Trust, limits, and blocks

Last updated: 1 October 2026

Sinter is for people. Read the account rule in our Terms.

Why you might see a limit

Sinter is a place for people to meet and build things together, and a small number of rules keep it usable for everyone. Some rules mean some actions are limited for very new accounts for a short while; others slow down a burst of activity; a few stop a single account from being used to flood the platform. When one of them applies, you are told which one and what to do - never blocked silently. This page explains all of them in one place.

New-account limits, and when they lift

New accounts can post and comment right away, but some actions may be temporarily unavailable:

• Link posts are paused at first. Post your link as text, or ask in a reply, until the limit lifts.
• Creating a community is paused at first. Join an existing community and introduce yourself while you wait.
• You can start a small number of new conversations (direct messages) and may need to wait before sending more messages.
• Daily posting, comment, image, and upload limits are lower for a new account and higher once you are established.

These limits lift on their own and are never lifted by a payment. Follow the message shown, or contact support if waiting does not help.

You will receive a message if an action is unavailable.

If a moderation decision restricts your account, you receive its reason and duration and can ask for a review.

Why an action may be blocked

An action may be blocked by an account limit, a temporary service limit, or a moderation restriction. Follow the message shown and try again later if asked. If you think a restriction is wrong, use the appeal steps below or contact support.

Restrictions and bans

These are moderation decisions, and they are not the same thing:

• A restriction applies to one community. You can still read everything there and your existing posts and comments stay visible; only writing is paused - no posting, commenting, or messaging in that community. A vote you cast is not removed, but it stays invisible and does not count while the restriction lasts. A restriction ends by itself at the time the notice gives, or sooner if a moderator lifts it, and its reason is shown to you.
• A ban removes you from a community and hides your content there. It is a stronger step than a restriction.
• Mute a person: You stop seeing their posts, comments and notifications. They can still follow and message you, subject to your settings. They are not told they are muted. Choose Unmute to see their content again. They can still read you and message you. Community mute only removes that community from your Home feed.
• Block a person: They cannot interact with you: they can't message or follow you, and you stop seeing their content. They are not told they are blocked. Your public posts stay visible to them. Choose Unblock to undo. They cannot request a chat; open chats become read-only. Your public posts remain visible to them.
• Silence a conversation or group: Only this chat's notifications stop. Your unread messages stay.
• Ban from this build: They cannot apply, join or be invited to this build. They are not told.

A suspension at account level makes the account read-only across the platform: you can still browse, and you can still erase your own account, but posting, commenting, and messaging are closed.

How to appeal

If you think a decision is wrong, you can ask for it to be reviewed. A restriction notice links to the appeal path: open Settings and look under Decisions and appeals, where a decided case can be reopened with the reason it should be reviewed. Account suspensions and other moderation questions go through the support page, which lists the address to use. An appeal does not by itself restore content or lift a limit while it is reviewed.

If a limit is preventing you from doing something and waiting will not help, the support page is the place to write; include your public username and the action you were trying to take.

Automated moderation, and what it can do

Some moderation on Sinter is automated. Rules and signals can flag, hold, reject or slow content and can pause an action that looks automated; anything that permanently removes content, restricts an account or bans a member is decided by a moderator, not by a rule. When an automated action affects you, the reason you are shown says it was automated and a moderator can always reverse it. A record of each automated decision is kept so a person can review it. If you think an automated action was wrong, the reason links to the appeal path, and a person reviews it.

• Community rules. Community rules apply to posts and comments. A post or comment may be awaiting review or may not be published. You receive a reason and can ask for a review.
• Link safety. Unsafe links may not be published. A blocked link is refused with the reason; the rest of your post is not affected.
• Temporary action limits. Some actions may be temporarily unavailable, especially for new accounts. The action is paused and you are told what to do next. Limits are about pace, not about what you said, and they lift on their own.
• Voting. Some votes may not count. A vote that looks automated may not count; no member is told who voted, and nothing is published about you individually.

What is private, and what moderation can see

In short: direct messages here are not end-to-end encrypted. They are encrypted in transit and at rest, and a reported message is readable by moderation.

Direct messages on Sinter are not end-to-end encrypted. They are protected in transit and encrypted at rest on our servers, which means the operator can technically read them - but not by browsing. End-to-end encryption and moderation of reported content cannot both hold: a report has to carry the message it is about, so the platform must be able to read that one message. A private message is only opened when it is reported, and then only that one message, as a frozen copy attached to the report. There is no "read anyone’s messages" tool, and no operator can open a conversation to browse it.

Read receipts are mutual. When they are on, the other person can see when you have read their newest message, and you can see when they have read yours. If you turn receipts off, you stop sending your own and you also stop seeing anyone else’s - a one-way switch would let one person watch while staying invisible. Turning receipts off never changes your unread counts or the messages themselves.

Operator visibility into private messages is bounded in three ways. It is reported-evidence-only: a moderator can open the single reported message as a frozen copy, never the conversation around it. It is time-boxed: the live evidence read is only available for 180 days after the report is filed, after which the case record and the access log remain but the raw copy read is refused. And every open is logged with who, which report and when, before the copy is handed over - an unrecorded read is not delivered.