Language Parties Guidelines
As a global language learning community, we have given ourselves three guiding Community Principles:
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We are here to learn
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We celebrate our diversity
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We share generously
Language Parties embody these principles. They enable members of our community from all walks of life to get together, share stories and learn from each other - all at the tap of a button.
It’s wonderful - 99% of the time. The other 1% - things can happen that make us feel uncomfortable.
That’s what these guidelines are for. Their purpose is to clarify what the Community Principles mean when we meet each other in Language Parties, and specifically what content, topics and behaviour we accept and do not accept.
Knowing the guidelines should help understand when you are seeing something or someone acting against them. When you see this happen, please report the offender as soon as possible. Your report will stay anonymous and our Community Safety Team will take the necessary action.
Enough preamble - let’s begin!
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Content
This refers to the subject of conversation in a Language Party as well as its title and description.
Tandem is a community to learn languages. For that reason, there are three different categories for content based on direct relevance to language learning: “Red”, “Amber” and “Green” topics.
🔴 Red Topics
These topics are never, ever OK in our community:- Pornographic or sexually explicit material
- Child endangerment or sexualisation
- Incitation of hateful or extremist behavior
- Promoting acts of self harm or suicide
- Begging or seeking financial donation
- Violating intellectual property (playing an audio book or copyrighted music/material)
- Harmful misinformation
- Dating
- Slander towards other members or Tandem employees
Additionally, we don't allow the following topics:
- Politics (including but not limited to contentious political situations, identity politics)
- Religion
🟠 Amber Topics
Sometimes we want to talk about these topics, but must be very careful when doing so:
- Race and ethnicity
- Ethics and philosophy
- Relationships
Hosts planning to create Parties with Amber Topics should be extremely careful to ensure that the conversation stays healthy, respectful and productive. More on that later in the sections on Behavior and Host pointers.
🟢 Green Topics
- Language learning focused Parties
- Cultural exchange
- Games and quizzes
- Singalongs and other creative activities
Our guidance is simple: Keep to the Green Topics. That will help us keep Tandem focused on language learning, cultural exchange, and topics that unite us rather than divide us.
Parties that don’t make Tandem a better place will be shut down, and our Community Safety Team will always err on the side of caution. If you feel your Party was unfairly closed or your account unfairly banned, you can appeal by sending a detailed message to support@tandem.net.
“Safe space” Parties
A quick word on “safe space” Parties: Various communities feel more comfortable when they keep a space entirely to themselves, but explicitly excluding people with titles like “Only for [group]” or “No [group] allowed” is not in line with the inclusivity and openness we live in our community.
Promotional activities
Unless you are an official Tandem partner, it is not allowed to promote or sell a commercial product or service on Language Parties. We also prohibit including links to social platforms like WhatsApp, Telegram or Instagram in the title or description to your Party.
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Behavior
A healthy conversation happens when people listen, learn and show respect to each other - even when they have totally different beliefs and opinions. In our community we don’t tolerate behavior that gets in the way of a healthy conversation.
Discrimination and hate speech
Don’t incite hatred or discriminate against people based on race, ethnicity, religion, disability, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, neurodivergence or age. This covers, but is not limited to, slurs, insults, and conspiracies. Members who display or promote hateful behavior will be banned from our community.
Bullying
Don’t bully anyone, ever. That means targeting an individual and being consistently rude towards them, or encouraging others to do the same.
Mobbing
Don’t gang up on other community members, whether seriously or as a joke. Don’t mass report other members to catch the attention of community moderators either. One report per person is just fine. Those engaging in coordinated “report attacks” and other abuses of the report functionality will be banned from our community.
Trolling
Don’t troll or disrupt Parties by making loud noises, playing loud audio or making abusive statements.
Interruption and poor conversational etiquette
You may be extremely excited to give your opinion on a certain topic, but it is not OK to constantly interrupt others. Please also be mindful of monopolizing the conversation, and talking over others. We’re here to listen and learn from each other - always patiently wait your turn.
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Host pointers
As the host of a Language Party, you play a very important part in all of this. You are the person who is responsible for keeping the Party safe and friendly - and in line with the guidelines on content and behavior above. These pointers should help you ensure your Parties are always set up for success.
Write a positive, honest title
Let’s keep Tandem a welcoming place focused on language learning. Write a clear, positive and honest title that directly reflects the conversation you want to have when the Party goes live. Once it’s live - stick to the topic as best you can!
Keep it welcoming and accessible
Make it easy for people to get involved in your Party. Imagine you created a Party with the title “Speak like a British gentleman”, but have since moved on to talk about the Serengeti national park in Africa. It may be crystal clear to you and the speakers how you got from one topic to the other - but for people who just joined as listeners it might be quite confusing. Providing regular updates for context and welcoming new arrivals will make the Party feel accessible to as many new participants as possible.
Inclusivity and participation
As a host, it is your job to keep the Party inclusive and balanced. This means making sure that everybody who wants to speak gets a chance to do so. Encourage people to get involved, keep an eye on the balance in the conversation and show respect to all who contribute - regardless of your or their opinion.
Support the learning process
Learning a language is hard, and we’re all at different levels. Support your fellow Tandem members on their learning journeys by treating them with patience. Remember that we all started at zero!
Make sure to act
Parties aren’t always all sunshine and rainbows. Sometimes things will happen that challenge these guidelines and make other participants feel uncomfortable. When those things happen, it is your responsibility as a host to take action. Don’t just sit there silently and hope the problem goes away - lead by example and uphold our principles. Action could include reminding the offender(s) about these guidelines, moving them back to the listener section, or reporting/blocking them. Proactive hosts make for better, safer Parties.
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Other things
Authentic profiles
Parties should be a place where participants can trust each other, and trust that the information they see and hear about others is true. We use authentic profiles. Don’t pretend to be anyone you’re not. Everyone is interested in getting to know the real you.
Threats to Tandem
Any threats to the privacy or security of Tandem employees, staff, or partners are strictly prohibited and may escalate to the involvement of law enforcement. This includes, but is not limited to, unwanted attempts to contact Tandem employees, staff or partners via messages through the app or other personal channels including personal email addresses, phone numbers, social media accounts, in person visits, or via other unauthorized or invasive methods. If you have feedback on features or want to report bugs, visit feedback.tandem.net. For anything that makes you feel unsafe, or any other complaints you may have, write to support@tandem.net.
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We sincerely hope these guidelines help understand the kind of content and behavior our community accepts and expects on Language Parties, and the ways we all can help us to keep our community as safe and friendly as possible - whether we are active hosts or just keen listeners.
If you’re troubled by anything at all that wasn’t covered in the guidelines, please feel free to reach out to support@tandem.net.
Thanks very, very much for reading this far, and for your continued enjoyment and participation in Language Parties!
