Terms of Use for forbidden-knowledge.com
Effective Date: 06/25/2025
Welcome to Forbidden Knowledge ("FK", "we", "us", "our"). By accessing or using our website (the “Site”), you agree to the following Terms of Use. If you do not agree to these terms, please do not use the Site.
1. Purpose of the Site
Forbidden Knowledge is a platform for sharing and discussing ideas, information, and perspectives that may not be covered in mainstream discourse. Some content may include political, philosophical, or controversial topics. The purpose of Forbidden Knowledge is to provide a place where controversial content can be made available and discussed in an anonymous manner to encourage discussion of controversial topics. The site, along with this terms of use, is designed to foster productive, intellectual discussion that takes place in a courteous and respectful manner.
You are responsible for how you engage with this content.
2. Content Distribution and Author Attribution
Original content posted to this Site belongs to the author unless otherwise noted. In the interest of sparking conversation, the original content of this Site may be reproduced elsewhere, even in the form of whole articles.
This offer to reproduce original content from this Site is conditional, in that three conditions ("conditions of reproduction") are required to be fulfilled when reproducing original content from this Site. The first condition of reproduction is that anyone reproducing content from this Site must give credit to the original author. The second condition of reproduction is that anyone reproducing content from this Site must provide a Web address or hyperlink to this Site (i.e. https://forbidden-knowledge.com) so that anyone who reads this Site's original content elsewhere can easily find this Site. The third condition of reproduction is that anyone reproducing original content from this Site must make these conditions of reproduction known to those who consume this Site's original content elsewhere.
The first condition of reproduction serves the purpose of protecting against plagiarism. The second condition of reproduction serves the purpose of allowing this Site to be found easily by those who might want to read more. The third condition of reproduction serves the purpose of allowing the original content of this Site to be spread more widely, while still protecting against plagiarism and directing people to this Site.
In addition to the original content of this Site, there is also some non-original content on this Site. Some of this non-original content is already in the public domain. Re-typeset editions of articles that are already in the public domain can be freely downloaded from this website and distributed. The three conditions of reproduction listed above only apply to original content on this Site and not to content on this Site that is in the public domain.
3. User Accounts and Pseudonyms
User accounts are absolutely NOT required to use the Forbidden Knowledge website. Forbidden Knowledge is a free website that is available on the public internet. All are welcome to peruse and read the Site's content without an account.
An account is also not strictly required to make a comment on the Site. In order to make it convenient for users who just want to write one or two quick comments, the Site has a "lightweight account" feature where the Site will generate a default pseudonym for you without you needing to submit any information at all. These default pseudonyms will always take the form of "AnonymousUser" followed by a unique GUID. The Site will provide your browser with a simple cookie that will be used to authenticate you for this lightweight account. The cookie is only valid for 7 days. If the cookie is deleted, lost, or expired that anonymous account will be lost forever. You may always generate a new anonymous account. However, any user who plans on making more than one or two comments is strongly encouraged to make an account.
User accounts on Forbidden Knowledge are very simple. Only three pieces of information are required to make an account: the permanent pseudonym that you desire, a password, and an email address that belongs to you.
A. Pseudonyms
You may choose any pseudonym that is not already in use by another user for your account. Choose carefully because it is permanent. Because the Site has a strict rule against impersonation, please do not choose a pseudonym that is very similar to another user’s. Obviously, this will happen unintentionally, but if we discover that a user has deliberately chosen a pseudonym misleadingly close to someone else's, or appears to be using a pseudonym that is similar to someone else's in a manner that appears to be attempting to impersonate another user, that is grounds for a potential ban. Please see section 4 below for more information.
B. Passwords
For everyone's benefit, you must provide a secure password for your account. It is your responsibility to secure your password. For a password to be secure, it must be stored securely (i.e. encrypted) and not shared with anyone else. Please note password sharing is grounds for a potential ban. Currently, passwords must be at least 12 characters long, contain at least one uppercase letter, one lowercase letter, one number, and one symbol (i.e. non-alphanumeric character). There are no particular symbols that are not allowed. The Site salts and hashes all user passwords and does not store them in plain text, so that we do not know what any user's passwords are. You may reset your password at any time. If you think your password has been compromised, it is your responsibility to reset it. Forbidden Knowledge is not liable for any account compromises due to user negligence. If we suspect that a user account has been compromised, we may take action to secure it. We will try our best to alert you to such a situation should it arise. We highly recommend using password manager software such as Keeper or 1Password to generate and manage secure passwords. The relatively low cost of these platforms is well worth it for most people.
C. Emails
WE ARE NOT INTERESTED IN KNOWING YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS. We do not distribute or sell email addresses or any kind of user information to anybody. Please refer to the Forbidden Knowledge privacy policy for more information (a link is available in the footer of this website). We will not use your email address to send you any marketing or promotional material. Forbidden Knowledge is not a commercial website. The email address you provide for your account will only be used to facilitate password resets for your account and for us to communicate with you if needed (for example, about a violation of this terms of use). The email address you provide must be an email address that you control, that only you have access to, and that is capable of receiving and sending email via ESMTP. The Site will check that the domain exists and has a valid MX record.
When logging into a permanent account, please note that 5 failed login attempts (incorrect passwords) in a row will result in a one hour account lockout. This is done for security reasons. On a successful login, the Site will provide your browser with a simple cookie that is valid for 7 days. This cookie is used by the site to automatically authenticate you so you do not need to log in constantly, making the site more convenient to use.
The Site does not have an explicit logout feature. This is because users should not have multiple accounts. This is done to enforce the rule against impersonating others and to protect the integrity of the Site.
4. User Comments and Participation
In order to foster participation and discussion of controversial topics that people normally may be reluctant to engage in, all comments on the Site are made using pseudonyms, either one that you choose or one generated for you by the Site. It is not our intention or desire to moderate the content of user comments. However, it is important for all of us to understand that allowing people to comment on a public website anonymously and without strictly needing to make an account will inevitably lead to individuals with bad intentions posting random and/or unnecessarily inflammatory or conflict-causing content. In order to keep Forbidden Knowledge a place where productive, intellectual discussion can be had, it is necessary to enforce some basic rules around user comments.
If you comment on the Site, you agree to the following:
- You are responsible for comments you make.
- We are not liable for user-submitted content.
- Comments should be reasonably relevant to the article they are made on. Sustained spam and nonsense comments are not allowed.
- Discussions with others via the comments feature should be done in a courteous and respectful manner. Please try to avoid unreasonable swearing.
- Forbidden Knowledge is not to be used as a platform to harass or attack others.
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Impersonation is strictly NOT allowed.
While all comments on FK are anonymous due to the use of pseudonyms, impersonation is not allowed. For the purpose of productive discussion, it is important that all users know and trust that all comments made under a particular pseudonym are in fact from the same individual all the time. Any attempt to impersonate other users or real-life individuals will not be tolerated. This is why user accounts have permanent pseudonyms. All users are strongly encouraged to create accounts (with permanent pseudonyms) if you are an active commenter of FK, or plan on making more than one or two comments.
While it is not our intention or desire to moderate the content of user comments, in extreme cases we reserve the right to remove content and ban users at our discretion in order to enforce the terms of use. We will do our best to warn users before taking such action. Please note we will not remove content just because it expresses a particular point of view, no matter how controversial it may be. Doing so would be contrary to the purpose of Forbidden Knowledge. Content removal and user bans will take place on the grounds of:
- Continued irrelevant, spam, or nonsense posts
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Continued ad-hominem attacks (against individuals and groups)
Please note that it is NOT acceptable to engage in ad-hominem attacks because someone has engaged in harassment or an ad-hominem attack against you. Reprisal does not encourage a respectful environment. If you feel the need to report another user, you may do so by emailing admin@forbidden-knowledge.com. We will typically respond within 24 hours.
Advocating violence in any form is considered to be an ad-hominem attack and is explicitly forbidden.
- Continued unreasonable coarse language and swearing
Additionally, it is important for all to understand that Forbidden Knowledge is not a social media site. In order to foster serious discussion, comments cannot be taken down, made "private", or otherwise deleted by users after they have been made. It is our belief that it is important to have a record of everything that an individual has said. Please think carefully before submitting a comment. That being said, we recognize that genuine mistakes happen. If you submitted a comment by mistake and you want it taken down, you may email such a request to admin@forbidden-knowledge.com. Comment take-downs are NOT guaranteed and are subject to approval. Obvious mistakes will be deleted. If it is not clear that the comment you would like taken down is a mistake, please explain the situation in your email request.
5. Intellectual Freedom
You may encounter ideas you strongly disagree with on Forbidden Knowledge. That’s part of the purpose of this site. While we encourage civil discourse, participation is voluntary and comes with the understanding that exposure to unfamiliar or challenging ideas is part of the experience.
6. Disclaimer
We make no guarantees about the accuracy or reliability of any content on the Site. All content is provided “as is” and is intended for informational and conversational purposes only.
Every person is responsible for his or her own beliefs and his or her own actions. Just because something appears on this Site, that doesn't make it true. It's the reader's responsibility to figure out if he or she believes the content on this Site, and it's his or her responsibility to decide how to act on the content he or she reads. We will not be held responsible for any actions, or the consequences of any actions, that any reader undertakes having read any portion of this Site. By using this Site, the reader agrees to this. The reader is fully responsible for whatever he or she does, with or without the information contained on this Site.
Therefore, no part of this Site will be taken as advice of any kind. This means that no part of it will be considered as life advice, nutritional advice, medical advice, business advice, investment advice, romantic advice, legal advice, or any other kind of advice.
If a person decides to reproduce any part of this Site for others to read, it is his or her responsibility to include this disclaimer so as to make it clear that each person understands both that he or she is fully responsible for his or her own actions and that this website does not contain advice of any kind.
7. Modifications to These Terms
We may update these Terms from time to time. Continued use of the Site means you accept any new version of the Terms.
8. Contacting Us
If you have questions about these Terms, you may contact the site administrator at:
This document was last updated on 6/25/2025.