---
title: "Voice and boundaries — Born Free"
project: born-free
tags: [style-guide, voice, boundaries, born-free]
date: 2026-04-23
---

## 1. Audience (one paragraph each)

- **Who we help:** We speak to people building culture, community, and independent creative work who want a credible home for their project—especially where ownership, distribution, and long-term trust matter. [NEEDS HUMAN CONFIRMATION: exact primary ICP and flagship surface (e.g. site sections, product lines).]
- **What they already believe:** They believe artists and communities deserve real leverage, not rented attention. They are open to new rails (including on-chain) when the story is clear and the tradeoffs are honest.
- **What they fear or are tired of:** They are tired of hype, rug-pull language, and “revolutionary” adjectives. They fear being associated with scams, empty promises, or anything that makes serious collaborators walk away.

## 2. Positioning (one short paragraph)

- **One-sentence promise:** Born Free is the umbrella under which we build and communicate trustworthy tools and stories for independent culture—with calm clarity, not noise. [NEEDS HUMAN CONFIRMATION: tighten to your canonical one-liner.]
- **What we are NOT (anti-positioning):** We are not a get-rich ecosystem, a substitute for legal or tax advice, or a brand that trashes people to look edgy. We do not imply guaranteed outcomes for any financial or creative bet.

## 3. Voice (how we sound)

- Speak in **plain, direct** sentences; prefer clarity over charisma.
- **Name specifics** (what changed, who it is for) instead of superlatives.
- Stay **calm**; excitement comes from real milestones, not exclamation points.
- Use **inclusive, respectful** language; credit contributors and source material.
- **Acknowledge tradeoffs** when we touch custody, blockchains, or rights—no fairy tales.
- Avoid **empty trend words**; if we use a term of art, define it once in context.
- **Tone:** grounded, human, build-focused—not alarmist, not “degens only.”
- When unsure, **say what we know** and what still needs validation.

**Good (on-brand) examples**

- We ship tools and stories for people who own their work—without turning community into a sales funnel.
- Here is what is live today, what is in progress, and what we are not building next quarter.
- If you custody assets on-chain, you carry real responsibility; we will point to accurate docs, not shortcuts.

**Bad (avoid)**

- The entire industry is about to be disrupted—miss this and you are ngmi.
- This is the only platform you will ever need, guaranteed to change your life.
- Trust us, we are all going to make it; just ape in.

## 4. Vocabulary

- **We prefer:** community, independence, clear ownership, roadmap, release, update, rights, responsibility, opt-in, documented behavior.
- **We avoid:** guaranteed, moon, Lambo, ser, WAGMI in external copy; vague “decentralized everything”; insults and pile-on memes in official channels.
- **Names:** **Born Free** in prose; project slug and filters `born-free`. When we mention sub-products, follow their official spellings: **Store Free** (`store-free`), **Knowtation** (`knowtation`).

## 5. Claims and boundaries (non-negotiable)

- We do not promise investment returns, legal outcomes, tax results, or medical effects.
- We do not invent **metrics**, **case study numbers**, or **testimonials**; we cite verifiable sources or label projections as such.
- When we discuss **blockchain**, **custody**, or **compliance**, we keep language accurate and measured; we suggest qualified professionals for advice on law, tax, or securities. [NEEDS HUMAN CONFIRMATION: any regulated-activity list your counsel requires.]
- We **criticize ideas and practices**, not individuals; we avoid defamatory or harassing phrasing, including toward competitors or critics.

## 6. CTAs and urgency

- **Allowed urgency:** real dates (e.g. ticket or screening windows, campaign end, documented promotion sunset), limited capacity that we can show is true, honest “last chance” tied to a stated deadline.
- **Forbidden urgency:** fake countdowns, false scarcity, hidden renewals, manipulative FOMO, or “you will lose out forever” without a factual basis.

## 7. AI and disclosure

- When public content is **substantively drafted or edited by AI**, or when media is **synthetic** (image, audio, video), we disclose in line with **platform and jurisdiction rules** and with our own channel policies.
- A **human** reviews facts, names, numbers, and compliance-sensitive statements **before** publish. AI output is a draft, not a substitute for sign-off. [NEEDS HUMAN CONFIRMATION: your legal/marketing approver and workflow.]

## 8. Review checklist (10 yes/no items)

1. [ ] Is every factual claim either sourced, in-app verifiable, or removed?
2. [ ] Have we avoided investment/legal/medical promises we cannot back up?
3. [ ] Are product names and capitalization correct (**Born Free**, sub-product names as listed)?
4. [ ] If we mention blockchain, custody, or compliance, is the phrasing accurate and non-misleading?
5. [ ] Is urgency honest (real date or real constraint)?
6. [ ] Are we criticizing ideas, not attacking people or entities by name in an abusive way?
7. [ ] Have we removed hype adjectives in favor of specifics?
8. [ ] If AI or synthetic media is involved, is disclosure handled for this channel?
9. [ ] Has a human who can approve copy reviewed claims and offers?
10. [ ] Is the CTA clear and the next step honest about what the reader gets?