Community Guide

Treat other members with respect

Respectful interaction is our top priority. Where different points of view meet, things can get controversial. But always base your discussions on clear statements, sound arguments, and appropriate evidence. Please refrain from insults, defamation, discriminatory statements, provocations, and personal attacks of any kind.

If you are personally attacked, please do not let yourself be provoked. Instead, report the content so our team can support you with appropriate measures.

Make sure your contributions are relevant

In Dogorama, our favorite four-legged friends are the focus. For all topics, posts, pictures, and other content you create or share, consider whether this is the right place. Content with little or no relation to dogs is not part of Dogorama. This especially applies to political, religious, and other ideological issues.

Avoid unwanted topics

There are some recurring interests that may seem thematically appropriate but regularly cause discontent in the community. Please respect that we do not want to give these topics a place in Dogorama.

• Dog trading and placements are taboo
  Since we cannot verify the respective interests and backgrounds, this ban applies to all types of trading and placement.
• Donation appeals are taboo
  Often shared with the best intentions, donation appeals can still bring various problematic side effects that we want to protect our members from.
• Unauthorized searches for survey participants & interview requests are taboo.
  Finding such requests unexpectedly in the forum confuses members more than it motivates them to participate. We therefore have to remove such topics. If you are looking for interview partners or survey participants, please contact us directly by email: press@dogorama.app

Keep private matters private

Whether forum or feed: Respect the privacy of others and refrain from making sensitive information public. This applies to private messages and chats as well as to personal data you know from other topics, social networks, or real life.

Also consider how much personal information about yourself or your family you want to share publicly. Keep in mind that we anonymize your forum posts if you ever delete your account. However, information in text or images may still give clues to your identity despite anonymization. It is not possible for us to locate and remove such posts afterward with reasonable effort.

If you want to link a profile from social networks, you will find a corresponding function directly in the “About me” section of your profile. Please note that references to social media profiles, WhatsApp & Facebook groups, etc. are not desired in the forum and on the feed, and we reserve the right to obscure or remove them.

Refrain from advertising and commercial sales ads

Advertising and sales ads for products and services are not allowed in Dogorama unless we have given explicit permission. This ban extends to all types of advertising, including indirect/hidden advertising, advertising links, references to your own commercial homepages, etc.

If you offer products or services related to dogs, we recommend a Dogorama business profile. The memberships include various options for placing advertising so that it is perceived as added value and not as a disturbance.

You bought a new dog bed but got the size wrong? For such cases, we have the flea market category in our forum, where private classified ads can be placed.

Commercial ads are not allowed in the flea market either! We generally assume commercial intent if items are a) offered in larger quantities or b) specially made. The sale of medicines is also strictly prohibited.

Observe applicable law and our terms of use

It goes without saying that when using Dogorama, applicable law and our terms of use must be observed. In particular, the following must not be posted or shared:

• insulting, defamatory, racist, inciting, glorifying violence, immoral, or discriminatory content,
• legally protected content (e.g., by copyright or trademark law) if the necessary rights are not held,
• links to other online media with illegal content.

Do not share content harmful to minors

Dogorama is not the right place for “not safe for work” content. This includes all “18+” content such as pornography, self-mutilation, or depictions of violence.

The ban especially applies to the depiction of sexual acts with animals, whether in images or text. Sharing such content leads to immediate exclusion from the Dogorama community. Depending on the severity of the incident, we reserve the right to report the case to the authorities.

Avoid duplicate topics

The Dogorama forum is full of interesting topics and can be a bit overwhelming at first glance. Before you start a new topic, please use our search function. This way you can quickly and easily find out if there are already existing threads in the forum that answer your question.

To keep the forum clear and usable for all members, we remove duplicate topics.

Use a meaningful title and provide a basis for discussion

If you want to create your own topic, make sure to provide a clearly formulated basis for discussion. This should always take the form of a question. If this meaningful question is missing, a productive conversation usually does not develop. We therefore reserve the right to delete topics without an opening question or move them to your feed.

Ensure good readability

The more readable your topic or post is, the more likely other members will feel invited to respond. Even small things can make a big difference:

• Try to make the core of your question clear in the title. Avoid titles that are too short or too long. One-word titles are just as unappealing as headlines that already reveal the entire post.
• Avoid titles or entire posts that consist only of UPPERCASE LETTERS or emojis (“smileys”), and use emojis sparingly in general.
• Use punctuation and paragraphs to structure your text. Especially longer texts become much easier to read this way.

Stay on topic

Refer to the question of the topic creator with your answers and, if possible, read all posts before replying. If you do not want to read the entire thread, please address the creator’s opening question. Off-topic posts may be removed at any time for the sake of a consistent discussion.

Share links sparingly and always with an explanation

Sometimes a link seems to say more than a thousand words. Nevertheless, links should always fit the topic of the thread and only be used together with an explanation. An answer consisting only of a link can quickly be perceived as spam.

Always there for you: our mod team

Our moderators are, like you, first and foremost dog fans and members of the Dogorama community. Their tasks include:

• supporting other members with questions or difficulties,
• ensuring compliance with the Community Guide,
• intervening in behavior that harms the community.

All members of our mod team are aware of their responsibility and act with great care. If you ever cannot understand a decision: Please remember that all moderators volunteer their time for the community.

Measures

If necessary, our moderators exercise virtual house rules in accordance with the terms of use. They can move, restrict access to, or remove topics, posts, and other content.

If there are violations of the Community Guide or the terms of use, it is the moderators’ job to warn members or, in the case of serious or repeated incidents, to temporarily or permanently block them. Far-reaching measures such as bans are never taken by a single person, but are always discussed and reviewed as a team.