You can't exchange contact information at the other place?

[SilverClouds]

Okay, so I try to rot in the lounge like usual and I see I can't use the site unless I accept the new ToS, right... And it says you can't exchange contact information??? Like, at all??? Emails, instant messengers, *even website address*?? That's just too much. I see there's a link to discussion on that but uh, to access it you need to accept the new ToS but I won't do that. I get that they have a lot of scammers, but not even a website... Every functioning business should have a website, brand, etc. And for general networking being able to save contact information of your network somewhere is the whole point.

 

[Dopious]

You can in a DM, just tell them to DM you first.

 

[shattered world]

You can in a DM, just tell them to DM you first.

They're just gonna say you're circumventing the rules and give you a warning anyway.

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.

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.

The way they write their rules is overbearing and so they can pop in and add another clarification as they keep calling them when they decide to change shit.

 

[RiskyStuff]

Haha, made me confused if I understand correctly. It turns out, I understood correctly.

 

[1974Mustang]

They're just gonna say you're circumventing the rules and give you a warning anyway.

The way they write their rules is overbearing and so they can pop in and add another clarification as they keep calling them when they decide to change shit.

I'm bothered about the way they're trying to paint this as something the community wanted.

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.

Except the Venusaur thread, these other threads are about banning Telegram from the forum or areas of the forum, not banning every form of off forum contact information.

This blanket ban just shows that they had no idea how to deal with the Telegram problem so they did... this.

A sorry state of affairs for a once great site.

 

[roydan]

The thing is, they tried to solve a problem they had from day one so by the time they finally addressed it, it was already out of control.
And to top it off they did it in the worst way possible. So they just made it harder to buy, but not that much harder to bypass the contact details thing.

 

[shattered world]

I'm bothered about the way they're trying to paint this as something the community wanted.

Except the Venusaur thread, these other threads are about banning Telegram from the forum or areas of the forum, not banning every form of off forum contact information.

This blanket ban just shows that they had no idea how to deal with the Telegram problem so they did... this.

A sorry state of affairs for a once great site.

Worst part is that this blanket ban of theirs doesn't even address the problem. People can still send their TG details via DM.

Then there's this shit from that admin.

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.

OK so if someone got scammed from finding the contact details of an old ass locked sales thread, what does that have to do with this new rule?

Off forum contact info is still allowed in sales threads so what does this have to do with anything?

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.

I mean if they said they were going to delete old contact info from locked sales threads then sure this is relevant but nope.

 

[1974Mustang]

The thing is, they tried so solve a problem they had from day one so by the time they finally addressed it it was already out of control.
And to top it off they did it in the worst way possible. So they just made it harder to buy, but not that much harder to bypass the contact details thing.

We need one of those 100% emoji reactions because you're 100% right about this.

It's the problem with being in denial about there being a problem for so long and/or dragging their heels.

The end solution is too little too late, but at least sellers can now add some raw URLs to a field on their profile?

Worst part is that this blanket ban of theirs doesn't even address the problem. People can still send their TG details via DM.

Then there's this shit from that admin.

OK so if someone got scammed from finding the contact details of an old ass locked sales thread, what does that have to do with this new rule?

Off forum contact info is still allowed in sales threads so what does this have to do with anything?

I mean if they said they were going to delete old contact info from locked sales threads then sure this is relevant but nope.

You're right that has nothing to do with the new rule.

The whole thread looks over-explanatory out of defensiveness. They turned a new rule into an exciting event as if anyone celebrates having more restrictions placed on them and more rules to follow.

 

[Berry Scary]

They turned a new rule into an exciting event as if anyone celebrates having more restrictions placed on them and more rules to follow.

Yeah, I had a look at that discussion thread out of curiosity. It looks like this is meant to be some kind of big update that members should be excited about, but why?

"Yay everyone, you can't post off-site stuff anymore! Hooray!"

 

[Preying Mantis]

Bros no idea how they can think it's a good idea to add in another rule for everybody to remember when they can't even remember to follow their own rules.

5 seconds on their site and I see banner ads that say get free trial for Squid proxies or unlimited data from Bart proxies or Unlimited accounts from Geelark. What happened to not allowing claims like that? It's in their content standards.

️ "free" is only allowed to be used if it's genuinely free - this means not tied to any sort of personal data collection (e.g., registrations, email address, paying for a service/product, as a bonus, etc.)

But in the same thread, they say this.

• Register a free BHW account if you don't already have one.

They've even gotta a section that violates their own rules.

Free Review Copies For Marketplace Approvals
This section allows you to test some marketplace threads before anyone else for free! Please read the rules before posting. If your Marketplace thread is live and you want to give away free review copies, submit it in Service Reviews & Beta Testers Help Wanted

It's not f*cking free if I have to give a review copy?

They have too many rules for even their own staff to keep up with but hey let's add more rules in lmao.

 

[SilverClouds]

They're just gonna say you're circumventing the rules and give you a warning anyway.

The way they write their rules is overbearing and so they can pop in and add another clarification as they keep calling them when they decide to change shit.

Haha, made me confused if I understand correctly. It turns out, I understood correctly.

Yeah, idk... Read it logged out on another browser and it was such a confusing read... No idea how to not break the rule. I mean I thought they turned into another Fiverr and they don't want people to communicate out of the platform at all, which is not acceptable for me. But I see you can share contact info in dm... But you can't *long list of cases here*. Uhm. I got confused on what to do and what not to do.

Also Firefox and Opera somehow got kicked out of F-Droid repo so I had to download from main Playstore . Not open source enough or what? Wtf is going on in the world .

They turned a new rule into an exciting event as if anyone celebrates having more restrictions placed on them and more rules to follow.

Yeah, I had a look at that discussion thread out of curiosity. It looks like this is meant to be some kind of big update that members should be excited about, but why?

"Yay everyone, you can't post off-site stuff anymore! Hooray!"

Yeah, the celebratory tone is a little bit weird. I mean, they can put whatever rules they want on their site, but probably most people aren't going to throw a party over new rules on a website they frequent.

 

[shattered world]

Yeah, idk... Read it logged out on another browser and it was such a confusing read... No idea how to not break the rule. I mean I thought they turned into another Fiverr and they don't want people to communicate out of the platform at all, which is not acceptable for me. But I see you can share contact info in dm... But you can't *long list of cases here*. Uhm. I got confused on what to do and what not to do.

Also Firefox and Opera somehow got kicked out of F-Droid repo so I had to download from main Playstore . Not open source enough or what? Wtf is going on in the world .



Yeah, the celebratory tone is a little bit weird. I mean, they can put whatever rules they want on their site, but probably most people aren't going to throw a party over new rules on a website they frequent.

It's all alot I mean really.

I think they want to be like Fiverr cause all of this weird stuff over the last few years just looks like they're trying to go corporate and mainstream but that just doesn't make any sense. Mainstream and black hat don't even belong in the same sentence.