A few rules, kept short on purpose

The Reading Room works because readers treat it like a good library: warm, a little opinionated, and careful with each other. These are the house rules. There are not many, and most of them boil down to the first one.

Be kind

Disagree with the take, not the person. Snark about a villain is fine; snark about another reader is not. If a post would make you wince said out loud across a table, do not post it.

Mind the spoiler gates

Every read-along thread is gated by progress, like "through 25%". Inside a thread, anything up to that gate is fair game. Anything past it, or anything from later books, stays out. The lobby thread is spoiler-free, full stop. When in doubt, say less.

Pen names only

Everyone here posts under a pen name. Keep it that way: no posting anyone's real name, address, workplace, or socials, yours included. No impersonating another reader, an author, or anyone else. Your pen name is yours; leave everyone else's identity alone.

No self-promo or link drops

The Reading Room is for talking about books, not marketing them. No plugging your own store, channel, or newsletter. Links are disabled in posts anyway, so a pasted URL will simply bounce. Mention a book by title in braces, like {Fourth Wing}, and it turns into a proper book card.

Spice stays behind the ratings

Plenty of shelves here run hot, and that is fine. But explicit, 18+ discussion belongs in threads for books that carry the spice ratings, not in general threads or the lobby. Assume a teenager reading over your shoulder in the all-ages spaces.

No pirated copies

Do not share pirated books, ask where to find them, or point anyone toward them. Authors eat off these pages. Library cards and Kindle Unlimited trials exist; use those.

What we do with reports

Every post has a Report link. Reports go straight to a human, the librarian, not an algorithm. When a report comes in we hide first and ask questions after: the post disappears from view while we look, and it comes back if it turns out to be fine. Reporting your own post is also the fastest way to ask for its removal.

Break the rules once and the post gets hidden with a quiet word. Keep breaking them and the pen name is retired, permanently. That is the whole enforcement policy.

Questions about a call we made, or a rule you think is wrong? Tell the Suggestion Box. The rules are community property too.