mangadex/templates/bootstrap4/static_pages/rules.tpl.php

<?= display_alert("warning", "Warning", "Violating any rules may result in a ban.") ?>

<ol class="rules">
    <li id="comics">Comic Entries
        <ol>
            <li>Only manga, manhwa, manhua, or doujinshi and webcomics of the aforementioned categories are allowed. Exceptions can be made, but contact staff beforehand.</li>
            <li>Oneshots that were published in an anthology should be included in the respective anthology entry and should not have their own entries.</li>
            <li>A single-chapter oneshot that has been serialized should be included in its respective serialized entry.</li>
            <li>A self-published comic with multiple chapters that has been serialized should have its own separate entry. If the serialized comic uses the same title, the pre-serialized entry should have "(Webcomic)" or the equivalent appended to the title.</li>
            <li>The previous rule aside, entries should not have "(Oneshot)" or anything similar appended to the title. Use the appropriate tags instead.</li>
            <li>Do not add duplicate entries. Search for multiple alternate titles before adding a series.</li>
            <li>If there are multiple entries with the same title, do not add anything to distinguish them. Use the actual title as it is.</li>
            <li>Cover Image
                <ol>
                    <li>Format: file type JPG or PNG, portrait orientation, minimum aspect ratio 1:1.15, preferable minimum resolution 300px * 450px, maximum file size 1MB.</li>
                    <li>Content: Use a cover image of a later volume, unless it either doesn't fit the overall art style or theme of the comic or has <strong>major</strong> spoilers.</li>
                </ol>
            </li>
            <li>Tag porn (and only porn) as hentai. Ecchi and smut do not count. The primary focus must be on the sex, and genitals must be visible (typical censorship aside).
                <ol>
                    <li>Oversimplified rule of thumb: if it's mostly porn with some plot, it's probably hentai; if it's mostly plot with some porn, it's probably not.</li>
                </ol>
            </li>
        </ol>
    </li>
    <li id="restrictions">Upload Restrictions
        <ol>
            <li>Scans of official releases or webcomics from official sources, such as original releases (raws) or officially translated releases, are not allowed to be uploaded.
                <ol>
                    <li>The only exception to this rule is for officially translated releases where either the license is expired, the series is out of print, or the publisher is defunct and that release can no longer be purchased through the publisher. These releases will be uploaded under the group "[<em>Publisher</em>] (Ex-Licenses)", and are treated as scanlations for the purpose of all rules.
                        <ol>
                            <li>However, if unofficial scanlations of the respective chapters are available, do not upload the official versions unless there is a significant difference in quality. Contact staff in case of doubt.</li>
                            <li>If another publisher has made their own official release afterwards, the expired/defunct version may still be uploaded.</li>
                        </ol>
                    </li>
                </ol>
            </li>
            <li>The existence of an official translation has no relevance to the rules for uploading scanlated releases.</li>
            <li>Any scanlated release is allowed to be uploaded, unless the release's scanlation group has enabled upload restrictions. The following restrictions also apply.
                <ol>
                    <li>Using the translated script of an official release as the basis of a scanlation is allowed only if the script has been re-translated into a different language.</li>
                    <li>Using the translated script of a release by another scanlation group is generally allowed as long as there is a significant difference from the source release, such as being translated to another language, or having significantly improved typesetting or higher quality raws.</li>
                    <li>Duplicate releases (as in the same chapter released by the same group) are not allowed. If you want to edit or replace a release, but you are not the original uploader or a member of the scanlation group, report the chapter with an explanation or contact staff.</li>
                    <li>A scanlated joint release between multiple groups is generally allowed according to the least restrictive group. If a group in the joint has upload restrictions, contact staff before uploading.</li>
                    <li>Joke or troll releases are not allowed, except on April 1st.</li>
                </ol>
            </li>
            <li>A group that is locked, has missing chapters, and has had no new releases on MangaDex or any websites affiliated with that group for a period of 6 months is eligible by the request of any user to become marked as inactive.
                <ol>
                    <li>Upon receiving an inactivation request, MangaDex staff will attempt to contact and notify the group.
                        <ol>
                            <li>It is possible for the notified group to request becoming exempt from being marked as inactive [for a period of up to 2 months].</li>
                            <li>If the group is not exempted, it will be marked as inactive after 2 weeks from the initial notification.</li>
                            <li>If a group is not exempted, they may still request for the chapters of a certain series to be removed (such as if an existing official licensed version exists).</li>
                        </ol>
                    </li>
                    <li>An inactive group will have all of its upload restrictions lifted and its leader and members will no longer have automatic editing and deleting permissions to the chapters associated with the group.</li>
                    <li>Should the group resume releasing new content, it will no longer be considered inactive and the normal permissions will be restored.</li>
                </ol>
            </li>
            <li>Chapters from groups linking to group sites which adopt excessive profiteering techniques are not allowed. Examples include (but are not limited to) adblocker-blockers, pop-ups and pop-unders.</li>
            <li>Uploading a scanlated chapter before the official raw chapter is released in the original country is prohibited, unless an appropriate delay is used.</li>
        </ol>
    </li>
    <li id="upload">Upload Guidelines
        <ol>
            <li>File Limitations
                <ol>
                    <li>Uploaded files must be in the ZIP format (.zip or .cbz), must not exceed 100MB and must not be password protected.</li>
                    <li>The archive's directory depth must be at most one. In other words, do not upload archives that have folders inside folders.</li>
                    <li>Avoid filenames with ! or # as these can cause chapters to be broken on upload.</li>
                </ol>
            </li>
            <li>Content
                <ol>
                    <li>Do not combine several chapters into a single release.</li>
                    <li>Chapters may only be split into parts if the source material were also split in the same way, or to get around the maximum filesize of upload limitation. Chapters that have been split up by the scanlators for any other reason may be recombined into singular whole chapters.</li>
                    <li>Otherwise, if you are not part of the scanlation group, do not alter the release you are uploading by any means such as removing, editing, or adding pages.</li>
                    <li>Obtrusive watermarks are not allowed.</li>
                    <li>Always upload releases from the highest possible quality source, which is usually the scanlator's website. Do not upload highly compressed and watermarked releases from aggregators, unless there is absolutely no other option.</li>
                    <li>Only partially uploading releases with the intention to lure users to your site for the other chapters is not allowed. Either upload all chapters, or don't upload any.</li>
                    <li>All content that isn't strictly part of the original scanlated chapter is considered "extraneous". Examples of this include credits pages, recruitment notices, discussion, fan-colored chapter pages, and other fan art. Extraneous content is generally allowed, but should be placed either to (or very near) the beginning or the end of the release.
                        <ol>
                            <li>Extraneous pages containing political content (such as agendas, propaganda, or commentary), race-baiting, or content that that can reasonably be construed as offensive may be removed by staff. They are also subject to the same standards as listed out in section 5.1.</li>
                            <li>If one or more pages of a chapter are <i>entirely replaced</i> by fan-colored versions of the same pages, those chapters must belong to a title entry denoted by "(Fan-Colored)" appended to its name, in which case these pages are not considered extraneous. Otherwise, any fan-colored pages must be considered extraneous and the non-colored pages must be included.</li>
                        </ol>
                    </li>
                </ol>
            </li>
            <li>Groups
                <ol>
                    <li>Only upload to the group "Unknown" if it is not possible to determine which group is responsible for the release.</li>
                    <li>Only upload to the group "no group" if the scanlator does not wish to create a group.</li>
                    <li>If the group does not yet exist in the database, <a href="https://www.mangadex.org/group_new" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">add it here</a> before uploading.</li>
                </ol>
            </li>
            <li>Naming Conventions
                <ol>
                    <li>Fill in as many of the fields as possible, including chapter titles if available. If the chapter has no proper title, leave it empty.</li>
                    <li>No tags to any of the fields are allowed, such as "[HQ]" to the chapter name or "v2" to the chapter number.</li>
                    <li>Only add volume numbers to chapters that have already been specifically published together in a single full volume. Make sure the numbers are correct. Otherwise, the volume field should be left empty.</li>
                    <li>Use decimals (1.1, 1.2, etc.) for bonus chapters/omake/etc. Depending on the amount of chapters, the decimal may have to be zero padded to the appropriate amount of digits to ensure correct sorting (1.09, 1.10, etc.).</li>
                    <li>For oneshots, use "Oneshot" as the title and leave the chapter and volume numbers empty. If the oneshot is uploaded to its serialization entry, use 0 as the volume number for sorting purposes.</li>
                    <li>For entries that use season numbering (such as some Korean webtoons), use the volume field for the season number.</li>
                    <li>Last chapter should be set to the final full chapter's number or the final chapter as marked by the publisher if possible.</li>
                </ol>
            </li>
        </ol>
    </li>
    <li id="conduct">Conduct
        <ol>
            <li>Misidentifying yourself as a MangaDex staff member will result in a ban.</li>
            <li>MangaDex does not condone contacting groups about changing their restrictions or uploading their releases. If you are contacting a group, be nice and make it clear you are not associated with MangaDex.</li>
            <li>Abusing the chapter report function could result in a ban.</li>
            <li>Do not report any releases for any translation or visual quality issues that originate from the scanlator. These reports will be ignored.</li>
            <li>Circumventing group upload restrictions in any way could result in a ban.</li>
            <li>Avoid edit wars. If another user edits a comic entry to something different from what you had previously edited and you disagree with their edit, do not change it back, but immediately notify a staff member.</li>
            <li>If you think a release has been taken down mistakenly, do not reupload. Contact staff.</li>
        </ol>
    </li>
    <li id="comments">Comments and Forums
        <ol>
            <li>Disagreements can and will happen. However, we ask all users avoid the following:
                <ol>
                    <li>Racism: With the exception of a serious historical discussion, there is never a context in which racist language is acceptable on MangaDex. This extends to profile biographies, user names, group banners, and user avatars.</li>
                    <li>Sexism: One gender is not inherently superior to another. Harassing someone solely on the basis of gender is not acceptable on MangaDex. This extends to profile biographies, user names, group banners, and user avatars.</li>
                    <li>Religious Discrimination: All members of all religions are equally deserving of respect. Insulting someone solely on the basis of their religion or slandering a specific religion is not acceptable on MangaDex. This extends to profile biographies, usernames, group banners, and user avatars.</li>
                    <li>Other Terminology: This category includes everything else that does not neatly fit under the above categories. It includes, but is not limited to, rape jokes, homophobia, transphobia, and direct personal attacks.</li>
                    <li>Direct Personal Attacks: We encourage intelligent, thoughtful discussion on MangaDex. We encourage users to criticize the content of a post and not the poster themselves. This particular violation will be taken on a case by case basis since context and severity of the violation is important when a mod is considering taking action. For example, calling someone an idiot and offering evidence why they're an idiot will most likely not result in moderator action. Calling someone an idiot and doing nothing else will result in moderator action, not because you called someone an idiot, but because it was the sole content of your post. Note that especially egregious foul language may or may not result in moderator action.</li>
                    <li>If you must disagree with someone, we prefer that you take your arguments into a private conversation so as not to derail a thread. If you cannot argue amicably, consider using the Block function, which can be found on every user's profile page. Blocking someone prevents you from seeing all of their messages on MangaDex.</li>
                </ol>
            </li>
            <li>Don't Be Disruptive
                <ol>
                    <li>Keep your posts on topic.</li>
                    <li>Do not post spoilers outside of designated forums.</li>
                    <li>Avoid cluttering up discussions with memes or image responses to posts.</li>
                    <li>No trolling. Controversial opinions and topics are welcome when accompanied by a point of view aimed at generating genuine discussion.</li>
                </ol>
            </li>
            <li>Don't Make the Staff's Job Harder
                <ol>
                    <li>Do not argue with a moderator about an action in a thread.</li>
                    <li>Do not encourage others to break the rules.</li>
                    <li>Do not file reports of posts, users, comments, or comic chapters in bad faith.</li>
                </ol>
            </li>
            <li>Content on MangaDex
                <ol>
                    <li>Posting child pornography or links to it is strictly prohibited.</li>
                    <li>If something is not safe for work, please ensure that you mark it appropriately.</li>
                    <li>Pornography is fine, but please ensure that it is kept to the relevant forums.</li>
                    <li>Spoilers belong in spoiler tags.</li>
                    <li>Linking to external sites via advertising redirects is not allowed.</li>
                    <li>No unsolicited advertisements of products or commercial services via the site in any way, including (but not limited to) group pages, title pages, user pages, comments, posts or private messages.</li>
                    <li>A group that has opted out of using MangaDex to distribute their content must opt out in its entirety, including (but not limited to) linking to their website in comments and using any of our channels for recruitment.</li>
                </ol>
            </li>
            <li>Appealing a Moderator's Action
                <ol>
                    <li>If you are the recipient of some form of action by a Moderator for breaking the rules and you disagree with it, please contact the Moderator via PM.</li>
                </ol>
            </li>
        </ol>
    </li>
</ol>