Rules of the Booru

#1 Respect artists and their artwork

Derpibooru is a website dedicated to fanart of MLP:FiM. Without the thousands of artists creating such fan art, we would not have much of a site at all. Therefore, it is important to always respect the wishes of the artists regarding their artwork.

• Do not upload edits without either permission or a reasonable expectation the artist is okay with them; by default, before considering their past art/behavior/statements/etc., it's expected artists aren't okay with:
  • Changes to their signature or watermarks
  • Major thematic changes (such as fetishes, characters, races, or political stances)
  • Use of AI to alter the image (changing elements, "finishing" sketches, decensoring, or upscaling)
  Always tag "edit" to distinguish from the original.
• Do not use AI to emulate an artist's personal style without clear approval from the artist. This does not apply to highly commercial or culturally significant styles (e.g. from renown dead painters, or popular TV shows). Unintentional "style copying" due to model biases may be deleted after review.
• Do not upload artwork that has not been publicly released, or is intended to remain private or restricted access, without permission from the artist who made it. This includes paid content, such as Patreon-only images or images from an art pack or folio.
• Do not upload significant portions of official content that hasn't been freely released (promotional material etc. counts as freely released), such as a full page of a comic/book, more than 30 seconds of official video, or more than 10 seconds of official audio or copyrighted music. This applies to single uploads and to splitting contiguous portions across uploads.
• Images that have been released on a pay-what-you-want scheme, as well as images from a "free version" of a paid art pack, must be released for at least one week (seven days) before they may be posted on this site. Then, only content which can be obtained for free may be posted.
• Do not upload images from artists who are on our Do-Not-Post (DNP) List, or who have otherwise publicly made a clear and visible statement that they do not wish for their content to be on this website.
• Do not upload images that contain watermarks or advertisements for sites that promote content theft, sharing of paid-only images, or sharing of images without providing reasonable attribution to the artists who made them. Likewise, do not share links to such sites either.

#2 Properly tag and source images

Without doubt, Derpibooru's most defining feature is our tagging system, which is what organizes the over one million images that have been posted to this website, allowing anyone to find exactly what they are looking for quickly and easily, while filtering out anything they may not want to see. Anyone can edit an image's tags to help organize it better, but it is important to keep tags consistent and accurate.

• All images must have 1 or more rating tags . Note that Safe is overridden by any other.
• If an image is not adequately tagged or sourced, please correct it yourself (when possible, report otherwise) and do not complain in a comment. If someone is consistently tagging/sourcing inadequately, report them.
• If there's disagreement over tagging/sourcing, defer to staff judgment, and report as necessary.
• For each of an image's artists, tag in the format "artist:name". Use "artist needed" if no artist is known.
• Tags should describe the "facts" of an image, like the characters, their relationships, events happening, and the image's composition. When these are in dispute (such as whether an image is shipping), the artist's intent takes precedence. Tags should not be used to state opinions – that's what comments are for.
• Images originally posted elsewhere should have its URL for source. If the artist only wants the image on Derpibooru, use the "Derpibooru Exclusive" tag.
• Tags should be useful to the site overall. Do not create tags for personal organization, or with very vague or inconsistent definitions.
• Tag and source vandalism will not be tolerated. This includes bulk changes (like removing a tag that's on many images from them all) unless you get permission from staff.
• Images that have rapidly-flashing animation must be tagged with "seizure warning".

#3 Do not upload unrelated content

This site is intended for images regarding MLP:FiM and its surrounding community. Images that are completely unrelated to MLP:FiM may be removed.

• Do not upload images without a clear relation to MLP (all generations, not just FiM) or its community.
• An image isn't pony-related just because something pony is in it; for instance, exploitable meme templates with unrelated content or pony merchandise in real-life pornography.
• Do not upload AI generated images of poor quality, such as with impossible geometry or malformed anatomy that hinder the image's purpose, or anything containing aberrant "ghost" signatures; for instance, a pinup image should not include deformed hands, while a comedic image of "An alien pony climbing a tree" may include bizarre elements.

#4 Use filters to hide unwanted content and follow local content law

Derpibooru is extremely permissive as to what we allow on this website, which means we allow images that contain themes which some may find objectionable. To help you avoid seeing images you may not wish to see, we have a tag filtering system, which allows for hiding of images that contain specific tags.

• If you see images that contain themes you do not like, you should add the appropriate tags to your filter. Do not post comments complaining about the theme of the image.
• If you find an image that you believe violates the site's rules or content guidelines, please report the image so that the site's staff may look into it. Do not post comments claiming an image violates the site's rules.
• Do not view or post any content you are forbidden from in your jurisdiction. For images, filter them.

#5 Do not post forbidden content

We forbid legally dubious content listed below. Due to ambiguous laws, better safe than sorry.

Note that 'sexual' refers to any content rated "suggestive", "questionable", or "explicit"; and 'underage' means below 18 years old.

• Do not upload photographs of real life humans in sexual depictions or scenarios who may be underage. Do not discuss getting such images or having sexual real-life meetings with such people.
• Do not upload artwork of characters in sexual depictions or scenarios who look underage and look human or human-like.
• Do not roleplay sexual situations involving underage human or humanlike characters.

#6 Do not abuse site functionality (including multiple accounts) or derail discussion

Compared to other websites of our size, Derpibooru has a fairly accepting policy in terms of allowing multiple accounts, guest and anonymous posting, and usage of site features. However, this leaves open the possibility of abuse, so certain things are not permitted.

• You are permitted to have multiple accounts for purposes of roleplaying, maintaining different sets of filters, or for personal privacy.
• You may not use multiple accounts or anonymous posting for the purposes of evading bans, voting on images multiple times, sockpuppeting, or otherwise appearing to be multiple people within the same conversation.
• Do not spam or put off-topic content – especially fetishes or roleplay – in comments/forum posts/reports. Roleplay is generally only on-topic in the roleplay forum.
• Do not indiscriminately downvote images based on their tags and/or content. Instead, filter content you do not wish to see.
• If you think someone is violating a rule, submit a report instead of otherwise calling them out (such as with a comment). Don't submit reports in bad faith, such as frivolous reports to attack others.
• Do not upscale or otherwise manipulate images to artificially create a "better" image for duplicate merging.
• Avoid uploading multiple similar images not made by an artist within an hour; this primarily affects unedited images from paper-doll / pony creator type generators, media and game screenshots with no qualitative difference between them, or AI Generated images with little or no essential variation.
• Avoid uploading more than two "AI Generated" images per day. Refer to the Tag Guidelines for information on where this tag applies.
• You may not post images or image descriptions that are intended to game the site's vote system by offering specific incentives (such as alternative versions of an image) in exchange for upvotes, downvotes, or faves.
• Do not impersonate Derpibooru staff, such as by setting your "personal title" or username to anything closely resembling those of a staff member.

#7 Unfilterable content must be shown with care

We allow content of many kinds, and one must be mindful where and how adult, graphic, or seizure-inducing content is posted. Our ratings distinguish levels of sexuality, grossness, and darkness for these purposes.

This doesn't apply to filterable content like uploaded images or embeds using on-site (>>) syntax.

• Forum threads intended to contain sexual and/or graphic posts should be marked with [NSFW] in the title.
• Content in comments/posts above the image/thread's rating must be surrounded with [spoiler][/spoiler] tags and, if multiple ratings above, have a clear warning.
• Above-rating content cannot be the entire point of a comment/post.
• Content that may cause seizures, like rapid flashing, must be spoilered and come with a clear warning.
• Avatars must not be seizure-inducing and, along with usernames and personal titles, must be reasonably safe-for-work (nothing graphic or highly controversial).

#8 Respect privacy

As noted above, this site allows a wide variety of content, and some people may not necessarily wish for their names to be publicly associated with such content. Derpibooru takes privacy extremely seriously, and attempting to breach one's privacy is strictly prohibited.

• If you are aware of an artist or member using multiple names/aliases to keep content separate (such as clean vs sexual content), or using an alternative name as to not be identified, do not call them out or publicly highlight such a fact.
• Do not share private or personal information about a third party, such as personal contact information, private messages, off site conversations, and other information that they may not want publicly known, without their permission.

#9 Commissions

Commissions may be advertised on Derpibooru, but some rules and restrictions apply.

• Any advertisements for commissions may only contain example artwork that was created entirely by the person advertising said commissions. Using another person's artwork in an advertisement is not allowed.
• Always use caution and your own discretion when discussing commissions. Derpibooru will not be responsible for, nor able to assist with, any disputes, incomplete transactions, or otherwise undesirable outcomes that result from advertising, seeking, or arranging commissions on this site.
• All commission agreements are between the artist and commissioner only. Derpibooru will not and should not be considered a party in any agreement involving commissions.
• You may not advertise any commissions for content that would violate site rules or any applicable laws. Basically, anything that cannot be hosted on Derpibooru cannot be advertised either.

#n Rules are not exhaustive

There may always arise situations that were not accounted for in the above rules, or that may be unique or extraordinary in their circumstances. All enforcement of the rules, as well as the decision as to whether something is or is not acceptable, is ultimately left up to the discretion of the site's staff.