The Gothic Graveyard Network

Welcome to the Gothic Graveyard Forums.

These rules keep the campfire open without turning the archive into a free-for-all. By posting here you agree to follow them.

How the archive works
For how Gothic.Black treats reports, evidence, case pages, and forum discussion, see the sticky Editorial Policy & Rules in this forum. These User & Member Rules are the day-to-day conduct rules for posting here.

Community Norms
• Challenge claims, not people.
• Respect witnesses without treating testimony as proof by itself.
• Separate observation, evidence, interpretation, and speculation.
• Disclose edits, enhancements, recreations, and AI-generated material.
• Do not publish private information, precise home addresses, or identifying details without explicit permission.
• Correct errors visibly and preserve revision history for case files.
• No harassment, ridicule, pressure to disclose, or amateur diagnosis of witnesses.

1. Respect people
Treat witnesses, members, guests, and staff with basic courtesy. Disagreement is fine. Ridicule, harassment, threats, doxxing, and personal attacks are not.

2. Separate claim from proof
Share experiences and theories freely — but do not present speculation as established fact. “I think” and “I saw” are clearer than “this proves.”

3. Protect privacy
Do not post real names, addresses, workplaces, schools, phone numbers, or other identifying details of private people without clear permission. Do not try to unmask anonymous witnesses. Exact private locations that could invite trespass or harassment should be generalized.

4. No accusations without care
Do not use these forums to accuse identifiable people or businesses of crimes, abuse, fraud, or similar conduct. Serious claims belong in a moderated case submission or private contact — not a drive-by post.

5. Copyright and media
Only post media you own or have the right to share. Prefer links to lawful sources when rights are unclear. Clearly label AI-generated, enhanced, staged, or illustrative images and audio.

6. Stay on topic
Put case talk in Case File Comments. Put experiences and research in the matching topical board (hauntings, UAP, cryptids, and so on). If it doesn’t fit a specific board, use General Paranormal Talk — not a random thread somewhere else.

7. Disclosure and the Lounge
Government disclosure, whistleblowers, institutional cover-ups, and related conspiracy theories belong in Government Disclosure & Whistleblowers — not the hauntings, cryptid, or other experience boards. Movies, music, politics, memes, and general chat go in the Lounge (Area 51). Keep Lounge civil; it isn’t a dumping ground for personal attacks.

8. Forums vs Discord
Discord is for live chat. These forums are for lasting threads. Don’t dump the same long post everywhere without purpose.

9. Forums vs the case archive
A forum reply is community discussion. It is not automatically part of the official case file. Staff may quote, ignore, or follow up on forum posts; they are not required to adopt them as evidence.

10. Minors and sensitive topics
Do not post identifying information or recognizable media of minors. Use extra care around bereavement, trauma, alleged possession, or medical issues.

11. Not emergency services
Gothic.Black is not police, medical care, crisis support, or legal advice. If you or someone else is in danger, contact local emergency services.

12. Moderation
Staff may edit, move, lock, or remove posts that break these rules or create privacy/safety risk. Repeated or severe violations may lead to restrictions or bans.

13. Corrections
If we got something wrong on a case page, use the site Contact form (Correction Request) or reply carefully with sources — don’t pile on.

Questions about these rules: contact staff or post in Rules & Editorial Policy (for clarification, not arguments).

Gothic.Black — We do not ask you to believe. We ask you to examine the record.