Community Guidelines

Last updated: July 13, 2026

Smoke better, together.

Pit Pals is a place to plan great barbecue, learn from every cook, and share the experience with others.

People bring different equipment, techniques, traditions, and levels of experience to the pit. These Community Guidelines help keep Pit Pals useful, welcoming, and safe.

They apply to profiles, photos, cooks, notes, comments, and all other content and interactions on Pit Pals.

1. Treat People With Respect

Barbecue opinions can get strong. Keep disagreements focused on the cook, not the person.

Do not:

  • Harass, bully, threaten, intimidate, or abuse others
  • Use hateful or discriminatory language
  • Make personal attacks
  • Encourage others to target or abuse someone
  • Repeatedly contact someone who has asked you to stop

Constructive disagreement is welcome. Abuse is not.

2. Keep Content Appropriate

Pit Pals is a barbecue community.

Do not post:

  • Sexually explicit content
  • Graphic violence or gore
  • Content intended primarily to shock, humiliate, or disturb
  • Exploitative or sexual content involving minors
  • Content promoting self-harm or violence toward others

Photos of raw meat, butchery, food preparation, hunting results, and completed barbecue may be permitted when shared in an appropriate culinary or educational context.

3. Share Responsibly

Cooking involves heat, fire, sharp tools, raw food, fuel, and heavy equipment.

Do not intentionally encourage unsafe behavior, present dangerous conduct as harmless, or knowingly spread false food-safety information.

Tips, target temperatures, timelines, and personal experiences should be presented as such. Everyone remains responsible for independently verifying food temperatures, following equipment instructions, observing local fire restrictions, and cooking safely.

4. Respect Privacy

Do not share another person’s sensitive or private information without permission.

This includes:

  • Home addresses
  • Phone numbers
  • Private email addresses
  • Financial information
  • Identification information
  • Private messages
  • Images of people who reasonably expect privacy

Do not use Pit Pals to stalk, track, threaten, intimidate, or expose another person.

5. Share Only What You Have the Right to Share

Only upload photos and content that you created or have permission to use.

Do not:

  • Copy another person’s photos or writing and present them as your own
  • Violate copyrights, trademarks, or other intellectual-property rights
  • Remove attribution or ownership marks to conceal the source of content
  • Use another person’s likeness in a misleading or unauthorized way

Giving credit does not always replace the need for permission.

6. No Spam, Scams, or Manipulation

Do not use Pit Pals to:

  • Send repetitive or irrelevant promotions
  • Operate scams or deceptive giveaways
  • Impersonate another person, restaurant, business, or organization
  • Create misleading or fraudulent accounts
  • Artificially manipulate reactions, comments, follows, or engagement
  • Distribute malicious software or suspicious links
  • Mislead users about a commercial relationship or sponsorship

Reasonable and honest discussion of products, equipment, restaurants, and barbecue businesses is permitted when it is relevant to the conversation.

7. Reporting and Blocking

You may report content or accounts that you believe violate these Guidelines.

You may also block another user. Blocking is intended to prevent normal interaction between your accounts and hide the blocked user’s content where supported.

When reviewing a report, we may consider:

  • The content itself
  • The surrounding context
  • The severity of the conduct
  • Previous violations
  • Risks to users or the Service

Reporting content does not guarantee that it will be removed. For privacy and safety reasons, we may not provide details about action taken against another account.

8. Enforcement

Violations may result in:

  • A warning
  • Content removal
  • Reduced content visibility
  • Restrictions on particular features
  • Temporary account suspension
  • Permanent account termination

Severe conduct may result in immediate removal without a prior warning.

We may preserve or disclose information when reasonably necessary to address security or safety concerns, protect users, enforce our policies, or comply with applicable law.

9. Contact Us

Questions about these Guidelines or concerns about content on Pit Pals may be sent to:

support@pitpals.app

Please include your username, a description of the issue, and any relevant screenshots or details.

Do not send your password.