Line #15 Main/RulesOfTheInternet


1	"Rules of the Internet" is a [[SparseListOfRules loose collection of rules and aphorisms]] spawned by Platform/FourChan. Depending on whom you ask, they are either not meant to be taken seriously or are very SeriousBusiness. Most of them don't apply except for within the community they originated from, and the list is continuously changing, but through MemeticMutation, a handful have become well-known.
2
3	Also, almost none of the numbers are standardized, so it's not uncommon to find many rules reordered or simply replaced altogether. The only numbers that ''are'' standardized are RuleThirtyFour, Rule50, and RuleSixtyThree, as well as possibly Rules 1 and 2 (and that's probably only because of ''Film/FightClub'').
4
5	%% The old Rules Of The Internet page now redirects to an extremely NSFW picture. Please do not add the link back in. Use the wiki link instead. An archive of the old /b/ Rules is here (NSFW): https://encyclopediadramatica.es/Rules_of_the_Internet
6
7	Some of the more notable rules[[note]]For values of "notable" that are extremely arbitrary but being referenced elsewhere helps[[/note]] include:
8
9	%% Please don't add more snowclones. "No Exceptions!" should not become a forced meme. The base tenet of all rules of the internet is "Lurk moar". In short, by not posting and by observing the source material for longer than you thought needed, you will gain more mastery of it. Visit 4chan, enjoy /b/, learn history and never think you have mastered it. Don't just add things to "be part of history" as that's unwarranted self importance.
10
11	* Rule 0: Don't fuck with cats.
12	* Rule 1: You don't talk about [[Platform/FourChan /b/]]. [[labelnote:Explanation]] There are some places you have have to be part of to really appreciate. /b/ is one of them.[[/labelnote]]
13	* Rule 2: [[Film/FightClub You DON'T talk about /b/]].
14	* Rule 3: We are @/{{Anonymous}}. [[labelnote:Explanation]]On the internet everyone is anonymous. It's part of being on the internet! Thus I'm anonymous, you're anonymous...[[/labelnote]]
15	* Rule 4: [[IAmLegion We are legion]]. [[labelnote:Explanation]] It sounds threatening, but in actuality it refers to the "many stones make a mountain" principle; if we each do our part, we can make a larger impact than you can imagine![[/labelnote]]
16	* Rule 5: [[NeverLiveItDown We do not forgive, we do not forget]]. [[labelnote:Explanation]] Originally, this meant "the internet is forever. nothing is ever really deleted so don't be stupid unless you want to be remembered as stupid." But hacktivists hijacked it, turning it into a meme.[[/labelnote]]
17	* Rule 6: [[InternetJerk Anonymous can be a horrible, senseless, uncaring monster]]. [[labelnote:Explanation]] Once again, remember G.I.F.T., but more so, the dreaded Internet troll -- someone who deliberately sabotages a forum with anger-inducing comments just to watch its occupants go ballistic, and/or derail a whole discussion.[[/labelnote]]
18	* Rule 7: Anonymous is still able to deliver. [[labelnote:Explanation]] "Deliver" means to do what you promised you would. This means that if we all pitch in we can do amazing things together! Sometimes all it takes is one person doing something right to make a difference.[[/labelnote]]
19	%%
20	%% Touhou is already covered by rule 44. Same for ponies.
21	%%
22	* Rule 8: There are no real rules about posting. [[labelnote:Explanation]] Site rules vary and nobody can force you to post or not post anything.[[/labelnote]]
23	* Rule 9: [[RuleZero There are no real rules about moderation either]] -- enjoy your ban. [[labelnote:Explanation]] Caveat to rule 8: If you act stupid or break the site rules, remember that the ban hammer is always stronger than you.[[/labelnote]]
24	* Rule 10: /b/ is not your personal army. [[labelnote:Explanation]] People tend to go on 4Chan, especially /b/, expecting others to solve their problems or get back at their personal "enemies" for them. The good people of 4Chan have better things to do with their time than dealing with petty things the person posting really should be dealing with on their own. [[/labelnote]]
25	* Rule 11: No matter how much you love debating, keep in mind that no one on the internet debates. [[AdHominem Instead they mock your intelligence as well as your parents]]. [[labelnote:Explanation]] Remember the G.I.F.T.[[/labelnote]]
26	* Rule 12: Anything you say can and will be used against you. [[labelnote:Explanation]] Remember: the internet is forever. All it takes is one person with an incriminating copy. [[/labelnote]]
27	* Rule 13: Anything you say can and will be turned into something else. [[labelnote:Explanation]] Also remember the G.I.F.T. which can be compounded with the other rules.[[/labelnote]]
28	* Rule 14: Do not argue with {{troll}}s--it means they win. [[labelnote:Explanation]] Trolls are not interested in genuine debate; they just want attention and will never argue in good faith. The only way to defeat a troll is to ignore them, thus denying them attention and any entertainment they can get from provoking angry responses out of you.[[/labelnote]]
29	* Rule 15: The harder you try, the harder you will fail. [[labelnote:Explanation]] Which is more amazing: failing at making a LEGO elephant or failing at making a elephant-shaped house? [[/labelnote]]
30	* Rule 16: If you fail in epic proportions, it may just become a [[EpicFail winning failure]]. [[labelnote:Explanation]] Sometimes failures are just as impressive as success.[[/labelnote]]
31	* Rule 17: Every win [[DiscreditedMeme fails eventually]]. [[labelnote:Explanation]] Statistics have not exactly proven the statement "nothing lasts forever" wrong. Enjoy your successes but don't dwell on them.[[/labelnote]]
32	* Rule 18: Everything that can be labelled [[{{Hatedom}} can be hated]]. [[labelnote:Explanation]] No matter what you love there's bound to be someone who doesn't love it. Labels also create judgment. Learn to live and let live.[[/labelnote]]
33	* Rule 19: The more you hate it, [[NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity the stronger it gets]]. [[labelnote:Explanation]] Hate is pointless. Don't waste your time on it.[[/labelnote]]
34	* Rule 20: [[PoesLaw Nothing is to be taken seriously]].
35	%% Reinforcing rules 18 & 19. Don't make me quote the Joker...
36	* Rules 21–24: Original content is original only for a few seconds before it's no longer original. Copypasta is made to ruin every last bit of originality. Copypasta is made to ruin every last bit of originality. Every post is always a repost of a repost. [[labelnote:Explanation]] This is because people tend to save and repost things they like. Some even think every idea is a mutation of another idea: in short original content doesn't exist.[[/labelnote]]
37	* Rule 29: On the internet men are men, [[GuyInRealLife women are also men]], and kids are [[PedoHunt undercover FBI agents]]. [[labelnote:Explanation]] Remember: we are all anonymous which makes gender a moot point. The few people who point out their genders in an anonymous setting usually have ulterior motives.[[/labelnote]]
38	* Rule 30: Girls do not exist on the internet. [[labelnote:Explanation]] Due to being anonymous and gender being a moot point, saying you are a "girl" usually denotes the poster is not a girl and just saying this to get attention or is a girl really just trying to get attention. Either way, trying to get everyone's attention is a trolling tactic. Ignore them. Girl? What girl? We're all anons![[/labelnote]]
39	* Rule 31: Tits or GTFO—the choice is yours. [[labelnote:Explanation]] Any anon claiming to be a girl has to post a picture of her breasts in order to prove that she's telling the truth. If she refuses, she's considered a liar and has to leave.[[/labelnote]]
40	* Rule 32: You must have pictures to prove your statements/Anything can be explained with a picture. [[labelnote:Explanation]] Pictures with timestamps are popular means of showing something is "real" on 4chan due to the ease of someone just using google to find an appropriate image then making things up. [[/labelnote]]
41	* Rule 33: Lurk more—it's never enough. [[labelnote:Explanation]] When in doubt, don't post: read. Chances are your answer is already somewhere. It also prevents you from ruining "good things" and looking really dumb. Think you know enough to post? That means you probably don't.[[/labelnote]]
42	* RuleThirtyFour: If it exists, [[TheInternetIsForPorn there is porn of it]]. No exceptions.
43	%% See the article link for details. Pretty self evident, really, and the only time "No exceptions" should appear in this list.
44	* Rule 35: [[MortonsFork If there is no porn of it, porn will be made of it]].
45	%% Also pretty self-evident. This is why rule 34 is the "no exceptions" rule.
46	* Rule 36: No matter how [[SickAndWrong fucked up]] it is, there is always worse than what you just saw.
47	%% Self-evident. Also, you can't unsee it. Sorry, friend.
48	* Rule 37: You cannot divide by zero (just because the calculator says so).[[labelnote:Explanation]] Nothing will never become something. You have to create things for others to be able to come enjoy them. Also don't try to wrangle the site rules to your favor--it won't work.[[/labelnote]]
49	%% Aka "Trolls and people who over-react always mess up good things".
50	* Rule 38: No real limits of any kind apply here--not even the sky. [[labelnote:Explanation]] The internet is all the world, both good and bad, in one place. What you make of it is up to you![[/labelnote]]
51	* Rule 39: {{CAPSLOCK}} IS CRUISE CONTROL FOR COOL. [[labelnote:Explanation]] A classic meme...[[/labelnote]]
52	* Rule 40: EVEN WITH CRUISE CONTROL YOU STILL HAVE TO STEER [[labelnote:Explanation]] ...but please note that it's very easy to overdo memes and look like an unfunny idiot in the process. Please use your internet wit (and caps lock as well) sparingly and with common sense.[[/labelnote]]
53	* Rule 41: Desu isn't funny. Seriously guys. It's worse than Chuck Norris jokes.[[note]]Originally "It needs more [[Manga/RozenMaiden desu]]. No exceptions" before "more desu" became a DiscreditedMeme.[[/note]] [[labelnote:Explanation]] The more you post a meme, [[DiscreditedMeme the less funny it gets]]. Also, some things never were very funny to start with even though people keep posting them. Posting something over and over doesn't make a meme. These sorts of things are called "{{forced meme}}s".[[/labelnote]]
54	* Rule 42: [[IsNothingSacred Nothing Is Sacred]]. [[labelnote:Explanation]] No matter what you hold dear, prepare for others who don't get it or don't care about it. Just as you would expect others to respect your liking something, please respect that others may not agree. Learn to let go, ignore, and move on. Also an anti-shout out to the "meaning of life" from ''The Hitchhiker's Guide''.[[/labelnote]]
55	* Rule 43: [[CorruptTheCutie The more beautiful and pure a thing is]]--[[SubvertedKidsShow the more satisfying it is to corrupt it]].
56	%% Self evident, click the link for more details.
57	* Rule 44: If it exists, there is a version of it for your fandom... and [[TheWikiRule it has a wiki]] and possibly a tabletop version with a theme song performed by a Music/{{Vocaloid}}.
58	%% Encapsulating a lot of snowclones, though the "furry version" is the oldest version of this one.
59	%% Also covers Touhou fandom and all the Ponies. That means: Do NOT add them. Please.
60	* Rule 45: When one sees a lion, one must get in the car. [[labelnote:Explanation]] JESUS CHRIST IT'S A LION GET IN THE CAR! >:3 [[/labelnote]]
61	* Rule 46: [[CallBack The internet is]] [[SeriousBusiness SERIOUS FUCKING BUSINESS]]. [[labelnote:Explanation]] Remember the MST3KMantra: "It's really just a show, I should try to relax..."[[/labelnote]]
62	* Rule 47: [[WhyWeCantHaveNiceThings The pool is always closed]]. [[labelnote:Explanation]] Slang for when jerks ruin something good--"Pool is closed". It's a reference to a series of raids /b/ carried out on Habbo Hotel, where they would block the entrance of popular hangouts with their black avatars dressed in an afro and business suit; one of the phrases they repeatedly used in chat was "Pool's closed due to AIDS". The raids were in response to rumors that Habbo moderators had a tendency to ban users based on the color of their skin.[[/labelnote]]
63	* Rule 48: [[GirlOnGirlIsHot The only good hentai is Yuri, that's how the internet works]]. Only exception may be Vanilla. [[note]] This is stating the American-focused male stereotype and is not to be taken literally. Remember rule 42.[[/note]]
64	* Rule 49: No matter what it is, it is somebody's {{fetish}}.
65	%% Self-evident.
66	* Rule50: A CrossOver, no matter how improbable, will eventually happen in FanArt, FanFiction, or [[FanficRecs/TouhouCrossover official release material]], often through fanfiction of it.
67	%% Encapsulates a ton of the snowclones people kept posting. This means LEGO-(whatever), Touhou-(whatever), fanfiction and all similar are covered.
68	* Rule 61: Creator/ChuckNorris is the exception, no exceptions.
69	* Rule 62: [[DigitalPiracyIsEvil It has been cracked]] [[DigitalPiracyIsOkay and pirated]]. [[InformationWantsToBeFree You can find anything]] [[Main/KeepCirculatingTheTapes if you look long enough]].
70	* RuleSixtyThree: For every given male character, [[DistaffCounterpart there is a female version of that character]] (and vice-versa). [[RuleThirtyFour And there is always porn of that character]].
71	* Rule 64: If it exists, it has [[WebVideo/GameTheory “LOOOOORRRREE!”]] [[labelnote:Explanation]] People on the internet love to interpret things as narratives and stories, so as an extension of Rule 13, if something exists, like [[WebOriginal/TheBackrooms a picture of a yellowed empty room]], [[Website/SCPFoundation a picture of a peanut shaped sculpture]], or [[WebAnimation/AlphabetLore the alphabet]], an entire history of legends, heroes, villains and entire universes will come into existence around that thing. [[/labelnote]]
72	* Rule 65: If it doesn't, there will be.
73	* Rule 66: The longer the LORE around something is, [[LaterInstallmentWeirdness the weirder it gets.]]
74	* Rule 67: If it has lore, it also has lore [[AlternateUniverseFic from alternate timelines]], especially if the main lore is copyrighted by a big power hungry corporation.
75	* Rule 68: Everything has a fandom, everything.
76	* Rule 67: [[SturgeonsLaw 90% of fanfiction is the stuff of nightmares]].
77	* Rule 70: Do not talk about the 100M GET failure. [[labelnote:Explanation]] This is a reference to post No. 100000000 being claimed by an anon on /tv/ who wanted people to just talk about movies. [[/labelnote]]
78	* Rule 72: If a song exists, there's a [[VideoGame/{{Undertale}} Megalovania]] version of it.
79	* Rule 77: [[Website/SomethingAwful The Internet makes you stupid]].
80	%%
81	%% Rules 85-88 (ponies, furries, etc) are already covered by rule 44, in the interest of keeping snowclones to a minimum.
82	%%
83
84	!! Tropes Named by the Rules of the Internet:
85	* DivideByZero: Trope namer is rule 37
86	* RuleThirtyFour: "There's porn of it"
87	* Rule50: "There's a crossover with it"
88	* RuleSixtyThree: "There's a gender-flipped version of it"
89	* SeriousBusiness: named by rule 46
90	* ThereAreNoGirlsOnTheInternet : Rule 30, memetic version
91
92	!! Tropes associated with the Rules of the Internet:
93	* TheArtifact:
94	** The references to /b/ are due to it being the most popular 4chan board when the rules were first written. Since then, it has been overtaken by /v/ and then /pol/. Ironically, this means Rules 1 and 2 are unintentionally more obeyed than ever before.
95	** Although the rules as a whole have faded into obscurity, "Rule 34" and "Rule 63" are still frequently used when referring to pornographic and gender-swapped art, respectively.
96	* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: Rule 45
97	* CorruptTheCutie: Rule 43
98	* {{Crossover}}: Rules 50 and Rule 44; There are even cases of well-known video game characters, turned into ponies, and then modded into Touhou games. You can control [[VideoGame/SilentHill2 Pyramid Head]] [[Franchise/MyLittlePony Pony]] in a [[ShootEmUp SHMUP]] that used to feature {{Moe}} anime girls.
99	* DigitalPiracyIsEvil and/or DigitalPiracyIsOkay: Rule 62
100	* EpicFail: Rules 15 and 16.
101	* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: Rule 9001 is "It's [[OverNineThousand over 9000]]!!!"
102	* ForcedMeme: Rule 41 is a reminder that repeating something over and over again doesn't make it funny nor does it make it a meme.
103	* FourIsDeath: Rule 4
104	* [[ForumSpeak G.I.F.T]]: Rule 7, Rule 12, Rule 13, Rule 14, Rule 18, Rule 42 and Rule 43 are pretty [[ForumSpeak G.I.F.T]]ed.
105	** Rule 48 is metaphor for "[[ForumSpeak G.I.F.T]]ed people always spoil the fun".
106	* {{GIRL}}: Rule 29 and Rule 30
107	* GirlOnGirlIsHot: Rule 48
108	* {{Homage}}: Rules 1 and 2.
109	* HypocriticalHumor: Many of the rules contradict themselves later.
110	* InformationWantsToBeFree: Rule 62
111	* TheInternetIsForPorn: Rule 34. Yes, there is even [[BeyondTheImpossible porn of this very trope]].
112	* MemeticMutation: Everywhere. They ''are'' the rules of this trope, after all.
113	* MortonsFork: Rule 35
114	* PedoHunt: Rule 29
115	* ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney: Perhaps the only surefire way to exempt yourself from any rule of the internet -- or even real life -- is to use your massive affluence to make yourself immune from any rules. Who would tell you you're breaking the rules when you're the one with their tax money?
116	* ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem: Rule 10 and Rule 38
117	* ShapedLikeItself: Rule 9001
118	* ShoutOut: Many rules of the internet are references, e.g. Rule 42 or rules particular to certain communities that may be localised memes.
119	** Rule 42 is a subversion in that it states "nothing is sacred". It's effectively an anti-shoutout.
120	* SparseListOfRules: RuleThirtyFour was written first, and even now there are a number of gaps of varying size.
121	* StreisandEffect: The idea behind Rule 19. The more you want something to not happen, the more likely it will happen just to piss you off.
122	* SubvertedKidsShow: Rule 43 in action -- corrupting an innocent kid's show into something amusing to adults.
123	* TheWikiRule: Rule 44 includes this.
124	----

Context Main / RulesOfTheInternet