TrustLedger — Community Guidelines

Kellen Snider served as Founding Engineer during TrustLedger's Ethereum

development. His vision, ideas, and dedication during the project's founding

were invaluable to the codebase we build on today. See

`CREDITS.md`.

Effective Date: June 9, 2026 Last Updated: June 9, 2026 Version: 1.0.0

1. Introduction

TrustLedger is a decentralized escrow, arbitration, and reputation platform designed to help freelancers and clients transact with trust. These Community Guidelines set out the behavioral standards expected of all participants — clients, freelancers, jurors, developers, and observers — to maintain a safe, fair, and functional platform.

These Guidelines supplement and are incorporated by reference into the Terms and Conditions, the Acceptable Use Policy, and the Content Policy.

2. Core Principles

The TrustLedger community is built on four principles:

Honesty. Represent yourself, your work, and your agreements truthfully. Do not fabricate, misrepresent, or deceive.

Fairness. Engage with others in good faith. Honor your contractual commitments. Participate in the arbitration system with integrity.

Respect. Treat all participants with basic respect and dignity. Disagreements about work quality do not justify harassment or abuse.

Responsibility. You are responsible for your own decisions, actions, transactions, and outcomes. Conduct your own due diligence. Do not take risks you cannot afford.

3. Guidelines for All Users

3.1 Be Honest. Provide accurate information about yourself, your project, your work, and your intentions. Do not exaggerate qualifications, fabricate experience, or misrepresent deliverables.

3.2 Act in Good Faith. Engage with Counterparties honestly and with the genuine intention of fulfilling your obligations. Do not create escrow proposals, accept contracts, or submit work with fraudulent intent.

3.3 Communicate Clearly. Before entering an escrow arrangement, discuss expectations, deliverables, timelines, and acceptance criteria clearly with your Counterparty to minimize disputes.

3.4 Respect Timelines. Honor contractual deadlines. Act promptly within acceptance windows, warranty periods, and dispute timelines. Delay can have automatic on-chain consequences.

3.5 Conduct Due Diligence. Before transacting with any Counterparty, research their reputation, review their history on the Platform, and satisfy yourself about their trustworthiness. The Operator does not verify Users.

3.6 Protect Your Credentials. Never share your private key, seed phrase, or magic link with anyone. Never enter your seed phrase into any website, application, or form that you cannot fully verify. Be alert to phishing.

3.7 Report Bad Actors. If you encounter fraud, harassment, scams, or other harmful behavior, report it to the Operator. Reporting helps protect the community.

4. Guidelines for Freelancers

4.1 Deliver What You Promise. Only accept projects you are genuinely qualified to complete. Deliver work that meets or exceeds the agreed specifications and quality.

4.2 Be Transparent About Progress. Communicate proactively with clients about project progress, obstacles, or changes in scope.

4.3 Submit Accurate Proof of Work. Only submit genuine, original, completed work as proof. Do not submit work that does not meet the agreed specifications and claim it as complete.

4.4 Respect Intellectual Property. Do not use unauthorized third-party materials, plagiarized content, or licensed materials in deliverables without appropriate authorization.

4.5 Rate Honestly. Submit ratings based on your genuine experience with the client. Do not submit false, retaliatory, or manipulative ratings.

5. Guidelines for Clients

5.1 Fund Escrows Honestly. Only create escrow proposals for genuine projects. Do not create fake projects, front-run proposals, or use escrow mechanics to exploit freelancers.

5.2 Review Work Fairly. Review submitted proof of work promptly and objectively. Do not withhold approval from genuinely completed work to avoid payment.

5.3 Act Within Acceptance Windows. Review submissions and take action within the acceptance window. Failure to act may allow the freelancer to claim funds automatically.

5.4 Rate Honestly. Submit ratings based on your genuine experience with the freelancer. Do not submit false, retaliatory, or coordinated negative ratings.

5.5 Open Disputes in Good Faith. Only open disputes when you have genuine concerns about the quality or completeness of deliverables. Do not open disputes as a tactic to delay or avoid payment for completed work.

6. Guidelines for Jurors

6.1 Evaluate Evidence Objectively. Review all submitted evidence without bias, conflicts of interest, or predetermined conclusions.

6.2 Disclose Conflicts. If you have a personal, financial, or other conflict of interest with any party to a dispute, you should not participate as a juror in that dispute.

6.3 Do Not Collude. Never coordinate with other jurors, parties, or third parties to predetermine dispute outcomes. Collusion is a serious violation of these Guidelines and these Terms.

6.4 Complete the Voting Process. If you commit to a vote, complete the reveal phase within the applicable time window. Failure to reveal may result in slashing of your staked funds.

6.5 Maintain Confidentiality. Do not disclose the content of your vote, your salted hash, or your deliberative process to parties or third parties during active dispute proceedings.

6.6 Act with Integrity. Do not accept bribes, threats, or inducements to vote in a particular manner. Report any attempt to corrupt the arbitration process.

7. Prohibited Behaviors

The following behaviors are prohibited and may result in suspension, termination, and legal action:

• Fraud, scams, and deceptive practices of any kind
• Harassment, threats, and abusive communications
• Impersonating other Users or the Operator
• Submitting fabricated evidence in disputes
• Juror collusion or vote-rigging
• Rating manipulation or coordinated rating campaigns
• Money laundering or financial crime
• Phishing and credential theft
• Platform exploitation and smart contract abuse
• Counterfeit platform creation

See the Acceptable Use Policy and Content Policy for a full list of prohibited conduct.

8. Enforcement

Violations of these Guidelines may result in:

• warnings;
• temporary or permanent suspension of platform access;
• removal of Content;
• termination of active escrow access through the Frontend Application; and
• reporting to law enforcement.

The Operator's enforcement decisions are final.

9. Questions and Reporting

Questions about these Guidelines or to report violations:

TrustLedger Email: kevinle3212@gmail.com

These Community Guidelines were last reviewed and updated on June 9, 2026.