Moderation
This page serves to be transparent in regard to what things are exactly moderated and the statistics for each moderation category.
Our World of Text can be split into three major components: the canvas, the chat, and the Discord server. All three components aren't moderated equally and may have different philosophies regarding moderation.
We define moderation as the manual intervention by an administrator(FP for the canvas and Fern for the Discord). This includes:
- Muting spammers in the chat
- Forbidding grooming in chat
- Removing underage users from the chat (protection purposes)
- Rate limiting script abusers on the canvas
- Roll-backing certain regions on the front page
- Banning and/or warning people on the Discord server
- Color banning users that image-paste porn/gore/scat on the front page
- Thwarting DoS attacks against the server
- Taking down CSAM/illegal content
- Enforcing rules on the /main world (not the front page)
We try to stay hands-off as much as possible while trying to balance site usability and moderating special cases. You're free to talk about just about anything. Unlike certain communities, you are free to advertise other sites and speak out against the administration. Your right to be critical of OWOT is protected.
Moderation Tools
Time Machine
In 2022, FP developed the time machine to reverse the damage done by an 2020 spam wave which covered hundreds of coordinates on the Mainpage. This feature allows select users to see what sections of the site looked like at any given point in the past and, if desirable, revert it to that stage.
Time machine perms were initially reserved to admins. In August of 2025 lime.owot and Echoden also received access to the tool, but only in /main so that they could moderate the world while FP is offline.
The time machine used to be accessible via 2s4.me/private/owot_timemachine/.
Calls for increased moderation
For years, the community has complained that almost of OWOT's admins are veteran users who barely moderate in the current day, leaving the brunt of the burden to FP. This has caused spam to run rampant in times of the day where FP is inaccessible, which many users say is causing the downfall of the canvas.
In 2024, Fern became a moderator on the OWOT Discord following a significant campaign. She has since managed to remove most toxic users from the Discord, making it a much tamer place compared to the canvas and chat. She does not moderate canvas or chat, however, due to time constraints from work.
As of 2025 there are still sporadic pushes by the community to install new moderators on the canvas, with users like lime.owot, d9eoead, and Echoden being recurring candidates.
List of moderators
- FP(Primary moderator on canvas and chat. Inaccessible for most of the day due to work.)
- InfraRaven(Mostly inactive in the modern day)
- Mr.Guy(Formerly an active mod in chat, but has since taken a step back due to backlash towards his moderation)
- Poopman(tbd)
- Sammich(Made moderator in 2017/2018 but was barely active on the site until 2025, when he was formally demoted for inciting drama on the Discord)
Users with limited moderation powers
Statistics
- As of 10/6/2024, there have been 342 recorded IP addresses affiliated with a spammer known as 'starianna'
- As of 9/6/2024, there are at least 51 recorded IP addresses belonging to 'PinkiePie' with some ban reasons including pasting pornography and abusing scripts; dozens more addresses have not been recorded
- As of 9/6/2024, there are at least 621 recorded proxy and (D)DoS attack IP addresses
- As of 9/6/2024, there have been an estimated 1,500 TOR IP addresses banned due to proxy attacks
- As of 9/6/2024, 1 world has been taken down due to hosting illegal content