Community Guidelines
Our promise: Ping the World is a space where a person who has never met you will read your words with an open heart. We protect that space fiercely.
The Idea Behind PTW
Every message you send on Ping the World travels to a real person, somewhere in the world, who knows nothing about you — not your name, not your age, not your gender, not your country. They will read your words as words from a fellow human being, nothing more.
That is a rare and fragile thing. These guidelines exist to keep it that way.
What Ping the World Is For
PTW is a space for the experience of genuine human expression. Messages that belong here include:
- Thoughts you can't share with people in your life
- Feelings you need to put into words — happiness, sadness, longing, joy, confusion, wonder
- Personal stories or confessions
- Questions about life, meaning, or the world
- Encouragement for a stranger having a hard day
- Observations about life that feel too small to say out loud but too big to keep inside
- Humour — the kind that connects, not the kind that divides
What Is Not Allowed
Our automated moderation reviews every message before delivery. Messages containing the following will be rejected and not delivered:
Harmful Content
- Threatening, violent, or intimidating language
- Content designed to cause fear, distress, or psychological harm
- Hate speech targeting any group based on race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexuality, disability, or nationality
- Sexual content of any kind
- Content that exploits, endangers, or sexualises minors
Identifying Information
- Your name, username, or any other identity marker
- Phone numbers, email addresses, social media handles, or website URLs
- Physical addresses or specific location information
- Any information that could be used to identify you or anyone else
This rule exists for your protection. Anonymity is a core feature of PTW, not an afterthought.
Agenda-Driven Content
- Advertising, promotion, or solicitation of any kind
- Political content, including opinions about political parties, elections, politicians, or political movements
- Religious proselytising or ideological recruitment
- Chain messages, requests to forward or share, or any form of coordinated messaging
PTW is not a broadcast channel. It is a conversation between two humans. No agendas are permitted to enter that space.
Other Prohibited Content
- Content referencing illegal activities
- Spam, repeated identical or near-identical messages
- Gibberish, test messages, or content with no communicative intent
- Content written in code, cipher, or deliberately obscured form intended to evade moderation
A Note on Self-Expression
PTW is not a safe space in the sense of being a sanitised space. You are allowed to be sad, angry, scared, confused, lonely, or lost. You are allowed to say hard things.
What is not allowed is directing harm toward another person — including the stranger who will receive your message.
If Your Message Is Rejected
You will receive a notification explaining why your message was not approved. Common reasons include: contact information detected, promotional language, political references, or content that may cause harm.
You can revise your message and try again. If you believe a rejection was made in error, you can contact us at [email protected].
Receiving a Message
When you receive a message, you have two choices: reply once with text or a reaction emoji, or ignore it. If the message makes you uncomfortable, ignore it — you owe the sender nothing.
If you receive a message that appears to have bypassed our moderation and contains content that should not be on PTW, please report it using the flag icon. We take every report seriously.
The Spirit of These Guidelines
We will never be able to write a rule for every situation. What we ask is that you hold the spirit of PTW when you write: you are writing to a real person who knows nothing about you except what you choose to say. Write accordingly.