Welcome to Shadow! Shadow is a site for artists to share digital artwork to their followers. We prioritize artistic freedom and user privacy.
This is v1.0 of our Content Guidelines and it was last updated 21 May 2025.
1.1 Shadow's philosophy when it comes to moderation is to defer as much decision making as possible to the artists. We want them to be able to curate and foster a community that reflects them.
1.2 We do have some rules artists must follow and uphold within their communities, as well as some that apply site-wide that Shadow admins will enforce. They are discussed in detail in subsequent sections.
1.3 These rules do not apply to conduct off-Shadow, barring truly exceptional circumstances. As we may not be able to validate users' identities nor do we desire to police behavior off-site, our default position is only conduct on Shadow is subject to these terms. Exceptions to this include any actions that directly impact the safety or integrity of Shadow or its users (such as threats of violence or coordinated efforts to disrupt the service).
1.4 A portion of these rules are only applicable to artists and server owners. These are in addition to the other rules that are applicable to everyone.
2.1 Do not violate any applicable US laws. Discussing laws or debating legal positions is permissible, but it cannot cross over into facilitations or endorsements of criminal activity. We reserve the right to make judgement calls for questionable or borderline content (such as engaging in civil disobedience or endorsing those who do violate the law).
2.2 Do not host or otherwise facilitate gambling. Gambling is defined as requiring a fee be paid to enter a chance to win, but are not guaranteed to receive, a prize. Contests or raffles where entry is free for all participants are allowed. If your server requires all members to pay, hosting a raffle or giveaway where a winner is randomly chosen is considered gambling by us and is prohibited.
We believe privacy is a right. We have a zero tolerance policy for doxxing and any violations of these terms will result in a permanent ban.
3.1.1 Do not doxx, identify, or otherwise post content containing any personal information about others on Shadow that they themselves have not disclosed on Shadow. Personal information includes but is not limited to other usernames or handles; real names; email addresses; phone numbers; location information such as an address, current city, county, state, province, or country; or the names of relatives or other close associates.
3.1.2 Do not threaten to doxx, identify, or otherwise post anyone's personal information.
3.1.3 Do not attempt to obtain or otherwise solicit personal identifying information of others.
3.1.4 Do not post on Shadow private correspondence (as text, screenshots, or any other medium) between you and others without their consent.
3.1.5 It is fine to discuss or link to accounts and content of other people on other sites and services (e.g. X/Twitter, DeviantArt, Patreon, etc.) so long as you do not accompany with or otherwise identify their account on Shadow without their consent.
Artists are primarily responsible for moderating interactions between those in their server(s). We only have a few site-wide rules.
4.1 Artists have the right to set and enforce rules in their servers at their discretion. You must abide by the rules of a server whenever you're participating (e.g. leaving a comment). Artists are responsible for enforcement of their rules.
4.2 Do not threaten, harass, shame, or bully others. Banter and jokes between consenting users can be fine, but if we receive a report from any user involved, we will consider it non-consensual and remove the content. Artists are likewise free to interpret behavior of this kind at their discretion and remove content they deem violating.
4.3 Artists and server owners are free to add and enforce additional rules and restrictions to their servers as they see fit and at their discretion. Shadow admins will not enforce or otherwise uphold any server-specific rules that do not violate our own Terms.
The following terms apply to artists and the content they can upload to Shadow.
5.1 As mentioned in our Terms of Service, you must have the necessary rights and permissions to post artistic content, including permission to grant Shadow the license we need to host it. Do not post another artist's work without their permission.
5.2 All artistic content posted to Shadow must be fictitious. Do not upload any works that depict or bear recognizable resemblance to real individuals, including adults and public figures. Allusion and allegory are acceptable, provided they do not explicitly mention a specific person. Referencing or depicting established fictional characters is allowed.
5.3 Only stories, digital artwork, 2D or 3D animations and renders, and scans of traditional art (e.g., paintings, drawings) are allowed.
5.3.1 Animations and renders must not be hyper-realistic or depict lifelike human figures. Shadow admins reserve the right to determine whether a piece is excessively realistic.
5.3.2 Photographs and videos of real-life are strictly prohibited (per CG 5.2 all work must be fictitious; photographs and videos are not).
6.1 We reserve the right to change our guidelines at any time, without prior notice, and for any reason as permitted by law. We will notify you of these changes when they occur, either via notifications or announcements on Shadow itself or via messages to your Discord account.
6.2 Changes to these guidelines are assumed to be accepted by your continued use of Shadow once they have taken effect. Changes take effect two weeks (14 days) following their announcement, unless otherwise noted.