Community Standards
FIMBY only works when neighbours feel safe enough to show up — safe enough to ask for help, offer what they have, be honest about a hard week, and receive when they need to.
This page names the kind of place we’re trying to be, what we ask of one another, and what we do when something gets in the way.
These Community Standards are meant to help FIMBY stay safe, neighbourly, and trustworthy. They do not replace our Terms of Service or Privacy Policy.
Effective date: May 1, 2026
What we’re reaching for
FIMBY is reaching for a kind of neighbourhood life that is harder to find than it should be — a place where people know your name, notice when you’re carrying too much, and make room at the table. Where help lands gently and is received with dignity. Where small ordinary acts — a loaf shared, a drill lent, a ride offered, a new neighbour welcomed — slowly weave a place into somewhere that feels like home. You don’t need to be eloquent or extraordinary to belong here. Honesty about who you are, willingness to treat your neighbours with dignity, and openness to being part of a place are enough.
Dignity over efficiency.
Hospitality over isolation.
Christian-rooted, not coercive
FIMBY may be rooted in a Christian vision of hospitality, but no neighbour should be pressured to pray, receive prayer, attend church, donate, join a program, agree with particular beliefs, or explain their beliefs in order to belong, receive help, offer help, or participate.
Prayer, encouragement, and personal faith-sharing are welcome when offered respectfully. They are not a substitute for medical, counselling, legal, financial, or other professional care where professional care is needed.
How we treat each other
A handful of commitments hold this together. Each one has a hopeful side and a hard line — what we’re aiming for, and what doesn’t belong on FIMBY.
Be honest about who you are and where you live. Please don’t impersonate another person or organization, or pretend to be a neighbour somewhere you’re not.
Speak to neighbours the way you’d want to be spoken to. No threats, harassment, shaming, or targeting of people.
Make room for neighbours who are different from you. No hate speech or discriminatory content. Difference is part of a real neighbourhood; contempt for difference is not.
Keep private things private. Please don’t share someone else’s address, phone number, family members, employer, or other identifying details without their consent. That includes posting screenshots of private messages.
Protect children and neighbours who are easy to pressure. No sexual exploitation material. No content that sexualizes minors. No pressuring or manipulating vulnerable neighbours, and no posting anything that puts another person — especially a vulnerable neighbour — at risk.
Share what’s yours to share. Please don’t post content that infringes someone else’s copyright or other intellectual property rights.
Show up as a neighbour, not as a marketer. FIMBY isn’t a place to advertise a business, recruit customers, cold-solicit neighbours, run a resale operation, or campaign politically. Spam and repetitive promotional content don’t belong here either.
Follow through when you can. Tell someone early when plans change. Most disappointment in a neighbourhood comes from silence rather than circumstance.
Help lands better when it’s welcomed. Listen for how a neighbour wants to be cared for; don’t override their preferences with your own idea of help.
If something doesn’t feel right, use the report and block tools. They’re part of how we look out for each other.
Keep your own posts honest and current. Neighbours are responsible for making sure their own posts, offers, requests, event details, pickup details, and Community Group updates are accurate and current.
Don’t pressure, shame, manipulate, threaten, or exploit another neighbour — including through repeated unwanted contact, guilt, spiritual pressure, or offers that are not genuinely voluntary.
Treat people the way you’d want someone you love treated here.
Some things are never okay on FIMBY
The commitments above describe how a neighbourhood ought to treat each other. The following are the hard floor — the things that are not okay on FIMBY under any circumstance:
- threats, intimidation, harassment, or stalking;
- hate, demeaning conduct, or targeting people because of who they are;
- scams, fraud, impersonation, or misleading requests;
- sexual solicitation, sexual exploitation, or sexual content involving minors;
- weapons, controlled substances, stolen goods, or other illegal or regulated goods;
- encouraging self-harm, violence, or illegal activity;
- presenting medical, legal, financial, counselling, or spiritual guidance as professional advice unless you are qualified, clear about your role, and acting within appropriate legal and professional boundaries;
- pressuring someone to pray, receive prayer, attend church, donate, join a program, or disclose personal beliefs.
What FIMBY is for, and what it isn’t
FIMBY is a coordination tool for neighbours. It helps people share asks, offers, Shared Life posts, events, library items, and messages inside their neighbourhood.
FIMBY is not:
- an emergency service,
- a vetted care service,
- a marketplace,
- a transportation, ride-hailing, courier, or delivery service,
- a food-safety authority,
- a fundraising platform,
- a dating service, or
- a background-checking service.
That isn’t us being uptight — it’s us being honest about what FIMBY actually does. We don’t background-check neighbours, supervise meetups, inspect items, verify food safety, or stand between you and a bad outcome. You are the one deciding whether and how to meet, lend, borrow, ride, eat, attend events, or share contact information.
Use ordinary care. Meet in public or familiar places when that feels right. Don’t share more than you’re comfortable sharing. If something feels off, pause and ask for help.
Ordinary exchange is welcome — running a business isn’t
Splitting a Costco run, chipping in toward gas money for a ride as incidental cost-sharing, sharing food at a gathering, trading a plant cutting for help fixing a sink — that’s the kind of small, neighbourly exchange FIMBY exists to make easier.
What FIMBY is not a platform for:
- recurring paid transport, ride-hailing, or fare-based rides;
- courier, delivery, or logistics service;
- commercial food sales or restaurant-style operations;
- retail or resale operations;
- fundraising activity (FIMBY is not a fundraising platform);
- dating services; or
- other regulated business activity that would make FIMBY look like a marketplace or licensed service platform.
The line is this: non-commercial neighbouring is welcome; running a business through neighbours isn’t.
When something doesn’t feel right
Most of the time, a neighbourhood works because neighbours look out for each other. Sometimes a situation needs more than that — that’s why report and block tools exist.
If something on FIMBY does not feel right, use the report tools where you see them, or email help@fimby.com.
Report is available on:
- every Asks-and-Offers feed card and Asks/Offers detail page,
- every Shared Life feed card and Shared Life detail page,
- every Library feed card and Library item detail page,
- every Loaned-item detail page,
- inside direct-message threads (as part of the Block flow),
- inside Need/Offer response threads — tap the kebab menu in the thread header.
Block is available:
- inside direct-message threads,
- inside Need/Offer response threads — tap the kebab menu in the thread header,
- on neighbour profiles.
We review every report within 24 hours. Reports go to your neighbourhood moderator first, with the FIMBY team as backup. Most things get sorted with a conversation before anything more is needed.
If someone is in immediate danger, contact 911 or local emergency services. FIMBY is not an emergency service.
The identity of a person who files a report is kept confidential by default. We may disclose a reporter’s identity only where required by law, by court order, or where necessary to prevent imminent harm to a person’s safety.
How we respond
When something needs a response, we try to act in the lightest way that actually addresses it. The goal isn’t punishment — it’s keeping the neighbourhood safe enough for everyone, especially the quieter and more vulnerable neighbours, to keep showing up.
We use a ladder:
- Content removal — the specific post or message comes down.
- Warning — we tell the person what crossed the line and ask them to stop.
- Temporary restriction or pause — posting, messaging, or other features are limited for a period of time.
- Permanent removal — the account ends.
For new accounts, or where the situation calls for it, we may move faster, contact someone directly, or take stronger steps.
A person involved in a dispute or report is not assigned to review it.
A pattern of Community Standards violations, or a single serious violation, may result in permanent account removal under the Terms of Service.
Appeals
If we’ve made a moderation decision and you think we got it wrong, please ask us to look at it again by emailing help@fimby.com. We will try to be open about why we acted, except where doing so would put someone else at risk, reveal a reporter, interfere with an investigation, or create a legal or safety problem.
Copyright and IP complaints
If you believe content on FIMBY infringes your copyright or other intellectual property rights, see the notice-and-takedown wording in our Terms of Service. The shortest path is to email help@fimby.com with the URL or in-app location of the content, a description of the work being infringed, your contact information, and a good-faith statement that the content is infringing.
Emergencies
FIMBY is not an emergency service.
If someone is in immediate danger, call 911 or local emergency services.
For Community Groups
Community Groups should be clear when they are speaking or acting as a group, and should make sure posts made on their behalf are authorized, accurate, and appropriate.
A last word
Most of FIMBY runs on people simply being ordinary neighbours — making the loaf, lending the drill, sending the message, showing up. The standards on this page are here so the few moments that need more weight are handled clearly, and so everyone — especially the neighbours who feel quieter or more vulnerable — can keep showing up.
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