What Are the VirPed Forum Rules?

These are the rules that members of this board must follow:

1. No sexual activity with children! You must first and foremost be committed to never engaging in sexual activity with a minor in the future. If you have done so in the past, you should sincerely believe that it was a serious mistake.
2. Be nice. The usual rules for good internet behavior apply, but we go farther than most groups in trying to keep a positive tone. You should assume the people who disagree with you mean well. Consider strongly the possibility that you might be misunderstanding them or they are not expressing themselves clearly. When you disagree, calmly give your reasons for your own view. Respect for others is essential if you want to participate in the group.
3. a) No arguing for legalising adult-child sex. VirPed is founded on the idea that sexual activity between adults and children is wrong. The idea that it is only the legal system and misguided attitudes of society that keep adult-child sex from being a good thing is not welcome here. Other forums allow these views but VirPed was set up to be different.
   
   b) No arguing for legalising the creation or distribution of sexual images of real children, and no talk suggesting that viewing these is desirable. This is a support group and we understand that many pedophiles have viewed this material. We expect members to discuss this issue thoughtfully, without hasty judgement of each other, but also with sensitivity towards the victims of such material.
4. We cannot allow admissions of past illegal activity that is not already known to law enforcement. This includes admissions of illegal viewing or possession of child pornography. Although past illegal acts may weigh on people’s minds, we cannot afford to be a place law enforcement might go to track down criminal activity.
5. a) Links to images or videos of kids must never be erotic and should be rare. No images can be embedded within posts. If you post many links to images or video we may remove them.
   
   b) No erotic descriptions or horny or provocative posting. You may shares personal stories or explain your sexual feelings or fantasies but this is a support space. You should use neutral language and avoid too much detail - how you might describe it to a therapist.
6. a) Avatar pictures may not be of real children or photorealistic AI, and if they are cartoon or painted children it should show only the head and it should be clear they are not photos. They should not be shocking or in poor taste. Child-love symbols are not permitted.
   
   b) New (still moderated) users’ signatures should not contain off-platform contact links or details, including email addresses. This restriction can also be imposed on individual other users.
7. No quoting elsewhere. It is against the rules for a member to quote anyone directly off of the board without permission of the author or a board administrator. But note: all posters must be aware that any hostile party can break this rule and forward anything you post to a wide audience.
8. No outing. If you discover the identity of anyone here, you agree not to share it without their permission.
9. Political discussion is limited. Pedophiles are diverse with different sexual tastes, gender status, races and religions. Challenging a member’s self-identification is not permitted, nor is criticism of such identities as a political/social topic. We discuss politics here only as it directly affects us as individuals.
10. Posts you make are visible to all members of the forum and will always remain in our database for staff and authorized researchers. You can request that we hide any of your posts from everyone else.

This is not an exhaustive list. We have made rules about the common situations we have thought of, but the admins reserve the right to limit the privileges of any person at any time, and to delete any posts, in line with our best judgment about how to keep the board running as a supportive and safe place.