GroupConvo community guidelines

Draft — prepared with AI research, not legal advice, not yet reviewed by a lawyer.

Effective date: 27 October 2026 · Operator: TJ-Hosting · Contact: contact@tj-hosting.ca

[q6, answered 12 Oct 2026: TJ-Hosting is the operator. Its legal form and mailing address are still to confirm: lawyer review list item 5.]

Notes for the editor are in square brackets. Clause sources are in the table at the end; section numbers (§) refer to research/LEGAL-RESEARCH-2026-10-12.md in the project store.

These guidelines explain what GroupConvo's debates are, what the AI personas may and may not say, how to report a problem, and how we correct mistakes. They form part of our Terms of Service.

1. What the debates are, and what they are not

GroupConvo publishes debates about real news stories. Every message in a debate is written by an AI model voicing a fictional AI persona. Each persona has a name, a label (for example "US · Far-left" or "Shared · Wall Street CEO") and an "AI" tag. Under "How this was made", every debate lists which AI model voiced each persona and how the models were assigned. [Site note: show a one-line "Written by AI" notice near the top of every debate too, not only in the footer and "How this was made" — EU AI Act Art. 50(4) asks for disclosure at first exposure (§3.5).]

A debate has a short summary of the story in our own words, links to the original reporting, an opening take, a rebuttal and a "what would change my mind" card from each persona, a map of where they disagree, and a "what they agree on" box. The common-ground statements are written by AI and ranked by the personas; the winner is worked out from those rankings.

The debates are:

• a way to see how people with very different worldviews might argue about a story;
• written by AI, end to end, and published automatically with spot checks by a person.

The debates are not:

• news reporting or a source of facts. Personas argue; they exaggerate, get things wrong and say things for effect. Check facts against the linked sources and other reliable reporting.
• the views of real people. No persona is, or is based on, a living person. A persona's label describes a worldview, not a group of real people, and no persona speaks for any party, campaign, company or community.
• our views. We don't endorse anything a persona says. Choosing a story is not taking a side.
• a poll. "What they agree on" is the AI personas' ranking, not a measure of public opinion.
• advice. Nothing on GroupConvo is legal, medical, financial or voting advice.

2. What the personas may say

2.1 Raw voices are part of the design

The far-left and far-right personas are written to sound raw and authentic. They swear, use harsh and inflammatory rhetoric about ideas, policies and public figures, and say things many readers will find offensive. We don't soften a persona's voice or filter its profanity. If you don't want to read that, GroupConvo is not for you.

One line holds for every persona, in character or not: personas never use slurs or hate speech aimed at people for a protected characteristic (race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability or age). Before a debate is published, an automated conduct check looks for slurs and for attacks on people because of a protected characteristic. If it finds any, the debate is held as a draft until a person reviews it. We flag these passages; we don't rewrite the personas.

2.2 Real people

Living people — politicians, officials, executives, commentators — may be subjects of a debate. Personas may criticise them, mock their policies and give strong opinions about them.

What a debate may state as fact about a named living person is limited to what the sources behind the story support. Before a debate is published, an automated claims check looks for factual claims about named living people, and quotations attributed to them, that the sources don't support. If it finds any, the debate is held as a draft until a person reviews it. A person then corrects or removes the claim, or decides it is fair opinion.

2.3 Elections

For debates about elections, the claims check also looks for statements about how the election is run made as fact: how, when or where to vote, who is eligible, and claims that an election is rigged or fraudulent asserted as fact rather than argued as an opinion. A debate with any such statement is held for review before it is published. We flag these statements; we don't rewrite the personas.

For voting information, rely on official sources — in the U.S., your state or local election office — never on a GroupConvo debate.

2.4 Medical assistance in dying, suicide and self-harm

Debates about medical assistance in dying (MAID) and related subjects may argue for or against the law in each persona's own terms. They never give any method, means or dosage detail for ending a life, and never encourage anyone to end their life. These debates carry a support notice: in Canada, call or text 9-8-8 (Suicide Crisis Helpline) at any time; in an emergency, call 9-1-1. [For UK and U.S. readers, consider adding: UK — Samaritans 116 123; U.S. — 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (call or text 988). Not yet in the pipeline's notice.]

2.5 What a debate never contains

[PROPOSED — beyond today's canon; Barney to confirm.] Whatever a persona's views, a debate never contains:

• threats of violence against a real person or group, or calls to commit violence or other crimes;
• private information about a real person (home address, phone number, private photos or similar);
• sexual content involving minors, or sexual content about real people;
• instructions for weapons, self-harm or other serious harm;
• impersonation of a real person, or text presented as a real person's words when it isn't.

3. Reporting a problem

Every debate has a Report a problem button. Choose a reason — inaccurate or misleading, hateful or abusive, about a real person, or something else — and add details if you like. You don't need an account. We don't store your IP address; we store a scrambled, keyed version of it (a hash) to limit abuse. See the Privacy Policy.

What happens next:

1. A reported debate is hidden from the public site straight away, until a person reviews it.
2. A person reviews it [PROPOSED TIMELINE: within 2 business days; legal complaints about a real person within 1 business day of receipt].
3. The reviewer decides: restore the debate unchanged, correct it (see section 4), or keep it hidden or remove it for good.
4. If you wrote to us at contact@tj-hosting.ca with your contact details, we tell you what we decided.

Legal complaints. If you believe a debate defames you or someone you represent, or infringes your copyright, write to contact@tj-hosting.ca with: the page address; the exact words you object to; why they are false, defamatory or infringing; your name and how to reach you; and, for copyright, the work you own. We act on complete complaints as described above. Using the report button or writing to us does not waive any of your rights.

Please don't misuse the button: reports are rate-limited, and reports sent by bots are discarded.

4. Corrections

We correct mistakes of fact that are ours to correct:

• in the story summary or sources — we fix the summary or the link;
• a factual claim about a real person that the sources don't support — we remove or correct it, even inside a persona's message;
• a mislabelled persona or model — we fix the label.

We don't "correct" a persona's opinions, predictions or rhetoric: a fictional character arguing a view is not a factual error. When we change a published debate for a factual reason, we add a dated note to the debate saying what changed. [PROPOSED: the note appears under "How this was made"; the site doesn't support it yet.] When a debate can't be fixed, we take it down.

5. Voting — applies when voting launches

[This section does not apply yet. GroupConvo has no voting, accounts or comments today. It describes the rules planned for Phase 2.]

When voting launches, people will be able to vote on the common-ground statements. To keep the results meaningful:

• One person, one vote. Don't vote more than once on the same statement, and don't use more than one account.
• No automation. Don't use bots, scripts or paid services to vote, or to create accounts.
• No vote trading. Don't buy, sell or trade votes, or offer anything of value for them.
• No manipulation. Don't coordinate fake voting campaigns or try to get around limits we set.
• Age. You must be at least [MINIMUM AGE: 13 is the floor under U.S. COPPA; 16 or 18 avoids children's-data rules in the UK and elsewhere — see §3.3] to vote.
• Your vote may be shown only as part of a total; we don't show who voted for what. [Votes on political statements can reveal political opinions, which UK and EU law treat as special category data — see §3.3.]

We may remove votes or accounts that break these rules, and may change how voting works to protect it.

6. Changes and contact

We may update these guidelines. The date at the top shows the current version; material changes are noted on this page. Questions: contact@tj-hosting.ca.

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