There are several control features available in Tellonym, some of them built-in, some of them have to be set up. We recommend to do a setup together with your teen.
Talk to your teen
We try to educate our users on what they are allowed to post (and what is not allowed) to maintain a pleasant Tellonym experience, as well as informing them about possibilities to set up their control features. We believe that a conversation with your teen about being active on the internet and specifically Tellonym can improve their online experience. In such conversations, remind your teen that all messages are private by default and that they should always ignore and report inappropriate content.
Language Filters
All messages sent through Tellonym have to pass our language filters. Those language filters are built using advanced technologies with learning algorithms to further improve our filters with every sent message. You can specify the strength of your teen’s language filters by accessing their account through one of our services and following these steps:
- Navigate to the profile tab on the bottom right.
- Open the settings page on the top right.
- Tab the 'Safety Options' button located under the category 'Safety'.
- Adjust the overall language filters sensitivity or click on 'Adjust Yourself' to control the individual filters.
Custom Word Filter
Tellonym users can add words to their custom word filter to exclude specific topics completely. If a message includes that exact word, it gets instantly removed without further notice. This way you can control which messages your teen receives. General harsh language is already filtered, so we recommend to add words that are connected to inappropriate messages your teen receives often. The function can be found in the settings menu.
Set a Safety Code
You can modify your teen’s safety settings by accessing the app through his or her phone, setting up all the options as you wish and then add a protection code to keep your teen or others from changing those settings afterwards. By that, you make sure that your teen always has the protection level you desire while not having to recheck regularly.
Extensive Blocking Mechanism
Tellonym has blocking mechanisms to exclude people you don’t want your teen to interact with. On every profile, you have the option to block that person, by pressing on the three dots, which removes their ability to see your teen’s posts, to send you messages and to interact with your teen otherwise. If you do so, the other person could find out that he or she has been blocked.
Additionally, you are also able to block the sender of every individual Tell received, by pressing on the three dots. Blocking senders works for non-registered users as well as for registered ones. It removes the senders ability to write your teen additional Tells. If you block the anonymous sender of a Tell, the sender won't get informed.
Only Receive Tells From Registered Users
In the Safety Options (Settings -> Safety Options), there is a switch that removes the ability from non-registered to write your teen messages. We advise to use this option if your teen keeps receiving inappropriate messages, even after blocking the sender. This option will dramatically reduce the amount of messages your teen is going to receive, which limits their Tellonym experience and improves the likelihood of your teen trying to find a way around your originally set safety options (i.e. by creating a new account). We block accounts if we notice that they are meant to counter safety settings set by their parents.
Report Messages
We recommend to read the Community Guidelines and regularly report messages that you consider inappropriate. This allows us to individually check those messages, take actions and to learn more about the experience you would like to have on Tellonym. Our language filters are adjusting to your reporting behaviour and based on that, block inappropriate messages automatically.
These are our control features. I these are not extensive enough for you, please inform us how to improve. You can contact us at support@tellonym.me. If you want to decide to delete you teens account, we have a small guide below:
Deleting the account
When you delete an account on Tellonym, it means that the account will be deactivated and no longer be searchable within our Services for a period of 30 days. After reactivation period of 30 days, the account and all information attached will be deleted. During this 30 day period, you or your teen can still access the account to reactivate the account.
To delete your teen’s Tellonym account, you'll need access to the connected registration method, which can be a phone number or an email. When you have access to your teen Tellonym account, you can delete the account by following these steps:
- Click on the profile tab on the bottom right.
- Click on the settings icon on the top right.
- Navigate into 'More' settings at the bottom of the view.
- Now, you should be able to tab the 'Delete Account' button. After confirmation, you'll enter the 30 days reactivation period.
Please contact us via email at support@tellonym.me if you need help deactivating your teen's account.