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Community rules

Last updated 23 October 2026

These rules apply to the TreeBay community board and to anything else you post on TreeBay for other people to read. They add to our Terms of Service; if the two conflict, the Terms apply.

1. Your posts

You are responsible for what you post. We don't check posts before they appear, and we don't endorse them. By posting, you confirm that:

  • You own what you post, or have the right to post it.
  • It is accurate and not misleading.
  • It doesn't infringe anyone's intellectual property, privacy or other rights.
  • It complies with UK law and these rules.

You give TreeBay a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to host, store and display your posts so we can run the board and the Site. The licence ends when the post is removed.

Your posts are public. Anyone can read forum threads and replies, with your display name, and threads started from 7 October 2026 can appear in search engines such as Google and in AI tools that read the web. If you want a post of yours removed, email hello@treebay.uk from the address on your account and we'll take it down. A post we hide or remove disappears from the forum straight away and drops out of search results as search engines update, which can take a few weeks. We can't control copies other people have already made.

2. What's not allowed

Illegal content

  • Child sexual abuse material, or anything that sexualises children.
  • Content that promotes, supports or helps terrorism.
  • Anything that helps supply drugs, weapons or stolen goods.
  • Fraud, scams, phishing, or pretending to be a real person or organisation.
  • Content that stirs up hatred because of race, religion, sexual orientation, disability or another protected characteristic.
  • Anything else that is unlawful in the UK.

Against our rules

  • Photos of children: don't upload or send photos that show a child (anyone under 18), even in the background.
  • Spam and advertising: repeated posts, unsolicited sales messages or off-topic promotion. If you want to sell something, list it. Posts saying you're available for work are welcome in Jobs, training & tickets (you can also list yourself in Subcontracting): one thread per person, updated rather than reposted.
  • Full addresses in local posts: in Woodchip wanted and Wanted, give your town or area only, never a full address or postcode. Chip for sale goes in the Logs, timber & firewood listings; kit for sale goes in the listings.
  • Wanted posts for anything you couldn't list: a Wanted post follows the same rules as a listing (Terms §4.3).
  • Links to other marketplaces or job boards in listings, messages or community posts. You may mention them by name, and you may link to your own business's website, as long as you say it’s yours.
  • Harassment and abuse: personal attacks, threats, or targeting someone.
  • Dangerous safety advice: knowingly false claims about safety — for example, saying equipment meets a BS EN standard when it doesn't.
  • Off-topic posts: posts unrelated to arboriculture, tree surgery or forestry.
  • Sharing private information about someone without their consent.
  • Impersonation of another user, a company or a certification body, including a username or display name made to look like theirs.
  • Usernames: no email addresses, phone numbers, offensive words, or names of people or businesses you aren't. We may remove a username that breaks these rules.
  • Vote honestly. Don't vote from more than one account, organise others to vote on a post, or offer or accept anything in return for votes. Votes don't decide what we remove: we act on reports and these rules.
  • Questions about a listing are for questions about the item. Don't post reviews or ratings of the seller, good or bad.

3. Reporting a post

If a post or reply breaks these rules or the law, use Report on it, or email safety@treebay.uk or use our contact form with a link to it. We take down unlawful content swiftly when we become aware of it. For intimate images shared without consent, see section 7a of our Terms.

4. What we do about breaches

We may remove posts that break these rules, restrict an account's posting, or close an account, and we may report crimes to the police.

5. Appeals

If we remove your post, or restrict or close your account, and you think we got it wrong, reply to our email, or email hello@treebay.uk with “Appeal” in the subject. A person who wasn't involved in the first decision will look at it, and we'll reply within 5 working days. If we remove your post or restrict who can see it, or restrict or close your account, in breach of these rules or our Terms, you have the right to bring a claim against us for breach of contract (see section 7a of our Terms). To complain about TreeBay, see section 7b of our Terms.

6. Defamation complaints

If you think a post defames you, email safety@treebay.uk with a link to the post and explain what is untrue and why it is harmful. We follow the process in section 5 of the Defamation Act 2013 and the Defamation (Operators of Websites) Regulations 2013: we pass your complaint to the person who posted it and give them the chance to respond before we decide what to do.

7. Your data

Posts can contain personal data. How we handle it is set out in our Privacy Policy. To see, correct or delete the personal data we hold about you, use our data rights form.

8. How these rules fit with our Terms

Our Terms of Service apply to everything you post, including: who can use TreeBay (§2), how TreeBay works (§2a), how to behave (§7), reporting content (§7a), complaints about TreeBay (§7b), content and intellectual property (§8), our liability (§9), closing an account (§10) and governing law (§14).

9. Changes to these rules

We may update these rules. The date at the top shows the latest version.

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