The Great Color Ban of 2025/2026
(OP) fp: owot lost its Technicolor™ license
[...]
(OP) fp: colors are off because it's a really good pressure to get me to deploy the hide-images feature within a day or two rather than MONTHS
On December 19th, 2025, FP disabled color on the front page after a video script was used to broadcast NSFW footage at Spawn[1]. This decision was part of a long running effort to combat image pasters on OWOT, with FP choosing to maintain the ban until he could implement an "image safety feature".
The color ban sparked backlash from large portions of the userbase, while others appreciated it for reducing the quantity of (pornographic) image paste spam. Some users used emojis and colored links to substitute for regular text colors, while others simply opted to make monochrome art and image pastes. The ban did not affect colored text written before December 19th, and for the first few weeks FP would restore major landmarks in full color.
FP had twice planned to end the color ban: first on New Year and then at the end of January 2026, though he delayed it both times due to unforeseen circumstances. On February 2nd, FP started to gradually lift the ban by re-enabling one or more colors every couple of days. Around that time a thread was created in the OWOT Discord where users could vote for which colors they wanted to be brought back next.
The 2025/2026 color ban (and the phased restoration of colors that marked its conclusion) brought with it several permanent changes, most notably the option for users to set limited color palettes for their worlds. The ban also popularized a form of identification scripts which remained widespread even after the return of colors.
Previous color bans
Color bans have occurred several times before as a countermeasure against NSFW content, most of these were brief however and only lasted for a few hours.
FP is also known to combat spammers by disabling color for them alone.
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2022 messages from the YWOT Discord. -
On March 7th, 2024, color was very briefly disabled by Poopman in response to porn being pasted at Spawn. -
![Color ban on June 6th, 2024 in response to porn spam from PinkiePie[2].](/images/thumb/4/40/Color_ban_june_6_2024.png/391px-Color_ban_june_6_2024.png)
![Color ban on June 6th, 2024 in response to porn spam from PinkiePie[2].](/wiki/File:Color_ban_june_6_2024.png)
Lead-up to the color ban
i've said this several times before but octant pastes are genuinely beautiful with colors disabled
for an event, fp should disable all colors at spawn for a week or so
— Rscr on December 14th, 2025
The week leading up to the 2025/2026 ban was marked by several NSFW pastes from a single user. After the ban, Sylveon came up with a successful way to brick that specific image paster.
atp with how much porn that gets pasted on the front page, fp can't just say he can't do anything about it. it's got to count as willingly exposing minors to porn, especially how he gives them wiper perms to get them to do his job for him.
I guarantee he knows all this by now, and by not shutting down the canvas entirely or removing colors it definitely falls under being intentional
— Catha'Vi on December 18th, 2025
The color ban started on December 19th at 2:13 P.M. EST, after FP was alerted of a NSFW video that was broadcasted to Spawn the night before.
not cp, it's actually a youtube video on cyclops sydrome (from a medical channel)
but I still disabled colors globally out of precaution until the image safety feature is implemented and rolled out
— FP on December 19th, 2025
User reactions
A timeline of interesting user reactions to the color ban.
OWOT IS GOING YWOT!!
unfortunately that means that confessing something in black text is no longer fun
because everyone's in black text
— Katiserie on December 19th, 2025
Chat on December 19th, 2025
💗GoldShip🤍: owot without colors is just glorified ywot
💗GoldShip🤍: like
💗GoldShip🤍:literally the same shit but with worse people
💗GoldShip🤍: 0/10 won't try again
🖥️Fun.com💚: meh
🖥️Fun.com💚: OWOT has much more new features than colours
💗GoldShip🤍: man god FORBID someone uses the site for what it was intended for
💗GoldShip🤍:(programming)
💗GoldShip🤍:like ngga you made this shit you should know what it'd cause
[...]
ℓ≻ marie: when do we get the colors and image pasters back front page
💗GoldShip🤍: when fp stops being a pussy
ℓ≻ marie: i wanna paste uma yuri again front page
rscr: i want the color ban to go on for a while
💗GoldShip🤍: YES
📱 (Ꙥ) JanTechPL: i
rscr: it's interesting to see how people work around a lack of colors
💗GoldShip🤍: lil ngga thinks he's white diamond removing them colours
📱 (Ꙥ) JanTechPL: wanna know
💗GoldShip🤍: and individuality
[8185]: imagine an owop color ban
💗GoldShip🤍: and being hot
ℓ≻ marie: The color ban is dumb asf💔
rscr: like using emojis and links for color
💗GoldShip🤍: oh i have one
💗GoldShip🤍: grayscale hentai
📱 (Ꙥ) JanTechPL: when the sock of publicity will have a public space
[8185]: and then they make all emojis grayscale and max contrast
i remember someone saying a few days back that sites like owot looks prettier with no colour and i can see why,
this looks awesome
— Blancrenarde on December 20th, 2025, commenting on an extravagant script display that used emojis instead of colored text
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"Sorrow for a bygone era" by Dupy. The stickman's message was vandalized. (December 20th, 2025) -
Later revision with unvandalized 2-row text
man fuck sylveon and fp for causing this problem, no more colors, no more image pasters, no more SLC, just boring ass stuff with pasting image of dots
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Schjessu's protest alt (December 20th, 2025) -
Spam that replaces text with #BRINGCOLORSBACKFP -
December 21st, 2025
OWOT Discord on December 20th, 2025
Rscr: this might legitimately be the most fun i've had on this site
Rscr: it feels like every time i check back on the canvas something interesting has happened
Rscr: it's so cool to see the entire owot community go through this event together
d9eoead: we’re all going insane in a spectacular show of tomfoolery
d9eoead: like a star’s dying breath being a dazzling explosion, the chaos of owot ruptures out into a show of multicolored letters and numbers
Rscr: everybody(im the only one feeling this) learning to see the site from a different perspective
[...]
thorium1256: our world of images is gone, fp be actively working
blancrenarde: finally, a world of text, and its our world of text
[...]
Rscr: art and conversations are being griefed at a much slower rate(bengo's shennanigans aside), and are allowed to actually occupy the canvas every once in a while instead of always starving for attention between the shadows of image pastes
Rscr: spawn feels so much more lively now, whereas before it was always lifeless
YEET Te2: Seemed like the opposite for me
the more yall beg for colors
the longer hell extend the ban
hopefully it eventually becomes permanent
no good reason to wipe
i get that you have strong beliefs about
the colour ban, but i believe there's better
ways to adhere to these beliefs other than
wiping innocous content. i hope that you will
take what i said into consideration and see
how you could change your character using this info
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December 22nd, 2025 -
December 22nd, 2025 -
December 22nd, 2025
OWOT Discord on December 22nd, 2025
Katiserie: fair enough tho, i just think text colors are a form of self-expression
thorium1256: that is true but what they're being used for is bad
Katiserie: true, but you do realise braille porn could be pasted
Katiserie: the best solution is to ratelimit the mainpage
thorium1256: Yes
thorium1256: But it's better than full-color octant porn at least
actually i change my mind abt the whole color thing now,, its more fun without spam 24/7 ,_, — Schjessu on December 22nd, 2025
rather than restoring all colors at once, i think fp should bring back colors in batches
like how in r/place 2023 you'd have to play with a limited color palette for the first few days
maybe for christmas only red and green will be allowed
— Rscr on December 24th, 2025
[...]
sounds like a neat idea, but it would require some extra coding
— FP on December 26th, 2025
I SWEAR IF WE'RE ENTERING 2026 WITHOUT COLOURS
im actually gonna crash out
fp already implemented the brick
why are colours still disabled
— lime on December 31st, 2025
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December 30th, 2025 -
December 30th, 2025
yeah the color ban has definitely gone on for too long
and people still aren't talking on the canvas or making art
i thought it was getting better in the first week but after a while it's just the same old thing
— Rscr on January 23rd, 2026
Chat on January 31st, 2026
[9613]: Add back colors
[9613]: But do not add bgcolors
Schjessu: add only bgcolors
Holy-Terrorist: *=* Or visit /main
[GP]Acc-1øƽշ🐱💻(꧍♂️🇸🇰: >[9613]: Add back colors [9613]: But do not add bgcolors
[GP]Acc-1øƽշ🐱💻(꧍♂️🇸🇰: hell yeah
[GP]Acc-1øƽշ🐱💻(꧍♂️🇸🇰: troll those imagepasters
Color replacements
Using emojis
Emoji pasters have always existed in OWOT, but are rarely seen due to their inability to accurately represent images.
At least one user figured out a way to spam porn using this method, but due to the limitations of emoji pasters it was difficult to make out the contents of these images.
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December 19th, 2025 -
December 19th, 2025
- By Catha'Vi
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December 21st, 2025 -
December 21st, 2025
Using links
During the ban, two text colors were still available using links: blue (url links) and green (coordinate links). gimmickCellar made a pull request on January 31st, 2026 that would have turned JavaScript links red so that they could be used for dithering. This happened just two days before the color ban ended and the PR was rescinded after red text returned to the canvas.
People on YWOT have been using links to make color all the way back in 2010. However the ability to create links is disabled on the Mainpage, so link art can only be found in select subworlds.
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"Demo wave" by Dupy, a demo for link pasting (December 20th, 2025) -
December 25th, 2025 -
A link based image paster (December 29th, 2025) -
January 21st, 2026 -
![YWOT link art from 2010[3]](/images/thumb/8/84/Ywot_link_art.png/374px-Ywot_link_art.png)
YWOT link art from 2010[3]
![YWOT link art from 2010[3]](/wiki/File:Ywot_link_art.png)
- Attempts to create new colors through dithering
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JTPL dithering with URL links (December 21st, 2025) -
Dithering attempt by e_g., where red emojis are used for the third color (December 22nd, 2025) -
By Catzcute4 (December 24th, 2025) -
December 25th, 2025 -
![Blender Edition (January 19th, 2026)[4]](/images/thumb/9/92/Kesherian_skies_blender_edition.png/431px-Kesherian_skies_blender_edition.png)
Blender Edition (January 19th, 2026)[4]
![Blender Edition (January 19th, 2026)[4]](/wiki/File:Kesherian_skies_blender_edition.png)
- By Banksy
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2025-12-20 -
2025-12-20 -
December 20th, 2025 -
December 20th, 2025 -
Slime effect by Rscr (2025-12-20) -
2025-12-21 -
2025-12-22 -
2025-12-22 -
December 22nd, 2025 -
December 22nd, 2025 -
Feburary 2nd, 2026
- Prophetbot using link colors
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December 29th, 2025 -
January 1st, 2026
Actual colors?
On January 22nd, 2026, someone managed to change their cell color at Spawn despite the ongoing color ban. It is unknown whether they were an admin or if they used some kind of exploit.
Text density
Can't produce actual color, but can be effective for shading.
See a tutorial below.
To Shade: III;;;;;:::::.'.'.'`.`.`.``` IIIIII;;;;;;:::::.'.'.'`.`.`.```` HHHHIIII;;;;;::::::.'.'.'.`.`.`.```` IIIIII;;;;;;:::::.'.'.'`.`.`.````` III;;;;;:::::.'.'.'`.`.`.``` Darkest: W V H 8 @ # Second Darkest: I 6 9 Third Darkest: ;;;;; Second Lightest: :::::: .'.'. Lightest: .`.`.`. ````` ..... Use the bold text decoration (from ctrl/alt+q) to make any character darker. *You can also space out characters to make them lighter. *Any character can be used for shading, not just the ones listed above.
Workarounds for identification
Since color is usually the primary means for users to identify themselves on the canvas, the color ban posed yet another issue from which multiple solutions emerged.
Dupy created a script called OWOT Candy Cane that alternated his text colour between blue and green every two characters, giving him a unique look in a canvas where only three text colors are available. Initially, it also alternated text decorations and would alternate decorations and colour every one character, but these features were later removed due to readability issues.
Schjessu, on the other hand, opted for the simpler option of writing her messages with the bold and italic text decorations.
The ban also gave lime.owot inspiration to tag their messages using note links, showing their signature and the timestamp at which the character was written. This type of identification script was adopted by many users during the color ban and persisted even after the restoration of color. Later iterations would include randomly generated hashes for further security.
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Katiserie using note links to tag her messages (December 20th, 2025) -
A user named nmm commenting on Katiserie's script (December 21st, 2025) -
OWOT Candy Cane v2.1.0 by Dupy -
Banksy's version (December 22nd, 2025) -
By 67x8 (December 24th, 2025) -
Cont. -
Cont. -
Cont. -
December 25th, 2025 -
December 25th, 2025 -
Hash (January 2nd, 2026)
Spam war
A series of large-scale spam wars occurred during the first two days of the color ban, during which emojis were used to replace text colors.
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"Pasta Railgun" by bengobeklitava -
Black hole spam by UntitledOWOT -
A raywiper was used to combat the spam -
Spam-cleaning tank by Banksy -
Shape spam -
Cont. -
A sweeping wiper -
...
End of the color ban
False end
The ban was briefly lifted on January 1st, 2026 at 05:30 UTC. However it was reinstated within mere minutes, likely because someone created an NSFW image paste at the first possible opportunity.
Chat on January 1st, 2026
(OP) fp: I re-enabled colors to keep up with my promise of enabling them after new year's
(OP) fp: however my initial plan was a massive failure so I'll stay up all night to add that feature
[7677]: how about you go have fun on new years instead of pushing out updates fp
[7677]: you lifeless nerd
[...]
jan Lime: are we seriously already getting suggestive images pasted on spawn
chat: we JUST got colors back
chat: dont fuck it up
(OP) fp: pasting explicit images will be a ban
(OP) fp: if caught...
(OP) fp: I'm just going to shut up and sleep
[...]
e_g.: wow thats crazy work from fp how many minutes did we have colors enabled for
[#MuteRPP] bonzicuck: 5?
gimmickCellar: about 6 or 7
gimmickCellar: laugh
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FP announcing the end of the color ban on January 1st, 2026 (he would return it soon after) -
Users celebrating the (brief) return of color -
Images remained after the ban restoration, zoomed out. -
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Lead-up to the end
DM between Catha'vi and FP on January 24th, 2026
FP: after I restore colors, I'm going to address all the botted text on spawn
Catha'vi: When will that be
FP: before the end of january
After the New Year delay, FP had planned to lift the color ban at the end of January 2026. At the last second, however, he decided to keep the ban going for one more day because a spammer was using hundreds of proxies to spam image pastes at Spawn.
Day 1: Red
After around six weeks of having no colors on the front page, I'm now reintroducing colors but at a slower pace before opening the 16 million color floodgates.
A list of available colors will be displayed when you click on Change color.
For today, I'm going to start with the color red.
— FP at 06:59 UTC on February 2nd, 2026
FP commenced a phased restoration of colors on February 2nd, 2026, starting with red (#FF0000) on the first day.
The ability to apply limited color palettes to worlds was a new feature developed specifically for the color ban, and on that same day this power was extended to all world owners.
The reintroduction of red onto the canvas allowed for the creation of "trichroma pasters" (image pasters that mimicked other colors by combining green, blue and red) which became widespread over the next few days. Among others, Banksy, Mr. Black and Grr.Z were some of the first to deploy this type of script at Spawn.
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Some of the first colored messages on February 2nd, 2026. The limited color release was initially broken, briefly allowing users to access the full range of colors. -
New Color Palette menu. One of the first worlds that used this feature was /twpalette by KKosty4ka, which mimics TextWall's limited selection of colors. -
Red text incorporated into Banksy's link paster. -
Someone using background colors at Spawn, a feature that had yet to be restored. -
Trichromatic dithering. -
-
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Glasses Guy gets different colored glasses for each color that gets re-enabled.
Days 2 - 3: Green
coord links are now out a job — FP at 01:46 UTC on February 3rd, 2026
The color green (#008000) was enabled at around 01:40 UTC on February 3rd, 2026.
This was the same shade of green as that of coordinate links, which disappointed several users who wanted a lighter green for better dithering.
No new color was added on February 4th.
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Trichromatic dithering with green text instead of coord links (February 3rd, 2026) -
State of Spawn on that day (February 3rd, 2026) -
"Linkwich Greentime," an identification script by JanTechPL (February 3rd, 2026) -
"RELEASE THE 16M COLOR FILES" (February 3rd, 2026) -
Town by lime, with a clock script that UQ is begging for (February 3rd, 2026) -
Kesherian Skies, now with red text (February 3rd, 2026) -
![February 4th, 2026[4]](/images/thumb/c/c8/Kesherian_skies_6.png/120px-Kesherian_skies_6.png)
February 4th, 2026[4] -
By Mr. Black (February 4th, 2026) -
By Mr. Black (February 4th, 2026) -
By Rscr (February 4th, 2026)
![February 4th, 2026[4]](/wiki/File:Kesherian_skies_6.png)
Days 4 - 5: Grey
is fp gonna double the amount of days we'll have to wait for each color each time 😭
i hope we're not gonna be waiting like 2^16777215 days or smth
— e_g. after no colors were restored on February 4th
FP re-enabled three shades of grey (#404040, #808080, and #c0c0c0) at around 03:14 UTC on February 5th, 2026.
The hex code for red was also changed slightly (from #FF0000 to #FF0001) so as to mess with the red border on a bot by AJLStick.
Grey was the only color (other than red) to have been brought back without winning a Discord color poll.
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![February 5th, 2026[5]](/images/thumb/2/2d/Because_im_evil.png/120px-Because_im_evil.png)
February 5th, 2026[5] -
February 5th, 2026 -
One of the few image pasters to make use of grey (by Mr. Black on February 5th, 2026) -
Sped up 2x (February 5th, 2026) -
February 6th, 2026 -
Kesherian Skies, now with grey (February 6th, 2026) -
February 6th, 2026 -
![February 5th, 2026[5]](/wiki/File:Because_im_evil.png)
Day 6: Light green and yellow
WindowToaster: Okay, I have a question. Is there actually any plan of adding more colors to the palette soon, or are we just going to be at these 6 for a while? Also, will any cell colors be added?
[...]
Kiparisa: The color reintroduction is a circus
[...]
FP: I'll add new ones once I remember what colors there are
The colors #00ff00 and #ffff00 were enabled at around 06:00 UTC on February 7th, 2026.
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-
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Sped up 4x -
Blue chain -
Glasses Guy -
-
-
Yellow incorporated into Mr. Black's image paster.
Days 7 - 9: Purple
adaptive image paster
>fetch available colors
>if black and white only, use vertical/horizontal blocks
>when links available, dithering is an option
>depending on what colors are available, dithering technique changes
#800080 was enabled at around 16:00 UTC on February 8th, 2026.
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Kesherian Skies, now with light green, yellow, and purple. (February 8th, 2026) -
Glasses Guy (February 8th, 2026) -
By Mr. Black (February 8th, 2026) -
By Mr. Black (February 8th, 2026) -
February 8th, 2026 -
By Mr. Black (February 9th, 2026) -
February 9th, 2026 -
By Mr. Black (February 9th, 2026) -
By WindowToaster (February 9th, 2026)
Days 10 - 11: Pink
#ffc0cb was re-enabled at around 01:00 UTC on February 11th, 2026.
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February 11th, 2026 -
February 11th, 2026 -
By Mr. Black (February 11th, 2026) -
By Neon1246 (February 11th, 2026) -
By Neon (February 12th, 2026) -
February 12th, 2026
Days 12 - 14: Sky blue
#87ceeb was enabled at around 03:00 UTC on February 13th, 2026.
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By Neon (February 13th, 2026) -
By Neon (February 13th, 2026) -
By Neon (February 13th, 2026) -
By Mr. Black (February 14th, 2026) -
February 15th, 2026 -
February 15th, 2026
Day 15: Average color of Kiparisa's pfp
#902F39, the average color of Kiparisa's Discord pfp, was enabled at around 22:44 UTC on February 15th, 2026. It was initially brought up as a joke but ended up winning the February 15th color poll after beating out brown in a tiebreaker.
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-
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By Banksy -
"owot gives us no love for blue"
Notes
- ↑ The actual footage was of a baby with cyclopia, a graphic looking condition.
- ↑ The purple guy spam also appeared on February 3rd, 2026, at the end of The Great Color Ban.
- ↑ https://github.com/ywothistory/ywothistory.github.io/blob/master/_posts/2012-12-31-earlyywot.markdown
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "how this works: each color is a function of x and y, where x and y are pixel positions, and it outputs a pair of 2 chars, each one can be space, full block, link full block, or coordlink full block. each color has an RGB vector with it, and for each pixel in the source image, the closest vector by euclidean distance is found and its corrosponding function is used to generate the next 2 characters."
- ↑ Message in the screenshot is from the real FP.