History LoopholeAbuse / RealLife

* [[http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/10/04/reading-university-atheist-society-thrown-out-blasphemous-mohammed-pineapple_n_1939317.html A secularist society made headlines]] [[note]]this was at Reading University in the UK, for any interested[[/note]] by displaying a pineapple and naming it Mohammed, apparently in the interests of discussing blasphemy and free speech during fresher's fayre. After complaints from some students that identified as Muslim, they were asked to remove the pineapple as the students were offended by its name. The society responded by renaming the pineapple "Jesus", though the Student Union were unamused and kicked them out, banning them from affiliation in 2013[[note]]the ban is still in place as of the time of writing[[/note]].

* Allegedly, [[https://imgur.com/d0R9aQ5 this student]] who, upon hearing a "3×5" card would be allowed for the upcoming exam, showed up with a 3×5 card...measured in ''feet.'' Since the syllabus never specified inches, the professor apparently let this go ([[ActuallyPrettyFunny just this once,]] after which [[ObviousRulePatch the syllabus was updated]]) partially because it was technically correct and partially [[RefugeInAudacity for the sheer ridiculousness of it]].

* Due to Creator/{{Lionsgate}}'s ownership of the video distribution rights for the [[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987 1987]] ''Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' cartoon, Creator/{{Nickelodeon}} has been unable to profit from rebroadcasting it since their acquisition of the ''TMNT'' franchise in 2009. However, Nickelodeon does own the merchandising rights for the '87 characters and settings, so this didn't prevent them from producing new stories featuring them via tie-in products for easy money, such as ''VideoGame/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesShreddersRevenge'' and the ''Saturday Morning Adventures'' comic.

*** When the London Naval Treaty of 1930 required the disposal of additional old captial ships, it allowed each nation to demilitarize one of them for use as a training ship, and just like ships sold for scrap or destroyed as targets it would no longer count toward their tonnage total. Some of the guns and engine would have to be removed, with the rest allowed to be retained for cadets to train on, but ''all'' of the belt armor (necessary for such a ship to be combat-capable and completely irrelevant to training) had to be removed. The intention was that these ships would be ''permanently'' rendered useless for combat, and that's how it worked out with USS ''Wyoming'' and HMS ''Iron Duke''[[note]]Once WW2 broke out consideration was given to restoring ''Iron Duke'' to make up for the shortfall in battleships, but this was deemed too time-consuming and expensive. Instead she was used as a decoy, so that German recon aircraft would think the Grand Fleet was still in port even when they were out to sea. ''Wyoming'' on the other hand was further converted to a dedicated [[AntiAir anti-aircraft training ship]], with the remaining 12-inch guns being removed and an array of at least one of ''every'' type of AA mounting in US Navy service being included so that new sailors would be familiar with any AA weapon they might get assigned to.[[/note]] Japan on the other hand chose the battlecruiser ''Hiei'' for this role and similarly removed weapons, engines and armor. The difference was that all of the removed equipment was carefully stored in a warehouse instead of being scrapped, making sure that ''Hiei'' could be easily restored to full combat capacity and modernized along the same lines as her three sister ships. Which is exactly what Japan did in 1936 upon withdrawing from the treaties.

* In online auctions (primarily Website/EBay), it's not uncommon to find automated pieces of software that were programmed to monitor the auction and always bid with the absolute minimum price without the person having to ever actually be at the computer.

* Given the negative experience with the way votes of no confidence had been handled in the Weimar Republic (basically a majority of the ''Reichstag'' could just declare "we don't like the government" and force it to resign without having to actually come up with an alternative proposal for who ''should'' govern. Naturally once Nazis and Communists held a majority together, it was impossible to get anything done in the Reichstag) the new "Basic Law" of West Germany explicitly says that the ''only'' way the Bundestag can get rid of the chancellor is by electing a replacement with a majority ''of its members'' (so none of those "the Communist deputies are unable to attend [[TheCoronerDothProtestTooMuch due to having broken both legs, both arms and five rips in an unfortunate accident all at once]]" shenanigans) in a secret vote. However, this gives rise to a very glaring loophole which was absued during the very first so called "constructive vote of no confidence" in 1972. The SPD-FDP coalition, who had lost their majority due to some of its members defecting over foreign policy[[note]]The Brandt government had basically acknowledged the Oder-Neisse line as the final eastern border of Germany post-reunification for all intents and purposes, which [=MPs=] born east of that line tended to take issue with[[/note]] decided that how many votes ''their'' candidate got was utterly irrelevant, the relevant thing was how many votes ''the other guy'' got. As long as it was less than half of the members of the ''Bundestag'', Brandt would remain in office. So instead of enforcing which way their [=MPs=] were to vote on a secret vote, which is impossible, they simply said "abstain, or else" but had the government ministers vote to provide "cover" for any members of the [=CDU/CSU=] who would break rank, as ''they'' actually had to get the votes and not just prevent their opposition from getting them. It worked, much to the surprise of everyone involved - allegedly because the East German Stasi had bribed enough members of the [=CDU/CSU=] to flip the result.

* Jona von Ustinov, father of actor Creator/PeterUstinov, was working as a press officer for the German Embassy in London when the Nazis came to power in the 1930s. Seeing the writing on the wall, he got a secret job as a spy for MI5 and applied for British citizenship. At the time, notices of citizenship applications were published in newspapers - something that would tip off the Germans if published in one of the London dailies. So instead, it was printed in a Welsh newspaper.

* Eisuke Ogura, creative director of ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFightersXV'', ended up having to resort to this during the game's development - he wanted to include [[CreatorsFavorite his favorite character K9999]], who he had been dreaming about bringing back for years. The problem was that K9999 was [[CaptainErsatz so much of a ripoff]] of ''Manga/{{AKIRA}}'''s Tetsuo Shima that Creator/{{SNK}} had made it unspoken company policy that [[BuryYourArt even so much as mentioning the fact that he existed at one point was forbidden]], so he couldn't include K9999. [[PaperThinDisguise Krohnen]], however, was fair game.

* Islam prohibits prostitution. However, Twelver Shia Islam also allows for nikah al-mut'ah, which is a temporary marriage. The duration of the marriage as well as the dowry have to be agreed upon before entering it. This has been used to effectively allow occasional prostitution while still following the letter of the law (after the temporary marriage ends, the woman must abstain from sex or even another relationship for 3 months of mourning).

* Islam prohibits prostitution. However, Twelver Shia Islam also allows for nikah al-mut'ah, which is a temporary marriage. The duration of the marriage as well as the dowry have to be agreed upon before entering it. This has been used to effectively allow occasional prostitution while still following the letter of the law.

* Ain't no rule that says a dog can't [[http://www.simonstown.com/tourism/nuisance/nuisance.htm be enlisted in the Royal Navy.]]

* Ain't no rule that a cartoon character can't serve in the Marines (as WesternAnimation/BugsBunny did during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII).

*** In addition to the above, the Nazis also made use of the Sturmabteilung, their paramilitary wing, to recruit and train millions of soldiers without adding them to the Reichswehr (restricted to only 100,000 soldiers). As soon as the war started, the Sturmabteilung was practically hollowed out and transferred to the Wehrmacht.

*** In addition to the above, the Nazis also made use of the Sturmabteilung, their paramilitary wing, to recruit and train millions of soldiers without adding them to the Reichswehr (restricted to only 100,000 soldiers). As soon as the war started, the Sturmabteilung was practically hollowed out, and had the vast majority of its members transferred to the Wehrmacht.

* Don't want your computer to track down you downloading pornographic art/pictures? "Downloads" of adult stuff don't mean using the snipping tool to easily capture whats on your screen. (Just so we're clear, this only prevents anything showing up on your computer history. This will NOT prevent your ISP from knowing what questionable sites you visit.)

* Fellow crowdfunding website Indiegogo has a rule that if a project is funded to completion, it ''must'' be released or the money is to be refunded. However, the rules say nothing about how good said project must be, hence Website/ChannelAwesome released ''WebVideo/PopQuizHotShot'', a deliberately extremely low-budget show to technically fulfil the requirement. Likewise, there are no rules against postponement, thus many failed projects can get away with "no refunds" by claiming that the project is just postponed and that they're still totally devoted into doing this! This is one of the things that made the failed Ultimate [=FanCon=] project infuriating because of the amount of money poured in before its "postponement".

* AV Club's "Undercover" series features bands selecting covers off a slowly depleting list of songs. Once every so often, an artist is featured the same year that one of their songs is on the list. The only time one actually covered themselves was when [[Music/HuskerDu Bob Mould]] bent the rules by choosing a song by the band Sugar, for which he was the lead singer. In [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hg7VzWWxHVs the clip,]] he joked that Sugar and his solo career are distinct, and thus his performance was [[MetaphoricallyTrue technically a "cover."]]

* Airline pricing in general is arcane and invites this type of behavior. Very often a ticket A to C with a layover in B is cheaper than a ticket A to B. Of course, buying a ticket A to C and never getting on the flight B to C can get you anything from a shrug to being banned from ever flying with that airline ever again. Another frequently abused loophole is Lufthansa's [=AIRail=], which sells you train tickets to the airport (for example from Stuttgart to Frankfurt Airport a distance too short for any type of flights to make economic sense) and gives you miles on said tickets. Sometimes the train does not cost extra but still brings miles. As there is no "checking in" on German trains, nobody can verify whether you actually ever boarded the train, but you get the miles regardless.

* In 2018, six teenage boys in Kansas noted that there were no qualifications listed in the book for running for governor, [[https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/02/09/584678163/kansas-scrambles-to-change-rules-after-6-teens-enter-governors-race so they're doing just that]].

* Similar to how PC Gamer magazine used to give freebies for in-game cosmetics in their magazine, loads of other magazines used to include freebies inside. Such as codes for contest entries or cards for trading card games. There is no rule saying you have to ''buy'' the magazine in question -- so people routinely used to go into supermarkets, take the freebies out, and then place the magazine back on the shelf. [[ObviousRulePatch Some magazines caught on and started shipping them with plastic wrap]], since stores ''do'' have a rule against opening books and product that were wrapped. Additionally, AintNoRule saying you have to ''buy'' the magazine or the book -- you could read it in the store. Some storekeeps however start enforcing this. And, much like magazines, some ship their books inside plastic bags to keep people from reading it without buying.

** When a Canadian version of ABC Family was launched in Canada in 2012, it instead took on the name ABC Spark (but still used branding elements of ABC Family, and now Freeform). However, this was more to prevent conflicts and confusion with Family Channel--a premium cable-licensed but de facto basic cable channel that historically carried programming licensed from ABC Family's U.S. sister network Disney Channel since it launched in 1988. It, otherwise is of no relation to ABC Family or ABC Spark; but in 2015, the owner of ABC Spark ended up acquiring the Canadian rights to Disney Channel programming, and actually made a real Disney Channel.

* The rules requiring U.S. television stations to air [[EdutainmentShow educational programming for children]] have been looped around by broadcasters for decades. In 1990, the FCC implemented the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children%27s_Television_Act Children's Television Act]] to address concerns over the lack of educational programming for children on television, and how advertisers are marketing to the demographic. It gave full-power television stations an obligation to compile reports on their broadcasting of programs that "furthers the positive development of children 16 years of age and under in any respect, including the child's intellectual/cognitive or social/emotional needs". The flimsy definition was ripe for abuse, however, as many stations attempted to justify non-edutainment programs, such as ''Series/LeaveItToBeaver'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheJetsons'', as educational under the social/emotional needs" card.

* When Netflix first wanted to introduce streaming to the UsefulNotes/PlayStation3 and UsefulNotes/{{Wii}}, they were hampered by an exclusivity agreement that they had signed with Microsoft that made the UsefulNotes/Xbox360 only console with built-in support for Netflix. "Built-in" seemingly seemingly meant "the streaming client software is loaded from the console's internal storage as opposed to a removable disc", so Netflix at first released their [=PS3=] and Wii streaming apps on discs and shipped them out to customers who requested them. Once the Microsoft agreement expired, they promptly released downloadable apps for both of the other consoles and discontinued the discs.

* Website/{{Twitch}} banned live streams of people in bathing suits unless they were engaged in the act of swimming or bathing. This has resulted in many streamers creating content in their pools or hot tubs, sometimes going as far to install such a device in their preferred filming location. The practice has become some prevalent that "hot tub streams" have pretty much become a defined genre of soft-core porn. Doubling down on the loophole abuse, some streamers unable to afford a full size hot tub will simply fill up a pint-sized kiddie pool in their studio.
* When Wikipedia blacked-out their site for SOPA protests, it took less than an hour for people [[DontShootTheMessage simply tired of SOPA protests]] to start telling people to run stuff like No Script, use the mobile page, or simply hit "stop" before they were redirected from an article to the SOPA page. Even the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:SOPA_initiative/Learn_more&oldid=471995995 Learn more page itself said]] people could turn off Javascript - [[http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/English_Wikipedia_SOPA_blackout/Technical_FAQ see also this page]]. Likewise, when other sites do it, there's no rule saying you can't use caches, either.

** The treaty limited the maximum tonnage and total tonnage of cruisers but not submarines. Enter ''Surcouf'', the French submarine cruiser. ''Surcouf'' had, in addition to the expected torpedo loadout, enhanced range and provisions, a sizable general cargo bay, a hanger for two spotting aircraft, and a turret with two ''eight inch'' guns. The idea was that multiple submarines of this type could fulfill the role of a cruiser (including in peace time) in addition to normal submarine roles. The other powers would have none of it, and limited the size of deck guns on submarines during the London naval treaty after the one was built. Though before this ObviousRulePatch, other nations ''also'' drew up designs for submarine cruisers, some of them even bigger and better armed than ''Surcouf''.

** In fact, despite the obvious repercussions that launching a nuclear weapon would entail, there is no source of law, customary or treaty, that explicitly prohibits doing so. Of course that does not preclude ''individual nations'' from doing so and Germany ([[GermanicEfficiency of course]]) has [[https://dejure.org/gesetze/StGB/307.html plugged this loophole]] via §307 of the federal criminal code explicitly making causing an explosion through nuclear means illegal - how you could ever ''possibly'' commit that crime but ''no other crime'' (e.g. stealing nuclear material, using material you are not allowed to use, killing people with your bomb, destroying porperty etc.) is of course FridgeLogic for yourself to ponder, but the German law code operates on the basis of "better safe than sorry".

* This is how the SkirtOverSlacks trend got started in schools. Most school dress codes require skirts to be at a certain length to prevent [[PantyShot underwear flashing]], so someone wearing bike shorts, tights, or leggings underneath could get away with wearing skirts of whatever length because the skirt combined with whatever’s being worn underneath it would be counted as the whole bottom part of the outfit.

* In UsefulNotes/AncientGreece, Creator/Plato defined Man as an "animal with two feet and no feathers", and was applauded. When Creator/Diogenes heard of this, he showed up at Plato's academia, holding up a chicken [[ExactWords with all feathers plucked out]], while he shouted: "Behold Plato's Man!" After that, Plato added "[[ObviousRulePatch with broad, flat nails]]" to his definition.

* In UsefulNotes/AncientGreece, Plato defined Man as an "animal with two feet and no feathers", and was applauded. When [[DeadpanSnarker Diogenes]] heard of this, he showed up at Plato's academia, holding up a chicken with all feathers plucked out, while he shouted: "Behold Plato's Man!" After that, Plato added "[[ObviousRulePatch with broad, flat nails]]" to his definition.
* This is how the skirt over slacks trend got started in schools. Most school dress codes require skirts to be at a certain length to prevent [[PantyShot underwear flashing]], so someone wearing bike shorts, tights, or leggings underneath could get away with wearing skirts of whatever length because the skirt combined with whatever’s being worn underneath it would be counted as the whole bottom part of the outfit.

%% Please see the thread to discuss a new image.

** Where a prize draw is required to have a "skill component", asking a question that's ludicrously easy because there's no statement of how difficult the skill has to be (eg, "What are the pet monsters appearing in the cartoon series 'Pokemon' called?")

* ''LARP/HumansVsZombies'' manages to avert this entirely by having the "Douchebag Clause" which states, "Don't be a douchebag." Simply put, if it's not already covered by the rules but clearly unfair, then the mods can invoke the douchebag clause and punish accordingly.

* Many hotels will charge a cancellation fee if you try to cancel a booking too close to the arrival date. However, not all of them have a policy on moving a booking to a later date, since the reservation is not cancelled in this case. So some travellers who want to cancel fee-free may request to move their booking to a date outside the fee window, and then cancel the reservation; since the booking is no longer within the penalty period, they can cancel for free. That said, more and more hotels are catching on to this, and will treat a request to move such a booking as a cancellation, or they may okay the move but disallow the booking from being cancelled, forcing you to eat the cost regardless.

* Due to Creator/{{Lionsgate}}'s ownership of the video distribution rights for the [[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987 1987]] ''Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' cartoon, Creator/{{Nickelodeon}} has been unable to profit from rebroadcasting it. However, Nickelodeon does own the merchandising rights for the characters and settings, so this didn't prevent them from producing new stories featuring them via tie-in products for easy money, such as ''VideoGame/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesShreddersRevenge'' and the ''Saturday Morning Adventures'' comic.

* The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty bans all but 5 countries from having nuclear weapons,[[note]]the United States, Soviet Union (later Russia as its successor state), United Kingdom, France and China... the first 5 countries to develop nuclear weapons, and the only ones to ''admit'' to having them at the time the NPT was written[[/note]] whilst allowing countries to have nuclear power for peaceful purposes. However, it is perfectly acceptable to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_latency extract weapons grade plutonium from nuclear fuel and storing it for "reactors" that your country doesn't have yet.]] And to have the knowledge to build a bomb, and the missiles/planes to deliver them. As such, many "nuclear-free" nations have the ability to build a nuclear weapon on short notice without violating the treaty. Given the fact that there are many legitimate non-military applications of some of the technologies used in nuclear weapons production - neutron sources can be used to "breed" Uranium-238 (an entirely unregulated material commonly available to states) into plutonium-239 (the weapons thing) but have numerous applications in basic and applied sciences - some of which were discovered when the U.S. started a military neutron source program with "civilian" codenames and ostensible purposes - only for [[FakeRealTurn the legitimate science becoming more important than the military applications]] as time went on. In fact, of the ten states known to have ever possessed nuclear weapons [[note]] in addition to the five above, that'd be India, Pakistan, North Korea as definitively confirmed and current cases, Israel as a "neither confirm nor deny" case widely suspected of having them and South Africa as the only country to have ever given up nuclear weapons it had developed itself (the post Soviet states gave up the weapons stationed on their territory after the breakup of the USSR but they had neither built nor developed them)[[/note]] ''none'' is known to have derived the fuel for the first bomb from reactors intended for electricity generation - although North Korea comes closest, having possibly derived part of the material from a "Magnox" type reactor at Yongbyon, a decades outdated British design whose plans were declassified because [[TemptingFate who would be dumb enough to use it]]?, which was presented by North Korea as a "civilian" research and power generation reactor. The fact that it can be used for producing weapon's grade plutonium was a design demand back in the 1950s in Britain and led to some downsides in terms of power production that were remedied with its successor, the "Advanced Gas Cooled Reactor" (AGR) at the "cost" of it being worse at Plutonium production. The fact that North Korea went with the Magnox instead of the AGR is telling in and of itself