thoughtful. If you get a concerning message: screenshot it, email [email protected], and use platform tools to flag the sender to us

AI is not perfect, so if you come across anything that doesn’t feel right—whether a post, a message, or a user interaction—please let us know. There are obvious reporting tools to help you to do this next to every post. If you receive a direct message that concerns you, take a screenshot and email us immediately at [email protected]. You can use the platform tools to flag the person who sent it to us.

We are committed to keeping this space respectful, legal and emotionally safe.

What happens if the guidelines are broken?
Most of the time, a gentle reminder will suffice. But repeated breaches (we have a “two strike rule”) may lead to your removal from the community without a refund. Any posts of illegal content (described in th Circle Community Guidelines at (6)) will lead to removal of the content and immediate termination of your membership. We do not take this step lightly. If we cancel your membership, we will inform you of that by email and why we’ve done it. You will not be eligible for a refund.

You post may be hidden for review if our system detected a sensitive keyword. This doesn’t mean there is necessarily an issue; it’s simply a pause so we can ensure the community stays safe and respectful. Most posts are restored within 24 hours, though over weekends it may take up to 48 hours. If more review is needed, we’ll contact you.

What to do if you’re not happy with our enforcement of these Community Guidelines or a moderator’s decision

If you think:

• we are not enforcing these Community Guidelines appropriately; or
• our reporting tools are not sufficient; or
• that your content and/ or membership has been unfairly removed,
please let us know. You can email us at [email protected] and we will do our best to resolve your concerns. We will always try and get back to you promptly, and within 30 days.

If we restrict your content or cancel your membership in a way that contravenes these Community Guidelines, the Membership Subscription Terms or the Circle Terms of Use, (displayed here: https://www.theschooloflife.com/terms/) you have a right to bring a claim against us for breach of contract, but please do contact us first.

Thank you for being here and joining a like-minded community. Please view our Membership T&Cs at https://www.theschooloflife.com/terms/ for more information.