Community Guidelines
Sapling is an inclusive community of artists looking for reach and discoverability. In order to ensure that we are good stewards of the community, we have established the following community guidelines. Violation of these guidelines may result in suspention or termination of your account.
What You Can Sell
We are not prescriptive about what you can sell—art takes on many forms after all! Our #1 policy regarding what you sell is that your goods and services must be designed by you and meet a minimum creative effort. This means that a substantial amount of your design work, creative license, inspiration, etc. has to go into the final product.
This is a very “I know it when I see it” policy, which may concern some, but rest assured that we aren't looking to scrutinize people's art and judge its type and value. Our primary intent is to ensure artists are promoted over dropshippers and mass produced goods, which can easily weasel out of strict requirements with the right workarounds.
The following are non-exhaustive lists of examples of goods and services that are and are not acceptable under this policy.
Acceptable:
- Original paintings and their prints
- Commissioned digital work (2d, 3d, etc.)
- Plushes
- Freelance illustration services
- Fandom stationary (stickers, notepads, etc.)
- Custom resin cast dice
- Streamer assets
- Marquetry boxes
- Clay earrings
- Beaded jewelry
- Scented or decorative candles
- Enamel pins
- 3d miniatures
- Cosplay wigs
- Embroidered sweaters
- Novelty bags and purses
- Switch or steam deck covers
- Artisan kecaps
- Adoptables
- Ceramics
Not Acceptable:
- Anything containing generative AI (even if creative license is applied on top!)
- Fandom art that is near 1:1 with the source material (e.g. screencaps)
- Laser engraving, embossing, embroidery, or screenprinting services using premade stencils, fonts, and/or graphic designs
- Antiques or second hand goods
- Live plants or animals
- Sexual content or services (see our NSFW policy below)
- Recolored designs from other artists that have been traced without their permission
- Mystery bags or grab bags of purchased merchandise (e.g. precious stones, drugstore makeup, etc.)
Artistic Integrity
We recognize that most artists do not have patents on their designs, and that popular imagery can trend and reappear similarly in different artists' works. Repeated behavior that appears suspiciously like stealing can and will be used as grounds for a review and possible suspension from the platform. We take artistic integrity very seriously.
Post Contents
We encourage artists to keep most of their content related to their work, but will not enforce any restrictions based on unrelated topics like opinions on movies and travel plans. However, we ask that any matters regarding politics or current events are kept to a minimum or stay business relevant, as Sapling is not a discussion platform. Posts that are excessively off topic in this regard, especially those that incite outrage or violence, will be removed.
Posts containing excessive and unproductive negativity will also be removed. Under this policy, criticism and frustration are allowed, but hate and shame are not. Additionally, we have a zero tolerance policy for discrimination against marginalized groups, and calls for violence will be immediately removed regardless of the individual(s) in question.
NSFW Policy
All post content, merchandise, and account links should be kept PG-13. While we do support the sale and production of NSFW content in principle, due to regulations around this content, we are unable to support those businesses on Sapling at this time. We are planning to expand our features to allow users to opt in to sensitive content while maintaining a safe space for users of all ages in the future!