Community Guidelines — Cloister

Last updated: October 25, 2026

Cloister is a place to write honestly about your days, under a name you choose, and to read what other adults write about theirs.

These guidelines exist so that people can keep writing honestly without being hurt by it. They are part of our Terms of Use.

The short version.

  1. Nothing sexual involving anyone under 18. Ever. Not in stories, jokes, role-play or links. We close the account and report it to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.
  2. Write about your life, not about exposing someone else's. Don't identify private people in ways that shame, endanger or out them.
  3. No harassment, threats or hate.
  4. No sexual content in public entries. No sex for sale, no sexual solicitation, no unwanted sexual messages.
  5. No intimate images or links shared without consent, and no threats to share them.
  6. You can write about your pain. Don't push anyone toward self-harm.
  7. Be one real adult with one account. No bots, no scraping, no impersonation, no ban evasion, no unmasking people.
  8. Respect other people's creative work.

The details follow.

1. Child safety: zero tolerance

Cloister is for adults only. Even so, we treat any sign of child sexual exploitation as the most serious violation there is.

Not allowed:

Allowed:

What happens: the account is suspended at once and closed, and we try to keep the person from coming back. We keep the evidence and report it to NCMEC, as federal law requires.

If someone on Cloister appears to be under 18, report their profile ("Involves a minor (child safety)"). If you believe a child is in danger, call 911, and you can also report to NCMEC's CyberTipline at report.cybertip.org.

How reports about minors are handled is summarized in our Child Safety Standards.

2. Writing about real people

This is the rule that matters most on a diary app. People in your life will appear in what you write. That's fine. Exposing them is not.

Allowed:

Not allowed:

A practical test: if a stranger reading your entry could work out who the other person is, change or leave out the identifying details.

Survivors: you can always write about what was done to you, including abuse and assault. We will not remove your story for describing your own experience. If an entry identifies the person who harmed you, we may ask you to remove the identifying details rather than remove the entry.

3. Harassment, threats and hate

Not allowed:

Allowed: strong feelings, anger, and venting about what someone did to you, as long as it doesn't become a threat, harassment of an identifiable person, or hate.

Credible threats of violence lead to immediate suspension and closure of the account. We may report them to law enforcement.

4. Sexual content

Cloister is a place for honest, everyday writing about life. Public entries can't contain sexual content. Writing about love, relationships and heartbreak is welcome.

Not allowed in entries:

In private messages: what two adults choose to say to each other is up to them, but sending sexual messages or requests to someone who hasn't clearly welcomed them is not allowed, and selling or soliciting sex is never allowed.

5. Intimate images and consent

Cloister doesn't support image uploads, but intimate content can still be shared as a link or described in text.

Not allowed:

If an intimate image of you has been shared on Cloister without your consent, you can ask us to remove it, even without an account. See section 10 of our Terms. We act on valid requests within 48 hours.

Outside Cloister:

6. Suicide, self-harm and eating disorders

You can write about this. Depression, urges to hurt yourself, suicidal thoughts, recovery, relapse: this is what a diary is for.

Not allowed:

If you are in crisis right now, call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline), chat at 988lifeline.org, or call 911.

7. Messages

8. Your account and honesty

Not allowed:

9. Illegal and dangerous activity

Not allowed:

Writing about your own past, including drug use or legal trouble, is allowed.

10. Other people's creative work

Reporting

You can report from any entry, profile or message. The reasons you can choose:

In the appUse it for
Harassment or bullying§3
Shares private details about a real person§2
Suicide or self-harm§6. We will also show you support resources
Hate or threats of violence§3
Sexual content§4
Involves a minor (child safety)§1
Spam or scam§8
Pretending to be someone else§8
Something elseanything not listed

What happens after you report:

What we do when rules are broken

Some words and phrases, for example slurs and sexual content involving minors, are blocked automatically before an entry or a message is posted. If your entry is blocked and you were writing about something that happened to you, try putting it in your own words.

We look at how serious the violation is, the context, and the account's history. We may:

  1. remove the content;
  2. turn off the account's ability to send messages;
  3. suspend the account temporarily;
  4. close the account.

Immediate suspension and closure applies to child sexual exploitation, credible threats of violence, and sex trafficking or selling sex, and we try to keep the person from coming back. We may also report these to NCMEC or law enforcement.

When something is reported as involving a minor, the account's ability to send messages is paused automatically until a person reviews the report. Writing and reading entries isn't affected.

Appeals: if you think we got it wrong, email growevolve.business@gmail.com within 30 days with your username and what happened. A person will review it and reply.

Getting help outside Cloister