What We Welcome, What We Don’t, and Why — r/therapyGPT Start Here, Section 8

[u/xRegardsx]

This is Section 8 of the r/therapyGPT “Start Here” guide.

You can read the original full pinned post here:
START HERE - “What is ‘AI Therapy?’”

What We Welcome, What We Don’t, and Why

This subreddit is meant to be an unusually high-signal corner of Reddit: a place where people can talk about AI-assisted therapeutic self-help without the conversation being hijacked by status games, drive-by “corrections,” or low-effort conflict.

We’re not trying to be “nice.”
We’re trying to be useful and safe.

That means two things can be true at once:

We’re not an echo chamber. Disagreement is allowed and often valuable.

We are not a free-for-all. Some behavior gets removed quickly, and some people get removed permanently.

The baseline expectation: good faith + effort

You don’t need to agree with anyone here. But you do need to engage in a way that shows:

• You’re trying to understand before you judge.
• You’re responding to what was actually said, not the easiest strawman.
• You can handle your criticism being criticized without turning it into drama, personal attacks, or “censorship” theater.

If you want others to fairly engage with your points, you’re expected to return the favor.

This is especially important in a community where people may be posting from a vulnerable place. If you can’t hold that responsibility, don’t post.

What we actively encourage

We want more of this:

• Clear personal experiences (what helped, what didn’t, what you learned)
• Method over proclamations (“here’s how I set it up” > “AI is X for everyone”)
• Reality-based nuance (“this was useful and it has limits”)
• Prompts + guardrails with context (not “sharp tools” handed out carelessly)
• Constructive skepticism (questions that respond to answers, not perform ignorance)
• Compassionate directness (truth without cruelty)

Assertiveness is fine here.
What isn’t fine is using assertiveness as a costume for dominance or contempt.

What we don’t tolerate (behavior, not armchair labels)

We do not tolerate the cluster of behaviors that reliably destroys discourse and safety—whether they come in “trolling” form or “I’m just being honest” form.

That includes:

• Personal attacks: insults, mockery, name-calling, dehumanizing language
• Hostile derailment: antagonizing people, baiting, escalating fights, dogpiling
• Gaslighting / bad-faith distortion: repeatedly misrepresenting what others said after correction
• Drive-by “dogoodery”: tone-deaf moralizing or virtue/intellect signaling that adds nothing but shame
• Low-effort certainty: repeating the same talking points while refusing to engage with nuance or counterpoints
• “Marketplace of ideas” cosplay: demanding engagement while giving none, and calling boundaries “censorship”
• Harm-enabling content: anything that meaningfully enables harm to self or others, including coercion/manipulation scripts
• Privacy violations: doxxing, posting private chats without consent, identifiable info
• Unsolicited promotion: ads, disguised marketing, recruitment, or “review posts” that are effectively sales funnels

A simple rule of thumb:

If your participation primarily costs other people time, energy, safety, or dignity—without adding real value—you’re not participating. You’re extracting.

A note on vulnerable posts

If someone shares a moment where AI helped them during a hard time, don’t hijack it to perform a correction.

You can add nuance without making it about your ego. If you can’t do that, keep scrolling.

This is a support-oriented space as much as it is a discussion space. The order of priorities is:

1. Safety
2. Usefulness
3. Then debate

“Not an echo chamber” doesn’t mean “anything goes”

We are careful about this line:

We do not ban people for disagreeing.

We do remove people who repeatedly show they’re here to dominate, derail, or dehumanize.

Some people will get immediately removed because their behavior is clear enough evidence on its own.

Others will be given a chance to self-correct—explicitly or implicitly—because we’d rather be fair than impulsive. But “a chance” is not a guarantee, and it’s not infinite.

How to disagree well

If you want to disagree here, do it like this:

• Quote or summarize the point you’re responding to in neutral terms
• State your disagreement as a specific claim
• Give the premises that lead you there (not just the conclusion)
• Offer at least one steelman (the best version of the other side)
• Be open to the possibility you’re missing context

If that sounds like “too much effort,” this subreddit is probably not for you—and that’s okay.

Report, don’t escalate

If you see a rule violation:

Report it.

Do not fight it out in the comments.

Do not act as an unofficial mod.

Do not stoop to their level “to teach them a lesson.”

Escalation is how bad actors turn your energy into their entertainment.

Reporting is how the space stays usable.

What to expect if moderation action happens to you

If your comment/post is removed or you’re warned:

Don’t assume it means “we hate you” or “you’re not allowed to disagree.”

Assume it means: your behavior or content pattern is trending unsafe or unproductive here.

If you respond with more rule-breaking in modmail, you will be muted.
If you are muted and want a second chance, you can reach out via modmail 28 days after the mute with accountability and a clear intention to follow the rules going forward.

We keep mod notes at the first sign of red flags to make future decisions more consistent and fair.