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Community guidelines

FishTale is a comment-free social network for anglers. No replies, no flame wars — just photos, reactions, and the story of the catch. These guidelines exist so this stays a place we all want to show up to.

1. Respect the fish

  • Handle with care.Wet hands, supported body, minimum air time. If you're catch-and-release, do it right.
  • No gratuitous suffering. Gut shots, gore close-ups, abused fish — out.
  • No deliberate cruelty. Mutilation, animal abuse — instant removal and likely suspension.

2. Respect the law

  • Post legal catches only. No protected, out-of-season, or undersized species. No prohibited methods (dynamite, banned nets, etc.).
  • Know your local regulations before you post. Rules differ by state, country, even lake to lake.
  • FishTale is global — what's legal in one place may be illegal in another. Be mindful of who's watching.

3. Respect the spot

  • Don't expose others' fishing spots.If someone hides their location, don't share scouting info that outs them.
  • The "Hide location" toggle exists for a reason. Use it freely on your own posts. Honor others' use of it.

4. Tell honest tales

  • Accurate species.Don't mistag for a different PB chart — we track species collections, and fudging poisons the data for everyone.
  • Real weights. The auto-estimator is fine. Manual weights should reflect what you actually weighed.
  • Your own catches.Posting someone else's fish as yours is fraud. So is using stock photos.
  • One catch, one post.Don't re-post the same fish for streak or badge gaming.

5. Respect each other

Even without comments, you can still be a jerk via username, bio, gear tags, or location text. Don't.

  • No harassment, hate speech, slurs, or threats — at the user, in your bio, anywhere on the app.
  • No NSFW content. No nudity, no sexual content, no adult themes. FishTale is SFW.
  • No graphic violencebeyond what's naturally part of fishing.
  • No personal information — no doxxing yourself or others (real names, addresses, phone numbers, employers, schools).

6. No spam, no scams

  • No selling gear in posts. Personal listings, bulk sales, shop links — out.
  • No affiliate spam.(Native gear-link monetization may land later; we'll update this section when it does.)
  • One human, one account. No bots, no impersonation.

7. Safety first

  • Don't glorify unsafe practices— drunk boating, no-PFD rough water, dangerous shore stunts. Other anglers shouldn't get hurt copying you.
  • Underage anglers are welcome alongside adults — be aware that minors may see your post.

8. What happens when you break these

We take a graduated approach:

  1. First flagged post:hidden from the feed, only you can see it. You'll get a notice explaining which guideline was triggered.
  2. Second flagged post: hidden, with a sterner warning. Account flagged for review.
  3. Third flagged post:account suspended. You can still sign in, but you can't post, react, or follow until a moderator reviews.

Three independent community reports on a single catch also auto-hide it pending review. Egregious violations — cruelty, illegal acts, hate speech, doxxing — skip the ladder and go straight to suspension or ban.

9. How to report

See something off?

  • On any catch you don't own, scroll past the reactions and tap Report.
  • Pick a reason, add context if you want, submit.
  • Three independent reports auto-hide the catch pending review. Repeat or severe reports escalate faster.

Reports are reviewed manually. Be honest. Don't spam-report or weaponize the system against people you disagree with — false or coordinated reports themselves count against you.

10. Updates

These guidelines evolve as the community grows. We'll note major changes here and surface them in-app when something material shifts.

Last updated: May 2026