Community Guidelines

Builtbyindies is a global community of makers at every stage and skill level. Treat people the way you would in a room full of peers.

• No harassment, threats, hate speech or personal attacks, in profiles, posts, comments or messages.
• No discrimination based on identity, background, nationality or experience.
• Critique the product, not the person. Feedback should help the maker improve.
• No public shaming, pile-ons or “call-out” posts. If something is wrong, report it.

A launch is a promise to the community that there is something real to try.

• Only submit products you built, work on, or are authorised to represent.
• The product must work, and its name, tagline, description, screenshots and pricing must be accurate.
• One listing per product. Don’t relaunch the same product under a new name to get another slot.
• No scams, malware, phishing, get-rich-quick schemes, adult content or anything illegal.
• Disclose affiliate links and paid relationships in your listing.

Rankings, awards, karma and streaks only mean something if they reflect real people. Anything that fakes them hurts every other maker in your launch week.

• One account per person. No extra accounts, bots or scripts to upvote, comment or earn karma.
• Don’t buy or sell upvotes, or organise vote rings or “upvote for upvote” deals in groups or DMs.
• Asking your own audience to check out your launch is fine. Asking them to upvote without trying the product is not.
• No low-effort comments (“Congrats!”, “Nice!”) posted just to earn karma or streaks.
• Referral links must be shared honestly. No self-referrals, fake signups or spam to earn commissions.

We run automated and manual checks. Votes and karma we find to be manipulated may be removed without notice, and the launch may lose its ranking or award.

• Stories and buildlog posts should share something real: what you built, learned, shipped or struggled with.
• Don’t drop links with no context, or post the same thing repeatedly.
• Only post content you have the right to share. Don’t plagiarise, and credit your sources.
• AI-assisted writing is fine, but you are responsible for it being accurate and worth reading.
• No sexually explicit, violent or shocking content.

• Messages are for real conversations, not cold pitches. Don’t send unsolicited promotion or mass messages.
• If someone doesn’t reply or asks you to stop, stop.
• Don’t share other people’s private messages or personal information without their permission.

• Your profile must represent you, a real person, or an organisation you are authorised to represent.
• Don’t impersonate other makers, companies or Builtbyindies staff.
• Be honest in progress updates, revenue figures and claims about your product.

If you see something that breaks these guidelines, use the report option on the product, post or comment, or email [email protected]. Reports are confidential; we don’t tell the other person who reported them. For copyright complaints, see the Terms of Service.

Depending on how serious and how repeated a violation is, we may:

• remove or hide the content;
• remove manipulated votes, karma or referral commissions;
• remove a product from a launch week, ranking or award;
• temporarily or permanently suspend the account.

Paid plans don’t exempt anyone from these rules. If you think we made a mistake, email [email protected] and we’ll review it.