1. Purpose
This space exists to quietly acknowledge acts of kindness — given, received, or witnessed. It is not a platform for performance, comparison, instruction, or validation. It does not exist to optimize behavior, measure goodness, or shape identity.
The purpose of this Stewardship Charter is not to govern users. It exists to govern the system — by limiting what this project will do, and what it will never become.
2. Foundational Commitments
The project is governed by the following permanent commitments:
- Anonymity over identity — The project does not require accounts, profiles, or persistent identity.
- Presence over performance — There are no scores, rankings, streaks, or competitive metrics.
- Witness over credit — Acts may be acknowledged without attribution or ownership.
- Restraint over growth — Growth is not a goal. Continuity is preferred to scale.
- Dignity over extraction — The project will not exploit attention, emotion, or vulnerability.
These commitments are not features. They are boundaries.
3. What This Project Will Not Do
To protect its purpose, this project will not:
- require users to identify themselves
- collect or sell personal data
- introduce advertising, sponsorships, or behavioral tracking
- optimize for engagement, retention, or virality
- rank, reward, or compare acts or people
- pressure users to share, contribute, or return
- become a social network, feed, or community platform
If a feature conflicts with these refusals, the feature must not be built.
4. Stewardship, Not Ownership
This project is stewarded, not owned in the conventional sense. Stewardship means caring for the continuity of the space, protecting users from misuse, and limiting power rather than expanding it.
No steward — present or future — has moral authority over users, acts, or meanings expressed within the space.
5. Financial Boundaries
Money must never be allowed to define the purpose of this project. Accordingly: the project is not required to generate revenue, and monetization is not a goal.
Financial support, if ever present, must serve continuity only (e.g., infrastructure, maintenance) and must remain optional, proportionate, and structurally incapable of influencing design, governance, or user experience.
If financial pressure requires compromising this Charter, the project must pause or conclude rather than adapt.
6. Amendments and Change
This Stewardship Charter is foundational and is intended to remain stable over time.
Amendments are permitted only to:
- clarify existing principles
- resolve ambiguity or contradiction
- protect the original intent of the Charter in unforeseen circumstances
Amendments must not:
- introduce monetization
- introduce identity or account requirements
- weaken commitments to anonymity, restraint, or dignity
- enable surveillance, optimization, or behavioral control
Amendment Process
- Proposed by the current steward or designated successor steward
- Publicly posted for a minimum of 30 days before adoption
- Recorded with version number, date, and brief explanation
Silence during the review period does not imply consent, but haste must not override care.
7. Succession and Transfer
This project may be transferred to another steward, foundation, trust, or organization only if that entity agrees to be bound by this Charter in full.
8. When the Charter Cannot Be Upheld
If this Charter cannot be upheld — due to external pressure, internal drift, or changing circumstances — the correct response is not compromise. The correct response is to pause the project, or conclude it gracefully, preserving dignity and privacy. Ending the project is preferable to allowing it to become something it was never meant to be.
9. Closing Statement
This space is intentionally small, quiet, and limited. Its strength comes not from what it does, but from what it refuses to do. The Stewardship Charter exists so that this refusal does not depend on trust in any individual — including the one who began it.