Community Guidelines ExploringBBQ

Last updated: August 27, 2025

Our Mission

ExploringBBQ exists to celebrate great barbecue, share practical know-how, and help folks find (and make) amazing Texas-style BBQ. Keep it helpful, honest, and neighborly.

What Belongs in Reviews

  • First-hand experiences only. Share what you ate, when you visited, how service felt, and what you’d order again.
  • Be specific. Cuts, cook level, smoke profile, tenderness, bark, sides, value, cleanliness, wait time.
  • Add context. Was it a rush hour? Special event? Limited menu day? This helps others judge fairly.

House Rules

  1. Be respectful. No harassment, threats, hate speech, or slurs. Keep it family-friendly.
  2. Stay truthful. No false statements presented as fact, no rumors, no defamation.
  3. No personal info. Don’t post private data (full names of staff not wearing name tags, phone numbers, addresses beyond public business listings, etc.).
  4. No illegal content. No doxxing, plagiarism, malware, or instructions to commit harm.
  5. Food-safety sanity. Share temps and methods responsibly. If you suggest undercooked/unsafe practices, we’ll remove or edit for safety.
  6. Photos you own. Upload only images you shot or have rights to. Don’t post faces of people (especially kids) without consent; avoid graphic or unsanitary imagery.
  7. Keep it relevant. Reviews are for the joint, dish, or article topic—take broader debates to the forum (coming soon).
  8. One person, one account. Don’t create sock puppets or manipulate ratings.

Conflicts of Interest & Disclosures (FTC-friendly)

  • If you’re affiliated (owner, employee, contractor, brand rep, supplier, family, comped meal, invited tasting), say so clearly in your review.
  • Brand/venue reps may answer questions and correct facts, but astroturfing is banned. Use a claimed “Owner/Rep” profile for transparency.

Links & Self-Promotion

  • Relevant links (menus, your full photo album, your recipe variation) are okay; spam and irrelevant promotion are not.
  • No affiliate links in reviews or comments.

Ratings Policy

  • Star ratings should reflect overall experience for that visit.
  • You can update your review after a new visit (please note the date). We may merge edits to keep pages tidy.

Restaurant & Creator Responses

  • Owners/creators are welcome to reply politely, correct facts, and invite DMs for resolution. No retaliation or doxxing—ever.
  • Owners can request a “Claimed Listing” badge after basic verification.

Moderation & Enforcement

  • We may edit or remove content that breaks these rules.
  • Three-strike system for most violations; immediate suspension for hate, threats, illegal content, or coordinated manipulation.
  • Report questionable content with the “Report” button.
  • Appeals: email within 14 days; we’ll review and reply.

Your Content & License

You own your content. By posting, you grant ExploringBBQ a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to display, distribute, and adapt it for formatting and discovery (thumbnails, excerpts, search, social previews).

Age

You must be 13+ (or 16+ where required) to have an account.

Copyright (DMCA)

If your copyrighted work appears here without permission, submit a DMCA notice to our Designated Agent (see our DMCA Policy page). We respond and, where appropriate, remove or disable access promptly.

Changes

We may update these Guidelines. Continued use means you accept the latest version (we’ll date any changes).