It's fine to have rules, but in a community that is as broad as "Furry" there should be limited content restrictions. Rules should be there to enforce good behavior and good-faith discussions.
this post was submitted on 08 Mar 2026
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Furry
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General community for furry stuff and memes!
Please follow pawb.social rules, with addition of the following:
- AI-generated content should be clearly marked in the title of the post, though it is generally discouraged unless it is in some way unique. If it becomes excessive still and drowns out artists or otherwise becomes an issue this may be further restricted.
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- AI content is not welcome. (You can still post discussions about it if the topic is something you consider important for the community.)
As a side note, it might be worth it to remind everyone not to accuse others of using AI without clear evidence. I remember seeing one instance of that happening here recently, and it can be highly demoralizing for artists to be wrongly accused.
Another side note in addition to what JRaccoon said, I think it's important not to assume the worst when someone posts AI art. I've seen AI art that I didn't realise was AI-generated until someone pointed it out. Making mistakes is human, and if it's a genuine mistake, I see no point in being angry at someone.
Exactly and this is something that is going to get worse. You can't get mad at someone for not knowing better. You can only help them be aware they made a mistake and try better in the future.
Shouldn't that be a replacement of the current rule 1? It doesn't make sense to say:
AI-generated content should be clearly marked in the title of the post
If we don't want it posted here at all.
I want to replace the current rules (well rule).
- When posting artwork, cite the source and name the author. If possible with links to their socials.
How about if the artist isn't known, post the source you got it from?
I think there should be a rule against gatekeeping. This could be about gatekeeping gender identity, gatekeeping being a furry, or gatekeeping the way people are allowed to make their characters. A lot of other furry communities have problems with gatekeeping and I think we should take a stand against it.
And yes I do think this should include reductive ideas like "closed species" which have no legal basis and are often enforced by empty threats and harassment.
You gatekeep the communities you moderate. Your rules end up being more like censorship than actually protecting anyone
If you found a way to enforce this, the real world would reference your method
Do you think https://pawb.social/post/40809559/21025635 is enough to cover this?
I think it might be, a dedicated rule for gatekeeping might not actually be needed explicitly unless people start trolling others or complaining about usage of closed species. So I say we cross that bridge when we get there.
- Don't be an ass. While disagreements are normal in a discussions, personal attacs and harassment are going to be removed.
Don’t be an ass.
This rule is heavily biased against donkeys.
easy fix, instead of saying ass, say asshole. Then there's no ambiguity because a donkey can be an ass, but donkeys aren't assholes.
attacks
I find these sorts of rules tend not to be uniformly enforced.
last rule: Don't bring us in legal trouble.
No fur-shaming. Seems to go without saying, but there are various levels of the fandom, from those who appreciate the art, those who like the lewd stuff, those with partial costumes end/or who cosplay furry adjacent characters, to the full fursuiters — all should be welcomed.
I'm not sure I know what fur shaming is exactly? Making fun of someone for expressimg their fursona? Shaming furry culture in general?
Good point. I think this can even be integrated into the community description. If it states that all are welcome, then my proposed rule will cover the "no fur-shaming" (IMO).
- No foxes on Fridays. 30 day ban.
whyyy
Need some ridiculous and stupid rules.
NSFW policy. What is/is not allowed, what should go into one of the dedicated communities instead, etc...
This is an important one, I think. Some people don't want to see NSFW art but still have the blurr filter disabled because that's not just for porn but all kinds of things you might not want others around you to see. There are also a bunch of NSFW communities on this instance for people who do want to see porn. I'm no advocating for or against banning NSFW art, but it needs to be clarified to make sure everybody knows what to expect from this community.
Imo, sexually explicit images and videos should go to a dedicated NSFW community, as we already have several yiff communities on this instance which are actively maintained. So if there is a policy put in place, I'd opt to bar outright pornographic imagery from this community, leaving just safe stuff, and sort of suggestive or double entendre jokes and the like.
Description adjusted to:
General community for ~~furry stuff, art and memes~~ everything furry-related (discussions, texts, art, your own work, ...)!
No matter if you have one or multiple fursonas (animal-based or not), maybe even with a fursuit, or are just here to enjoy the artworks; all are welcome and respected here.
So, I'm not necessarily going to toss out a rule suggestion, rather a dynamic that I've found that I feel is worth noting.
In rules-bound communities, spaces flourish and perform the best with next to no rules. This however induces the problem of having people who speak out in ways that're unwanted. Juxtaposed to this, spaces with overbearing rules often drive users away and create a "hush-hush" zone, where organic conversation cannot truly occur. You may've seen this often with a sort of "positive vibes only" places, where everyone seems to speak with a face of ^w^ and nothing else.
I have always had a bit of a philosophy towards this after seeing several discord servers' communities, and then having a large community of own. In a nutshell, our rules performed best when boiled down to "Be good." Not everyone has a clear definition of 'good', so we tossed out a few examples, but that's all for rules on vocalizing the self. There were more, but that's just because the server was NSFW-friendly, and only had regards to that.
Not to say this approach works everywhere, but I feel openly saying that "Good rules, but minimal rules" is a good summary in a nutshell.
Also, would somebody be so kind and report this comment so that I can see if notifications work as expected?
Update: ok, thanks everyone.
there you go!