This is the website of the Confederacy of Dunces. The Confederacy name is the tribute to the brilliant novel by John Kennedy Toole and its unforgettable character Ignatius J. Reilly.

The Confederacy is a free open society. Everybody can join the Confederacy at any time simply by following its code of conduct, which consists of three rules:

Rule 1: You should always say what you think, use your own common sense and judgement in all matters, and act in the ways you find appropriate regardless of whether other people like it or not.

Rule 2: You should always respect the right of other Confederacy members to behave in agreement with Rule 1 regardless of whether you like it or not.

Rule 3: You should advertise the Confederacy when you see an opportunity to do so.

Your current membership in the Confederacy of Dunces is automatically revoked if you violate Rule 1 or Rule 2 even for a moment or if you violate Rule 3 for an extended period of time. However, if that happens, you can still rejoin later.

That is all one needs to know about the Confederacy.

FAQ:

Q: Does Rule 1 mean that I should say everything I think every time?

A: Of course not! That would result in an incessant blabber. It merely requires that all you say should be what you really think and that you do not keep silence when you think that the issue is really important and you have an opportunity to voice your opinion on it.

Q: What if two members of the Confederacy are on a colliding course?

A: The only way for two Confederacy members to resolve a disagreement or an argument without any of them losing his/her Confederacy membership is to cooperate on finding a resolution or a course of actions that is satisfactory for both sides and advances both of them towards their goals. Both a hostile attempt to brute-force one's point of view (violation of Rule 2) and a unilateral submission without being really convinced by the other side (violation of Rule 1) will terminate the Confederacy membership immediately, after which the other side will no longer be bound by Rule 2 in the conflict (note that Rule 2 imposes no restrictions whatsoever on one's behaviour toward non-members, and that is intentional.)

Q: How does one recognize a Confederacy member?

A: Confederacy of Dunces has no insignia, regalia, hierarchy, member lists, or anything else like that. Any claims by anybody at any time about the membership in the Confederacy, the opinions supported by the Confederacy, the events sponsored by the Confederacy, etc. may be true or they may be false. The only way the Confederacy members can recognize each other or be recognized by others is by their behavior.