Content rules & legal
SCNX Sites is in active beta, and we're changing a lot of things as we go. We'll be reworking this documentation once the current beta cycle wraps up, so some details on this page may be outdated in the meantime.
Your site is your community's space on the web. This page explains the rules for what goes on it, what SCNX checks for you, what happens if someone reports your site, and which legal pages you might need.
We're not lawyers, and the rules for websites differ from country to country. This page gives you a general overview so you know what to look out for. You are responsible for your own site. Please check the laws that apply to you, and ask a lawyer if you're unsure.
What you are responsible for
You decide what your site says, and SCNX hosts it. That means:
- You are responsible for your content. Text, images, links, blog posts, forms and everything else you publish is yours, and so is the responsibility for it. The same goes for anyone you let edit your site.
- You are responsible for the data you collect. If you ask visitors for information through a form, you decide what to ask and what happens with the answers. See Forms.
- You are responsible for your legal pages. If your site needs an imprint or a privacy policy, you write them and link them. We don't write them for you. See When you need an imprint and a privacy policy.
SCNX is responsible for running the platform. That's why every site has a small SCNX bar at the very bottom of the footer, with links to the Platform Imprint, the Platform Privacy policy and Report this page. These links are always there and can't be removed. They cover SCNX as the host, not your site.
What you can't publish
When you create a site, you agree to the SCNX Terms of Service. They apply to your site just like they apply to the rest of SCNX. In short: follow the law and Discord's rules, treat people with respect, and only use content you have the rights to.
The Terms of Service say exactly what is and isn't allowed, so please read them.
Automatic checks while you edit
When you save, SCNX automatically checks your text, images and links.
If something is flagged, it is not saved. In the editor, the page shows Needs attention with the message Your text didn't pass our content review, and lists what was flagged. For an image or a link, the message names the image or link that was flagged. Change or remove the flagged content and the editor saves the page again on its own. Your other changes stay safe in the editor in the meantime. See Autosave for how saving works.
If the check itself is briefly unavailable, saving pauses and you see Automated content review is temporarily unavailable. Nothing is lost. Try again in a moment.
The automatic check is a safety net, not a stamp of approval. Content that passes can still break the rules or the law, and you're still responsible for it.
Reports from visitors
Every page of your site has a Report this page link in the footer. Anyone can use it to tell SCNX about content they think breaks the rules or the law. It opens a short report form on SCNX with your site's address already filled in.
If your site breaks the Terms of Service or the law, SCNX can take it offline.
When your site is taken offline
If SCNX takes your site offline, this is what changes.
What you see. At the top of your site's pages in the dashboard, a red banner says This website is offline. If you are the server owner or a co-owner, the banner shows the reason we gave and the date of the decision, with a link to Full decision details. Other people who manage the site see that the site is offline and are asked to check with the server owner. The site's status shows Disabled. The server owner and co-owners also get an email with the decision and their options.
What visitors see. Your site can't be reached anymore, on every address it used, including your custom domains. Visitors are not shown a reason. There is no need to change anything in your domain settings.
What you can still do.
- Look around your site in the dashboard. Nothing is deleted. Your pages, blog posts, forms and answers stay as they were.
- Appeal the decision, see below.
- Contact SCNX support from the banner if you have questions.
- Delete your site under Danger zone in Settings, if you'd rather start fresh. This can't be undone.
Editing stays locked while the decision is in force. Settings that you can't change show This cannot be changed while this site is under takedown.
If the decision is lifted, your site goes back to the state it was in before. If it was published, it is live again.
How to appeal
If you think we got it wrong, you can ask us to look at the decision again:
- Open your site in the dashboard.
- In the red banner, click Appeal this decision.
- Tell us why you think the decision should change, and send it.
The appeal link is only shown to the server owner and co-owners, and only for a while after the decision. Once you have appealed, the banner shows View existing reconsideration request instead, so you can follow up there. If you can't find the appeal link, use Contact SCNX support in the same banner. The Terms of Service explain the appeal process and your other options in full.
When you need an imprint and a privacy policy
Whether you need these depends on the country you live in and on what your site does. Here is a general idea of what to think about.
Imprint. Many countries require websites to say who runs them. In Germany, for example, most sites that are not purely private or family-only need an imprint ("Impressum"), and this often already applies if your community has a commercial side, like selling things, running ads or taking donations. Other countries have similar rules. If your site needs one, create it as a normal page or host it elsewhere, and link it.
Privacy policy. As soon as your site handles personal data from visitors, you usually need a privacy policy that explains what happens with it. On an SCNX site this is most often the case when:
- you have a form, because visitors send you their answers and the spam check runs on every form (see Forms),
- you embed a YouTube or Twitch video (see Third-party content),
- you collect information in some other way, like asking people to email you.
Where to add them. Link your privacy policy and imprint under Legal information in Settings, see Settings. Both then show up in your site's footer, and your privacy policy is also linked next to every form. You can add a contact for data questions there too, which is shown next to your forms.
SCNX reminds you if something looks missing. The Before you go live list on your Overview tells you when there is no privacy policy or data contact yet. When you publish a site with a form but no privacy policy, the publish popover shows a reminder too. These are only reminders. They don't block you from publishing, and they can't tell whether your legal pages are complete.
Third-party content on your site
SCNX keeps outside services off your site as much as it can. Your images are hosted by SCNX, fonts are served by SCNX, and you can't add your own scripts or code to your site. Pageview statistics don't use cookies or store visitor identifiers.
A few features do involve another company. Mention these in your privacy policy if you use them:
| Feature | Who is involved |
|---|---|
| Video embeds | YouTube or Twitch. The visitor's browser loads the video from them when the page opens. They may set their own cookies. |
| Forms | Cloudflare Turnstile or hCaptcha, which run the spam check, depending on your Bot protection setting. |
| Your server icon and Discord events | Discord. The visitor's browser loads these images from Discord. |
| Discord notifications for form answers | Discord. Answers are posted to your Discord channel, if you set this up. |
For YouTube, using a youtube-nocookie.com embed link usually reduces what YouTube stores before someone presses play.
Check your local laws
Before you go live, go through this list and check what applies in your country:
- Imprint. Does your site need one? Is it linked under Legal information?
- Privacy policy. Does it cover your forms, video embeds, the spam check and anything else you collect?
- Cookies and consent. SCNX itself doesn't add tracking cookies, but embedded videos can. Check whether your country needs you to ask visitors first.
- Copyright. Do you have the right to use every image, logo, video, music clip and text on your site?
- Your audience. If your community has younger members, are there extra rules for what you show them or what data you collect from them?
- Giveaways and ads. If you run giveaways, sell things or advertise, check the rules for contests, advertising and consumer information in your country.
If you're unsure about any of these, ask a lawyer or a local advice service. We can't tell you what your country requires.