Acceptable Use Policy

Effective date: June 1, 2026 Last updated: June 1, 2026

Note to readers of the repo: This is the public, plain-English version of the rules that govern what content Token of Esteem will produce. It is derived from our internal Content Policy (in token-of-esteem-policy-and-voices.md section 1), but is written for buyers and AI agents, not for the validators. Legal review required before publication.

Token of Esteem makes funny, affectionate personal booklets. To keep them funny, affectionate, and unembarrassing for everyone involved, we have rules about what we will and will not produce.

By using the Service, you (and any AI agent you authorize) agree to these rules. If a brief breaks them, we will refuse the order. Repeated violations will get your account suspended.

What we make

Personal, comedic booklets for one named recipient at a time. Funny in a way the recipient would tell on themselves at a dinner party. Specific in a way that makes them feel seen. Warm in a way that lands. That is the entire mandate.

What we will not make

We will not produce content that:

Targets the recipient's body, weight, or appearance in any wounding frame. Aesthetic eras the recipient owns ("the cargo shorts phase") are fine. Their physical body is not material for jokes.

Mentions mental health, illness, addiction, recovery, therapy, or medication. Even in praise. Even with consent claimed. These are not the kind of topics our format handles well.

Touches death, grief, dying, or loss of loved ones. Anniversaries are fine. Memorial content is not what we do.

References trauma, abuse, or assault.

Mentions job loss, firings, financial difficulty, bankruptcy, debt, custody, divorce, or breakups. Past or present.

Refers to race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, immigration status, or disability in any frame, including praise. Our voices celebrate the individual, not the demographic.

Touches political affiliation or political beliefs.

Includes anyone under 18 in any teasing, sexual, or romantic frame. Pure celebration only for minors. No physical descriptions. No content suggesting any romantic or sexual context involving a minor.

Includes sexual content of any intensity. This is a gift you can show your grandmother.

Makes specific factual accusations against the recipient or anyone else. ("She cheated on her partner." "He stole the money." "They lied to you.") Even in jest.

Names any third party other than the recipient. No spouses, kids, friends, coworkers, exes, family members by name. Refer to "your partner," "your kids," "your buddy" generically.

Quotes speech the recipient did not actually say. Paraphrase what they say, or have the voice's narrator speak.

Threatens, intimidates, or harasses anyone, even ironically.

States specific numbers about earnings, debts, weights, exact ages over 30, or medical metrics. Playful pseudo-statistics ("47 consecutive Tuesdays") are fine.

Mentions real organizations in an unflattering frame. A favorite coffee shop, by name, with affection: fine. A specific employer, ever: not fine.

What we will make (the permitted territory)

Comedy is the default. Mild ribbing is welcome in the territories below, as long as the recipient would genuinely laugh at it:

• Habits and quirks the recipient is publicly known to own (chronic lateness, parking, karaoke ambition, never finishing a series)
• Niche obsessions (over-knowledge of one specific topic)
• Predictable preferences ("of course you ordered the IPA")
• Aesthetic eras voluntarily inhabited (the goth phase, the running phase)
• Verbal tics, catchphrases the recipient uses
• Affectionate friction with technology, mornings, weather, household objects
• Job role stereotypes if and only if the recipient is in on the joke
• Iconic past moments the recipient retells themselves

The bar is "the recipient would tell this story at a dinner party." If they wouldn't, neither will we.

The Laugh Test

For any item that feels gray, we ask: would the recipient laugh, or could they plausibly cry?

• If laugh: we make it.
• If cry: we refuse.
• If unsure: we refuse.

This decision is made automatically by our content review systems and, in rare cases, by a human operator. Our default is to err on the side of refusing. A refused order is recoverable; a wounding gift is not.

What you agree to

By submitting a brief — yourself, or by authorizing an AI agent to do so — you agree:

1. You know the recipient. You have a relationship with this person sufficient to justify sending them a personalized printed gift at their home address. We are not a tool for sending things to people you don't know.

2. You wish them well. The brief is intended as a positive gesture. We are not a tool for revenge, harassment, ironic cruelty, or any form of trolling.

3. You will not weaponize the booklet. You will not use the resulting booklet to mock, humiliate, or attack the recipient. You will give it to the recipient as a gift.

4. You will not submit content about people who have not consented to be the recipient of a gift from you. If you are unsure whether the person would welcome the gift, do not order it.

5. You will respect minors. If the recipient is under 18, you will arrange the gift with the knowledge of their parent or guardian, and the brief will contain only celebratory content with no teasing.

6. You will not impersonate. You will not claim a relationship with the recipient that you do not have. You will not order on behalf of someone else without authorization.

7. You will not submit copyrighted material. You will not include text, lyrics, dialogue, or other content you do not have the right to share with us.

8. You will not attempt to bypass content review. You will not obfuscate, encode, or use indirection to slip prohibited content through our review systems.

Special rules for AI agents

If you are an AI agent placing orders on behalf of a human:

1. You operate under the human's authorization and their account-level guardrails. You are not a separate party with separate rights.

2. You must respect any topic restrictions the human has set on their account.

3. You must not interpret a human's instruction in a way that produces prohibited content. If the human asks for something that would violate this policy, refuse, explain, and offer alternatives.

4. You must not chain together permitted pieces to construct prohibited content. The composition is judged as a whole.

5. You must honor refusal responses from our API and not retry with workarounds.

Consequences of violation

We may take any of the following actions when a brief violates this policy:

• Refuse the order. No charge, or full refund if charge has occurred.
• Hold the order for review. A human operator (Matt) decides whether the order can be revised and proceeds.
• Issue a warning. For first-time violations involving ambiguous content.
• Suspend your account. For repeated violations or for any clearly malicious attempt.
• Terminate your account. For severe violations, fraud, attempts to circumvent the policy, or any use of the Service to harass a recipient.

We do not refund orders that are placed in clear bad faith. We may report suspected illegal use to relevant authorities.

How content is reviewed

Every brief is reviewed by an automated content classifier before any payment is captured. Every generated manuscript is reviewed by a second automated content classifier before any booklet is printed. A small fraction of orders are held for human operator review when an automated check is uncertain. The human operator decides whether the booklet ships, ships with edits, or is refused.

You will never see who reviewed your order. The review is non-public, the records of the decision are retained per our Privacy Policy.

We may publish, in aggregate and without identifying details, the rate at which orders are refused and the categories of violations encountered. We will never publish the contents of any individual brief or manuscript.

Appealing a refusal

If your order was refused and you believe the decision was incorrect, you may appeal once per order by emailing support@tokenofesteem.com with the order ID and your reasoning. A human operator (Matt) will review and respond within five business days. Appeal decisions are final.

You may also revise the brief and submit a new order at any time.

Questions

For questions about what is and isn't allowed under this policy, email support@tokenofesteem.com. We will answer with specifics; generic "is this OK?" questions are easier to answer with example brief language.

For privacy questions, see our Privacy Policy. For general terms, see our Terms of Service.

The short version of this policy: make sure the recipient would laugh, never make sure they would cry, and refuse anything you're not sure about. That is the entire spirit.