How to Write Mastodon Instance Rules from a Brief
Instance rules invent defederation lists. Quote the brief. FEDERATION UNKNOWN if blank.
The matching generator is the Mastodon Instance Rules Pack from a Community Brief (Not Captions) prompt. Browse related cards in the PromptDig library (Browse more prompts). When a filled run survives, share the version you actually use (Share a prompt).
Write the purpose one-liner from the brief
Write Mastodon instance rules and escalation notes from a community brief. Not a caption engine and not a profile bio. Start by filling Inputs, not by asking the model to remember last week's run. If a field is blank, write NONE or NOT IN INPUTS and leave it blank through Generate. The card is built so the model cannot honestly invent a number, owner, URL, or command that you did not paste.
Paste these fields before you hit run:
Community brief (purpose, audience, hard lines): [Brief]
Rule count max: [N or 8]
Escalation contacts I allow (or UNKNOWN): [Contacts]
Federation notes I allow (or UNKNOWN): [Federation]
Words I must not use: [Banned]
What I must never invent: [Never]
Output format: [Format]
Language: [Lang]
Languages allowed on the instance: [ChatLang]
That inventory is the honesty ledger. Anything that does not appear there is forbidden in the draft. If you catch yourself adding a nice-to-have after the run, you are no longer using the card. You are ghostwriting. Put the extra fact in Inputs and run again.
Rules with examples only from hard lines
Generate is numbered on purpose. Do not skip a step because the first paragraph looked done. The early steps exist to stop later prose from smuggling claims.
Walk the Generate list in order:
- Honesty ledger: Brief nouns, N, Contacts, Federation, ChatLang, Lang.
- Purpose one-liner from Brief.
- Up to N rules with a short example each. Quote hard lines from Brief.
- Escalation ladder using Contacts or CONTACT UNKNOWN.
- Federation: only Federation. If UNKNOWN, write FEDERATION UNKNOWN; do not invent defederation lists.
- Refuse: caption packs, profile bio drafts, inventing Mastodon API scopes, inventing city ordinances.
- ChatLang line.
- Compliance pass: Banned and Never. Format as Format.
If a step asks for a version lock, quote the version from Inputs in the output. If a step asks for a refuse list, keep the refuse list in the published artifact, not in a sidebar you delete. Reviewers should see what the model was not allowed to do.
Leave contacts UNKNOWN when emails are missing
Most failures are the same shape: a missing field gets a confident fill. A conversion rate appears. A Gradle task appears. A flash point appears. A caption appears on a job that asked for slide text only. Your review is to search the draft for numbers, names, and commands, then grep Inputs. No match means cut.
Honor the constraints as hard stops, not vibes:
- Mastodon instance rules from Brief. Not captions and not a profile bio.
- Never invent contacts, federation blocks, or legal claims.
- No emojis.
When the card says not legal advice, not certification, not an exam dump, or not a caption engine, that sentence belongs at the top of the output. Deleting it to look more finished is how you inherit risk.
Refuse caption packs and profile bios
Finish with the compliance pass the prompt already asks for. Quote the banned-word hits. Cut them. Print character counts when the job has a cap. Print word counts when the job has a budget. List gaps as gaps. Five missing facts are more useful than one smooth paragraph.
Tags on the card (mastodon instance rules pack, community brief not captions, mastodon server code of conduct) are a reminder of the job shape, not an invitation to wander into a neighboring cluster. If you need a different surface, open a different PromptDig card rather than stretching this one.
Fill the card, then run
Replace every bracket. Run on ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini. Read the ledger first, then the artifact. If the model invents a commit, KPI, DOI, PEL, bid, or logo, discard the run. Tighten Inputs. Run again. Share the filled card that survived, not the first draft that sounded done.