No editor at the centre decides what deserves attention. Members rate posts, flag what breaks the rules, and can push back on a flag they think is unfair. Those judgements — together with how recent a post is — decide what rises and what falls, and the flags behind them are out in the open.
Rating a post — one to five stars — is how members say what they think of it. A rating is a signed record that syncs across the network like the post itself.
“Posts may be demoted or hidden based on votes from users.”Pixelmine Terms of Service · Posted Content Storage
There is no thumbs-down button. A low star rating says you didn’t think much of a post; to say it breaks the rules, you flag it — and a flag makes you name which reason applies, so the claim is specific rather than a silent tap.
Reporting is not a vague “I don’t like this”. A flag names the specific reason, so the claim being made is clear to everyone who sees it — including the person who posted.
A claim that the post spreads something untrue — misinformation dressed as fact.
A claim that the post exists to defraud, trick, or take something from the people who see it.
A claim that the content does not belong here, whatever its intent.
A claim that the post is abusive or demeaning toward the people reading it.
A claim that the post depicts, threatens, or glorifies harm done to people.
A claim that the post is repetition or unsolicited promotion rather than a genuine contribution.
A claim that the subject needs careful handling — not necessarily wrong, but not something to stumble into unwarned.
A claim that the post breaks rules applying where it is being seen. What is permitted is not identical everywhere.
This is the part that makes it democratic rather than merely reactive. A flag does not settle anything on its own — anyone who thinks it is unfair can counter it, and that counter marks the flag down. Judgement is a conversation between members, not an appeal to a company.
There is no hidden multiplier behind a report. Once an account is old enough to flag, its flag weighs exactly the same as anyone else’s — and a counter-flag weighs exactly the same as a flag.
An account has to be at least seven days old before it can flag or counter-flag. A swarm of freshly made accounts cannot be spun up to take a post down.
Every flag counts as one, and every counter-flag cancels exactly one flag. No account’s judgement is worth more than another’s.
The clock starts at the first flag. For the next 24 hours the post stays visible — though in the All feed a flagged post ranks below unflagged ones — and anyone who thinks the flag is unfair can counter it.
If flags still outnumber counter-flags when the 24 hours are up, the post is hidden. A tie, or more counters than flags, and the post stands. Once a post is hidden, a later counter-flag can’t bring it back.
Not every judgement deserves the same reach. Pixelmine keeps a clear line between what quietly reshapes your own feed and what contributes to a verdict everybody lives with.
Block someone, or hide their posts, and your feed changes — nobody else’s does. It is a preference about your own experience, not a verdict on anyone.
Rate, flag, or counter a flag, and you are adding to a shared judgement that shapes how everyone else encounters it.
The same rating and flagging apply to community content, so a community’s own posts answer to exactly the rules everything else does.
A rating or a flag is not a counter being incremented in some database. It is a record signed with your key, travelling the network like any post, and nodes check the signature before they accept it from one another.
Any system where evaluation carries weight invites people to game it. Pixelmine’s Terms of Service set the rules, and breaking them can cost an account.
Being straight about the limits matters more than the word “democratic” does. The community’s judgement governs what rises and what is treated as a violation — but it is not sovereign over everything.
Under its Terms, Pixelmine can restrict or cancel an account that breaks the rules. Deleting an account is a request Pixelmine approves, and once an account is deleted its ratings no longer count toward any post.
One rating each, counted equally. Flags that name their reason. Counters that can hold them off. It is a slower, noisier way to decide what is good than an algorithm — and it belongs to the people it affects.