Getting started
Community at Shares is at the heart of everything we do. That’s why we think it’s important to create a space that our members feel safe in, and where you’re encouraged to share as much or as little as you want. Whether that’s a public thread discussing what stocks you think are moon-bound or quietly building your portfolio, we want you to feel comfortable however you’re using Shares.
We started Shares to help people come together around investing, build meaningful connections and start conversations. That's why we encourage you to add your friends, peers and network to support each other's investment journey. Investing can feel scary when you’re doing it alone, so use this community to ask questions, discuss strategies and see how others are doing it.
Community guidelines are often long lists of don’t-do’s. While these are important to call out, we think it’s just as important to talk about the do-do’s. These are the things that make this community special and keep you coming back for more.
Whether you’re planning to be an active member of our community or not, here are a couple of suggestions on how to get the most out of Shares:
Our guidelines
Our guidelines apply to all parts of our product, regardless of how you’re using Shares.
What you can expect from us
Our number one priority is building trust and safety in this community, and that means ensuring these guidelines are followed by all our members. We’re here to build the kind of environment you want to be a part of, which means you might see our Moderators take action against engagement we feel goes against our guidelines.
In most cases, action might mean issuing a warning. But where necessary, we’ll take steps to remove harmful or offensive content or the accounts responsible for creating it. We know people make mistakes, but there are certain behaviours we won’t accept.
What we won’t accept from you
While it should be pretty obvious what’s unacceptable to share in this community, we want to call out particularly important behaviours we won’t tolerate:
Attempts to advise or influence the actions of others | Investing advice isn’t permitted on Shares, so please avoid sharing content that encourages (whether deliberately or not) others to act on whatever you’re sharing. It's perfectly acceptable to share some general investing tips (such as using dollar cost averaging) or information coming from credible sources, which you believe might be useful to others. Here are a few examples of content which is acceptable ✅: - "I think it's a good idea to diversify your portfolio, if you'd like to minimise the potential risk." - "Personally, I always make sure to do proper research before investing." - "Check out this book I read about investing strategy, it might be useful to deepen your knowledge.".
At the same time, please keep in mind that providing any direct financial advice on Shares is strictly forbidden. You shouldn't advise others what assets/products to invest in, how often to invest, what amount to invest, or what to do with a specific investment (e.g. sell/buy/hold). This also applies to the promotion of specific stocks. Here are a few examples of content which is not allowed on Shares ❌: - "Invest in Tesla - it has great potential." - "Keep buying tech stocks, and maybe consider index ETFs." - "To become financially free, start with $10 a month, and go up to $1000 in a year.". |
Market abuse | This is an umbrella term that covers behaviours such as market manipulation and collusion, spreading rumours, insider trading, and price speculation. ❌ Here are a few examples of content which you shouldn't share: - "Everyone's saying AMZN going UP!" - "I'm telling u - TWTR will be down to $40 soon" - "Lets all sell META and show them what we think about them" - "Unconfirmed info but I'm pretty sure COIN will bounce back next week". |
Soliciting Business | Don't engage in direct advertising or promoting personal and/or third party businesses. This includes promoting products, services, or any commercial activities. Let's maintain a focused and respectful environment for all community members. |
Promoting the copying of trades | Refrain from endorsing or encouraging trade replication. Sharing methods to copy trades may carry significant risks and might not be suitable for all investors. Let's prioritise responsible investing practices and provide helpful insights without promoting direct trade replication. |
Hate speech | Any form of abuse or discrimination towards others won’t be accepted on Shares. You must respect everyone, including Shares staff and moderators. |
Abuse and harassment | Treat others how you want to be treated. Disagreements are fine, but abuse and harassment isn’t cool and won’t be tolerated. This might include harmful language or repetitive, unsolicited behaviour towards individuals or groups. Here are a few examples of language which is not allowed on Shares ❌: - "You are dumb if you think that's a good idea" - "You are a joke" - "Do you even speak English? Those typos are ridiculous”. |
Threats and bullying | This is an absolute no-go. It includes direct, indirect and suggestive threats made to individuals or groups of people. |
Pretending to be someone you’re not | Don’t deceive others by pretending to be someone else. Whether that’s through impersonation or by misleading others about your profile or investing experience. |
Spam | We appreciate that people get excited and trigger-happy, but let's make sure it’s for the right reasons. Don’t spam our Social feed with personal referral links or promotional offers. |
Consider what you share | We won’t tolerate sharing inappropriate content whatsoever. This includes, but isn’t limited to: gore, self-harm, pornography, graphic material, drug abuse, nudity, animal cruelty. |
Please keep in mind that the above are just some examples of unacceptable behaviour, but this list is not exhaustive. A serious breach of these guidelines may lead us to closing your account. If you are unsure if the content you'd like to share is appropriate or not, you can always contact our Support Team and ask for advice. Our team will be excited to assist you 😃.
What we’d like to see from you!
Here are some of the ways you can help us create and maintain a truly great community, that you and everyone else wants to be a part of:
Have meaningful interactions | Find people just like you, with the same questions and investing goals. Connect, bond and share your journey together. |
Share thoughtful and relevant content | Seen an insightful video or educational blog post? Share it! If you found it useful, chances are others will too. |
Make others feel welcome | Joining a community can be daunting, so welcome others into the mix and engage with their content. |
Give us feedback | Tell us what you think so we can improve your experience. |
Support our Moderators | Help us create and maintain the kind of community you want to be a part of. If you see someone sharing something that goes against our guidelines, give them a polite nudge about it. |
Be opinionated, but considerate | We’re all for hearing your take on something, but please keep clear of contentious subjects like politics, religion and topics with no relation to investing and which may be harmful to others. |
Reporting Posts & Moderation
We’ve built the first set of features on Shares to help you create the experience you want. That’s why you have the ability to report and block users and report content on your Social feed. If you feel that a piece of content or engagement breaks our guidelines, we encourage you to report it. All you need to do is tap the three dots (‘...’) next to a piece of content to tell us about it. You can read more about reporting content in our article: How to report abusive content?
Thank you for complying with our guidelines and ensuring that Shares is a safe space for everyone 🙌!