Community guidelines

Workbench is a place for people who make things. These guidelines describe what belongs here, what doesn’t, and what happens when someone crosses the line.

By posting, commenting, messaging, or otherwise using Workbench, you agree to follow these rules. They apply equally to posts, clips, projects, comments, direct messages, profile bios, handles, project names, and anything else you put in front of another person on the platform.

1. Treat people like people

Disagreement is fine. Cruelty is not. Critique the work, not the person, and assume the person on the other side of the screen is a real human who is trying.

Not allowed:

• Harassment, threats, stalking, or pile-ons against a specific person.
• Slurs or hate speech aimed at race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, caste, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, or serious medical condition.
• Sexual content involving minors. There are no exceptions for “fictional” or “artistic” depictions. We report this content to the relevant authorities.
• Encouraging another person to harm themselves or take their own life.
• Coordinated brigading, including organising people off-platform to attack a Workbench account.

Allowed: honest critique of someone’s build, technique, or finished piece, including pointing out what isn’t working. The test is whether the comment would be useful to the maker.

2. Post your own work, or be clear when you don’t

Workbench is built around following projects, not chasing trends. That only works if the work on the platform is honest about where it came from.

Not allowed:

• Reposting someone else’s photo, clip, or project as if you made it.
• Removing watermarks or credits from another maker’s work.
• Passing off AI-generated images or video as a real physical build.
• Buying, selling, or swapping accounts, followers, likes, or saves.

Allowed: sharing reference photos, inspiration, work-in-progress shots from a collaborator, or AI-assisted concept art, as long as you say so in the caption and credit the original maker where relevant.

3. Keep it about making

Workbench is a maker community. Posts, clips, and projects should be about something you are building, learning, fixing, growing, cooking, writing, designing, or otherwise making.

Off-topic content (general lifestyle vlogs, unrelated memes, political campaigning, religious proselytising, dating, or get-rich-quick content) will be removed. Selling a product you actually made is fine. Drop-shipping someone else’s product through a Workbench account is not.

4. No spam, no scams, no manipulation

Not allowed:

• Posting the same content repeatedly across projects, hashtags, or DMs.
• Mass-following or mass-unfollowing to farm follow-backs.
• Engagement pods, like-for-like trades, or fake comment rings.
• Affiliate-link stuffing, MLM recruiting, crypto pumps, fake giveaways, or phishing for logins, payment info, or one-time codes.
• Linking to malware, credential harvesters, or sites that auto-download files.

5. Don’t post other people’s private information

Don’t share information about another person that they haven’t chosen to share themselves. That includes home addresses, phone numbers, private emails, government IDs, financial records, medical records, and screenshots of private DMs.

If a real person appears in your photo or video and they didn’t agree to be featured, take them out of the frame or get their permission first. Public figures speaking in their public role are different from a stranger at a craft fair.

6. Adult content, violence, and dangerous activity

Workbench is a general-audience platform.

• No pornography or sexually explicit content. Tasteful figure drawing or anatomical reference for a sculpture is fine; an OnlyFans funnel is not.
• No graphic violence, gore, or animal cruelty. A bandaged hand from a shop accident is fine; a close-up of an open wound is not.
• No content that promotes or instructs people in how to make weapons designed to harm others (functional firearms, explosives, incendiaries). Lawful hobby gunsmithing, archery, knife making, and historical reproduction are allowed when shown safely.
• No promotion of self-harm, eating disorders, or hard-drug use.
• If your project genuinely involves risk (high voltage, power tools, climbing, chemistry, fire), include the safety context. Don’t pretend it’s safe when it isn’t.

7. Don’t break the law

Don’t use Workbench to do things that are illegal where you are or where the person you are interacting with is. That includes selling regulated goods (firearms, prescription medication, controlled substances), trafficking stolen goods, infringing copyright or trademarks, or violating export controls.

8. One person, real identity, no impersonation

You can run more than one profile from a single account (a personal profile, a shop profile, a fan project profile). What you can’t do is pretend to be someone else.

• Don’t use another maker’s name, handle, photos, or branding in a way that suggests they are behind the account.
• Parody and fan accounts are allowed if the bio makes the relationship clear (“Unofficial”, “Fan account”, “Parody”).
• Don’t claim affiliations, certifications, or credentials you don’t have.

9. What happens if you break a rule

We try to match the response to the behaviour. In most cases we’ll start with the lightest action that solves the problem and escalate if it keeps happening.

• Content removal. The post, clip, comment, message, or project is taken down. You’ll see a notice in the app explaining which rule was broken.
• Warning. A note on the account asking you not to do it again. Repeated warnings count toward a suspension.
• Feature limits. For things like spam or mass-following, we may temporarily block your ability to comment, DM, follow, or post for a period of time.
• Temporary suspension. The account is locked for a defined period (typically 7 to 30 days). You can sign in to read but not to post or message.
• Permanent ban. The account is closed and the person behind it is not welcome back. We use this for the most serious behaviour: child sexual abuse material, credible threats of violence, doxxing, repeated harassment after warnings, and large-scale fraud or scam operations. Bans can apply across every profile linked to the same account, and we may block attempts to create new accounts.

For anything involving illegal activity or a credible threat to someone’s safety, we may skip straight to a permanent ban and report the account to law enforcement.

10. How to appeal

If you think we got it wrong, reply to the moderation email you received, or write to support@myworkbench.io with “Appeal” in the subject line and the username, the action that was taken, and why you think it was a mistake. A different reviewer will look at it. We aim to respond within seven days.

Appeals for permanent bans on the most serious categories (child safety, credible threats, doxxing) are reviewed but rarely overturned.

11. How to report

The fastest way to flag something is from inside the app. Long-press a post, clip, comment, message, profile, or project and choose Report, or use the share menu. Tell us which rule applies; the more specific you are, the faster we can act.

For urgent safety issues that cannot wait for the in-app queue (someone is in immediate danger, a minor is involved, doxxing is in progress), email support@myworkbench.io with “URGENT” in the subject line. If you or someone else is in immediate physical danger, contact local emergency services first.

Reporting is confidential. The person you report is not told who reported them.

12. Updates to these guidelines

We’ll update this page as the community grows and as new patterns of abuse appear. Material changes will be announced inside the app. Continuing to use Workbench after an update means you accept the updated guidelines.