Community Guidelines

The Codex is built by horror fans, for horror fans. It works because the people who use it care — about getting the taxonomy right, about preserving weird and obscure films, about turning new horror fans onto something great. These guidelines describe the kind of community we want to be, and the small list of things that’ll get you a warning or ban.

These guidelines are part of our Terms of Service. Breaking them can result in your content being removed or your account being restricted or banned.

The spirit of the place

• The Horror Codex is anti-censorship, but pro-community. We want to create an environment to discuss and debate topics as wide-ranging as the films in our database, but will not tolerate mean or abusive behavior.
• Be a fan first. The Codex isn’t a battleground. We’re here because we love this stuff.
• Argue about films, not people. Disagreement is welcome. Personal attacks aren’t.
• Make the catalog better. Tag a missing keyword, suggest a related film, curate a list nobody else has. The next person to find that page will benefit.
• Punch up, never down. Slurs, harassment, and pile-ons will get you banned.

Specific rules

Comments

• Spoiler tags exist for a reason. Use them when you discuss endings or major reveals. The community keeps spoilers tagged so people can browse film pages safely.
• No personal attacks, slurs, or harassment. Including against the cast, crew, or other users.
• No spam. Do not abuse the contribution privileges. Don’t promote unrelated products, services, or links.
• Stay on topic. Comment threads should always revolve around the page subject.

Photos and stills

• The purpose of film still hosting is to share the quality of the film, not to spoil plot points. Use the spoiler feature judiciously.
• Mark uploads with explicit gore, nudity, or major plot reveals as spoilers.
• Only upload screenshots of the actual film, not promotional, personal, or unrelated images. This includes posters, behind-the-scenes photos, fan art, publicity photos, etc.
• If a copyright holder asks us to remove an image, we will. See the DMCA section of our Terms.

Lists

• Keep lists in draft while you’re still building them. Don’t publish a one-film “test” list to the public index.
• If you’re using a list as a personal watchlist, keep it saved as a draft.
• Give lists meaningful titles and descriptions. “cool stuff” is not a list title.
• Curate, don’t copy. Don’t republish another person’s list verbatim under your own name. If you’re inspired by someone else’s list, credit them in the description.

Tags and edits

• Edit genre tags, keywords, and related films in good faith. The taxonomy is a shared resource — treat it that way.
• Trolling the taxonomy (mass-tagging dramas as horror, deleting accurate keywords as a joke, etc.) will get your edits reverted and your account restricted or deleted.
• If you’re not sure whether a tag fits, leave it off — or ask via the bug-report flow.

Profile

• Don’t impersonate other people, real or fictional. Filmmakers, critics, public figures, other users — don’t.
• Avatar and bio are public. Pick what you’re comfortable showing.

What gets you in trouble

We use a 4-tier role system: admin, moderator, user, restricted. Most enforcement looks like this:

• Minor or first-time issues — we remove the offending content and may issue you a warning.
• Repeated issues, bad-faith editing, or harassment — your account is moved to the “restricted” tier, which limits your ability to contribute (no comments, no photo uploads, no tag edits, no list publishing) while still letting you use the site to track and rate films.
• Severe abuse (harassment campaigns, illegal content, deliberate sabotage) — account terminated, no warning required.

How to report a problem

For anything — abusive comment, broken film page, ToS-violating list, photo that shouldn’t be there — use the feedback button in the user dropdown (or in the mobile nav).

For copyright takedowns specifically, see the DMCA section of our Terms for the formal notice requirements.

For account-level issues (someone is impersonating you, your account is compromised, you want to appeal an enforcement action), email [email protected] directly.

Changes

These guidelines will evolve as the community grows. Material changes will be announced with a site banner. The “Effective” date at the top tells you which version is current.