Process for blacklist removal

If you’re a website owner and have noticed that your site/product is on our blacklist, then this is the appropriate process to follow to have it removed.

Some general notes:

• This process is for removal requests from website owners only. If you’re a Stack Exchange user not affiliated with the website and think that a blacklist item should be removed, then please talk to a blacklist manager.
• Even if we do remove your website from our blacklists, past GitHub commits/PRs will still indicate that it had been on the list at some point. Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do to take down these pages.
• Please don’t be hostile when requesting the removal of your site. It will only increase the likelihood that we deny your request.
• This process can only happen once. If the website appears in a confirmed spam post while the process is taking place, we will revert the term to its original state. If the website is removed, then later re-added to our blacklist, you cannot request that it be removed again.
• To see the decisions behind the design of this process, see this GitHub issue.
• For more on why blacklisting happens and what it means, see Why is this domain blacklisted?

Blacklist removal process

1. File a request for your site/product to be removed from our blacklists by creating a new issue on the SmokeDetector repository.
2. You must demonstrate that:
   • You are an official representative of the website/product in question (proof required)
   • You or any other website administrator are not responsible for past spam on Stack Exchange, and have put measures in place to prevent or condemn future attempts to spam SE.
3. We (Charcoal) will decide whether to initiate the removal process. If the removal of the site is directly contrary to our project goal or harms our spam checks in terms of functionality/performance, we may deny the request.
4. If the blacklisted item has not been caught in any confirmed spam post on Stack Exchange in the last six months, it will be demoted to the watch list.
5. If the item is not caught for another two months, it will be removed from the watch list.
6. If the item is caught again during or after the removal, our standard blacklisting procedures will still apply, and you cannot request to remove the item from our blacklist again.