Community & Content Guidelines

Community Guidelines

Effective: August 9, 2026 · Last updated: August 9, 2026

The MetaOriental community exists so people can compare notes on consumer AI hardware honestly — including when a product disappoints. These Guidelines are part of the Terms of Use.

1. The short version

Do: post from real experience · say what you actually think, good or bad · disclose any commercial relationship · use your own material or material you have permission to use · be specific and useful.

Don't: fake experience · hide a payment or free product · manipulate votes, ratings or rankings · post someone else's content as yours · harass anyone · publish private information · post anything unsafe or unlawful.

2. Be genuine

2.1 Post only about products you have actually used, or make clear that you have not used the product and are commenting on something else — specifications, news, someone else's review.

2.2 Do not fabricate experiences, identities, purchases, orders, engagement or testimonials.

2.3 Do not operate multiple or coordinated accounts to amplify a view, a product or yourself.

2.4 If you use generative AI or synthetic media, do not present it as a real experience, a real person, or an actual recording of product performance. Label it.

3. Disclose commercial relationships

3.1 If you received payment, commission, affiliate revenue, a free or discounted product, a sample, a gift, hospitality, travel, services, equity or employment — or if you have a family or close personal relationship with a brand or seller — say so in the post itself.

3.2 The standard. Your disclosure must be clear, conspicuous and hard to miss: at the start of written content before any fold or "more" control, within the first three seconds of video, and repeated at reasonable intervals during a live stream. A platform disclosure label supplements your own disclosure; it does not replace it. Where the composer offers a disclosure control, use it as well.

3.3 Referral and share links. If you post a MetaOriental referral or share link and you earn points, credit, rewards or any other benefit when someone uses it, that is a material connection — disclose it in the post on the same standard as 3.2.

3.4 If you work for a brand, an agency, an MCN or a retailer and post about a product you have a commercial interest in, disclose that too.

3.5 Undisclosed commercial content is removed, and repeat instances lead to account action.

Detail: Advertising, Affiliate & Sponsorship Disclosure.

4. Negative opinions are welcome

4.1 We do not remove a review or post because it is unfavourable to a brand, an advertiser or to us. Criticism based on genuine experience is the point of the community. This commitment, and the rule that no commercial relationship can buy a ranking, a conclusion or the suppression of criticism, are stated in full at Rankings & Editorial Methodology §1 and apply across the Service.

4.2 What we do act on is content that is false, unsubstantiated, infringing, undisclosed, unsafe, harassing or otherwise against these Guidelines — regardless of whether it is positive or negative.

4.3 We will not edit the substance of your opinion. Where a post is misleading in a way that context can fix, we may add a note rather than remove it.

4.4 If a brand asks you to delete a genuine negative post, or offers you anything to soften one, tell us at legal@metaoriental.com.

5. Post what is yours to post

5.1 You must own or have permission for everything in your post — images, video, music, text, software, trademarks, and the likeness and voice of anyone appearing.

5.2 Do not repost another creator's content as your own. Quoting or excerpting with clear credit and a link is fine within fair use.

5.3 Copyright complaints: DMCA / Copyright Policy. Trademark and brand complaints: Brand & IP Takedown.

5.4 What rights you give us. These Guidelines govern what you may post. The licence you grant MetaOriental in the content you submit — what we may do with it, and for how long — is set out in Terms of Use §5, not here. You keep ownership of your content.

6. Respect other people

6.1 No harassment, threats, intimidation, stalking, sexual harassment or coordinated pile-ons.

6.2 No hate speech or attacks based on race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, disability, disease, age, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, veteran status or immigration status.

6.3 No doxxing: do not publish anyone's home address, phone number, email, government identification, financial details, precise location, private communications or other personal information without their consent, including your own where it puts you at risk.

6.4 No impersonation of a person, brand, MetaOriental staff or official account.

6.5 Disagree about products as much as you like. Attack the argument, not the person.

7. Safety

7.1 Do not encourage or demonstrate dangerous misuse of a product — defeating a safety interlock, bypassing a limiter, operating a drone or vehicle unlawfully, modifying a battery, disabling a warning.

7.2 Do not present a consumer device as a medical device or give medical, diagnostic or treatment advice. See the Health & Wellness Disclaimer.

7.3 If you experienced a safety incident with a product, please report it: Report a Safety Issue. You may also report directly to the CPSC at SaferProducts.gov.

7.4 No content promoting self-harm, suicide or eating disorders. If you are struggling, in the U.S. you can call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline).

8. Prohibited content

No content that is unlawful, fraudulent, defamatory, obscene, sexually explicit, exploitative of minors, promoting violence, terrorism or illegal weapons, promoting illegal drugs or restricted substances, promoting gambling, or promoting circumvention of law, sanctions or export controls.

No spam, repetitive posting, unsolicited advertising, pyramid or referral chains, phishing, malware, or off-platform solicitation of other members.

9. Polls, votes and rankings

9.1 Community polls are unscientific and self-selected. Do not present poll results as research.

9.2 Do not manipulate polls, votes, ratings or engagement metrics through duplicate accounts, coordination, bots or purchased activity.

9.3 Community activity is one of several inputs to on-site popularity signals. Attempting to manipulate a ranking is grounds for removal of content, forfeiture of rewards and account termination. See Rankings & Editorial Methodology.

10. Levels and badges

Community levels and badges reflect participation and standing on MetaOriental only. They are not a professional qualification, a certification, an expert credential, or an endorsement by MetaOriental of anything a member says. We may adjust or remove them.

11. Official accounts

Content from MetaOriental Official is published by us. Where a brand has paid for or supported it, it carries an additional Sponsored label.

12. What happens if you break these rules

Depending on severity and history, we may: add a label or context note · limit distribution · remove content · disconnect attribution · restrict features · suspend or terminate your account · preserve evidence and notify a rights holder, platform or authority where required. Where your account uses creator tasks, referral attribution or rewards, we may also disqualify you from those features and withhold or reverse the associated rewards.

We may act without prior notice where the situation is urgent or involves safety, investigation, rights protection or legal constraint.

Appeals. Contact legal@metaoriental.com with the post URL and your reasons. We review but do not guarantee restoration; the original measure stays in effect while we review.

13. Reporting

Email legal@metaoriental.com with the post URL and what is wrong. Where a post shows a Report control, you can use that instead — either route reaches the same team.

14. Changes

We update these Guidelines as the community and the law evolve, with a new "Last updated" date and notice for material changes.

Reviews & Ratings Policy

Effective: August 9, 2026 · Last updated: August 9, 2026

Reviews are only worth something if they are real. This Policy explains the rules we apply to ourselves, to brands and to reviewers. It is part of the Terms of Use.

1. Our commitments

The rule we hold ourselves to. This Policy is written to the Federal Trade Commission's Rule on the Use of Consumer Reviews and Testimonials, 16 C.F.R. Part 465, and to Section 5 of the FTC Act. That Rule prohibits, among other things, creating or buying fake or AI-generated consumer reviews, review hijacking, suppressing negative reviews, undisclosed insider reviews, and misrepresenting that a rating or review indicator reflects the views of real consumers — including in machine-readable form that consumers do not see on the page. We treat a structured-data rating, a badge, a star average and a review count as review indicators subject to the same rule as the review text itself.

We do:

• publish all qualifying reviews, positive and negative, in the order and prominence our published methodology produces;
• label reviews connected to any payment, free product, discount or other material relationship;
• keep records of our review-handling decisions;
• act on evidence of manipulation by anyone, including a brand or a member of our own team.

We do not:

• buy reviews, sell reviews, or pay for a positive review or a particular rating;
• write reviews under a fake identity, or ask anyone to;
• condition any reward, sample, task, prize or standing on a positive review, a star level, or the suppression of a negative view;
• delete, hide, demote or edit the substance of a genuine review because it is unfavourable to a brand, an advertiser or to MetaOriental;
• allow a brand to pay for the removal or suppression of a genuine review;
• display an average rating that omits qualifying negative reviews;
• present reviews of a different product, model or variant as if they were reviews of the product on the page — where we group variants, we say so and let you filter.

2. Rules for reviewers

2.1 Review only products you have actually used. If you have not used it, post in the discussion area instead and say so.

2.2 One review per person per product. Update your existing review rather than posting again.

2.3 Disclose any material connection — payment, commission, affiliate revenue, a free or discounted product, a sample, a gift, hospitality, travel, services, equity or employment, or a family or close personal relationship with the brand or seller. Your disclosure must be clear, conspicuous and hard to miss: at the start of written content before any fold or "more" control, within the first three seconds of video, and repeated at reasonable intervals during a live stream. A platform disclosure label supplements your own disclosure; it does not replace it. Where the composer offers a disclosure control, use it as well. Undisclosed commercial reviews are removed.

This is the same standard that applies to community posts — see Community Guidelines §3.

2.4 Do not review a product you sell, manufacture, distribute or work for, or a direct competitor's product, without disclosing your interest.

2.5 Do not accept anything of value in exchange for a positive review, a rating, or the removal of a negative review. Report anyone who offers.

2.6 Base factual claims on your actual experience. Do not state test results, safety findings, medical outcomes or performance figures you cannot support.

2.7 No personal information, no harassment, no content that belongs to someone else.

3. Rules for brands and sellers

Brands and sellers on MetaOriental may not:

• write, commission or coordinate reviews of their own or a competitor's products, whether directly, through employees, agencies, relatives or third-party services;
• offer or provide anything of value conditioned on a positive review or a particular rating;
• request removal, suppression, demotion or editing of a genuine review because it is unfavourable;
• misuse the reporting or takedown channels to suppress criticism;
• buy, sell or exchange review accounts, or misrepresent an insider review as independent.

Paying MetaOriental for any service buys none of the things listed in Rankings & Editorial Methodology §1 — which is the controlling statement of that rule across the Service, and covers ratings, review conclusions and the removal or demotion of criticism.

Suspected violations may result in removal of the brand's listings, suspension of the commercial relationship, and referral under the applicable brand agreement.

4. Insider reviews

A review by a MetaOriental employee, contractor, ecosystem partner, or by a brand's officer, employee, agent or immediate family member, must clearly and conspicuously disclose that relationship in the review itself. We label such reviews and exclude them from any "verified purchase" or "independent" designation.

5. Incentivized reviews

Where a reviewer received a free or discounted product, a sample or another incentive:

• the incentive may never be conditioned on the content, tone, rating or conclusion of the review;
• the review is labelled Incentivized or Gifted product;
• where we publish an aggregate count of a product's incentivized reviews, we do so for every product on the same basis, and we will tell you the count on request at legal@metaoriental.com.

6. Negative reviews

6.1 A genuine negative review stays up — the controlling statement of that commitment for the whole Service is at Rankings & Editorial Methodology §1. We may add context where a factual statement is demonstrably wrong, but we do not change the reviewer's opinion or ask them to soften it.

6.2 A brand may post a public response. It may not demand removal.

6.3 If a brand or anyone else pressures you over a genuine review, tell us at legal@metaoriental.com.

6.4 A review may still be removed if it is false, infringing, harassing, contains personal information, is undisclosed commercial content, or otherwise violates the Community Guidelines — never merely because it is negative.

7. Verification and labels

Reviews carry the labels below. Which of them are available depends on the data we hold — a Verified purchase label requires an order placed through the Service, so reviews of products bought elsewhere are labelled Unverified, and that is not a judgement about the review.

We may use automated and manual signals to detect manipulation, and may remove reviews, adjust ratings, disable accounts and reverse rewards accordingly.

8. Ratings

8.1 Displayed averages include all qualifying published reviews. We do not filter out low ratings.

8.2 We may exclude a review from the average where we have removed it under this Policy or the Community Guidelines, and we will indicate that some reviews are excluded.

8.3 Where reviews are aggregated across product variants, we say so on the page.

8.4 We do not display a rating derived from a third-party source as if it were a MetaOriental rating.

9. Reporting a problem

Email legal@metaoriental.com with the URL and the reason, or use the Report control on a review where one is shown. Brands may also use Brand & IP Takedown for intellectual property and impersonation issues — not for genuine criticism.

10. Enforcement

We may remove reviews, suspend accounts, forfeit rewards, delist products, suspend brand relationships and preserve or disclose evidence to authorities. Systematic manipulation may be reported to the FTC or another competent authority.

11. Records

We retain review-handling records — the review, the decision, the reason, the reviewer's disclosure and the version of this Policy applied — for at least three years.