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Community Guidelines

I. General Upload Rules

A. Right to Submit

Weasyl respects the rights of artists with regard to the distribution of their original works; as such, there are two types of artwork that you may upload: artwork that you have created, and artwork that has been created by others for you.

  1. Original Content Submissions: If you are a creator of a particular work, whether you created it individually or in collaboration with others, you automatically hold the rights to its distribution. Content of this type belongs in your submissions gallery.
  2. Weasyl Collections Feature: Weasyl has a collections feature. The feature makes it possible for the original creator of a work to offer a submission to another Weasyl user, so that that work will appear in both galleries. The use of the collections feature is optional! If you have permission from the original creator and you do not wish to use the Weasyl collections feature, you are welcome to upload it to your own gallery, providing: the work has been created by someone else for you; or features you, your character(s), or intellectual property.
  3. Tracing and Plagiarism: You may incorporate the work of others into new works; however, the use of borrowed content must either abide by fair use or you must obtain permission from the copyright holder. The submission will be removed if it meets neither of these requirements. If it does meet these requirements, you must still cite the content’s source in the submission description.
  4. Proper Citation: If you are uploading a submission that was made for you by another person, you must cite the name of the original creator in the submission’s description. If the creator was an anonymous contributor, please state so in the description.
  5. Copyright and Trademark: The creator of the content of a submission holds the copyright and rights to its distribution; unless the content is trademarked by someone else, is considered harassment, or is otherwise a violation of Weasyl policy, the submission will not be removed. For further information, see our Copyright Policy.

B. Accurately Describing Content

  1. Ratings

    Content ratings should be made based on the context of your submission and its intended audience, as well as on the content of descriptions, tags, and comments supplied by the uploader. We ask that you please rate your content appropriately. For more information on rating your content, please see our Ratings Guidelines.

    • General

      Content categorized as General is appropriate for all audiences of all ages. It may contain at most very mild themes.

    • Mature (18+; NO sexually explicit content)

      Content categorized as Mature may contain imagery, themes, or material that is not suitable for minors. However, such content must not contain graphic depictions of sexual content, sexual acts, or sexual arousal.

    • Explicit (18+; with sexually explicit content)

      An extension of the Mature rating for content containing graphic depictions of sexual content or sexual acts. This may contain overt sexual acts or signs of sexual arousal.

  2. Tagging

    Weasyl’s tag system is an essential tool for users to find what they’re looking for, making it important for uploaders to add relevant tags to their work. When submitting artwork, we ask that you supply at least two tags that describe the submission. Proper tagging also benefits you as an uploader by helping to increase exposure to your work.

    Because it’s possible that an uploader might miss something, users have the ability to add additional tags to others’ works. Users found to be abusing this ability (e.g. adding harassing or irrelevant tags) may have their right to tag others’ works revoked. Likewise, uploaders removing relevant tags without good reason may be subject to moderation.

  3. Custom Thumbnails

    While using a portion of the actual submission is not required when creating its thumbnail, tricking users into viewing sexually explicit or otherwise unanticipated content by applying a misleading thumbnail is prohibited.

  4. Streaming
    • Videos and streams that utilize the Streaming Now feature must represent a creative effort from the broadcaster.
    • Only the artist who is streaming may promote the stream via the Streaming Now feature.
    • Streams featuring movies, television shows, or other copyrighted content are prohibited from use of the Streaming Now feature.
  5. Critique

    The critique feature is for artists who are actively seeking artistic critique of their work. Users may utilize the Critique feature only for content created in part or in whole by them. Furthermore, the critique feature should only be used when the creator is actively seeking critique and improvement on the content flagged for critique. Items flagged for critique that the uploader did not create will have the flag removed.

    Abuse of this feature (e.g. using it for advertising purposes, on items made for you, or to otherwise keep items on the front page) will result in the removal of certain site privileges.

C. Prohibited Upload Material

  1. Offensive Content: Submissions should avoid expressing bigoted or hateful material (e.g. racist, sexist, homophobic, etc.) to the extent possible without compromising the artistic integrity of the piece. Material that appears intended for the sole purpose of provoking hostile responses is not permitted.
  2. Minors in Sexual/Mature Situations: Submissions and other uploaded content must not contain characters who are or are depicted as being under the age of eighteen present in sexual situations, whether or not they are directly involved. Additionally, minors may not be depicted with unacceptable nudity. "Depicted as being under the age of eighteen" can mean one of two things:
    • The character is referred to or implied as being under 18, whether in a visual or written piece, or;
    • The character in question has small child- or infant-like proportions (excepting stylized depictions of adults that incorporate childlike proportions, e.g. “chibi”). Canon is taken into consideration; however, if the character has the appearance of being under 18 or is not depicted “aged up”, the submission may still be removed.

    Unacceptable nudity for the purposes of this article entails both of the following:
    • Genitals, buttocks, and/or mammaries with nipples are viewable.
    • Not depicted using non-detailed nudity or cartoon nudity.

    Furthermore, photographs must not contain any improperly clothed minors regardless of the situation depicted.
  3. Seizure-Inducing Images: Do not upload any avatars, banners, profile images, or submissions that feature rapidly flashing lights, colors, or rapid movement, as this may induce seizures in some users.
  4. Avatars, Banners, and Profile Pictures: Do not upload an avatar, banner, or profile picture that is not suitable for all audiences, as such content is accessible to everyone.
  5. Duplicates/Similar Content Posting: It is prohibited to upload any exact duplicates or over three (3) submissions of considerable similarity, with no discernible or apparent difference between them. Similar submissions should be posted in collage format to save bandwidth and avoid flooding users’ inboxes with large amounts of similar submissions. This rule applies to character submissions and journals as well.
  6. Character Generator Submissions: Content in a user’s "Submissions" gallery created using a generator program for most or all of the content in a submission is not permissible. However, the use of a generator to create content in a user’s "Characters" gallery is permissible, so long as the content complies with the rest of the Weasyl Guidelines.
  7. Adoptables, Auction, and Raffle Reminders: It is acceptable to post reminder submissions, however any reminder may only be posted one time every 24 hours. There is no limit on the amount of individual auctions a user can have open at one time. Uploading a reminder, deleting it, and re-uploading it multiple times in 24 hours or less is considered a violation. In addition, any submission that falls under this rule must be tagged with "reminder".

II. Category Specific Rules

A. Visual Art

  1. Must not be improperly rotated, blurry, or show a portion of the scanner bed.
  2. Using pre-existing images and sprites for the purposes of a comic is allowed only with the use of stock images or with permission from the image creator.
  3. Art memes (such as questionnaires or "draw in the blank" submissions) are acceptable as long as the user completing them does so using original content that they created. Image macros (existing images to which a textual caption has been added) and (de)motivational posters are not permitted as submission uploads unless they contain imagery that was created by the user submitting them.
  4. Submissions that have been heavily referenced or contain material that does not belong to the submission's author (e.g free-to-use items such as stock images, or material for which permission has been granted for use) are permitted so long as the original sources are cited. However, stock images by themselves, with little or no original content, are not permitted.
  5. Submissions comprised primarily of words written in an image file are prohibited from visual art submissions, unless the arrangement of the text is important to the artistry of the piece. These items should be composed as literary submissions or journal entries.

B. Photography

  1. Must not be excessively blurry, grainy, under- or overexposed (too dark or bright to discern anything), or rotated improperly, unless important to the artistry of the piece.
  2. Must not depict the use of illegal drugs, child abuse, animal abuse, human or animal injury or gore, bodily waste or fluids, or illegal acts or items.
    • Stage makeup depicting blood and gore is permitted as long as it is stated as thus in the submission's description.
    • Photographic art made with blood is permissible provided it is rated in the Mature or Explicit categories (exact category depends on the content, as per the Ratings Guidelines).
  3. Must not contain pornographic depictions of any sex acts.
  4. Must not feature exposed or clearly defined genitalia, or exposed mammaries with nipples or areolae, even if the image has been altered so as to obscure them.
  5. The presence of animal genitalia in photographs is permissible only if it is an incidental appearance and not related to the main focus of the image.
  6. Must not feature sex paraphernalia such as sex toys or gear.
  7. Must not be for the purpose of simply showing yourself, something that you own, or something you have stumbled across unless effort has been taken to render the subject in an artistic or educational manner.
  8. Must not focus on an electronic display in which the content could otherwise be captured with a screenshot.

C. 3D Modeling

  1. Submissions that are wholly comprised of content you made yourself are permissible, so long as the submissions also meet the rest of the criteria of the Community Guidelines and Ratings Guidelines.
  2. If a submission contains pre-existing 3D models or objects, at least one of the following conditions must be met:
    • The user must obtain permission from the original creator(s), unless the copyright has been waived.
    • The user must have altered the model in some way as to be significantly different from the original, such as through reskinning or modelling the mesh further.
    Regardless, the source of those items must be cited somewhere in the submission itself or its description, including stating which pre-existing materials have been added or modified.

D. Screenshots

  1. Screenshots can be uploaded for one or more of the following three purposes:
    1. Showing off a user interface for a shell, website, or program that you created.
    2. Displaying a 3D model or scene that you created or modified, as long as it complies with the rules laid out in II.C. above.
    3. Showcasing a drawn-on screenshot from a creation of your own or another website, so long as the illustrations are for the purpose of criticism, commentary, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research, and so long as they meet the visual art standard.

    Screenshots uploaded for the purpose of view-acquiring contests are not permitted.

  2. Screenshots that are largely/completely comprised of content from a video game are not permissible as submissions in main galleries. Such images are permissible in character galleries, provided only one screenshot is used per character. This rule applies to images made with character generators as well.

E. Writing

  1. Writing must not contain excessive typographical or formatting errors, and submissions should be reviewed for spelling and grammatical errors before they are posted. Any submission where technical errors impede the work as a whole will be removed.
  2. Quotations from poetry, song lyrics, or other works are permitted only if the user has obtained permission from the original creator(s), unless copyright has been waived, or the usage complies with current U.S. fair use laws.
  3. The Literature section is exclusively for creative works, including nonfiction works such as essays. Announcements and journal entries should be posted using the Journal feature.
  4. In-depth reviews may be posted as literature submissions.
  5. Opinion pieces (e.g. “stamps”) may be posted as literature submissions.

F. Audio

  1. Sound files must not be incredibly distorted, be of low quality, or suffer from enough static so as to impede the work as a whole. Submissions in the lo-fi, noise, or similar genres will be considered with the intent of the genre in mind.
  2. Must not sample clips longer than 30 seconds. The full length of the clip is considered, rather than the length of time it is looped for.
  3. Audio clips may not focus on the sounds of sexual activity, bodily waste or functions as the main component of the submission.

G. Video

  1. Video submissions must not be incredibly blurry, misaligned, overexposed, or so unsteady so as to impede the work as a whole, unless important to the artistic style of the work.
  2. Videos should not be used to display items that are owned or casually encountered by the user.
  3. Video game walkthroughs are not allowed. “Let’s Plays” and other similar videos must show creative effort on the part of the user submitting or on the part of the subjects of the video, for example as in an in-depth review.

H. Journals

  1. Journals may not feature or solicit information to request or inform illegal activity according to U.S. Delaware Law.
  2. Journals may not be used to slander, defame, or otherwise call out anyone, regardless of whether or not they are a Weasyl user.
  3. Journals may not feature contests or raffles which require monetary buy-ins or may otherwise be categorized as gambling.
  4. Journals must be appropriately rated according to the Rating Guidelines and must feature the following tags when relevant: “raffle”, “contest”, “commissions”, and “adoptable(s)”.

III. Behavior Guidelines

Here at Weasyl, it is important that all our users behave in a courteous manner when interacting with one another. As such, do not engage in the following practices or encourage others to do so:

A. General Conduct

  1. Slandering any users, whether verbally, through a submission, a journal, or by impersonating them.
  2. Threatening or harassing another user (remember to use the block tool if necessary).
  3. Spamming a user's private messages, shouts, submissions, or journals.
  4. Linking to or otherwise making available materials which are illegal in the U.S.
  5. Linking to or otherwise making available materials which can harm one’s computer.
  6. Linking to or otherwise making available items otherwise prohibited by Weasyl Terms of Service or prohibited elsewhere within the Community Guidelines.
  7. Exploiting site bugs (if you find a bug, report it; don't abuse it).
  8. Creating additional accounts for the purpose of ban or block evasion, impersonating another person, changing your username for aesthetic purposes, or other abuse of Weasyl features.

B. Illegal Activity

  1. Using the website to distribute pirated works.
  2. Selling works that contain plagiarized, traced, or copyrighted content.
  3. Admittance of illegal activity, unless previously convicted or acquitted.
  4. Using the site to coordinate an illegal act (murder, abuse, theft, etc.).

C. Weasyl Account(s)

Users are permitted to have multiple accounts under the following guidelines:

User accounts are meant for the purposes of uploading, viewing, or otherwise engaging with the Weasyl community. They are not, in and of themselves, meant to be used as a form of currency. As such, “reserving” or “hoarding” usernames is not acceptable. Accounts that are inactive are subject to being released if they meet one or more of the following criteria:

  1. If an account has been created but has not been logged into or has not shown any activity since the day of registration, it will be released after three months.
  2. If an account is logged into within a two-week warning period, yet there is no other activity on the account, it will still be released.

Account activity is determined at moderator discretion. A released account will be open to the public for registration.

IV. Consequences

A. Punishment

When it comes to breaking the rules, every case is unique. Some instances will result in a warning or a suspension depending on the severity of the offense and prior violations. Permanent bans, or bans longer than a month, will only ever be handed out if the majority of staff agrees to do so. The exceptions to this are users found to be bots and those who are caught ban evading.

B. Appeal

If a user feels that any submission removal by staff is in error, or they feel they have been unfairly punished, they may submit an appeal to support@weasyl.dev, fully explaining the situation and reasons why they feel the actions of the staff were in error. We ask that users be selective in the use of the appeal process and to read the site rules carefully before submitting an appeal. Third parties may not appeal on behalf of another user.