The Rules and Guidelines of Shani’s Tutoring

Shani’s Tutoring provides you with a range of resources to help boost your grades in English. In return, I expect that you use my service appropriately and do not hinder the experience of other members of the Shani’s Tutoring community. As such, I have created these rules and guidelines to outline how you are expected to act while using my service.

I rely on the ability of all of my users to follow these rules in order to keep the community running smoothly. So, failure to comply with the rules and guidelines may result in the immediate cancellation of your account. If this happens, you will no longer be able to access the Shani’s Tutoring community, podcasts, webinars, group sessions or any other resources that I offer. I will cancel your membership and you will also not receive a refund for any previous transactions.

I reserve the right to change and update these rules and guidelines whenever necessary. If this is the case, I will post a notice on the Forums to inform users of any changes. It is your responsibility to ensure that you have read the rules and guidelines and you are up to date with any changes. On my part, I will not retroactively punish you for any rules that were not in place when you broke them. However, I reserve the right to close, hide, edit or delete any content that you have created that breaks future rules or guidelines.

The Shani’s Tutoring Community

Included with all paid Shani’s Tutoring memberships is access to the Shani’s Tutoring Community. This includes, but is not limited to, groups, forums, private messages and your personal profile. You are able to discuss all English-related topics with other users to share ideas, ask and answer questions, and build a support network for your studies. It is a great service designed to make the online learning experience more social and friendly.

However, your ability to use the service relies on your continued fair treatment of all other users and teachers. Please everyone in the community with equality and respect. While disagreements may happen, you must not say or do anything which could reasonably be considered to put at risk the mental health, physical health or safety of any user or teacher within the community. This includes, but is not limited to, the following:

• Stalking
• Doxing
• Bullying
• Harassment
• Hate Speech or Bigotry
• Ad Hominem or Personal Attacks
• Misgendering
• Sexually Inappropriate Content or Behaviour
• Spreading Malware

Please see the following rules for more information.

No Bullying

Here on the Shani’s Tutoring community, we consider bullying to be any behaviour that seeks to harm, intimidate or coerce another user. This includes name-calling, trolling and humiliating other users, among other things.

You must not bully any other user or teacher in the community. This rule applies to all social aspects of the website, such as the groups, forums, private messages, comments, feed, group meetings, webinars and any other future resources. All users should be able to use these resources without the fear of bullying.

If you are a victim of bullying within the Shani’s Tutoring community, you can block or report the user directly. Blocking a user means that neither of you will be able to communicate or see each other’s updates, comments or Forums posts. You can do this to any user (but not a teacher) whose content you no longer wish to engage with without any negative repercussions on your account. If you choose to report them, on the other hand, I will review their content and come to a conclusion. However, if I have reason to believe that you are abusing the reporting function, I will place a sanction on your account.

If you are found to be bullying a user or teacher of the Shani’s Tutoring community, you will be subject to sanctions on your account. First, you will receive a warning. Then, we will limit your ability to use the community for a time which we will discuss with you. Finally, your account with us will be terminated and you will not receive a refund for any previous transactions.

No Harassment

In the Shani’s Tutoring community, we consider harassment to be when you constantly try to gain the attention of someone who has made it very clear that they do not want to give you their attention. The reason why they do not want your attention is irrelevant. Harassment can even become violent or sexual in nature.

Examples of harassment include:

• Privately messaging users constantly after they have tried to ignore you once.
• Constantly @mentioning other users who have made it clear (through their words or actions) that they do not want to be mentioned, either by you or in the specific post.
• Following a user around the community to reply to every post that they make once they have made it clear that they do not want to talk to you.
• Sending any user mature content in their private messages.
• Continuing an action directed towards a specific user that they have asked you to stop. This is especially the case if it upsets or distresses them in any way.
• Creating a new account to talk to someone who has blocked you.
• Messaging a user on another platform once they have made it clear that they do not want to talk.
• Sending death threats or threats of harm to any user. Even a first-time threat will be considered harassment.

These examples do not cover all instances of harassment.

We do not allow harassment in this community. It is a very serious offence and we will treat it as such.

Of course, in order to help you to use the service properly, admins, mods and teachers will have to be in contact with you. If they talk to you for service-related reasons, we do not count this as harassment. However, if they contact you when you have made it clear that you do not want them to talk to you for any other reasons, that will be considered harassment.

Do Not Compromise the Safety of Other Users

Every user in this community should feel as though their safety is protected. So, we do not allow you to do anything that compromises the safety of yourself or other users.

Please do not post any private information about anyone in the community. You must not do this either in your private messages or in public areas. Private information includes, but is not limited to, any of the following things:

• Full name
• Pictures
• Address
• Phone number
• Personal details of any kind
• National Insurance Number, Social Security Number or any other equivalents
• IP address
• Place of work
• School name
• Social media information

Please do not share any details about a person that they have not revealed on Shani’s Tutoring. Do not out their gender or sexuality or share any other information that may put them at risk of being staked, harassed or subjected to hate speech.

It is your choice if you would like to share details of your own life, including your sexuality or gender. However, do not share any information that could trace users back to you in real life.

All information that you put in the private sections of your profile will remain private and between you and the administrators. So, you can be sure that it will remain safe. However, if you share those details on the Forums or the public sections of your profile, you will be putting yourself at risk. All public information on your profile will say so underneath. You are welcome to change the privacy settings of anything, other than your nickname.

No Hate Speech or Bigotry

In the Shani’s Tutoring community, we classify hate speech as any speech that attacks, mocks or ridicules anyone for the following things:

• Race or ethnicity
• Skin colour
• Nationality
• Religion or culture
• Language, dialect or accent
• Sexuality, or lack thereof
• Sex, gender or gender identity
• Physical disabilities or disorders
• Mental health problems, disabilities or disorders
• Neurodivergence
• Social status
• Size (weight, height or body shape)
• Facial features

This is not a full list, but it is a good start.

You must not, under any circumstances, attack people for any of those things. We take this very seriously and it will result in very strict disciplinary actions. This includes slurs, pejorative terms and any other derogatory words or phrases.

Of course, there will be cases where the texts that we are studying will contain hate speech. If this is the case, you will not need to censor the texts. It is important to discuss hate speech in all of its forms, which will sometimes necessitate quoting bigotry as written by someone else. However, please make sure that you use quotation marks and cite the text properly to avoid confusion. This will protect you and make sure that you do not upset others.

The Shani’s Tutoring community is an inclusive, tolerant place for people of all walks of life. As a result, we need to be intolerant towards intolerance to make sure that we keep the atmosphere we want. If in doubt, never attack someone for something that they cannot change or control. Or, feel free to contact me, Shani, for more details.

No Ad-Hominem Attacks

An ad-hominem attack is a form of verbal abuse that involves attacking a person in an argument rather than their ideas. It happens when two or more people are having a discussion, debate or argument.

For example, two users are having a debate about whether or not Hamlet is mad. One user replies to an argument with “well you’re ugly, so it doesn’t matter what you say”. This would be an ad-hominem attack, because it attacks their person rather than replying to the argument.

It does not matter if you believe that the attack is true or false. We simply do not allow them in the Shani’s Tutoring community. This is because they can be used to hurt, demean, ridicule or intimidate another user, or otherwise negatively affect their mental health. Also, ad-hominem attacks destroy good, helpful discussions. This undermines the aims and goals of the Shani’s Tutoring community.

Please make sure that all discussions and debates are fair and genuine. Here on Shani’s Tutoring, we believe that there is more than one right answer. So, please don’t feel afraid to present your point with evidence. We will always encourage healthy debate that stays on topic and helps to give our users other interpretations of the text. However, all discussions must be reasonable and fair. If you believe that you are unable to discuss a point or have a debate without resorting to ad-hominem attacks, please remove yourself from the situation.

Do Not Misgender Users

I am passionate about making sure that Shani’s Tutoring is a safe space for people of all sexes, genders and gender identities. In order for this to happen, it is essential that all users treat each other with dignity and respect. This includes using the correct pronouns when referring to fellow users.

We have a pronouns section on every person’s user profile, so please make sure that you use it. If in doubt about another user’s pronouns, please check their profile and follow what they have listed. Also, please make sure to fill out your own pronouns so that other people can refer to you properly, too.

As we are all online, it can sometimes be difficult to tell someone’s gender based on their profile picture and username. So, the pronouns feature can help to avoid mistakes and make life easier for us all. More importantly, though, it can be extremely distressing to trans people when they are continually misgendered. If we all make it a habit to add pronouns and check other people’s profiles for them, we can normalise the process of using the correct gendered pronouns. This will help to make Shani’s Tutoring an inclusive, trans-friendly space.

It does not matter what your personal beliefs are. When you use this platform, I expect you to respect and abide by the rules to access all of the perks and tips that the service provides. This includes treating trans people with the same dignity respect as you would cis (non-trans) people. Shani’s Tutoring is not a place to question the validity of another human being’s sex or gender.

Of course, accidents may happen. You may occasionally accidentally misgender someone. If this happens, please just switch to using the correct pronouns when they are pointed out to you. If we have reason to believe that you are misgendering users on purpose, we will take disciplinary actions against your account.

No Swearing

The Shani’s Tutoring community comprises people from the age of 13 and up. So, it is important that we keep the social areas as age-appropriate as possible. That means that we should keep the swearing to a minimum at all times. Please do not swear on the forums, in the groups or in any other social setting.

This applies to all languages. Please do not use another language to swear. I have studied a few languages and have administrators and moderators who can speak a few, too. So, if you attempt to switch languages to evade the no swearing rule, we will find out and you will receive a sanction on your account.

It also applies to all forms of communication on the Shani’s Tutoring website, including, but not limited to:

• Forums
• Social Groups
• Webinar Chats
• Stream Chats
• Comments Sections
• Group Classes
• One-To-One Classes
• Private Messages
• Activity Feed Updates

The exception to this rule is if there is a swear word in the text that we are discussing. It is important that we can speak about texts with maturity and quote from them directly, so you are able to quote swear words from your texts if it is necessary for or helpful to the discussion. If this is the case, please use quotation marks and cite the text properly to avoid confusion.

Do Not Promote, Encourage or Show Activity Which May Endanger Yourself or Others

I will not allow you to use the Shani’s Tutoring community to show, encourage or promote any activity which may endanger yourself or others. This includes, but is not limited to, suicide, death threats, substance abuse, self-harm, gang violence, sexual violence, dangerous online challenges and doxing.

If you are at risk of self-harm or suicide, please reach out to a hotline in your country. It is important that you keep yourself safe at all times. This includes temporarily removing yourself from the community if it is causing you any distress or triggering you in any way. Please make sure that you use this service in moderation. It is your responsibility to ensure that you are not overusing the service, so take any precautions you need in order to make sure that your usage of the service is to a healthy level.

Please always remember to put your own mental health first. If you believe that another user is at risk, please talk to me, Shani, or one of the other Admins or Mods and we will try to reach out to them and get them as much help as we can. Or, if you believe that a user’s behaviour is putting them or other users at risk, please use the moderation tools outlined below.

You must not use this service to promote or encourage any harmful behaviour. Any user found to be encouraging harmful behaviour will receive serious repercussions, up to and including removal from Shani’s Tutoring with no refunds and involving the local authorities.

Some texts that we study may include references to harmful behaviour, or even language that appears to promote, encourage or glorify said behaviour. If this is the case, please make sure to quote the text directly and cite properly.

Do Not Promote or Engage in Unlawful Behaviour

It is against our rules to use the Shani’s Tutoring community to promote or engage in unlawful behaviour. This includes, but is not limited to:

• Using the social tools to arrange or plan unlawful activity.
• Encouraging others to break the law.
• Using the social tools to glorify or promote law-breaking.
• Using the social tools to frame others for unlawful activity.

Shani’s Tutoring is a UK-based service. So, we judge what we consider to be “unlawful activity” based on UK, EU and US laws – in that order of priority. However, if you live outside of those three areas, you must not break the laws of your country, city and local area on top of the rules of Shani’s Tutoring. For example, we have a general rule not to encourage, promote or depict (in your creative work) anyone under the age of 18 drinking alcohol. However, if you live in the USA, please also make sure that you do not drink under the age of 21.

Do not post any content referring to any perceived benefits of breaking the law under any circumstances. Never encourage other users to smoke or drink before the legal age of their country, and never before the age of 18.

However, you are free to complain about laws that you think need to be changed, as long as you show no signs of breaking encouraging others to break them. You are also free to talk about characters in texts who break the law, and quote texts that include unlawful activity in them for academic purposes only. If this is the case, make sure that you quote the text directly and cite it properly.

Do Not Compromise the Income or Integrity of Shani’s Tutoring

The Shani’s Tutoring website, and all of its worksheets and advice, have taken me a lot of time and effort to perfect. I take a great deal of care to ensure that all of the resources and information available to you are of good quality and can help you to get the best grades you can. That is why it is against the rules to compromise the income or integrity of Shani’s Tutoring.

Of course, it is always your choice whether you would like to continue to use the service. However, please do not cause issues for Shani’s Tutoring that will make it hard for me to continue to keep this website up and running. This includes, but is not limited to:

• Using any of the social features to promote a rival service.
• Spamming links or ads to rival services.
• Encouraging other people to leave Shani’s Tutoring.
• Sharing your account with other people.
• Sharing resources with other people who have not purchased access to them.
• Reselling or redistributing any of the resources hidden behind a paywall.
• Spreading lies or rumours about Shani’s Tutoring.
• Recreating your own versions of Shani’s Tutoring resources for the sake of selling or distributing them.
• Starting your own rival company or website and promoting it to Shani’s Tutoring users.
• Purchasing a Shani’s Tutoring membership for the sole purpose of creating a rival product.

Of course, you may wish to recommend other websites, blog posts or books to users to help our users to learn. This is fine and does not go against our rules. However, please make sure that you recommend good-quality resources. You must not recommend an ad for a rival service and all resources recommended should be free or affordable.

Do Not Use Shani’s Tutoring to Sell Your Own Products or Services

Shani’s Tutoring is not a marketplace for multiple tutors to sell their own products and services. First and foremost, it is a place for students to learn, discuss their work, ask questions and chat with like-minded individuals about learning English at school.

In addition, I carefully create and curate my resources. This is based on experience, years of studying the subject and the hundreds of students that I have taught. It is my top priority that all of the products and services here on Shani’s Tutoring are of the highest quality. I cannot guarantee that people promoting their own work or the work of people close to them will be honest about the quality and value for money.

That is why, it is against the rules for you to attempt to use my website, social media or resources to sell your own creations.

I am always very happy when teachers join in with discussions on the Forums here on Shani’s tutoring – as long as they make a clear effort to contribute in a way that benefits the students. However, you must not advertise or promote your work anywhere on my services or social media. You must not take money from any member of the Shani’s Tutoring community for goods or services. It is forbidden to make arrangements with students for private tutoring without my explicit permission.

I am willing to work with tutors and teachers who would like to add extra value to the services or provide their teaching services. However, any arrangements must be mutually beneficial and a fair agreement must be made in writing before any goods or services can be offered. All arrangements will be sold through the Shani’s Tutoring official online shop and your share of the profits will be given to you on a pre-arranged date.

Any informal exchange of money will result in an immediate, site-wide ban.

No Spreading of False Information

In an age of “fake news” and other kinds of false information, it is more important than ever that we help to protect each other from the spread of lies. So, we do not allow you to use this platform and its social tools to promote or spread false information.

This includes, but is not limited to:

• Anti-vax propaganda.
• Flat-earth theories.
• Assertions that the US 2020 election was fraudulent.
• Assertions or insinuations that COVID-19 is a conspiracy.
• Any other conspiracy theories which have no tangible proof.
• Defamation (libel, slander and any other false claims about a person).

If your theory goes against the general consensus of experts such as scientists, you must not spread it as the truth on this platform.

Of course, it is fun to discuss conspiracy theories and other types of fake news. That is fine. However, you must be very clear that what you are discussing is false or disproven. You must not talk about false information in a way that would make a reasonable (though unknowledgeable) person assume that it is a fact.

We are also aware that accidents may happen. You might not know that what you are spreading is false. If this is the case, please make sure to clear things up as soon as the truth is brought to your attention. Do not continue to argue in favour of the false information. If you can, edit the original post or clear up the mistake in a linked post.

Keep All Content On-Topic and Age-Appropriate

As we may have users as young as 13 years old, it is important that all content is appropriate for those aged 13. This means that you must not go into detail about sex, drug use or any other age-restricted content. Please do not use social tools to talk in a way that would be inappropriate for users who are 13 years of age.

If the text that you are studying contains references that are not suitable for our 13-year-old users, please keep all discussions about them in the correct social group. This means that texts such as The Kite Runner, which contain scenes that may be inappropriate for younger users, should remain in the GCSE or A-Level English sections, where the users are likely to be older.

In addition, please make sure that your posts remain on topic. If you are using the forums, please put your post in the right category. If you are replying to a post, please make sure that you stay on the topic of the post and create a new post for any new discussions. This will make it easier for people to find what they would like to engage with and that the post is getting the attention it deserves.

We have the Fun Stuff and Other Subjects sections of the forums to give you a chance to talk about things that are not related to English. Feel free to use them as much as you like. They are for your enjoyment and to help to create a sense of community among our users.

This rule is here for your own enjoyment and ease of access. If we keep the social topics tidy and on-topic, we will all be able to find what we need.

Do Not Post Sexual Content or Engage in Sexual Activity

You must not post any sexual content on this platform. Do not post any pictures, videos or other content that is graphically sexual in nature anywhere on Shani’s Tutoring.

It is also essential that you do not engage in any sexual activity with a minor. This includes pictures, messages and videos. You must not solicit, or ask for, any content which is sexual in nature. You must not share any content which is sexual in nature. This applies to both the public social features, such as the forums, and the private messaging function. If you are under the age of 18, you must not engage with or send any sexual content on this service. If the age of consent is higher in your country, please follow that.

Any users who are found to be engaging in sexual content with minors or breaking any of our rules regarding sexual content will receive an immediate, permanent, platform-wide ban with no refunds offered. We may also have to report the incident to authorities and provide evidence from your activity here on Shani’s Tutoring.

If you are underage and you have been sent a sexual message, please contact me directly, either through my private messages on Shani’s Tutoring or by email. We take all accusations of sexual harassment of minors very seriously and we will deal with it as soon as we can.

Include Content Warnings for Sensitive Content

Some content may affect the mental health of some of our users for a number of reasons, including past trauma. We do not want users to have to share information that they may not be comfortable with. Plus, we want all users to be able to use the service to their fullest ability, regardless of any past trauma that they may have faced. We don’t want any mental health problems to cause the service to become unusable to any users.

The best way to ensure that anyone can use the service without having to go into detail about their past trauma is to implement a site-wide content warning policy. That way, you can keep posting sensitive content (within reason and whilst abiding by our age-appropriate content rule) and users who may be triggered by the topic have the warning that they need to be prepared for the discussion, or avoid it entirely if necessary.

Please make sure that any sensitive content has a content warning before it. Sensitive content includes, but is not limited to, references to:

• Abuse (verbal, physical, emotional, sexual, etc)
• Rape
• Eating disorders
• Suicide
• Self-harm
• Substance abuse
• Bullying
• Violence
• Graphic medical details and gore
• Fatal or serious accidents
• Death
• Discrimination (homophobia, racism, sexism, transphobia, ableism, etc)
• Talk of dysphoria, body dysmorphia or other body image-related issues

Please include a summary of what it is that may trigger users in the topic. For example “Content Warning: Bullying”. This is because people are not all triggered by the same things, so being specific helps users to know if the content will be one of their specific triggers or not. You may abbreviate “Content Warning” to “CW”.

You Are Responsible For Your Online Safety

All of our rules aim to maximise the safety, security and happiness of all of the users on the service. Your health and safety will always be our top priority. However, it is also your responsibility to make sure that you are safe at all times when you are online.

So, make sure that you take all precautions to keep yourself safe and healthy. Do not share any personal information that you are uncomfortable sharing. Keep your personal details to the private sections of your profile, where they will be protected from other users. Protect yourself against any computer viruses. Do not open any suspicious emails or click on any links that you are unsure about.

We can also only deal with an issue if you make us aware of its existence. So, if someone is breaking a rule and putting their health and safety or the health and safety of others in danger, please use the moderation tools discussed below to let us know as soon as possible. That way, we can deal with it before it does too much damage.

It is always fun to meet new people and make friends online. I aim to make a fun, social and inclusive place here on Shani’s Tutoring where you can meet like-minded individuals and chat. However, please remember that they are strangers and you can’t be sure of their true identity or intentions. So, we strongly advise that you do not meet anyone from Shani’s Tutoring in real life.

Watch out for red flags. If someone is asking for private information or being pushy, do not tell them anything about your personal life.

You are responsible for your own safety online. So, make sure that you do all you can to keep safe.

The Intellectual Property of Shani’s Tutoring

A subscription to Shani’s Tutoring comes with great perks, including worksheets, tips, tricks, quizzes, crosswords, podcasts, videos and courses. You are free to use those for your own benefit to improve your grades and help you to get to grips with English as a subject. This includes printing and writing on the worksheets. Plus, you can compare the answers with other users and ask others for help.

When you purchase a subscription to Shani’s Tutoring, you are buying a license to use and print any of the worksheets and other content accessible to you. Printing may be in colour or black and white. However, some rights remain reserved. You must not alter my worksheets, or remove my logo or copyright information at the bottom of any page. You must not distribute the worksheets to others or post them elsewhere online. Also, you must not recreate the content or reproduce it for another worksheet or service.

My educational content must be used purely for educational purposes, and only for the intended recipient – the account holder of the Shani’s Tutoring subscription. You cannot use the worksheets for commercial purposes, including monetisation of any kind.

If you are a tutor or teacher and you would like to purchase a license to use my worksheets for multiple students, please see the Teacher Distribution License or contact me directly via email at hello@shanistutoring.com. I will be happy to arrange something with you. In the future, we will be providing corporate accounts for teachers, tutors and parents with multiple children. These will provide you with discounts for multiple licenses.

For full information regarding the use of my intellectual property, please see my Copyright Notice. Violating these copyright rules will result in an immediate, permanent site-wide ban and you will receive no refunds for previous purchases. I may also need to get authorities involved.

Failure to Comply with the Rules and Guidelines

Failure to comply with these rules and guidelines will result in a sanction against your account. From least to most serious, these sanctions are:

• Hiding, deleting or altering of offending posts, pictures, comments or other content.
• A warning issued by private message from Shani or another admin.
• A warning issued by email from Shani.
• Suspension of your account, which will mean that you can no longer log in for a time. This time frame will be emailed to you and is based on the severity of your action. You will not receive a refund for the membership fees of the month in which you were suspended. However, if your suspension carries over to the next billing date, I will cancel your membership. You are then welcome to reinstate it when your suspension has ended.
• A permanent, site-wide ban on your account. If this occurs, you will receive no compensation and no refund for any membership subscriptions, regardless of whether they are still active or not. However, I will cancel your membership so that you will not get any future membership-related charges on your account. You will not be able to transfer your membership to a friend or family member.

We try to offer warnings for rule-breaking when we can. However, this depends on the severity of your offence. If you pose an immediate and serious danger to any of our users, we may be forced to ban you immediately. The sanctions that we use will be based on the rule that you have broken.

If you feel that the sanction was unfairly placed on your account, you are welcome to appeal. Please send me an email at hello@shanistutoring.com. Include the word “Appeal” and your username in the email header. Then, provide me with as much evidence as you can.

If You See a Problem, Use Our Moderation Tools

As with many online communities, we rely on our users to help keep the peace and ensure that everyone is following the rules. So, if you believe that another user has broken a rule, please use the “report” tool. It may sometimes be hidden behind the “see more” button or the “…” button.

If a user is annoying you or you simply do not like their posts, you can block them. Blocking on this platform means that you will not be able to see each other’s posts, send each other friend requests, privately message one another or engage with each other’s content in any way. To block a user, simply go on their profile and press the “block” button. You can see all of the users that you have blocked in your Account Settings. There, you can also unblock them, if you so choose.

However, if you are experiencing harassment, it is important that you let Shani and/or the admins know. This is a very serious offence and we need to make sure that the person sees consequences for their actions.

You cannot block site admins, as this would stop us from doing our job. However, if you have reason to believe that a site admin is harassing you, please email me at hello@shanistutoring.com and I will do what I can to help you. I will not tell them who raised the concern and I will simply investigate.

Please use these moderation tools properly. You are free to block any of the students as you please, though beware that this may cause friction and tension between you and other community members if you are constantly blocking others. When it comes to the report button, please only use it when someone has broken a rule. Otherwise, you may receive a sanction on your account for abusing the reporting tool.