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SynchAcademy Terms

Version 5 · last updated 2026-10-16 · what changed

These Terms apply when you use SynchAcademy — the Discord app and bot of the Synch Academy — or the Academy website at academy.synchsupport.org, including the Community Portal. They add to our main Terms & Conditions, which apply to everything Synch runs; if the two ever conflict, these Terms apply to SynchAcademy. How we handle data is in the SynchAcademy Privacy Policy.

By using SynchAcademy, or adding it to a Discord server, you agree to these Terms.

1. What SynchAcademy is

SynchAcademy connects Discord to the Synch Academy — free courses, pathways and simulations for Discord moderators and support teams. It lets people sign in to the Academy with Discord, check certificates with /cert, and lets communities use the Academy to train their own people (Teams) or publish their own courses (Provider).

SynchAcademy is provided free of charge by Synch ("we", "us"), an unregistered, volunteer-run online community.

The Synch Academy is the public-facing side of Synch's education work. It is run by the Education & Training (E&T) Department, which is managed by the Education & Training Board (ETB).

Synch is independent. Synch, the Synch Academy and SynchAcademy are run by volunteers and are not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by or approved by Discord Inc. We don't represent Discord or speak for it, and we are not Discord's own Moderator Academy or any other Discord programme. Discord is a trademark of Discord Inc.; we use the name only to describe that our services work with Discord. SynchAcademy is an app that runs on Discord's platform, like any other bot; that doesn't make it part of Discord.

2. Using the bot

  • Use /cert to check a certificate you've been given, or your own. Don't use it to collect or harvest certificate information in bulk, and don't run it through automation.
  • Don't try to break, overload or get around the bot, its commands or the Academy website, or use them to harass anyone.
  • Don't impersonate Synch, the Academy or its staff, or present a certificate as yours when it isn't.
  • Discord's Terms of Service and Community Guidelines apply whenever you use the bot.

3. Adding SynchAcademy to your server

You may add SynchAcademy to a server only if you're allowed to manage that server. When you do, you confirm the server's owner and admins agree to the bot being there and to these Terms.

  • Adding the bot registers your community with the Academy. It doesn't give your community any Academy features on its own.
  • Teams needs 20 or more members and our approval. Provider needs 50 or more members and our approval. They're separate — a community can have either, both, or neither.
  • The bot checks your member count regularly. If it drops below a minimum on two checks in a row, that feature is paused and comes back on its own once you're above it again.
  • Don't inflate your member count (for example with alt or bot accounts) to reach a minimum. We can refuse, pause or remove access if you do.
  • Removing the bot pauses your community's Academy access until it's added back.
  • Keep the bot's permissions as requested. The bot needs no moderation permissions and never uses any in your server.

4. The Community Portal

People with Administrator in a community's server sign in as its Admin; people with Manage Server sign in as a Guild Manager. You must use the portal only for communities you genuinely help run, and only within what your role there allows you to do.

  • If you manage more than one community, make sure you're working in the right one — the portal shows which one at the top of every page, and anything you submit is filed for the community that owns it.
  • Teams: you may invite people, assign and recommend training, and see progress only as our Terms & Conditions (section 5) and Synch Academy for Teams allow. Use what you see only to support and train your own team; keep it confidential; don't share it further.
  • Providers: everything you publish is reviewed by us first and is covered by the Community Programs Terms, which your community accepts in the portal and which apply in addition to these Terms. Courses must meet our minimum content requirements to be submitted.

Exams and certificates are covered by our Exams, Certificates & Academic Integrity policy.

5. Suspension and removal

We can pause or end a community's Teams or Provider access, remove the bot's access to the Academy, or restrict anyone's use of SynchAcademy if these Terms, our main Terms, or the Community Programs Terms are broken, or where we need to protect people. A community that's suspended or banned can appeal from the Community Portal.

You can stop using SynchAcademy at any time, and remove it from your server whenever you like.

6. No warranty, limited liability

SynchAcademy is run by volunteers and provided "as is". Commands, features and availability may change or be interrupted. Sections 10 and 11 of our main Terms & Conditions (warranty and liability) apply to SynchAcademy in full. A certificate shown by /cert confirms only what its verification page confirms; it isn't a professional qualification, and neither it nor any Academy content is issued, approved or endorsed by Discord.

7. Changes and contact

We may update these Terms; we'll change the version and date at the top and announce important changes in our Discord. Section 14 of our main Terms (problems and disputes) applies to SynchAcademy too.

Synch · open a support ticket in our Discord server: discord.gg/NvbG77QZSP