A small regional Mastodon instance for those in the DC, Maryland, and Virginia areas. Local news, commentary, and conversation.

General information

DMV.Community Wiki

DMV.Community is a small regional Mastodon instance for people in the DC, Maryland, and Virginia areas. It is a place for local news, sports, politics, events, and general discussion.

We fully subscribe to and comply with the Mastodon Server Covenant. A number of instance blocks are implemented to comply with the principles of the covenant. My top priority is keeping this a safe and friendly space for members from all walks of life.

This server depends on your donations to keep it running!

Donate at Ko-fi or use the widget below:

Detailed rules

The short rules listed on this page are the enforceable rules. These notes explain how the administration applies them. Moderation decisions depend on context and severity and can include content removal, limits on an account, or suspension. Parts of these guidelines were originally adapted from mas.to.

Sensitive media

• Nudity, pornography, sexually explicit content, gore, and extremely graphic violence must be marked as sensitive when posted, including artistic depictions.
• Untagged sensitive media may be removed from public timelines. Repeated or severe violations may lead to account action.

Spam, advertising, and automated posting

• Spam, unsolicited advertising, crypto schemes, MLM scams, and repeated self-promotion are prohibited.
• Occasional references to your own work are fine when they are relevant to the conversation and are not the account's primary purpose.
• Uncurated news bots posting from third-party news sources are not allowed.

Misinformation

• Do not knowingly share false or misleading information.
• Disinformation and conspiracy theories that undermine public health are prohibited.

AI-generated art and music

• Do not sell AI-generated art or pass it off as your own creation. Casual jokes and memes are allowed, but do not misrepresent AI-generated work as your own art.
• AI-generated music is not allowed.

Hate, violence, and illegal content

The following content is prohibited and may result in immediate suspension:

• Racism, sexism, casteism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, and discrimination against gender or sexual minorities, including advocacy of these positions
• Xenophobic or violent nationalism
• Incitement of violence or promotion of violent ideologies
• Sexual depictions of children
• Holocaust denial, Nazi symbolism, and conduct promoting National Socialism
• Content that is illegal in the United States, where DMV.Community is hosted

Harassment and abuse

Do not stalk, harass, dox, brigade, or dogpile other users. Do not interfere with their use of the service, degrade the service, or encourage others to do any of these things. Examples include:

• Continuing to contact someone after they have clearly asked you to stop
• Sharing someone's personal or private information without permission
• Encouraging others to continue contacting or targeting someone

The administration reserves the right to revoke access to the service at any time, for any reason, except as limited by law.

Media and content retention

Media uploaded by DMV.Community members remains while it is associated with their posts or profiles, subject to deletion, moderation, and cleanup of orphaned files. Deleted data can remain in database backups until those backups rotate out.

Cached content from other servers is cleaned automatically:

• Remote media attachments: after 7 days
• Remote profile avatars and headers: after 14 days
• Link preview cards: after 14 days
• Cached remote statuses: cleanup targets statuses older than 60 days, although some referenced or interacted-with statuses can be retained
• Remote account tombstones: after 180 days

Purged cached media can be fetched again when needed. These retention periods apply only to DMV.Community's copy. Other servers control their own copies.

DMCA policy

This Digital Millennium Copyright Act policy ("Policy") applies to the dmv.community website and related services (collectively, the "Services"). It explains how the operator handles copyright infringement notifications and how you can submit a complaint. This policy was created with the help of WebsitePolicies.

What to consider before submitting a copyright complaint

Before submitting a complaint, consider whether the use could be fair use. Fair use can permit limited use of copyrighted material without permission for purposes such as criticism, news reporting, teaching, and research. If you still believe the material infringes your copyright, you may want to contact the user first to try to resolve the issue directly. If you are unsure whether the material is infringing, consider speaking with an attorney.

We may share a copy of your notification or counter-notification with the account holder involved in the allegedly infringing activity or publish it when required or permitted by law. If you are concerned about your contact information being forwarded, you may wish to use an agent to submit the report for you.

Notifications of infringement

If you are a copyright owner or an authorized agent and believe material on the Services infringes your copyright, send a written notification using the contact details below. The notification must comply with the DMCA, including identifying the copyrighted work and the allegedly infringing material, providing your contact information, including the required good-faith and accuracy statements, and including your physical or electronic signature.

Filing a DMCA complaint starts a legal process. We will review the complaint for accuracy, validity, and completeness. A valid complaint can result in removal of or restricted access to the material. Repeat infringers may have their accounts permanently terminated.

If we remove or restrict material or terminate an account in response to a notification, we will make a good-faith effort to contact the affected user. That communication can include a copy of your notification, including the contact information you supplied.

We may take no action on a notification that does not comply with the DMCA. This policy does not limit other remedies available for suspected infringement.

Changes and amendments

We may modify this policy at any time. When we do, we will revise the updated date at the bottom of this section and post a notification on the main page of the website. We may also provide notice through the contact information you supplied.

An updated policy takes effect when posted unless otherwise specified. Continued use of the Services after the effective date constitutes acceptance of the revised policy.

Reporting copyright infringement

Send copyright notifications to jcrabapple@dmv.community.

This document was last reviewed and updated on October 27, 2026.

Mental health concerns

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available.

• United States: Call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. You can also chat through 988lifeline.org. The service is free and confidential.
• Other countries and regions: Use the International Association for Suicide Prevention to find a crisis center near you.
• If someone is in immediate danger, contact local emergency services.

Hosting

DMV.Community is self-hosted on my home server.

1. Sexually explicit or violent media must be marked as sensitive when posting
2. No racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, or casteism
3. No incitement of violence or promotion of violent ideologies
4. No harassment, dogpiling or doxxing of other users
5. No content illegal in the United States
6. Do not share intentionally false or misleading information
7. No spam or advertising.
8. Do not try to sell AI-generated art or pass it off as your own creation. Using it to make silly images or memes is one thing, but don't pretend you're an artist.
9. Do not post AI-generated music. It's an abomination.