Guidelines

Guidelines

Last updated: June 29, 2026

This site lets you build playlists from the recordings hosted here. The playlist name is the only thing you can put into the site that other people might see. These guidelines cover what's okay to put in that field.

Short version: name your playlists however you want, within reason. Keep it respectful.

What's automatically blocked

Playlist names are run through a profanity filter before they're saved. If your name contains a word the filter recognizes as profane, you'll see an error and the name won't save.

The filter is automatic — no human reviews the rejection. It looks for words inside your input, including inside compound words (so a name with a flagged word jammed up against other letters can still get caught).

What's not allowed even if the filter misses it

Filters don't catch everything. The following are not okay regardless of whether the automated check approves them:

• Slurs or hate speech targeting people based on race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexuality, disability, etc.
• Harassment of, or threats against, specific people — including band members, other users, or anyone else.
• Sexually explicit content.
• Personal information about other people (real names paired with details, addresses, phone numbers, etc.).
• Impersonation — names that pretend to be Big Thief, a member of the band, the Archive's operators, or another user.
• Spam, advertising, links, or promotional content.
• Content that exists only to be disruptive — long strings of garbage characters, format-breaking input, etc.

If we see a playlist name that crosses these lines, we'll rename or delete it without warning, and repeat offenders lose their accounts.

False positives

The filter sometimes flags words that are perfectly fine in context. If your playlist name was rejected and you think the rejection was a mistake — for example, you're trying to use a song title, lyric, or common word that happens to contain a flagged substring — try one of these:

• Rephrase with a different word.
• Add a separator (space, dash) to break up the compound that triggered the match.
• Email bigthiefarchive@gmail.com if you think the filter is consistently catching something it shouldn't.

Enforcement

In rough order of severity:

• Auto-block. The filter rejects a name at submission. No record kept. Try again.
• Rename or removal. A human (us) renames or deletes a playlist that violates these guidelines.
• Warning. Email to the account holder. Common for borderline cases.
• Suspension. Temporary loss of account access.
• Ban. Account closed. Reserved for serious violations or repeated offenses.

We don't run a formal appeals process, but if you think we got it wrong, email bigthiefarchive@gmail.com.