Welcome to the NOUN Student Community — an independent space where students of the National Open University of Nigeria can ask questions, share resources, discuss their programmes and support one another. This Content Policy sets out the rules that keep the community safe, useful and trustworthy for everyone.

These rules apply to everything you do here: posts, comments, replies, direct messages, group activity, polls, your profile, your username, and any links or files you share. By creating an account and taking part, you agree to follow this policy. We may update it from time to time; the date above shows the latest revision, and continued use of the community means you accept the current version.

The short version

• Be respectful. Treat fellow students the way you would want to be treated.
• Be honest. No scams, fraud, impersonation or deliberate misinformation.
• Be relevant. No adverts, spam or off-topic self-promotion.
• Be lawful and safe. Nothing illegal, harmful, or that exposes others’ private information.
• Protect academic integrity. No exam malpractice, leaked questions or ghost-writing.

The full rules are below. Where this policy mentions “we”, “us” or “moderators”, it refers to the administrators who run this community.

1. Treat others with respect

This is a community of fellow students. Healthy debate is welcome; cruelty is not. The following are not allowed:

• Personal attacks, insults, name-calling or belittling other members.
• Bullying, intimidation, threats of violence, or encouraging others to harm anyone.
• Harassment, including repeated unwanted contact, stalking, or pile-ons.
• Hate speech or discrimination on the basis of tribe, ethnicity, state of origin, religion, gender, disability, age, sexual orientation, or any other characteristic.
• Sexual harassment or unwelcome sexual advances toward any member.

Disagreeing well

You can challenge an idea firmly while still respecting the person. Argue the point, not the person, and assume others are acting in good faith unless they clearly are not.

2. No adverts, spam or unsolicited promotion

This community is for students, not for selling to them. The following are prohibited:

• Unsolicited adverts for products, services, businesses or events.
• Referral, affiliate or “make money” links and schemes.
• Repeatedly posting the same or similar content (flooding the feed).
• Mass or automated messages, including bulk direct messages.
• Promoting other groups, channels or platforms in a way that adds no value here.
• Buying, selling or trading accounts, upvotes, followers or engagement.

What is allowed

Sharing a genuinely helpful resource, tool or opportunity in the context of a relevant discussion is fine. The test is simple: are you helping a fellow student, or advertising to them? If in doubt, ask a moderator first.

3. No scams, fraud or financial exploitation

We have zero tolerance for any attempt to deceive, defraud or financially exploit members. This is the most serious category of violation. Prohibited behaviour includes, but is not limited to:

• Fake “expo”, “runs”, or guaranteed-grade offers.
• Fraudulent admission, fee, scholarship, grant or “connect” offers.
• Impersonating NOUN staff, officials, study-centre coordinators, or the community administrators.
• Phishing — tricking members into revealing passwords, OTPs, BVN, bank details or matriculation numbers.
• Requests for money transfers, recharge cards, gift cards or cryptocurrency under false pretences.
• Advance-fee fraud (“pay a small fee to receive…”) of any kind.
• Fake investment, betting, forex or “double your money” schemes.

Accounts caught scamming or attempting fraud will be permanently terminated without warning, and serious cases may be reported to the relevant authorities and to NOUN. Never send money or share sensitive details with anyone you meet here; the community and its administrators will never ask you for your password, OTP or banking details.

4. Protect academic integrity

Cheating harms every NOUN student by devaluing the qualification we are all working for. The following are not allowed:

• Buying, selling, soliciting or sharing leaked examination or TMA questions or answers.
• Offering or requesting ghost-writing of assignments, projects or theses.
• Organising or facilitating examination malpractice of any kind.
• Sharing another student’s work as your own, or encouraging plagiarism.

What healthy study help looks like

Discussing course material, explaining concepts, recommending textbooks, forming study groups and working through past, released questions for genuine learning are all encouraged. The line is crossed when the goal becomes obtaining marks dishonestly rather than understanding the material.

5. Keep content lawful and safe

Do not post, link to, or request:

• Content that is illegal under the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
• Sexually explicit material, nudity, or any sexual content involving minors (this results in an immediate permanent ban and a report to the authorities).
• Graphic violence, gore, or content that glorifies violence or terrorism.
• Content that promotes self-harm, suicide, eating disorders, or dangerous activities.
• Sale or promotion of weapons, illegal drugs, or other regulated goods.
• Malware, hacking tools, pirated software or other harmful files.

6. Respect privacy

• Do not share anyone’s personal information — phone number, address, email, matriculation number, results or photographs — without their clear consent. Posting someone’s private details to harass or intimidate them (“doxxing”) is strictly forbidden.
• Do not post screenshots of private conversations without the other person’s permission.
• Do not create accounts to impersonate another real person.

7. Share honest, accurate information

Posts and comments reflect the personal views and experiences of individual members. They are not official statements from NOUN or from this community’s administrators. To keep the community trustworthy:

• Do not deliberately spread false information about admissions, registration, fees, results, examinations or university policy.
• When you share information about deadlines or official matters, say where it came from and link to official NOUN sources where you can.
• If you are not certain, say so. “I think” and “I’m not sure, but…” are far better than confidently stating something false.
• Always confirm important matters through official NOUN channels before acting on them.

8. Accounts and authenticity

• One person, one account. Do not run multiple accounts to evade rules, manipulate votes, or dodge a ban.
• Do not share or sell your account, and keep your login details private.
• Do not use bots or automation to post, vote, follow or message.
• If your account is banned, creating a new one to get around the ban (“ban evasion”) is itself a violation.

9. Reporting and enforcement

If you see something that breaks these rules, please report it. You can:

• Use the Report option on any post, comment or profile.
• Report a payment issue or a community issue from the links in the community footer.

Reports are private — the person you report is not told who reported them. Our moderators review every report. Depending on the severity of the violation and the member’s history, we may take one or more of the following actions:

• Remove the offending content.
• Issue a formal warning.
• Temporarily restrict or suspend the account.
• Permanently terminate the account.
• Escalate the matter to NOUN or the appropriate authorities where the law may have been broken.

Serious violations — especially scams, fraud, threats, and anything involving the safety of a minor — may result in immediate permanent termination without prior warning.

Reasons a moderator may act

When a moderator removes content, warns, suspends or bans an account, they record a reason. Whenever we act on your account or content, you will receive a notification stating which content was affected and the specific reason. The reasons we use are:

• Spam or repetitive posting — flooding the feed or posting the same content repeatedly.
• Adverts or unsolicited self-promotion — promoting products, services or links that add no value.
• Scam, fraud or financial exploitation — any attempt to deceive or defraud members.
• Impersonation — pretending to be another person, NOUN staff or an official.
• Harassment, bullying or threats — targeting or intimidating other members.
• Hate speech or discrimination — attacking people based on a protected characteristic.
• False or misleading information — deliberately spreading inaccurate claims.
• Exam malpractice or leaked materials — sharing or soliciting cheating material.
• Sexual, explicit or graphic content — material unsuitable for the community.
• Sharing private information without consent — exposing another person’s details.
• Off-topic or low-quality content — content that does not belong where it was posted.
• General breach of the community guidelines — any other violation of this policy.

Our penalty ladder

We aim to be fair and proportionate. The action taken depends on the severity of the breach and your history in the community:

• Content removal — the offending post or comment is taken down. You are notified with the reason and an excerpt of the content concerned.
• Formal warning — a recorded warning explaining what you did wrong. Repeated breaches escalate.
• Temporary suspension — a time-limited restriction on posting and commenting for repeated or more serious breaches.
• Permanent termination (ban) — for severe breaches (scams, fraud, threats, child-safety) or persistent rule-breaking. Your content is hidden and you can no longer take part.
• Escalation — where the law may have been broken, the matter may be reported to NOUN or the relevant authorities.

First-time, minor breaches usually begin with content removal or a warning. Scams, fraud, threats and anything endangering a minor skip the ladder and result in an immediate permanent ban.

10. Appeals

If you believe a moderation decision was made in error, you may appeal by reporting a community issue from the footer and explaining your case calmly and clearly. We will review genuine appeals, but decisions on scams, fraud and child-safety violations are final.

A final word

Behind every username is a fellow NOUN student juggling coursework, TMAs, work and life. Most people here are trying to help or to learn. Follow these rules, look out for one another, and this community will remain a place worth being part of. Thank you for helping us keep it that way.