Ruling1: The hotlink block. "No rules" boards, extremely contentious boards, and boards that accumulate loli hentai content beyond a certain threshold are placed behind a hotlink block that disallows them from being accessed from anywhere outside of 8chan. >Why The hosting company that supports us explicitly allows our content including 2d loli art, but they ask that a "minor hurdle, such as a login" be placed between contentious content and the outside internet. This is the same request they make of the Sad Panda, whom they also host. The hotlink block is our minor hurdle. A board being added to the block is not a punishment and does not imply any need for that board to change its content or policies. Its quite literally for that board's own protection.

Ruling2: Media containing children, DOST, and context Global Rule 2 broadly disallows posting pictures of underage people in any sort of lewd or lascivious context, or from trying to change the context of an otherwise innocent pic into something lewd with the addition of other content. Media of IRL kids was originally allowed on non-pornography boards including /b/ provided the letter and spirit of Global Rule 2 was maintained. This exemption has been revoked. Pictures or other media containing real children may not be posted on the site other than well known memes which contain no lewd content (e.g.: "Disaster Girl"). Global moderators may use their own discretion concerning removals and bans for such material. >Why Because children are provided with special protections under the law, the very act of posting pics of kids in a NSFW environment can be considered posting them in a lewd context. There is some legal grey area, but the site endeavors to avoid that grey area and follow the law as best we can. Formerly "cute kid pics" of a non-lewd nature were permitted on the site, but this has led to persistent, repeated abuse that has been difficult for Board Owners to moderate, and this poses an unacceptable risk to the site's hosting.

Ruling3: Global Filters and the pedo keyword attacks The site has enabled several global text filters covering all manner of pedo related content. Attempting to post any filtered terms (eg. "sex with un///derage") will generally result in the term being replaced with something more whimsical. >Why An attack was mounted against the site by some users repeatedly posting certain keywords and key phrases related to child abuse activity. These keywords were taken verbatim from a list of known identifiers that multiple government agencies use to identify and shut down CP sites. These users were hoping to draw the attention of the network of bot crawlers used by these government agencies and trick the bots into automatically flagging the site as a CP site by presenting them with a large number of keyword "hits." Even though we do not permit illegal content, the risk of a knee-jerk reaction by some government organization bringing the site down until the matter could be sorted out is reasonably high, so the known keywords themselves and their derivative phrases are not permitted.

Ruling4: Public admission of illegal activity Content in which a user admits to knowingly carrying out serious IRL crimes may be removed at staff's individual discretion. Generally this is based on whether there is a good faith belief that the admission could be genuine and whether the alleged crime in question is serious. Admission of crimes related to sexual abuse will be removed with prejudice. >Why? Admitting to serious crimes in public is a terrible idea to begin with, even if you are trolling or joking. From the standpoint of the site, providing a platform to brag about illegal activity may enter a legal grey area, especially if you are encouraging others to repeat your act.

Ruling5: "Shit Magnets" The site administration reserves the right to allow threads or boards containing borderline content on a trial basis. We also reserve the right to remove those threads or boards on a case-by-case basis if they habitually cause or attract problems. >Why? The site aims to achieve the maximal level of free speech and artistic expression that we can legally provide, but it would be naive of us to assume that we have the time and manpower to babysit every nook and cranny of the site, especially boards or threads that come near to breaking the Global Rules anyway. If such a place becomes a magnet for shit, we may remove the whole thing to clean up the mess rather than attempting to police every post made there.

Ruling6: DMCA takedowns and responses The site will remove content that is claimed under the DMCA as required by law. This will generally be done within 72 hours of receiving a DMCA notice. >Why? This site makes absolutely no claim to any copyrighted works. However we permit a reasonable amount of time for the poster of such claimed content to notice and dispute the claim before we affect it's removal. If the user does not make known their intention to dispute the DMCA claim, we may remove the content immediately.

Ruling7: The Proof of Work (POW) captcha system The site is equipped with a Proof of Work crypto engine as part of the captcha system that can be toggled on and off by the site admins. When activated, the system works as follows: 1: When getting a new Bypass Captcha, you enter the captcha like normal. 2: The site will then force your computer to calculate a difficult math problem and provide the correct answer before it grants you the bypass. This is a hash algorithm, but the one we use is open source and not related to any sort of coin miner. 3: The amount of time this will take is alluded to by the "Please wait for validation" message, and will usually be around 2-6 minutes depending on your computer's specs. Do not close the tab, refresh the page, or do anything else while it is validating. 4: The POW will usually cause your CPU usage to spike high. This is normal, but will not last any longer than it takes to grant the bypass. 5: When the correct answer is found, your post will be completed for you and you will gain the daily bypass and can then post normally. >Why? Because it is impossible to effectively ban users who post from TOR or unlisted VPNs, this system was developed as a way to control spam coming from those sources. While the attacker can still switch IPs or TOR nodes at his will, he will be forced to go through the POW bypass every time he is banned. This dramatically slows a spammer's rate of posting, and makes spamming using a botnet more expensive. Meanwhile normal users will typically only have to endure the POW bypass once for all of their posting for the day. Users who habitually clear cookies and hop IP addresses will be affected more than normal users, so please bear that in mind. The admins have exclusive control over activation of the POW system and will use it as reasonably necessary to control spam. It cannot be enabled on a per-board or otherwise selective basis, and when activated it functions for all users sitewide.

Ruling8: Spam, board bans, and ban evasion The global moderators and admins generally don't involve ourselves in matters where a user of a board is ban evading on that board, unless they are doing it to spam. Spam is always considered a dual Board+Global matter because it affects the site's main index page. Despite this generally hands-off policy it is possible for users to present enough of a problem that they become persona non grata on the site as a whole. >Why? 8chan is not intended to have gross top-down moderation in the way that most websites do. Each board owner is generally left to manage their board as they see fit within the framework of the Global Rules. This includes making and enforcing their own policies concerning who they wish to exclude from posting on it. Even global staff may be excluded, though we retain the right to cancel such bans to engage in actual site-related business such as communicating with the board's owner or volunteers. That being said, it is possible for a user ban evading on one or more boards to make such a nuisance of themselves across the site that it catches the global staff's attention and compels us to intervene. Such users are generally well-known thread derailers, persistent spammers, CP peddlers, or all of the above, and global staff are authorized to remove them and their posts on sight. In extreme cases where the problem poster is also publicly declaring their innocence and a controversy ensues, site administrators may be authorized to reveal limited amounts of that user's data, such as a partial post history, as proof of the user's activities or identity.

Ruling9: Calls to violence Calling for or supporting violence is not generally prohibited by the Global Rules so long as such speech is legal under the First Amendment of the US Constitution. >Why? The First Amendment provides robust protection of free speech and expression, to include expression of extreme anger or dislike. Calls for violence become illegal (and thus prohibited sitewide under Global Rule 1) when they are made in such a way that a reasonable person would have a good-faith belief that such speech is directed to producing or inciting imminent lawless action, and that it is likely to actually incite or produce such action. In determining this good faith belief we may take into account several factors including the context of the speech, the level of detail presented concerning any specified actions and/or any alleged target or targets of such calls, any other recent posts made by the subject speaking that may demonstrate their intentions, the content of responses to such speech, and whether or not the speech as presented is unserious (memes) or obvious hyperbole. Content that fails such tests may be removed.

Ruling10: The end of the /hebe/ experiment The creation of boards such as /hebe/, /jailbait/ or any other url that are intended or used for pedophilia-related content and discussion are no longer permitted. All remaining legal discussion of such topics is relegated to the /b/ board only, and only for so long as /b/'s Board Owner permits it and the letter and spirit of Global Rules 1 and 2 are maintained there. >Why? /hebe/ was permitted on the site despite its borderline rule-breaking status based on the site's sincere appreciation for free speech as a principle, and on a claim of impassioned pleas from members of its community who desired a place to talk legally about their issues. On that trial basis, the board was permitted. (See Ruling 5 above and pic related.) Despite being given special restrictions and leeway, multiple warnings, and at least one public plea to the community of the board, it wound up becoming a persistent global problem (CP) and was finally abandoned by its owner and left unmoderated. This type of outcome was predicted by anons and global staff alike from the first day of the board's creation, but in the interests of free speech we chose to see it through in the hopes that the board might surprise us. Despite some good early efforts and cooperation by the Board Owner, it ultimately did not. The trial basis permitting /hebe/ and boards like it has thus been revoked. Legal images and other media containing real children were previously permitted elsewhere on the site on a trial basis (most notably a cyclical "cuteness appreciation thread" on /b/), but this has also come to an end due to abuse. See Ruling 5 and the updated Ruling 2 above, as well as: https://archive.is/rBWDE

Ruling11: Locking "stillborn" boards to prevent abuse If a board is created and left obviously unattended or squatted but otherwise empty ("stillborn"), we may lock that board to prevent it from being abused until the Board Owner is prepared to operate it properly, or else forfeits it by allowing it to become abandoned. >Why? We have had cases where boards were created and then immediately abandoned, but during the period of time before the board became available for claims it was left totally unmoderated. To prevent the posting of illegal content that might slip by unreported on a board with no owner, mods, or community, we reserve the right to lock such boards until the Board Owner signals us that they are present and ready to take over moderation. When this ruling is utilized, the board remains the property of the BO and will be unlocked at their request. They do not forfeit the board unless they allow it to go up for claims by not logging in for 21 consecutive days, as is normal. If the board has somehow developed an active community despite having no staff, we will first use the Admin override to invite at least one user from it to take over a moderation slot before we consider locking it.

Ruling12: Global Rule 2 and the "reporting to law enforcement" clause. The site has a firm policy not to provide user or post information to any third party entity except as required by actual law. The typical example might be responding to a court subpoena demanding the IP address of a person who posted illegal content. There is one exception to this reactive policy that has been clearly stated in Global Rule 2 since the site's earliest days: Images or any other kind of media depicting the sexual abuse of real children is explicitly forbidden and will be reported to law enforcement. This is not an idle threat. While the clause covers the usual types of media like images or videos, it may extend to other factors of a user's posting if that user persistently creates a strong suspicion that sexual abuse or grooming is taking place in the presence of the site. >Why? Child-Sexual-Abuse-Materials (CSAM) are some of the worst things that exist on the Internet, even by the typically lax views of imageboard communities. They and those who post them represent an existential threat to an entire site above the level of any other potentially illegal activity, and their removal takes the highest priority of all moderation actions. On that basis, and to discourage repeat offenders, Global Rule 2 specifically and publicly allows the site administration to report such users if we feel their activity demands it. Any such events that occur will be made public in the course of our normal site transparency reports along with subpoenas and DMCA takedowns.

Ruling13: Glowposting and Manifestos. Global staff may remove, ban, or otherwise restrict extremely suspicious content ("Glowposting") that is materially related to severe illegal activity such as shootings, bombings, assassinations, murder, or terrorism, or content which admits to planning or attempting the same. This ruling clarifies a combination application of Global Rules 0, 1 and 4 (PSYOPS). Restrictions may take on the form of temporary (typically 36 hours) content bans on sharing media such as manifestos or videos to limit such malicious persons from effectively utilizing this site to glorify themselves. Such actions are not intended to interfere with normal user discussions of such events. >Why? Because of the "8chan" in the site's name, malicious parties as described above have occasionally taken it upon themselves to implicate us in their actions despite this site's strict prohibitions on illegal content and activities. We formally denounce such persons, and due to the danger that our unwilling association with them could pose to the site, the global staff has a responsibility to limit the damage that they can do to our communities. While we cannot control the behaviors of such people, we can be clear that they are not welcome and that we will act within reason to foil any attempts at using us to further their goals.

Ruling14: Top Board rank manipulation. Intentionally using underhanded tactics such as hidden spam or unauthorized tools such as bots to artificially inflate a board's stats or otherwise manipulate the site's Top Board ranking system is a violation of Global Rules 3 and 4. Users found performing such actions will have their posts removed and may face sitewide bans, and Board Owners or moderators who participate in such activity may be subject to sanctions under Global Rule 3, up to and including possible loss of their board and/or User Account. >Why? Spam is spam and is always a Global matter, and it is also implicit in the site's design that the board ranking system should be fair, and return reasonably true numbers and a ranked list of boards determined by the popularity of those boards among the site's users. Allowing a user or Board Owner to "game the system" defeats the purpose of having ranked boards in the first place, diminishes one of the site's core features, cheats other boards and Board Owners out of their proper ranking spots and associated visibility, and leads to user confusion over which boards actually have more activity.

Ruling15: Doxing While the posting of public personal information is not explicitly forbidden by the Global Rules, we do put limitations on what can be posted or requested in order to prevent such activity from causing the site legal trouble. Additionally the doxing of site staff, board owners, and volunteers is prohibited as "harm to the site" under Global Rule 4. We broadly divide doxing into two categories: Hard dox and soft dox. Hard dox is forbidden sitewide under Global Rules 1 and 4, and includes the following types of materials: *Any personal information of someone under 18 years old *Medical records or other HIPAA-protected information *Driver's License information *Passport information *Social Security Numbers or their equivalents *Non-public financial information such as bank account numbers, crypto account numbers, or credit card information *Passwords *Unlisted, private phone numbers *Unlisted physical addresses *Personal identifying information of employers, friends, or family members who are not otherwise notable or public persons themselves *Any other personal material that was obviously acquired through an invasion of legal privacy rights *Any material which Global Staff otherwise believes is possessed, shared, or requested in violation of applicable laws Soft dox includes the following types of materials: *Public addresses *Public phone numbers *Public media such as images or videos that the person shared themselves *Public email addresses *Social media accounts including forum accounts *General location information (e.g. their city of residence) *General employer information (e.g. they work for X company) *General information about their publicly-known friends, family, employers, employees, or acquaintances. Soft dox is not generally prohibited under Global Rules, but may be removed in response to a valid subpoena, court order, or police investigation. >Why? Doxing is almost as old as the Internet, but its legality is becoming more and more tenuous in recent years, and the rise of social media and so-called "metadata aggregator sites" who datamine and expose personal information, has blurred the line between what is private information and what is not. Many countries and even US States like California have passed laws making doxing a criminal offense. To ensure that this site does not wind up on the wrong side of such laws, we define and limit potentially illegal doxing to the best of our ability while preserving freedom of speech for discussion of public figures and otherwise notable individuals.

Ruling16: TABS - Trusted Anonymous Bypass System, or "TAB System" When the site comes under heavy attack by spammers, the TABS system may be temporarily activated by Admins or Global Moderators. TABS has the effect of screening users that attempt to post, and blocking those that are most likely to be spammers with a "Bypass Denied" error. When TABS is activated, new users and suspicious users will be blocked from making posts, but regular users can still post provided that they do not delete or clear the 8chan "bypass" cookie in their browser. TABS reads this cookie and checks its site metrics in Lynxchan to quickly determine if the user is trustworthy, and if the cookie is missing the user will be blocked until TABS is turned off again. The bypass cookie has the dual properties of being both anonymous and unique, and TABS does not key off of any other user identifying information. This makes it equally effective on TOR or VPN users, and allows us to screen posting without compromising any user's privacy. It is strongly recommended that you go into your browser settings and exempt your preferred "8chan" domain from having its cookies automatically cleared. >Why? Spammers have demonstrated that they're able to circumvent the Proof of Work captcha system by using paid captcha-cracking services to enable multiple, rotating connections to the site. This "queuing up" sort of spam attack can be scaled against the POW system to render it ineffective at stopping spam, and the TAB System was developed to provide a solution. Unlike POW, TABS is not an admin-only tool and can be enabled or disabled by any member of the Global Staff to improve reaction times against major attacks.