Padauk & Co., celebrates creative minds and promotes diversity and inclusion. As such we strive to maintain our platform (including this website) as a respectful, supportive, and encouraging community that is deeply passionate about art and creativity. We welcome and encourage everyone from across the world to join our platform where artists express their imagination and customers enjoy creativity and inspiration.

However, we ask that you do not seek or engage with the content you don’t agree with (or maybe offensive to you) but more importantly, if you see behavior or content that goes against our policies and guidelines, please report it through one of the reporting functions such as Customer Care or by sending an email to support@padauk.us.

Above all, we urge you to make the most of your time here by enjoying the art and products we have to offer and extending support to artists in Myanmar (Burma) by spreading kindness, optimism and support, especially through extremely challenging social and political situations they are currently facing.

Overview

The following Community Guidelines have been made public with the aim of transparency and open communication but it should be noted that they are adaptable and evolve over time. Depending on the severity, a breach of our Community Guidelines along with other Terms, Conditions, and Policies can result in a formal warning, account suspension, or account closure. We have robust internal policies and procedures in place to ensure these guidelines are applied in a consistent and fair manner and make decisions at our sole discretion.

Age

Members must be 16 years or older. This is a legal requirement as people under the age of 16 are not able to enter into a legal contract with Padauk & Co.

Mature Content

Mature Content refers to works containing content that may be considered not suitable for viewing by some audiences, such as nudity, blood, guns, alcohol, drugs, violence, adult language, and other similar themes. Failure to comply with this guideline may result in account restriction or closure.

Adult Language

Malicious or hurtful swearing at another member is not permitted (it is considered a personal attack). Swearing and adult language in a more general context is acceptable.

Nudity and Pornography

The following material is not permissible:

·         Sexual Material: Explicit and gratuitous foreplay. Displays of sexual intercourse showing genitalia in direct contact include, but are not limited to, male-to-female, female-to-female, and male-to-male. Male or female masturbation where hands come into contact with genitalia in real or simulated masturbation/fondling. Semen and vaginal fluids. Urine when considered in a sexual context. “Sex toys” in use with genitalia or in a clear sexual context including but not limited to penis rings, dildos, strap-ons, vibrators, etc. Manually spread vaginas or anuses (either sex) by hand or manipulated openly by any other artificial means.

·         Penises and Vaginas: Any image that is deemed to be gratuitous - definition of gratuitous: "unnecessary or unwarranted". This will generally include close-up vagina images or images that show intimate details of a vagina, men with an erection that is clearly visible, or images where the penis is the focal subject.

·         Nude or 'Sexualized' Children: we have a conservative approach to images of children. Children should be appropriately clothed. As a general rule, 'appropriately clothed' means no genitalia, no uncovered bottoms, and, for pubescent girls, no bare chests. We define a child as anyone under the age of 18. In images of babies or infants, some nudity is acceptable (for example, in the style of Anne Geddes' portrait photography) but we request that genitalia be covered.

·         General Titillation: Images constructed with the primary purpose of sexually exciting the viewer and where no attempt at an artistic statement has been made.

Violence and Hatred

Work that glorifies or trivializes violence or human suffering is not permitted. For example, graphic depictions of violence, works that trivialize violent acts, and work or behavior where the intent of the artist is to incite hatred or violence. This includes the promotion of organizations, groups, or people who have a history of violence and/or an agenda of hate.

Works that deal with catastrophic events such as genocides or holocausts or other atrocities need to be sensitively handled. Works that have the potential to cause the victims serious distress may be removed.

Racism

Racist content or behavior and material designed to incite racism is not permitted. We define racism as either the hatred or intolerance of another race, or discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one's own race is superior, or a belief that all members of a racial group possess characteristics specific to that race, especially to distinguish it as being inferior.

Racist Terms: Works that use racist terms in a casual and/or derogatory way are not permitted. The decision to remove a work will depend on the context in which words are used, but as a rule of thumb, this excludes situations where legitimate discussion or commentary is taking place. For example, a written work where the artist uses a racial slur in the context of describing their personal experiences of racism would be allowed to remain, but a slogan t-shirt featuring the slur would not.

Use of Symbols

Symbols and icons carry strong messages e.g. the swastika, crosses, the Confederate Flag, Hitler, and the Koran. These symbols and their likeliness can be used in a work, but only with considerable care. Works may be removed if:

·         the intent is ambiguous or needlessly provocative

·         the content appears deliberately designed to contravene anti-vilification, anti-racist, or hate guidelines

·         the content does not comply with country-specific laws

Country-Specific Laws

Some countries regulate or prohibit the use of certain content, like symbols, images, or words. To comply with the laws in these countries, we may remove works that contain such content.

Defamation 

Any work or behavior that can reasonably be considered defamatory is not permitted. As a general rule, works that are presented as an opinion or a criticism on a subject of public interest do not fall under this definition.

Vilification

We define vilification as conduct or content that is intended to invoke serious contempt, revulsion, or severe ridicule of an individual or group of people because of race, religion, disability, gender identity, sexuality, or they are deemed to be a vulnerable person or group eg: refugees. This includes the promotion of organizations, groups, or people whose views are inherently vilifying any of the above. As a general rule, works that are presented as an opinion or a criticism on a subject of public interest do not fall under this definition.

Harmful Misinformation

Harmful misinformation is not permitted. We define this as any misleading or false information that harms or significantly threatens public health and safety, or where the intent is to cause fear and suspicion about a topic that can cause real-world harm.

Uninvited Criticism

Criticism should only be provided on an artwork or product where it has been specifically requested. Criticism includes:

·         negative comments about the quality of work, and

·         finding fault with the arguments or ideas expressed by a work

We provide a supportive and encouraging environment for artists of all skill levels and experiences. If someone is unprepared for criticism or is self-conscious about their work, uninvited criticism can be upsetting and can have a negative impact.

Personal Attacks

A personal attack is where a member writes hurtful or insulting things about another member or makes personal remarks with the intention of hurting or upsetting them. Personal attacks can also include comments made about a group of members and names don’t have to be mentioned in order for behavior to be considered a personal attack. Most importantly, provocation is not a justification for a personal attack on another member.

If an exchange is becoming heated or if someone’s behavior isn’t appropriate we strongly advise taking a few deep breaths, reporting any instances where the behavior falls outside our guidelines, and then ceasing communication.

Our staff does their very best to listen and address concerns but we ask that you treat staff as you treat each other. The staff welcomes suggestions, ideas, feedback, and constructive criticism but we ask that you share your thoughts in a mature, respectful, and considerate manner. Personal attacks on staff will be followed up in line with our Community Guidelines.

Harassment

Harassing behavior includes: to disturb persistently, tormenting, humiliating, bothering continually, pestering, or persecuting. Names don’t have to be mentioned in order for behavior to be considered harassing. Harassment doesn’t have to be negative behavior; it also includes unwelcome behavior.

Harassment can include:

·         Persistent communication after a request has been made to cease communication

·         Persistent or continuing intimidation, bullying, or stalking behavior

·         Continuing offline disagreements or other negative personal issues

If you are being harassed, as a first step please politely ask the person not to contact you again. If the harassment continues, please report all harassing comments, emails, and other communication to our staff using the reporting links provided around the site.

Baiting

Baiting is engaging in behavior or posting content to or on our platforms that is intended to deliberately provoke an angry response or argument over a topic. Baiting behavior includes posting controversial or inflammatory messages, which provoke other members into angry and emotional responses.

Threatening Behavior

Threatening behavior includes threatening the life, safety, or well-being of another member. Threatening behavior will result in immediate account closure.

Copyright and other forms of IP protection

We respect Copyright and Trademark laws and will remove any work found to infringe Copyright, Intellectual Property, or Trademark protection. If you believe your copyright or other intellectual property rights are being infringed, you are able to make a formal complaint by using the processes described in our policy.

Account deletion for policy violations

If an account is found to be in violation of any of our content or account policies, it will be immediately and permanently disabled.

Examples of policy violations that may warrant account deletion include but are not limited to the following:

·         User uploads content that defames or vilifies a person, people, race, religion, or religious group and/or is obscene, pornographic, indecent, harassing, threatening, harmful, invasive of privacy or publicity rights, abusive, inflammatory, or otherwise objectionable

·         User has repeatedly reuploaded content that was previously removed for violating our Community & Content Guidelines

·         An account is used primarily to harass or intimidate other artists or cause conflict and bad feelings within the community or otherwise engage in unacceptable behavior as defined by our Community & Content Guidelines

·         User does not own the rights to sell the products offered in their shop or does not otherwise have permission from the owner of those rights

·         The products in the user’s shop infringe the intellectual property rights or other rights of any person or entity, including copyright, moral rights, trademark, patent, or rights of privacy or publicity

·         User has re-uploaded content that was previously removed in response to complaints from a rights holder or which otherwise infringes upon the intellectual property rights or other rights of another

New accounts found to be owned or operated by users of disabled accounts will be closed immediately.