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Community Guidelines

Effective: April 27, 2026

Effective Date: April 27, 2026

Welcome to Nodeline. These Guidelines describe how we expect members to behave in the Community. They apply to posts, comments, votes, messages, usernames, and profile information. They are part of our Terms of Service and violations may result in content removal, account suspension, or termination.

We want a quiet, useful, professional space — the kind of place where a semiconductor engineer can read in the evening and come back the next day. That only works if we all protect it.

#The Core Idea

Write as if the people you're writing about — your coworkers, your former employer, a junior engineer just starting out — will read it. Because they might.

#1. Anonymity and Identity

Pick a pseudonym. Do not use your real name as your username or display name. Usernames like ebb-logic or silent-fab are ideal.
Do not reveal another person's identity. Do not post anyone's real name, photo, work address, phone number, or details that allow identification, without their clear consent. This rule applies to colleagues, managers, candidates, and recruiters alike.
Do not impersonate. You may not pretend to be another person, another employee, an executive, a journalist, or any entity you are not.
One person, one account. Sockpuppeting — using multiple accounts to vote, comment, or simulate support — will result in permanent removal.

#2. Employer References

Use generic labels. Refer to employers using patterns like "a domestic foundry (Korea)", "a U.S. fabless company", or "a large IDM". Do not name the company directly, even when the comment is positive.
Do not post internal material. Do not paste text, images, or code from internal documents, Slack, email, wikis, NDAs, unreleased roadmaps, internal org charts, or any non-public content belonging to a current or former employer.
Do not disclose trade secrets. Specific process recipes, equipment recipes, unreleased device parameters, yield numbers at the wafer/line level, internal project codenames, and unannounced products are trade secrets. Sharing them exposes you to civil and criminal liability (including under 18 U.S.C. § 1832) — and exposes Nodeline. We will remove such content and may cooperate with lawful requests.
Export controls. Do not post technical specifications that are subject to U.S. export controls (EAR, ITAR) or equivalent foreign controls. If you are unsure, do not post.

#3. Salary and Compensation

Compensation is a sensitive topic. To keep discussion useful while managing legal and personal risk:

Use ranges, not exact figures. "Mid-$100Ks, U.S. West Coast, 5 YoE" is fine. Exact totals, especially tied to a specific company or person, are not.
Do not post anyone else's compensation. Even if you know it.
Do not link to compensation databases that identify individuals by name or title-plus-company pairs.

#4. Job Posts and Recruiting

No job ads. Do not post job openings, recruitment invitations, "we are hiring" messages, or personal solicitations ("DM me if interested").
No headhunting DMs. Do not approach members with unsolicited recruiting offers, even privately.
When we add a recruiter-facing feature, it will live in a separate, labeled part of the Service with different rules. Until then, there are no exceptions.

#5. Harassment, Hate, and Violence

We do not allow:

Harassment of any member, including persistent unwanted contact, targeted insult campaigns, or coordinated pile-ons.
Slurs and hate speech based on race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, disability, or medical condition.
Threats or incitement to violence, specific or general.
Sexual harassment or unwanted sexual content directed at any person.
Doxxing — publishing private information about a person.
Encouragement of self-harm.

Content of this kind is removed on sight.

#6. Sources, Accuracy, and Citations

Cite when you can. If you reference a paper, article, law, or public document, include a link or minimum source ("IEDM 2024" or "Intel earnings call, Oct 2025").
Distinguish experience from claim. "In my experience at a U.S. fabless..." is a personal account. "TSMC yields are X%" is a factual claim that needs a source.
Do not fabricate. Do not invent benchmarks, fake studies, or imaginary interviews.
Correct errors. If a comment points out that you are wrong, amend or add a correction.

#7. Intellectual Property and Copyright

You own your writing. Do not paste large portions of copyrighted text you do not own. Short quotations for commentary or criticism may be OK (U.S. fair use), but full articles, book chapters, or papers are not.
Attribute images and code. Do not post images you do not have rights to. For code, include a license (MIT / Apache / BSD / etc.) and credit the origin if adapted.
Respect marks. Do not use company logos or trademarks as your profile image or in ways that suggest endorsement.

We process copyright complaints under our DMCA Policy.

#8. Confidential Information and NDAs

If you are under an NDA, assume you are not allowed to post about it. This includes interview processes, unreleased features, internal performance reviews, compensation disputes, and acquisition rumors.
Public information is OK to discuss. A public earnings release, a published paper, a public product launch, a news article — these are fair material.
When in doubt, don't post. Ask your legal team or delete the draft.

#9. Spam, Self-Promotion, and Off-Topic

No spam. Repetitive posts, mass cross-posting, scripted comments, or link-stuffing will be removed.
Self-promotion in moderation. If you built a tool or wrote a blog post relevant to the Community, post it once, with context, and participate in the discussion. Repeated self-promotion without substantive contribution is removed.
Stay on topic. The Community is about semiconductor careers and semiconductor technology. Off-topic posts (politics unrelated to the industry, religion, general life advice) are removed.

#10. Markets, Stocks, and Financial Advice

Do not post trading tips based on non-public information. Doing so may violate securities laws.
Do not give financial or investment advice. You may discuss industry trends at a high level.
Do not promote cryptocurrency or financial scams.

#11. Legal and Political Content

Discussion of policy that affects the industry (export controls, visa programs, antitrust matters, subsidy programs) is welcome as long as it is civil, on-topic, and sourced.
Electoral partisanship, religious advocacy, and culture-war content are off-topic and removed.

#12. Medical, Mental Health, and Legal Advice

Members may share their experience with, e.g., burnout, relocation stress, visa stress. These posts are welcome with care and empathy.
Members may not provide medical or legal advice to other members. Encourage professional help where warranted.

#13. Deleted Content

You can delete your own posts and comments. Other users' quoted replies may remain visible.
We may retain deleted content in backups and in moderation logs for a limited period, as described in the Privacy Policy.

#14. Moderation

14.1 How we moderate

User flags escalate content to moderator review.
Automated filters catch spam, slurs, and specific prohibited patterns.
Moderators (currently MathRhythm staff) make final decisions and may remove content, hide threads, lock discussions, or act against accounts.

14.2 What we do when you break the rules

We typically escalate, but we may skip steps for severe violations:

Warning — a note to the account with the rule and a reference to the specific post.
Post removal — the content is removed; the account remains.
Temporary suspension — 7, 14, or 30 days depending on severity and history.
Permanent termination — for severe, repeated, or egregious violations.

Immediate permanent termination for: doxxing with intent to harm, disclosure of trade secrets or NDA-protected material with clear intent, threats of violence, sexual content involving minors, sustained coordinated harassment, attempts to circumvent a prior ban.

14.3 Appeals

If you believe a moderation action was wrong, email abuse@node.coach within 30 days of the action. Include the post link, the action taken, and the basis for appeal. We respond within 14 days.

14.4 Legal requests about other users

If you believe another user has committed a legal violation that affects you (copyright infringement, defamation, disclosure of confidential material), contact the appropriate channel:

Copyright: dmca@node.coach (see DMCA Policy)
Other legal concerns: legal@node.coach

We evaluate in good faith but are not able to adjudicate disputes between users. We will cooperate with properly issued legal process.

#15. Changes to these Guidelines

We may update these Guidelines as the Community grows. Material changes will be posted as a pinned Community announcement and reflected in the "Effective Date" above.

#16. Final Note from the Team

We built this place because we wanted somewhere to read quietly. Please help us keep it that way.

If a rule in here doesn't make sense, or you disagree with a moderation decision, we would rather hear it than have you leave silently. Write us at abuse@node.coach.