History LoopholeAbuse / WebOriginal

::: [[spoiler:Dream gets out of this seemingly unwinnable scenario as there wasn't a rule against dropping a load of TNT through the End Portal either.]]

* Discussed in ''[[LetsPlay/{{Dream}} Dream's]]'' [[https://youtu.be/tylNqtyj0gs?t=2221 Grand Finale video]] (37:01), when [[spoiler:the hunters go in the End before Dream could]].

** [[spoiler:Dream gets out of this seemingly unwinnable scenario as there wasn't a rule against dropping a load of TNT through the End Portal either.]]

** In Volume 2, Dr. Oobleck orders Team RWBY to leave their backpacks behind because he's already packed what they need. Upon reaching their destination, he orders them to obey his instructions precisely before spotting Ruby has her backpage. Upon asking her why she disobeyed him, she points out that he hadn't ordered them to listen to him at that point. He concedes "she's not wrong".

* ''WebVideo/ToBoldlyFlee'', the fourth Website/ChannelAwesome anniversary special, has one just in the second trailer. WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic is placed under house arrest. His solution? [[spoiler:Turn the house into a spaceship.]]

* ''WebVideo/ToBoldlyFlee'', the fourth Website/ThatGuyWithTheGlasses anniversary special, has one just in the second trailer. WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic is placed under house arrest. His solution? [[spoiler:Turn the house into a spaceship.]]

* Multiple anomalies detained in the ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'' are contained using weaknesses and quirks about them.

* ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse'':
** Elaine E. Nalley is so notorious for doing this at Whateley Academy that the headmistress gave her the codename Loophole. As a RulesLawyer, this can cause problems. Eventually, she discovers that the administration believes in Rule Zero.
** Jobe Wilkin's mandatory school codename is... Jobe Wilkins. It's not just megalomania, given his notoriety as the only son[[note]]At least at first, this is Whateley after all[[/note]] of the setting's CaptainErsatz of Dr. Doom he figures he's not going to go unrecognized in any event.
** Second only to Loophole is one Jadis Diabolik, codenamed 'She-Beast'. She takes very stringent pains to remain on the right side of the rules - and when she sees an opportunity, she'll twist them to take it. At one point she gets around the Whateley 'profit' rules by soliciting a gift worth about 2 million dollars, in exchange for a favour. This runs in the family: her father, Dr. Diabolik, maintains a legal team feared and reviled by innumerable federal prosecutors.

* [[http://www.x-entertainment.com/messages/649.html Skeletor competes in a Pokémon match]]
* A big problem in ''Literature/TheSalvationWar'' is that nobody has made laws pertaining to the dead, which causes quite a few legal headaches.
** Another time, a British colonel tried to take over the command of Free Hell, only to be stopped by [[spoiler:Julius Ceaser]] who points out that because of the amount of people under his command, he is technically a general.
* ''Literature/SkippysList'' has examples:
--> 124. Two drink limit does not mean first and last.
--> 125. Two drink limit does not mean two kinds of drinks.
--> 126. Two drink limit does not mean the drinks can be as large as I like.
--> 127. "No Drinking Of Alcoholic Beverages" does not imply that a Jack Daniel's® IV is acceptable.
--> 135. An order to put polish on my boots means the whole boot.
* ''WebAnimation/RedVsBlue'' has an example of [[RefugeInAudacity double abuse]]. [[spoiler: Director Church was told he could only have one AI, but nobody said you couldn't torture the AI until it fractured and developed multiple personality disorder, then harvest the personalities as independent AIs. When called on the fact that AIs are considered living beings as far as laws on torture go, Director Church points out that there are many laws about what you are not allowed to do to other people, but no laws about what you are allowed to inflict on yourself, and the AI was a copy of his own mind.]] It's pretty blatant, because according to season 10 ''he got his doctorate in the theory of doing it''. Did ... nobody think he was serious?
** He even gave lectures about it for the Freelancers ''and their AI'', and the only CT and Sigma figured out that he was actually doing it, though they reacted so strongly that they sparked most of the rest of the series.
* In the short [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7HFXgyTya0&ab_channel=CollegeHumor "My Dinosaur Is A Service Animal"]], Creator/ChrisPratt (playing his character from the Film/JurassicWorld films) defends taking his dinosaur on an airplane, because there ain't no rule he can't.
* ''WebVideo/ToBoldlyFlee'', the fourth Website/ThatGuyWithTheGlasses anniversary special, has one just in the second trailer. WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic is placed under house arrest. His solution? [[spoiler: Turn the house into a spaceship.]]
--> '''WebVideo/TheNostalgiaChick:''' But Critic, won't this violate your house arrest?
--> '''Critic:''' Why? [[ExactWords I'm not leaving the house]].

* Some tropers sometimes try to pull this on This Very Wiki. Such examples can usually be safely removed.
** AudienceReactions get little pictures when put into the main section unless the words "in universe" are used. Putting the phrase in universe, regardless of context will remove the picture.
** Some tropers add examples to the Web Original section of Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease that describe real peoples' actions on the internet. For example, "Reddit is notorious for this" or "This trope is a common sight on Tumblr".
** On a similar note, TearJerker bans real-life examples, but whenever a famous musician passes away, expect the death to be listed on their Tear Jerker subpage anyway, with the "justification" that it counts as a music example rather than a real life example.
* More than a few entries on the list of ''Blog/ThingsMrWelchIsNoLongerAllowedToDoInAnRPG'' start with the phrase, "Even if the rules allow it..."
* On ''AudioPlay/WereAlive'', Kelly falls asleep on guard duty and doesn't hear [[ThemeTwinNaming Latch and Scratch]] knocking at the door. Michael threatens to kick Kelly out for violating the rules, only for Kelly [[RulesLawyer (a lawyer)]] to point out that the rules say that while everyone has to take turns on guard duty there's no rule against sleeping on duty.

** In the spinoff episode ''Rainbow Dash Presents [[Fanfic/RainbowFactory Captain Hook the Biker Gorilla]]'', the rules for the flight exam state that a pegasus taking the exam can't be helped by a pegasus (or a bizzaro pegasus). Meaning that the Earth pony Apple Bloom and the [[spoiler: demon possessing a]] unicorn Thrackerzod can help Scootaloo. This being a flight proficiency exam though, they pretty much guaranteed that Scootaloo would bomb the exam, setting the plot in motion.
* In one episode of Creator/AchievementHunter's ''[[LetsPlay/AchievementHunterMinecraftSeries Let's Play Minecraft]]'', Geoff ends up robbing Gavin of a victory when he points out that he can't kill Gavin in the safe zone, there's no rule that he can't take the iron ore he's turning into ingots. Which he does.
** Ryan Haywood of the group is known for this. To the point where Geoff had to stop and specifically tell Ryan the ''only'' way to kill people.
*** Gavin pulls this on Ryan during a Let's Play with ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV''. The LP was of them trying to see who could fill up their new Sanity Meter first. Ryan is the first one there, but Gavin declares that he doesn't count because he's ''already crazy''. They're quick to agree to that and that the second one there is the real winner.
** In another GTA V Let's Play, Michael ends up winning for his team when his airplane breaks apart and he lands in the water safely, allowing him to make the winning score. Next round, Ryan ''immediately'' dives into the water, forcing an ObviousRulePatch.
* After being inundated with annoying [[http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/confession-bear Confession Bear]] image macros in the meme thread, Website/SomethingAwful followed {{Website/Reddit}}'s lead([[ArchEnemy !]]) and declared a [[BearsAreBadNews "No Bear Macros"]] week. People immediately began looking for loopholes:
-->"''Only'' Confession Bear?" -- ''All'' bears\\
"Does [[http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/spurdo-sparde Spurdo]] count?" -- He's a badly-drawn Pedobear (not some kind of weird otter like that person thought) so yes\\
"Do [[ManlyGay hairy men]] count?" -- ....\\
"What about a very small picture of a bear, a -- shall we say -- micro image?" -- No (grudgingly)\\
"How about a funny picture of a bear (not Confession Bear or any other meme-related bear) without words?" -- No ('''very''' grudgingly)
** After the last one the moderator promptly issued a ban on ''all'' bear-related pictures
-->'''Brother Johnathan:''' AAAAAAAHHH!! '''Immediate rules change''' No bears at all. None. No bear pictures, no bear macros, no bear memes.
** Of course, someone promptly posted a picture of [[http://i.imgflip.com/3lnby.jpg an anime character]] who apparently skirts the rules...[[note]]It's Teddie from ''{{VideoGame/Persona 4}}''[[/note]]
-->'''Missing Name:''' Fuck, I don't know whether this would count or not. He isn't... anything, but at the same time, he wears a bear suit on occasion, and makes horrible bear puns, [[MindScrew but he's not a bear]]
** ...and a [[UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague Chicago Bear]], and [[WesternAnimation/{{Brave}} a bear-centric sorceress]].
* [[http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/633459 A boy decides to use his third wish for another genie.]] The current genie, while admitting it's never happened before, [[AreYouSureYouWantToDoThat strongly advises against it]], and... well, just watch.
* Website/{{GameFAQs}} has a word filter to prevent users from making posts with offensive words or other terms with an unwholesome background. Naturally, one could just try to invoke this trope by partially censoring the word, but the site's terms of use defy it by making bypassing the censors a specific, punishable violation.
* ''Blog/TextsFromSuperheroes'': [[http://textsfromsuperheroes.com/image/77195387983 Sure, the fact that Wonder Woman technically doesn't exist under the law means she can't testify against Lex Luthor. But it also means she can fly her invisible plane into his house.]]

* In ''WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged'', Android 16 prepares to battle Cell, which confuses 17 as he was designed to fight Goku and ''only'' Goku, and had up to that point outright refused to fight anyone else. 16 points out that 10.78% of Cell's DNA is identical to Goku's and declares "These parameters...are acceptable!" before [[CurbStompBattle beating the stuffing out of him]].
* Invoked in an episode of ''Podcast/PlumbingTheDeathStar'' where the cast members act out how they think ''Harry Potter'' characters should have acted. Professor Dumbledore, as Joel Zammit would have him act, learns of a curse that prevents any Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher from teaching for more than a year. How does he undo this Dark Magic of old? He re-names the class.
* In ''WebAnimation/IfTheEmperorHadATextToSpeechDevice'', when High Inquisitor Karamazov comes to Terra in order to discover the "heretics" he suspects lurk within, Ecclesiarch Decius tries to stop him, knowing that Inquisition "interrogations" tend to involve copious amounts of bloodshed. Ultimately, he doesn't have the authority to order Karamazov to leave, but he does remind the Inquisitor of the holy teachings saying that "Not one drop of blood shall be spilt on Terra's holy grounds", thinking this will at least keep the Inquisition from doing anything ''really'' nasty. Karamazov agrees, and when Decius leaves, he then tells his followers to ''burn'' their victims instead.
* [=YouTube=] allows users to upload their own thumbnails for their videos. A lot of wrestling fans will post supposed videos of recent matches - accompanied by a screenshot from it. Turns out they've really uploaded themselves playing the match out on a video game.
* "Can I have some ice cream?" "Only a spoonful." [holds a giant spoon in mischief]
* An episode of ''WebVideo/FiftyPercentOff'' had Nagisa exploit the rules of [[WebVideo/DanganRonpaAbridgedThing his old school system]] to graduate. According to his headmaster, he needs to kill someone, then be tried innocent; nothing said [[SequenceBreaking he couldn't kill the rest of the student body]] before they could suspect him of murder. No students means no witnesses. No witnesses means no trial. No trial means no guilty verdict. He's innocent by default, so he's free to walk.[[note]]Technically, he also exploited a couple of rules that were talked about in [[VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair another killing game]] -- He's able to kill more than two people because Monokuma didn't say that he couldn't ''yet'', and since Monokuma always follows the rules, Nagisa's perfectly free to massacre the other participants.[[/note]]

* ''WebVideo/BeingTheElite'' often plays phone videos, or displays photos, of their matches instead of reproducing TV broadcasts. Multiple episodes close with the camera panning upwards as the Bucks do [[Wrestling/DGenerationX the DX chop]].
* [[http://www.willyoupressthebutton.com Will You Press The Button?]] is a website with a simple premise: you are given a button to press. Pressing it will reward you with something awesome, but will often have negative consequences, so you must decide whether the pros outweigh the cons. Naturally, people have been finding ways to get around the cons of choices and posting their methods in the comments section. For example, one button will give you the ability to fly, stop time, and conjure whatever you want at the snap of a finger, but every time you use these powers, a poor, hungry child somewhere will die. The top comment is someone declaring that their first use of this power would be summoning enough food and money for every poor, hungry child in the world, so they would only have to kill one off.
* In ''WebAnimation/DeathBattle'', this comes up in the match between ComicBook/GhostRider and ComicBook/{{Lobo}}. The [[spoiler:latter was functionally immortal as the afterlife explicitly had a document stating that Lobo's soul was [[BarredFromTheAfterlife not to be collected by Heaven, Hell or Death itself]]. However, it did not state anything against his soul being ''destroyed'', which is how Ghost Rider ends him.]]
* Discussed in ''[[LetsPlay/{{Dream}} Dream's]]'' [[https://youtu.be/tylNqtyj0gs?t=2221 Grand Finale video]] (37:01), when [[spoiler: the hunters go in the End before Dream could.]]
--> '''Bad:''' Hey, you never said we could not [[spoiler: go to the End before you.]]
--> '''George:''' It's true.
--> '''Sapnap:''' It's not against the rules and regulations.
--> '''Sapnap:''' Let's just flip through my ''[makes a flipping page sound]'' manual ''[flips again]'' of Manhunt, yep, it's not in the rules.
--> '''Bad:''' Oh. What about that, Dream. Interesting.
** [[spoiler: Dream gets out of this seemingly unwinnable scenario as there wasn't a rule against dropping a load of TNT through the End Portal either.]]
* [[https://www.reddit.com/r/talesfromthelaw/comments/flii0i/the_day_i_was_hired_and_fired_by_a_law_firm/ This Reddit user]] was delivering bagels and coffee to a law firm's meeting when a JerkAss security guard refused to let him park anywhere but the already-full guest lot, even threatening to tow his car. When the hungry lawyers found out, they hired the delivery boy as a member of the firm, giving him a contract, an employee badge, and access to employee-only parking, and then fired him once the delivery was finished (with a $70 "severance package").

* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' has an example of [[RefugeInAudacity double abuse]]. [[spoiler: Director Church was told he could only have one AI, but nobody said you couldn't torture the AI until it fractured and developed multiple personality disorder, then harvest the personalities as independent AIs. When called on the fact that AIs are considered living beings as far as laws on torture go, Director Church points out that there are many laws about what you are not allowed to do to other people, but no laws about what you are allowed to inflict on yourself, and the AI was a copy of his own mind.]] It's pretty blatant, because according to season 10 ''he got his doctorate in the theory of doing it''. Did ... nobody think he was serious?

* In ''WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged'', Android 16 prepares to battle Cell, which confuses 18 as he was designed to fight Goku and ''only'' Goku, and had up to that point outright refused to fight anyone else. 16 points out that 10.78% of Cell's DNA is identical to Goku's and declares "These parameters...are acceptable!" before [[CurbStompBattle beating the stuffing out of him]].