New Section 3 Rule: 3.15 Restriction of Contact Information

Today we are adding a new rule to Section 3 of the Terms and Rules as stated in the BHW Change Log:

3.15 No posting off forum contact information except in signatures, first post of a sales thread and via DM. This includes, but is not limited to messaging services, emails or websites.

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Why is the New Rule Being Implemented?

If you watch what comes through the Dispute Forum, the most common element to a lot of Disputes is users were taken off BlackHat World to Telegram and then the entire conversation was deleted. Unless they were taking screen shots of the conversation every time it was updated, the accuser suddenly doesn't have enough proof to put a Dispute through.

We also get a lot of Disputes where someone just happens to run across someone's contact information and decide to contact them. In fact, we just had a Dispute last week where the accuser found someone's contact information off a very old, very locked Sales Thread and decided to contact them anyways.

We're doing our best to set both our buyers, but also our sellers, up for success. If that means that we no longer can allow everyone to share their off site contact information publicly? Then that's what we're going to do.

And, of course, all through 2025 we had several threads initiated in Forum Suggestions & Feedback asking for an outright ban or restriction on Telegram:

• Feb 25, 2025: Ban the Mention or Use of Telegram on BHW
• April 30, 2025: Active Dispute - Telegram Usage Not Allowed
• Oct 24, 2025: Telegram Ban on Forum?
• Oct 29, 2025: Improve Dispute Rules
• Nov 27, 2025: Prohibit Telegram and Social Links in Signature
• Jan 13, 2026: A Warning Message on BSTs, WTB, HAF Threads About Using Telegram

There's likely more, but these are the main ones that stood out.

What Does Rule 3.15 Actually Mean?

Don't worry, the meme and youtube video threads in The BHW Lounge are still safe. As is linking any articles from credible news sources. Here's an explanation of what is or isn't allowed.

1.) Sales Threads: Jr. VIPs and Marketplace Sellers ARE allowed to post their outside contact information in the 1st post of their Sales Thread. However, what is no longer allowed:

• Adding the contact information for a thread bump (sorry, you'll have to figure something else out that refers users back to the 1st post).
• Asking the sales thread owner to contact you via your Telegram or other off site contact info (you can ask them to DM you with the information you want from them).

2.) Signatures: upgraded users can still put their off site contact information in their signatures.

3.) Via DM: all users can trade off site contact information via DM.

• Unsolicited DMs are still not allowed.
• If you are contacting someone that posted a HAF/WTB thread, make certain you're remembering the Seller rule where you need to link the thread in your DM. This way the OP knows that the DM was actually solicited and if they report you, there won't be warnings handed out.

https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/rules-posting-in-hire-a-freelancer.951769/
https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/rules-posting-in-want-to-buy.951771/

Rules for Replying point 3:

You may DM the OP your contact information along with a link to their HAF/WTB thread to show the DM was not unsolicited.

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Please note, this section isn't exhaustive on what you can and can't do. If you're not certain something you're going to post will violate BHW Rule 3.15. A good rule of thumb is, if it's not in the first post of a sales thread or in a signature, it doesn't belong in a public area.

• Don't put it in your avatar.
• Don't put it in the about section on your profile (yes, you may need to edit your About section).
• Don't put it in a post.
• Don't try for subliminal messages.
• Don't put it in the meta data of media uploads.

Etc and so on.

Enforcement of New Rule 3.15

So, what happens if you slip up and bump a thread using your old template, or slide your TG into a public conversation because you've done it 100x before?

Like with all of the previous rules changes, we're not going to go in full force. We're going to give everyone time to read all of the material regarding the new rule and changes and will be putting out plenty of information to attempt to set everyone up for success.

• There's this extensive thread with the ability to engage in conversation with the Community Team about it.
• We have the BHW Change Log,
• There will be a site wide notice at the top of the forum linking to this thread and the change log.
• We're forcing everyone to accept the Terms and Rules so they KNOW there's a change.
• We'll be mentioning it in the Newsletter through the month of March.

On top of all of this, we've created a new Warning called "Outside Contact Info Violation." For the time being, this warning will start out as a way to convey to people who haven't managed to read anything that there's a Rule Change. So the first few times will be a "hey, there's a rules change, you might want to stop and read the new rules to understand what you can and can no longer do!".

Removal of Social Media Fields & Implementation of Sales Thread Fields

One last thing to talk about!

As you might have already noticed, we removed the social media fields on the "About" tab on your profiles. However, we added something back that we think those of you with Sales Threads might like! The ability to put up to 5 of your sales threads on your profile.

We wanted to give our Sellers a way to showcase their Sales Threads and for buyers to find a favorite Sellers threads a little quicker!

• Everyone, regardless of subscription type has these fields on their profiles.
• While it's meant for sales thread, any BHW thread can be added.
• Only BHW threads can be added into these fields.
• Please don't report users who have non-sales threads in the sales thread fields. It's the user's choice if they want to showcase Sales Threads (if they have them) or not.

Conclusions About the New Rule

We're very well aware that some of you aren't going to like this new rule and that's ok. Change is always hard, especially if it was something you did regularly. However, at the end of the day, we're hoping that this helps reduce the amount of scamming and spamming that has gone on in the past.

If you have questions, comments or concerns, feel free to address them below in this thread. We welcome the conversation but please remain respectful.

I thought this one one implemented already long time ago
also, do you evaluate the impact of the new rules in the weekly meeting?
or you set a rule and never look back to see if it improved something?

Salamouna said:

I thought this one one implemented already long time ago
also, do you evaluate the impact of the new rules in the weekly meeting?
or you set a rule and never look back to see if it improved something?

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We have 3.3 that prohibits promoting other forums or groups, but never had anything about off site contact info. We discouraged it, but there was no direct rule.

As for your question, yes, we monitor the impact of the new rules and regularly discuss them. I mean, this is a big part of my job as Community Manager. ;-D Also, if you look back to the rule changes that we made last year, they were all laying the ground work for this change.

I'm absolutely not a fan of having rules that don't serve an actual purpose. I see this all the time in gaming communities, where there are either legacy rules or "that's just how we've always done it." Thankfully, the BHW team and I jive really well when it comes to managing the forum's rules. ;-)

I think @Salamouna is talking about the recent update that prohibited contact information in response to HAF/WTB threads.

This is a great update IMO and will definitely and absolutely help in many ways. This builds up on the above rule and makes things more explicit.

It's always nice to see how much the team running this community cares about the safety of everyone.

This will likely reduce many unregistered buyers.
Instead, you could have enforced a strict rule to use only the contacts mentioned in the opening post.

Love it! Outside contact (via TG) is the reasons I lost thousands of dollars in this forum.
Will change a lot here.

Thanks @PetraAnn, really appreciate your work! This rule helps prevent scams, keeps conversations on the forum, and protects both buyers and sellers.

alienacademy said:

This will likely reduce many unregistered buyers.
Instead, you could have enforced a strict rule to use only the contacts mentioned in the opening post.

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Don't forget, as I said here, we'll monitor the situation and see what happens. We need a starting point and then we can go from there.

this is a great change to protect everyone. thank you

To prevent scams is a good rule, guess as seller we have to adapt to the rule, from my own experience not many users read first post so all conversation would be moved into BHW dm's !

Some of the rules or addition are really cool! Well done bhw team. Appreciate it.

This means that whenever I reply to questions in my sales thread, instead of being allowed to include my contact details directly in the reply like before, I now have to attach a link to the first post of the thread so buyers can go back and check the contact information there. The signature no longer appears when I reply to comments in my own sales thread.
Actually, this is a good change because customers will always refer to the contact details in the original post, which helps prevent impersonators or scammers from using similar contact information or BHW accounts to mimic approved sellers.

Smart move - disputes without logs are a nightmare and everyone knows how that ends. Keeping everything on platform just makes sense if you actually care about proof + accountability.

I find the forum's management team very dedicated to their customers.
However, in my personal opinion,
When activating VIP membership to post on the marketplace, the forum should require members to provide full identification documents for verification. This would significantly reduce fraud and misappropriation of assets.

BUSINESS AGENCY said:

When activating VIP membership to post on the marketplace, the forum should require members to provide full identification documents for verification. This would significantly reduce fraud and misappropriation of assets.

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What you described there is one of the features of Marketplace 2.0 It's planned and we're working on it to launch it as soon as possible!

Good one
I hope there will be a complete ban on Telegram links in signature as well

Venusaur said:

Good one
I hope there will be a complete ban on Telegram links in signature as well

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Baby steps.

I've known about this forum for a long time.
But I feel this forum is very strict.
New members have difficulty joining.
So what can new members learn from this forum?
Besides reading and understanding, exchanging information or sharing experiences through messages and replying to forum posts is very difficult for new members.
I hope the forum administrators will pay more attention to new members.

Great one
Those using premium membership to scam will.have will be reduced greatly