Tripshepherd Community Guidelines

Status: Draft — pending review by legal counsel.

These Community Guidelines describe the standards we expect for content posted to Tripshepherd — reviews, ratings, photos, comments, profile information, and any other content you submit. They are part of our Terms of Use and complement the Acceptable Use Policy.

1. Be authentic

Reviews, ratings, and stories about a tour or Operator should reflect your genuine first-hand experience. Specifically:

• write about a tour you actually took, on the booking attached to your account;
• describe what happened factually — the experience, the guide, the route, the food, the views — not speculation about what could have happened;
• if you receive a free or discounted tour, complimentary item, or any other consideration in exchange for a review, disclose it in the review itself.

Do not:

• post reviews of tours you did not take;
• submit reviews you have been paid, incentivised, or coerced to write without disclosure;
• coordinate with others to inflate ratings, suppress legitimate criticism, or attack a competitor;
• post the same review across multiple bookings, tours, or accounts.

2. Be respectful

The platform connects you with real guides, drivers, crew, fellow guests, and small-business Operators. Hold each other to a high standard:

• focus on the experience, not personal attacks on individuals;
• never use slurs, hate speech, or demeaning language directed at protected characteristics;
• do not threaten, harass, intimidate, or attempt to dox other users, guides, or Operators;
• assume good faith — if something went wrong, say what happened and let the Operator respond.

3. Respect privacy

When you write or upload content, you are also handling other people's personal information.

• do not include the full names of guides, drivers, crew, or other guests in reviews unless they have given consent or are publicly identified by the Operator (for example a named tour guide on the listing);
• do not share phone numbers, addresses, email addresses, or government-issued identifiers of other users in any content;
• do not post photos or videos that identify minors without their guardian's consent;
• do not post photos of other guests without their consent if they are clearly identifiable.

If you upload your own image, you are confirming that you have the rights and consent needed.

4. Stay on topic

Reviews and content should relate to the experience or to the Platform itself. We may remove content that:

• relates to factors outside the Operator's control where the connection is unclear (for example weather, traffic, third-party venue closures) when posted as a review of the Operator's quality, unless you also describe how the Operator handled the situation;
• is primarily an advertisement for an unrelated business, product, or cause;
• is duplicated across many tours or Operators;
• is off-topic, spam, or solely promotional.

Constructive criticism and detailed honest feedback — including negative feedback — are welcome. We do not remove negative reviews because they are negative.

5. Photos, videos, and uploads

When you upload media:

• the media must be yours or used with permission;
• it must comply with these Guidelines and the Acceptable Use Policy;
• it must not depict minors in a way that compromises their safety or privacy;
• it must not include explicit sexual content, graphic violence, illegal content, or content depicting harm to people or animals.

We may resize, crop, transcode, or watermark uploaded media for delivery. We may remove media that violates these Guidelines.

6. Sensitive topics

Some topics require extra care. We may remove content (or apply additional context) where it:

• contains medical, legal, financial, or safety claims that could mislead other users (for example "the Operator guarantees safety even in storms" — Operators do not, and we do not);
• makes accusations of crime or wrongdoing without evidence — please contact us directly with reports of crime or safety concerns;
• relates to active legal proceedings;
• targets a private individual rather than a business or service.

We do not adjudicate disputes between users; we apply these Guidelines to the content posted on our Platform.

7. Operator and guide guidelines

If you are an Operator, guide, host, or partner:

• do not respond to reviews with personal attacks on the reviewer;
• do not pressure customers to delete or change reviews;
• do not pay, incentivise, or solicit positive reviews without clear disclosure;
• do not impersonate customers;
• if a review contains factual errors or violates our Guidelines, use the report tool — do not retaliate.

You may publicly respond to a review on your listing. Responses follow these same Guidelines.

8. Reporting and enforcement

If you see content that breaks these Guidelines, use the report tool inside the Platform or email info@tripshepherd.com. Tell us:

• where the content is (URL, listing name, screenshot if possible);
• what about the content concerns you;
• any context (for example "this review is about a tour I did not deliver").

When we receive a report we may:

• review the content and any surrounding context;
• request additional information from the people involved;
• restrict, hide, or remove the content;
• warn or suspend the contributor;
• in serious cases (illegal content, safety threats), preserve evidence and contact authorities.

We aim to act quickly on reports of safety risk, harassment, illegal content, and clearly fraudulent reviews.

9. Changes to these Guidelines

We may update these Guidelines from time to time. The "Effective" date and version on this page will reflect the current version. We will communicate material changes through the Platform or by email.

10. Contact

• Reports and questions: info@tripshepherd.com