Fandom lets people create communities on many topics, even ones with mature themes like violence, sexuality, and profanity, as explained in our Community Creation Policy. While it's okay to use quotes, lyrics, or other materials directly from the source, sometimes certain words or phrases, especially hate speech, aren't allowed on Fandom according to our Terms of Use.
Fandom aims to be a welcoming place for everyone, no matter their background, age, or life experience. We need to balance documenting content accurately with being mindful of our readers. This policy sets clear limits on what can be published, even if the terms are relevant to the topic.
Terms Not Permitted[]
Fandom explicitly does not permit the following terminology to be published on our platform:
- The n-word - As a racist term directed to a person of African descent.
- We also do not permit variants of this word where the spelling is different but the meaning is equivalent.
- The c-word - As a sexist term directed towards women
- The f-word - As a homophobic term directed towards members of the LGBTQIA+ community.
- This is also not permitted in its shorter, three-letter variant
- The r-word - As an ableist term typically directed towards individuals who have a mental disability
- This also includes the words in its “-ed” form.
Simply because a word doesn’t explicitly appear on this list does not mean we may not also use this policy to request material be changed on your community. We would refer editors to our Terms of Use, specifically the User Conduct section for more information about what material may qualify as objectionable.
What is also not generally allowed:
- Graphic, detailed descriptions of sexual acts
- Graphic, detailed description of violence
Community Guidelines for Quotes[]
If your community has articles that contain the terms in the above section, we request you change the articles immediately. We do permit heavily censored versions of the words - where only the first letter is apparent - so we don't need to ask you to change source material. You may also note that the quote is censored for clarity.
Graphic, detailed descriptions of sex or violence should be summarized into short paragraph form with profanity in particular left out.
As Fandom Staff maintains this policy across our platform, we reserve the right to change the articles ourselves directly, and will not permit revisions of the page to the previous versions. “Edit wars” over these terms may lead to further action.
If these words are appearing in lyrics, transcripts, or other similar material, you should also ensure that you have copyright licensing that allows these to be published in the first place. Most lyrics in particular are protected under various Intellectual Property (IP) laws and are not compatible with publishing on our platform.
Reclamation[]
For groups that have had certain hate words used against them, there is often a movement for those groups to use those words freely in a more positive manner. This is called “reclamation”.
If you believe your community should have some exemption to these rules, please contact us and ask for a Fandom Community Safety team member to review your community’s situation. In cases where we determine reclamation is contextually appropriate, we will allow these terms to be used appropriately, in moderation, on the wiki in question.