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<h1>Rules of the Internet</h1>
<div class="keepws">
(<span class="bold">notes</span>
(date 2026-04-23)
(category <a href="../../notes.html">culture</a>)
(status <span class="status-rough">rough</span>)
(confidence certain)
(importance 6)
(tags internet-culture rules 4chan))
</div>
<p class="preview">The complete list of the Rules of the Internet, with explanations for each rule. An artifact of early-internet culture preserved for reference.</p>
<div class="prose">
<p>The Rules of the Internet are an informal set of guidelines and observations that emerged from early-2000s imageboard culture, primarily 4chan's /b/ board. They are part satire, part genuine observation about how people behave online. Not all numbers are accounted for — some rules were never agreed upon, others were lost or deliberately omitted.</p>
<table>
<tr><td>#</td><td>Rule</td><td>Explanation</td></tr>
<tr><td>0</td><td>Don't fuck with cats.</td><td>Riffing on humans is okay because a human knows what they're getting into when they log on. Abusing animals for clout, on the other hand, will get you in a lot of trouble.</td></tr>
<tr><td>1</td><td>You don't talk about /b/.</td><td>There are some places you have to be part of to really appreciate. /b/ is one of them.</td></tr>
<tr><td>2</td><td>You DON'T talk about /b/.</td><td>A tongue-in-cheek echo of Fight Club. The first two rules forbid any mention of /b/ outside /b/, reinforcing the board's mystique.</td></tr>
<tr><td>3</td><td>We are Anonymous.</td><td>On the internet everyone is anonymous. It's part of being on the internet.</td></tr>
<tr><td>4</td><td>We are legion.</td><td>Many stones make a mountain. If we each do our part, we can make a larger impact than you can imagine.</td></tr>
<tr><td>5</td><td>We do not forgive, we do not forget.</td><td>The internet is forever. Nothing is ever really deleted, so don't be stupid unless you want to be remembered as stupid.</td></tr>
<tr><td>6</td><td>Anonymous can be a horrible, senseless, uncaring monster.</td><td>Remember G.I.F.T. and the internet troll: someone who deliberately sabotages a forum just to watch its occupants go ballistic.</td></tr>
<tr><td>7</td><td>Anonymous is still able to deliver.</td><td>If we all pitch in we can do amazing things together. Sometimes all it takes is one person doing something right.</td></tr>
<tr><td>8</td><td>There are no real rules about posting.</td><td>Site rules vary and nobody can force you to post or not post anything.</td></tr>
<tr><td>9</td><td>There are no real rules about moderation either — enjoy your ban.</td><td>Caveat to rule 8. The ban hammer is always stronger than you.</td></tr>
<tr><td>10</td><td>/b/ is not your personal army.</td><td>People tend to go on 4chan expecting others to solve their problems. The posters have better things to do.</td></tr>
<tr><td>11</td><td>No matter how much you love debating, keep in mind that no one on the internet debates. Instead they mock your intelligence as well as your parents.</td><td>On anonymous boards, logical debate is pointless.</td></tr>
<tr><td>12</td><td>Anything you say can and will be used against you.</td><td>The internet is forever. All it takes is one person with an incriminating copy.</td></tr>
<tr><td>13</td><td>Anything you say can and will be turned into something else.</td><td>Remember the G.I.F.T. compounded with the other rules.</td></tr>
<tr><td>14</td><td>Do not argue with trolls — it means they win.</td><td>Trolls are not interested in genuine debate. The only way to defeat them is to deny them attention.</td></tr>
<tr><td>15</td><td>The harder you try, the harder you will fail.</td><td>Which is more amazing: failing at making a LEGO elephant or failing at making an elephant-shaped house?</td></tr>
<tr><td>16</td><td>If you fail in epic proportions, it may just become a winning failure.</td><td>A blunder so spectacular can be re-memed into a win.</td></tr>
<tr><td>17</td><td>Every win fails eventually.</td><td>Nothing lasts forever. Enjoy your successes but don't dwell on them.</td></tr>
<tr><td>18</td><td>Everything that can be labelled can be hated.</td><td>No matter what you love there's bound to be someone who doesn't. Labels create judgment.</td></tr>
<tr><td>19</td><td>The more you hate it, the stronger it gets.</td><td>Hate is pointless.</td></tr>
<tr><td>20</td><td>Nothing is to be taken seriously.</td><td>If you take anything too seriously you've already lost.</td></tr>
<tr><td>21</td><td>Original content is original only for a few seconds before it's no longer original.</td><td>People save and repost things they like.</td></tr>
<tr><td>22</td><td>Copypasta is made to ruin every last bit of originality.</td><td>Every idea is a mutation of another idea.</td></tr>
<tr><td>23</td><td>Copypasta is made to ruin every last bit of originality.</td><td>Repeated for emphasis, which is itself the point.</td></tr>
<tr><td>24</td><td>Every post is always a repost of a repost.</td><td>Nothing is truly original.</td></tr>
<tr><td>25</td><td>Relation to the original topic decreases with every single post.</td><td>Discussions drift from the original subject with every reply.</td></tr>
<tr><td>26</td><td>Any topic can be easily turned into something totally unrelated.</td><td>Per rules 13 and 25.</td></tr>
<tr><td>27</td><td>Always question a person's sexual preferences without any real reason.</td><td>Trolling tactic. Not to seek truth.</td></tr>
<tr><td>28</td><td>Always question a person's gender — just in case it's really a man.</td><td>Anonymity means anyone could be anyone.</td></tr>
<tr><td>29</td><td>On the internet men are men, women are also men, and kids are undercover FBI agents.</td><td>Gender is a moot point in anonymous settings.</td></tr>
<tr><td>30</td><td>Girls do not exist on the internet.</td><td>Claiming to be a girl in an anonymous context is usually a bid for attention.</td></tr>
<tr><td>31</td><td>Tits or GTFO — the choice is yours.</td><td>Proof is demanded; refusal is dismissal.</td></tr>
<tr><td>32</td><td>You must have pictures to prove your statements.</td><td>Pics or it didn't happen.</td></tr>
<tr><td>33</td><td>Lurk more — it's never enough.</td><td>When in doubt, read. Your answer is already somewhere.</td></tr>
<tr><td>34</td><td>If it exists, there is porn of it. No exceptions.</td><td>The most famous rule.</td></tr>
<tr><td>35</td><td>If there is no porn of it, porn will be made of it.</td><td>Corollary to 34.</td></tr>
<tr><td>36</td><td>No matter how fucked up it is, there is always worse than what you just saw.</td><td>Escalation is endless.</td></tr>
<tr><td>37</td><td>You cannot divide by zero (just because the calculator says so).</td><td>Nothing will never become something.</td></tr>
<tr><td>38</td><td>No real limits of any kind apply here — not even the sky.</td><td>The internet is all the world, both good and bad, in one place.</td></tr>
<tr><td>39</td><td>CAPS LOCK IS CRUISE CONTROL FOR COOL.</td><td>A classic meme.</td></tr>
<tr><td>40</td><td>EVEN WITH CRUISE CONTROL YOU STILL HAVE TO STEER.</td><td>Use your internet wit sparingly and with common sense.</td></tr>
<tr><td>41</td><td>Desu isn't funny. Seriously guys. It's worse than Chuck Norris jokes.</td><td>Posting something over and over doesn't make a meme. These are "forced memes."</td></tr>
<tr><td>42</td><td>Nothing Is Sacred.</td><td>No matter what you hold dear, prepare for others who don't care about it. Learn to let go.</td></tr>
<tr><td>43</td><td>The more beautiful and pure a thing is — the more satisfying it is to corrupt it.</td><td>Trolling thrives on defilement.</td></tr>
<tr><td>44</td><td>If it exists, there is a version of it for your fandom... and it has a wiki.</td><td>Fandoms reinterpret everything.</td></tr>
<tr><td>45</td><td>When one sees a lion, one must get in the car.</td><td>JESUS CHRIST IT'S A LION GET IN THE CAR.</td></tr>
<tr><td>46</td><td>The internet is SERIOUS FUCKING BUSINESS.</td><td>Remember the MST3K Mantra.</td></tr>
<tr><td>47</td><td>The pool is always closed.</td><td>Slang for when jerks ruin something good. References the Habbo Hotel raids.</td></tr>
<tr><td>48</td><td>The only good hentai is Yuri, that's how the internet works. Only exception may be Vanilla.</td><td>Facetious hentai review.</td></tr>
<tr><td>49</td><td>No matter what it is, it is somebody's fetish.</td><td>No exceptions.</td></tr>
<tr><td>50</td><td>A Crossover, no matter how improbable, will eventually happen in fan art or fan fiction.</td><td>Audiences eventually mash everything up.</td></tr>
<tr><td>61</td><td>Chuck Norris is the exception, no exceptions.</td><td>The meme legend is the exception to every exception.</td></tr>
<tr><td>62</td><td>It has been cracked and pirated. You can find anything if you look long enough.</td><td>Persistence guarantees a free copy surfaces.</td></tr>
<tr><td>63</td><td>For every given male character, there is a female version of that character (and vice-versa). And there is always porn of that character.</td><td>An extension of Rule 34 for gender-swapped versions.</td></tr>
<tr><td>64</td><td>If it exists, it has "LOOOOORRRREE!"</td><td>People on the internet love to interpret things as narratives and stories.</td></tr>
<tr><td>65</td><td>If it doesn't, there will be.</td><td>Corollary to Rule 64.</td></tr>
<tr><td>66</td><td>The longer the LORE around something is, the weirder it gets.</td><td>What starts as simple fan theories evolves into incomprehensibly complex mythologies.</td></tr>
<tr><td>67</td><td>If it has lore, it also has lore from alternate timelines.</td><td>Popular fictional universes spawn infinite alternate timeline interpretations.</td></tr>
<tr><td>67/2</td><td>90% of fanfiction is the stuff of nightmares.</td><td>While 10% might be genuinely good, the vast majority is unintentionally disturbing.</td></tr>
<tr><td>68</td><td>Everything has a fandom, everything.</td><td>No matter how obscure or mundane.</td></tr>
<tr><td>69</td><td>Nice!</td><td>The automatic response to seeing the number 69 anywhere on the internet.</td></tr>
<tr><td>70</td><td>Do not talk about the 100M GET failure.</td><td>References a significant failure in 4chan's GET culture.</td></tr>
<tr><td>72</td><td>If a song exists, there's a Megalovania version of it.</td><td>The Undertale boss theme has been remixed into everything.</td></tr>
<tr><td>77</td><td>The Internet makes you stupid.</td><td>Prolonged internet use can lead to shortened attention spans and reduced critical thinking.</td></tr>
<tr><td>78</td><td>If something is popular, there's brainrot of it.</td><td>Popular content inevitably spawns low-quality derivative content.</td></tr>
<tr><td>79</td><td>If something is popular, and there's no brainrot of it, it's coming soon.</td><td>Corollary to Rule 78.</td></tr>
<tr><td>80</td><td>Gore is always present on the internet.</td><td>No matter how family-friendly a platform claims to be.</td></tr>
<tr><td>86</td><td>If something has two colors, it can play "Bad Apple!"</td><td>If something can show two different states, someone has made it play Bad Apple.</td></tr>
</table>
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