Stay safe here

IThe short version

Keep your personal information to yourself, check who you are dealing with, and tell us when something feels wrong. Nobody here needs your address, your phone number, your school or your workplace, and nobody from LotusMake will ever ask for your password. This page says why, and what to do if someone asks anyway.

IIKeep your personal information to yourself

Leave your home address, phone number, school, workplace, passwords and payment details out of posts, tip notes and messages. A tip note is read by the maker and, if the maker chooses, shown on their page. A post is public or shared with the people who support that maker. Once something is written there, you cannot call it back from every place it has been copied to.

Payment details belong to Stripe and to nobody else. You type a card number into Stripe's own checkout and never into a post, a note or a message. We never see it.

IIIA maker never needs your personal information

To support a maker you choose an amount and pay. That is all. A maker does not need to know where you live, where you study or work, or how to reach you outside this site. If a maker, or someone who says they speak for one, asks for more before they will accept your support, do not give it.

IVNobody from LotusMake will ask for your password

We never ask for your password, your sign-in code or your recovery codes, not by mail, not in a message, not on a page that asks you to confirm them. If a message says it is from LotusMake and asks for any of these, it is not from us. Sign in through the sign-in page you reached yourself, and nowhere else.

VCheck who you are dealing with

The only identity this site vouches for is what you can see on a maker's page: the page itself, the handle in its address, and the links the maker has put there. A name in a message, a friendly profile picture or a claim to be a known maker proves nothing. Before you rely on someone, go to their page by its address, not by a link someone sent you, and check that the handle and the links match what you were told. If you cannot confirm who someone is, treat them as a stranger.

VIWhen someone asks for personal information or contact

If someone asks for personal information, or asks you to move to another place to talk privately, you do not have to answer, and you do not have to explain why. Stop replying, keep what they wrote, and report it. A report is read by a person, and nothing happens to anyone automatically.

If it involves anyone under 18, report it under rule A1 at /report/a1. You do not need an account to do that. If a child is in danger now, call your local emergency number first. In the United States you can also report at report.cybertip.org.

VIIYour age band

When you make an account you say whether you are 18 or older or 13 to 17. That answer puts you in a band, and the band decides what the site shows you. How ratings work explains each rating and how one is corrected. Anything rated beyond PG needs an account.

• Kid. Content rated G and PG. This is what anyone sees who has not said anything about their age, and it is what a person without an account sees. Accounts are for people 13 and older, so a child reads without one.
• Teen. Content rated up to PG-13. You get this band when you say you are 13 to 17 as you make your account.
• Adult. Content rated up to R. You get this band when you say you are 18 or older.

Content rated 18+ is not hosted here; see How ratings work.

We keep the band and the date you gave it, and nothing else about your age. We do not ask for your birthday and we do not store one. You can change what you see from your Forge page, and a teen who turns 18 can say so there. We take your word for your age, which is why the first protection is the one above: keep your personal information to yourself.

VIIIFor parents

LotusMake accounts are for people 13 and older, and a younger child can read the public parts of the site without one, seeing only G and PG content. If your child is 13 to 17 and has an account, they are in the teen band and do not see R or 18+ content. Makers set their own ratings, and anyone with an account can report one that looks wrong under rule A14 (see How ratings work).

Talk with your child about the points above: no address, phone, school or payment details in posts, notes or messages, and a stranger who asks for more is a reason to stop and tell you. We do not run advertising and we do not sell what we hold; the privacy page lists everything we keep and for how long. If you think a child under 13 has an account, write to us and we will close it and erase what it holds.