We’ll be performing maintenance on all services at 6 PM US Mountain Time. We’re needing to migrate our Docker data-root storage directory to a new disk array as we’re approaching the limit of the current drive. We expect the maintenance to take no longer than 1 hour.

EDIT, Update: We’ve been able to partially recover about 25% of the media uploaded to Pawb.Social.

Upon further investigation, data from pawb.social was priorly moved to the new server and was inadvertently deleted as part of the earlier incident affecting furry.engineer and pawb.fun’s cache while we were preparing the new server.

furry.engineer and pawb.fun media is unaffected, but all media directly uploaded to pawb.social is unrecoverable and has been lost. A miscommunication on my part OK’d the removal without fully checking the scope of data that was being removed; This was intended to only remove test data we were using to stress test the new hardware, but affected live data as well.

A large majority of posts are externally hosted and referenced (e.g. images from media.kbin.earth, d.furaffinity.net, etc.) are NOT affected. Only posts directly uploaded via the Create Post > Image field on pawb.social are affected.

We had previously transferred pawb.social to the new hardware as a preliminary trial and I had forgot this occurred thus failing to bring it up prior to the deletion going through.

I’m looking into options to be able to in-place reupload media on behalf of posters, but as the UUIDs are randomly generated by Pict-rs (the media service used by Lemmy), I’m unsure how to facilitate this. Any advice or information would be appreciated, and can be sent to network@pawb.social.

I understand this is a serious incident and reflects poorly on us, and I can only apologize for this loss and work to prevent this happening again in the future.

EDIT: I believe this will also impact profile pictures and community images (logos and banners), so please re-upload them at your earliest convenience.___

Rule 9 is rescinded until further notice.

We’re holding off on implementing this rule while we re-evaluate with the feedback we’ve received thus far. Thank you for your feedback and patience.

⚖️ We appreciate the feedback we’ve received so far regarding the DNP rule, and will be holding off on implementing it while we re-evaluate the use of the e621 list and instead look at maintaining our own list.

Upon re-evaluation, the differences between e621 as an image board and Pawb.Social as a social aggregator site don’t quite line up in the same manner and the vast list provided by e621 is both cumbersome and not representative of those wanting to allow sharing via social aggregation sites but not via imageboards out of their control.

This started to lead towards needing to maintain awareness of the e621 list and potentially an exceptions list that would overall make the moderation a complete headache.

Once we’ve squared away the details, we’ll be looking to announce the rule prior to it taking effect to ensure we strike the right balance.

I’m sorry we didn’t get this right and the approach seemed so hamfisted, and I’ll strive to ensure better communication on these changes in the future.

-Crashdoom, Pawb.Social Network Owner

Original Post Begins Below

In Short: Effective today, Friday, July 18th, 2025, Pawb.Social will be adopting e621.net’s Avoid Posting List in a new Code of Conduct rule aimed to respect artist’s wishes not to upload their content elsewhere.

EDIT: To clarify, e621’s additional rules on the DNP page, like the no “content that is not furry or furry-related” under “Avoid posting these things” do not apply. Non-furry posts are still permitted and encouraged as much as furry posts!

Artists own their content and have a right to determine when and where their content is redistributed. That being said, trying to collate that information is time consuming and leads to a lot of duplicated effort already achieved elsewhere (such as e621’s DNP list).

Going forwards, we’re introducing a new Code of Conduct rule to address these issues:

Rule 9. DNP (Do Not Post) Content

Our DNP content policies apply to images, videos, and other file-based content uploaded directly to any Pawb.Social service, but does not include content linked externally.

DNP (Do Not Post) content rules falls into one of two categories: Static DNP, and Artist DNP.

Rule 9.1. Static DNP

Static DNP content is content that shouldn’t be uploaded to Pawb.Social services, such as content that can realistically be expected to be private and not publicly shared, or content that breaks any other rule in the CoC; This includes, but is not limited to:

• Any commercial content (e.g. content behind a paywall or similar access control, inc. Patreon and similar)
  • Similar to e621.net, Pay-what-you-want (PWYW) content that you can obtain for free may not be uploaded until at least 2 weeks (14 days) have passed. This allows for artists to still obtain revenue and traffic directly from PWYW content.
  • Additionally, when uploading PWYW content past this 2 week period, we require a link to the source to be provided in the description (or a top-level comment).
• Content of a harassing, abusive, or discriminatory nature, or otherwise depicting hate, abuse, or discrimination through text, symbols, or other iconography.

Rule 9.2. Artist DNP

Artist DNP content is anything produced by an artist listed on e621.net’s Avoid Posting List that you do not have explicit permission to repost.

Linking to content by DNP artists on other websites where the artist themselves (or an authorized person) is the poster is permitted, but direct uploads are not.

Rule 9.3. Exceptions

If you have permission to upload something that is covered by the DNP rules 9.1 or 9.2, please include proof in the description of your post, otherwise it may be treated as DNP content and removed upon being flagged for review.

Rule 9.4. Reporting / Moderation

As content is not automatically reviewed and there’s no tag system similar to e621 on Lemmy, we cannot effectively auto-moderate content that may be affected by the DNP nor do we have the resources to manually review every post, so we encourage users to report content that they find on the DNP list for the community Moderators / Admin Team to review.

If you believe you’ve uploaded content that falls under one of these categories, we ask that you either delete the post directly or report it for a Moderator / Admin to action for you. Reports from the uploader will not receive a warning or further moderation action.

However, repeated posting of Artist DNP (Rule 9.2) content without permission may result in a warning, or further moderation action, especially if it has already been brought to the user’s attention.

Rule 9.5. Direct Takedown

Rule 9 and it’s sub-sections do not remove the statutory right for an artist, character owner, or commissioner to submit a takedown / DMCA request directly to the Pawb.Social Admin Team.

Content requested to be removed via a takedown / DMCA request can be submitted to network[at]pawb.social with the subject line: “Takedown Request: [name]”, and include the URL(s) of the offending posts, and the reason / information relating to your ownership or right to request removal.

We’ll work with those submitting takedown requests to verify their authenticity, and once confirmed we’ll notify affected user(s) about the takedown request we received via DM / email, and remove the offending post(s).

We hope that still permitting links to externally hosted content where a DNP exists allows discovery of that artwork and artist, while respecting their wishes to ensure it’s not directly reposted without permission, and ensuring minimal disruption to communities and users on Pawb.Social services.

We’ll be giving a grace period of 14 days from this announcement before any moderation actions above a warning will be issued to allow for public comment and feedback.

Posts created prior to this announcement will not be subject to moderation action except removal of offending posts upon them being identified.

We would also like to welcome and encourage feedback on this policy change in the comments here, and in our /c/meta community in general.

-Crashdoom, Pawb.Social Network Owner

If you want to create a NEW community, you do not have to make a post here, just click Create Community in the header! This process is only for claiming dead / abandoned communities hosted on Pawb.Social.

Rules

• All requests must be titled “Requesting c/” then the community name (the short name, e.g. “furry_irl”, “meta”, not the display name).
• Please include a brief reason for why you want the community, and what you plan to do with it.
• Comments posted must comply with Pawb.Social’s Code of Conduct, or may be removed.
• Off-topic posts will be removed and may result in a ban from c/communityrequest.
  • For meta discussions, please use c/meta.

Eligibility

• To request a community, it must have no active moderators. A community has active moderators if any mod account has recent activity within the last 90 days.
• You can only request communities that exist on Pawb.Social. We cannot action requests to moderate remote communities.
• You can only request one community at a time, and may not request more than one (1) community every thirty (30) days.
• You must have had an account for at least thirty (30) days prior to making a request.
• You must not have had any administrative actions taken against your account within the last ninety (90) days.
  • Remote users requesting communities on Pawb.Social will be considered on a case-by-case basis, and we may reach out to your instance’s Admin team during the process.

Request Process

1. After a request is submitted, it will be reviewed for compliance with the eligibility requirements by a Pawb.Social Admin.
2. If initially approved, a seven (7) day Request for Comment (RFC) period will begin to allow other users to comment and provide feedback on your request.
3. The Pawb.Social Admin Team will review comments at the end of the RFC period and determine if your request will be granted.

Hey Everyone!

If you’ve noticed any performance issues (or hopefully performance improvements!) across any Pawb.Social service, please let us know here.

That includes: pawb.social (Lemmy), furry.engineer (Mastodon), and pawb.fun (Mastodon).

Ideally, if you could provide the following information when reporting a performance issue, it would be greatly appreciated:

• What you were trying to do at the time? (Loading the homepage, opening a post on c/…, making a post on c/…, etc.)

• What browser / app were you using?

• About how long did it take for the action to complete?

Feel free to include anything else you might think is relevant, and we appreciate the community’s assistance!

This notice is also being sent by email to all users with a verified email on Pawb Social services. (Completed as of 02/13/2025)

UPDATE (02/13/2025)

ℹ️ If you received the “Important - Pawb.Social is re-structuring as an LLC!” email from us about an account you don’t recognize, or no longer wish to have, on our services and would like the account deleted:

Please email network@pawb.social from the SAME email address, and we’ll be able to lookup your accounts and remove them.

If your account has any content, we will issue a backup to the email on file and wait 7 days before deleting the account, unless you ask us to delete it immediately after we inform you that content exists.

Begin Original Post

As of Friday, February 14th, we will be transitioning the management and ownership of our instances to PawbSocial LLC, a new limited liability company (LLC) registered in the State of Colorado.

This change is primarily driven by the desire to ensure legal protection and mitigate liability concerns in light of the current political climate, but has been a task we would have eventually needed to face as Pawb Social grows.

What does this mean?

There will be no changes to the team running any of our instances, and PawbSocial LLC will continue to be owned and operated by Crashdoom.

Donations will now be made to PawbSocial LLC, though there should be no changes necessary to existing donations. PayPal donations via Ko-fi going forward (one-time or recurring) will show PawbSocial LLC instead of “Pawb.Social”.

Existing assets and hardware bought for Pawb.Social using donations will be transferred to PawbSocial LLC’s ownership.

Our contact information remains the same: You can contact the Network Admin team by email at network@pawb.social.

We felt it important to inform all of our users of this change despite there being no change in leadership or effective ownership as a show of good faith and transparency.

We appreciate your understanding and continued support as we take these steps to ensure the long-term stability and security of our community.

Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions or concerns.

Crashdoom

Owner / Network Admin, PawbSocial LLC

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/171497

Sub.Rehab lists relocated Subreddits’ new homes in the Fediverse or other platforms

This is a part of the official Pawb.Social Code of Conduct.

5. CW: Content warning policies

PAWB.SOCIAL USERS, PLEASE READ: Content warning policies only apply to the Mastodon instances run by Pawb.Social (furry.engineer and pawb.fun), with the exception of NSFW content and communities which must still be marked as such.

Content warnings are a way of hiding content behind a short, inoffensive message that allows users to know before they click to view the content. This helps users avoid certain uncomfortable topics they don’t want to see, or would otherwise be inappropriate for them to open in a given environment. For example: Accidentally opening a NSFW image at the grocery store.

Example of a post with a content warning on Mastodon web v4.0.2.

5.1. Content that requires a CW

Posts originating on Pawb.Social instances must comply with the CW policies listed below. For exceptions that may apply to locked accounts, see Rule 5.4.

As some posts boosted by users originate on other instances, we understand there may be differences in policies regarding the usage of content warnings. For that reason, we won’t take action against our users that boost content without a CW, but may apply moderation actions against the post, such as marking as sensitive or deletion in severe circumstances.

Content warnings required by this section must be added through the CW system built into Mastodon; simply using the text “CW” but leaving the content visible is not acceptable. On the web client, this is by clicking the “CW” button under the post textbox, and will vary on mobile clients but typically use “CW” or a warning triangle.

5.1.1. CW: NSFW content without a CW

Any NSFW content, including real or artistic (digital or otherwise), must be behind a content warning message.

NSFW content includes, but is not limited to: nudity, sex, kink, and the discussion of such.

CW Message Format

Ideally, your CW should start with “NSFW” (case-insensitive) and include a rough summary of the type of content.

5.1.2. CW: Political discussion and debate without a CW

Political discussions and debates, due to the polarizing and sensitive nature of both subjects, must be behind a content warning message.

Discussions of politics can be emotionally destabilizing and distressing to others given recent political events.

However, content promoting and supporting marginalized groups, or activism towards positive social change, such as BLM, trans rights, LGBTQ+ rights, are exempt from this rule. Additionally, the expression of identity and lived experience do not fall under the category of ‘political discussion’ for the purposes of this rule.

Per Rule 2, any content containing political rhetoric against a marginalized group is expressly prohibited and will not be tolerated.

CW Message Format

Ideally, your CW should start with “Pol” or “Politics” (case-insensitive) and include a rough summary of the topic.

For country-specific politics, we recommend adding a country-tag in your CW message. For example, “US pol” or “USPol” (case-insensitive) for US-related politics discussions.

5.1.3. CW: Religious promotion and debate without a CW

Promotion, endorsement, and debates on religion, due to the polarizing and sensitive nature, must be behind a content warning message. Self-expression of religious or spiritual beliefs are exempt from this rule.

However, per Rule 2, harassment and abuse towards any user based on their religious or spiritual preference (inc. Atheism) is expressly prohibited and will not be tolerated.

CW Message Format

Ideally, your CW should start with “Rel” or “Religion” (case-insensitive) and include a rough summary of the topic.

5.1.4. CW: Drugs without a CW

Posts and boosts discussing Schedule I or II substances or topics of substance abuse, must be behind a content warning message.

Discussion about the use of scheduled substances may still constitute a violation of Rule 1 (Illegal content or conduct) if it is found to be encouraging use (or misuse, in cases of substances with safe and accepted medical uses), or attempting to engage in a sale or transfer of prohibited or scheduled substances.

CW Message Format

Ideally, your CW should start with “Drugs” (case-insensitive) and include a rough summary of the topic.

5.1.5. CW: Graphic depictions of injuries with blood and gore

Posts and boosts about and media containing graphic depictions of injuries that include blood and gore must be behind a content warning and must be marked as sensitive media.

CW Message Format

Ideally, your CW should start with or contain “Graphic injury”, “injury, blood”, “injury, gore”, or any combination of such to clearly indicate the severity. We strongly recommend that little, if any, context is added to the CW message to avoid breaking Rule 5.2.

5.2. CW: Sensitive content in CW message

When creating a content warning message, please do not put any polarizing or graphic content into the message.

For example, don’t use “NSFW, <long graphic explanation of how hard and well you can do sexual intercourse>”, instead use something like “nsfw, m/m, con-noncon, bondage, long video” – Basically, explain the content behind the warning, without painting a detailed picture.

5.3. Content that we recommend a CW

For these categories, we would prefer that posts and boosts use a content warning, but are not required.

These are recommendations that provide a better experience to all users on our service and other federated instances by allowing them to opt-out of viewing such content.

While we won’t take action against accounts that don’t mark these types of content, you may end up blocked by other users or limited on other instances which may have stricter rules.

5.3.1. Spoilers

When a new movie, game, or other media comes out, everyone gets excited. However, for example, having the ending of a game spoiled before you’ve even got to enjoy it really sucks. So we strongly recommend that any potential spoilers are behind a CW to give everyone the same enjoyment.

Suggested CW Message Format

Your CW should start with, or contain, “Spoiler” (case-insensitive) and include a rough summary of the media it’s a spoiler about. For example: “Spoiler: OneShot game ending.”

5.3.2. Topics around mental health

Topics around mental health can be fatiguing to users also suffering from mental health issues, so it’s recommended and appreciated for such topics to be behind a CW, but is not required.

Suggested CW Message Format

Your CW should contain “MH”, “MH-”, “MH+” or other similar indication, and optionally an additional summary at your discretion.

5.4. CW Exception: Locked accounts and follower-only posts

If your account is marked as requiring follow requests (Settings → Profile → Appearance), it is acceptable to omit explicit content warnings and marking as sensitive media on your posts under these conditions:

• Your account is marked as “Require follow requests”; and
• All posts omitting a CW required under Rule 5.1 are marked as “Followers only”; and
• You have an appropriate warning in your profile description about the lack of CWs and a general guide on what kind of CW topics you post (e.g. “NSFW”, “porn”, etc.)

Disclaimer and Preamble

The Pawb Social administration team wants to create and foster a diverse, welcoming community, and a safe space where those within the LGBTQ+ community can be themselves.

By continuing to access Pawb Social’s services, you agree be bound by these policies and terms.

These terms and any dispute or claims arising out of or related to them and governed by the laws of the State of Colorado. Any legal action must be brought exclusively within the state or federal courts located in Colorado. You and Pawb Social consent to personal jurisdiction and venue in those courts and waive any objections based on forum and convenience.

Pawb.Social Code of Conduct and Policies

This Code of Conduct applies to all services run by Pawb Social LLC, including furry.engineer, pawb.fun, and pawb.social, any media or files uploaded by users to any of our services, as well as in any private communication conducted on or through any of our services.

Rules

By utilizing any of our services, you agree to abide by this Code of Conduct and breaking it may result in sanctions against your account.

1. Illegal content or conduct

Content or conduct that is illegal in the United States is strictly prohibited. Pawb.Social services are operated and maintained within the United States and all content must comply with the federal laws of the United States.

For the avoidance of doubt, this includes but is not limited to: Instructions on how to commit crimes, encouraging acts of violence or terrorism, child sexual abuse material (CSAM) or depictions thereof, and unauthorized access or exploitation of computer systems.

2. Racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and other discrimination is prohibited

We take a hard stance against any form of discrimination or abuse towards users in our community. Users who engage in such conduct are not welcome on our platform.

3. Don’t stalk or harass other users

Respect other users of our service and other federated instances. If someone doesn’t want anything to do with you, leave them alone. Attempts to bypass blocks, including creating alternate accounts for that purpose, is prohibited.

“Screenshot dunking”, or the act of taking screenshots of posts to repost and harass without directly replying, is strongly discouraged. If someone is annoying you, harassing you, or a genuine danger to other users, block and report them.

4. Misinformation and deceptive content is prohibited

Misinformation, scams, Ponzi schemes, and other deceptive tactics have become rampant on other platforms and we don’t want to see a resurgence of it in the Fediverse.

Examples of prohibited content include, but are not limited to, the following: COVID and health misinformation, pro-insurrection (Jan 6th) comments or endorsement, NFTs, “crypto” (blockchain & tokens, NOT cryptography), MLMs / pyramid schemes, flat earth claims.

5. CW: Content warning policies

Please see the Content Warning Policy post.

6. Respect the service

Do not perform any manual or automated penetration testing against our production services without prior written approval which can be obtained by contacting us at network@pawb.social.

Spam and advertising is not acceptable, but friendly automated bots are welcome. Where possible, try to restrict any recurring automated posts to Unlisted to avoid cluttering the Local and Federated timeline.

Use of automated tools on the service is permitted for personal use, where such tools do not impact the performance of the services.

Additionally, the use of automated tools by, or on behalf of, archival organizations (such as WaybackMachine) are permitted when limited in scope. For example, archiving a user’s profile or a specific toot. For larger scopes, please contact us at network@pawb.social for approval and assistance.

7. Use the report system

If a user or instance is breaking the rules, we recommend just reporting the content and not engaging. We don’t want users to end up getting caught in the crossfire for attempting to correct a user in good faith, as this makes our jobs significantly harder.

Additionally, the team is here to help – If you’re unsure on a particular post, user profile, instance, etc. and don’t think we’ve seen or dealt with it yet, please send in a report. No user will ever be penalized for genuine use of the report system.

8. AP: Account policies

8.1. Posting language

While English is the primary language of the instance, we have no restrictions on the languages that can be used. However, we do require that all posts are properly marked with the language used, which can be done at the account level through the account preferences page, or per-post by clicking the language button next to “CW” (Content Warning).

Setting the correct language allows users to utilize the built-in LibreTranslate system to translate posts to their preferred language, and assists the moderation team with addressing concerns raised by other users.

8.2. Misleading or deceptive impersonation

You may not impersonate an individual, group, or organization with the intent to deceive, confuse, and exploit other users.

However, it is not a violation of this rule to impersonate for the purposes of parody, commentary, or fan accounts, so long as such accounts remain respectful and abide by the Code of Conduct. Parody accounts should tag themselves clearly in their profile description.

8.3. Bot accounts

Bot accounts must be marked as a bot using the “This is a bot account” option under Profile → Appearance.

Bots must post using either “Unlisted”, “Followers only”, or “Mentioned people only”, so we can keep the local and federated timelines clear and focused on users.

Bots must be made to heed the API rate-limits and should have a minimal impact on the instance performance.

All bots are expected to refuse to communicate, scrape, or otherwise access profiles with the “#NoBot” (case-insensitive) tag in their profile.

Restrictions on posts and interactions with users do not apply to official, administrative use bots.

8.4. Brand and Government-affiliated accounts

No brand or government-affiliated account may be registered on Pawb.Social services without prior written and publicly recorded approval, except furry fandom-operated brands and events covered by the exception below. This approval may be revoked by Pawb.Social at any time for any reason.

Brand and Government-affiliated accounts and instances must post using either “Unlisted”, “Followers only”, or “Mentioned people only”, so we can keep the local and federated timelines clear and focused on users. Remote users and dedicated instances violating this rule will be limited and their content only available to followers and through boosts.

However, furry fandom-operated brands and events are exempt from this rule as we want to encourage and support business within the fandom. This rule may be revised at a later date dependent on the future volume impact on the public timelines.

8.5. Bypassing suspension

If you have been suspended from any Pawb.Social instance, you may not create another account on any of our services.

8.6. Inappropriate avatar or header image

All avatars and header images must not contain any content that is prohibited by any other rule in the Code of Conduct, especially content that requires a Content Warning.

Effective

These terms and Code of Conduct shall be effective as of January 1st, 2026.

After quite a while, @crashdoom has finally found something to do with pawb.social – Introducing, Lemmy!

Lemmy is a selfhosted, federated social link aggregation and discussion forum, similar to Reddit, but using ActivityPub just like Mastodon.

This instance will serve as Pawb.Social’s foot-in-the-door and an expansion of our services beyond Mastodon, but we won’t be restricting usage to just users from furry.engineer and pawb.fun – Anyone is free to join!

Any user can create their own community within the instance, share it with other instances, and create a conversation around their favorite topics.

Though, if you have a Mastodon account already, you don’t need an account to post here! Just take the community name to the right (e.g. pawbsocial_announcements, remove the !) and mention it in a post:

@pawbsocial_announcements@pawb.social Hey, I can post to Lemmy from Mastodon!

You can also follow the community group account to get new posts straight on your existing Mastodon feed!

We’ll be utilizing two communities for official purposes: Pawb.Social Announcements for news and info about Pawb.Social services and Pawb.Social Feedback to receive feedback, issues, and comments on policy from our users.

We hope you’ll enjoy and help us create yet another amazing community together!

-Crash

Pawb.Social Network Owner

Mobile Apps

If you’d like to browse on your phone, take a look at the list of apps on the Join Lemmy website! There’s both a client for iOS and Android, so no one should be left out!

Popular Communities

• Furry Technologists (!tech@pawb.social or tech@pawb.social on Mastodon)

• Furry Musicians (!musicians@pawb.social or musicians@pawb.social on Mastodon)

• Virtual Reality (!virtualreality@pawb.social or virtualreality@pawb.social on Mastodon)

• Furry (!furry@pawb.social or furry@pawb.social on Mastodon)

• Game Development (!gamedev@pawb.social or gamedev@pawb.social on Mastodon)

• Transformation [NSFW] (!transformation@pawb.social or transformation@pawb.social on Mastodon)

Remote Communities

• Furry (!furry@yiffit.net or furry@yiffit.net on Mastodon)

• Yiff [NSFW] (!yiff@yiffit.net or yiff@yiffit.net on Mastodon)

• gfur / Gay Fur [NSFW] (!gfur@yiffit.net or gfur@yiffit.net on Mastodon)

Formerly Reddit Communities

You can find official and unofficial Reddit communities that moved to the Fediverse with the awesome tool over at https://sub.rehab/!