A Friendly reminder of the Steam rules.

[MrDrPink]

The posting of the Rules & Tips for Steam Community: Contributing Positivity and Avoiding Bans can be found here.

About The Moderators

Power Hungry Monsters!

Despite contrary belief, Moderators do not enjoy banning. They are not power hungry monsters. They are Steam users like the rest of us who assist Valve in keeping the community clean and focused in a positive direction.

A Moderator is stalking me, this is abuse!

If you happen to be reported frequently and a moderator is actively working on reported content, you may encounter the same moderator(s) dealing with those actions. There is too much going on for a moderator to focus his/her energy on you and your specific behavior.

Claims of Moderator abuse are not taken lightly and should be brought up to Steam Support.

Moderators are censoring me! My freedom of speech has been violated!

Keep in mind these are private forums owned by a company, any content that is rule breaking may be removed (ie. Politics, Religion, Fighting, Spam, Duplicate topics). In addition, topics such as EULA or SSA questions, Refunds, Account errors, should all be addressed to Steam Support and will be closed. Moderators reserve the right to close or delete any topic as they see fit in accordance with the rules.

General Rules

Do not do any of the following:

• Flame or insult other members
  
• Bypass any filters
  
• Abuse or encourage abuse of the Reputation, or Post Reporting Systems
  
• Post personally identifiable information (i.e. name, address, email, phone number, etc.)
  
• Bump threads
  
• Derail a thread's topic
  
• Post links to phishing sites
  
• Post spam (i.e. +1, 10char, rickrolls) or Re-post Closed, Modified, Deleted Content
  
• Repetitively post in the incorrect forum (example: trade requests belong in trading forum)
  
• Openly argue with a moderator

Flame or Insult Other Members

This statement is pretty straightforward. Flaming/insulting is usually blatant. If you call someone an idiot or stupid, belittle them for not knowing something, personally attack them in any form, then it can be considered insulting/flaming/trolling. You will likely get a temp ban for such behaviour.

Originally posted by Example:

Works fine for me, maybe you're just an idiot.

Bypass Word or URL Filters

If you intentionally go around the word filter or URL's filter, the topic may be modified, deleted or closed. You may also be temporarily banned, depending on the severity of the actions.

Originally posted by Example:

You're a d0uchebag.

Abuse or encourage abuse of the Reputation, or Post Reporting Systems
Encouraging others to mass-report a topic or reply. Spamming the report button is not helpful. Only use these buttons to help report bad behaviour... one report per post is enough.

Post Personally Identifiable Information

Nobody likes having personal information exposed. Please don't do this. If you're providing information to report a cheater, for example, do so via the Report Violation link located on their Steam Profile, and not within Discussions. Doing so will result in topic deletion, and a possible ban.

Bump Threads

If you aren't receiving replies to a topic, this is not a reason to bump it. Replying with "bump", "Up", or any consecutive posting to keep it active may result in a topic being locked or deleted. If the behavior continues, a temporary ban.

Derail a Thread

This is easy. Keep it related to the topic, or it will be considered spam and will be deleted.

Post Links to Phishing Sites

If you discover a link to a phishing site, don't post it so that others may accidentally click it, but instead privately report it to a moderator or Steam Support so that it can be added to the URL filter. Note: If you intentionally post links, you will most likely be permanently banned from discussions, as well as banned from the Steam Community.

Post Spam (i.e. +1, 10char, rickrolls) or Re-post Closed, Modified, Deleted Content

Don't spam. It will be deleted or closed. This includes reaction images and video replies. If your topic is deleted, posting a new one will only result in a ban. To discuss why something was closed or deleted, attempt to contact an online moderator, or Steam Support.

Repetitively Post in the Incorrect Forum

Look at the hub you're posting in, and make sure it's correct before creating a topic; Just because a forum has less activity than others is not an excuse to invade other forums with irrelevant topics.

When trading, please look for stickies at the top of each Game Hub for an appropriate place to do so. Currently trading topics are frowned upon, and will likely be deleted. The exceptions are when a Hub contains a trading subforum. You may be banned for trading elsewhere, especially if there is a pinned topic stating NO TRADING.

Openly Argue with a Moderator

If you disagree with a moderator's decision, do not to create a new topic complaining about it. This will only result in one of the previous two rules being broken. The best response is to send a private message either through Steam, an e-mail to [e-mail], or the Steam forums to discuss it calmly. An angry PM will do no good. Think about what you really want out of the situation before doing anything. Moderators are reasonable, depending on the rule violation... but approaching it with anger, is not going to help.

Part 2: Off-Limit Topics and Replies

Do not post any topics/replies containing the following:

• Porn, inappropriate, offensive content, warez or leaked content, anything else not safe for work
  
• Any discussion of piracy will result in a permanent ban from the Steam Community
  
• Cheating, hacking, game exploits
  
• Threats of violence or harassment, even as a joke
  
• Post copyrighted material such as magazine scans
  
• Soliciting, begging, auctioning, selling, advertising, referrals, racism, discrimination
  
• Drugs, alcohol
  
• Religious, political, and other “prone to huge arguments” threads

Porn, inappropriate or offensive content, warez or leaked content or anything else not safe for work

Most of these go without saying. Don't post them, period. No links, images, youtube videos.

Any discussion of piracy will result in a permanent ban from the Steam Community

Any discussion hinting at you, or others being involved in pirating of any kind, will result in a permanent ban. This includes ROM's, Emulation, game cracks, copying content from other games, bypassing DRM, etc. Do not admit, advocate, or discuss any form of piracy of anything, at all. Period.

Cheating, hacking, game exploits or modifiers

Do not link to, ask for, or provide links, videos on how to do any of these things. This does not include in-game cheat codes such as console commands like sv_cheats.

Threats of violence or harassment, even as a joke

Violent threats are not taken lightly. Telling someone to kill themselves is highly inappropriate and will result in a ban. Harassing others, saying you wish death upon them or would kill them, is also extremely detrimental and will provide you with some time off.

Post copyrighted material such as magazine scans

Pretty straight forward.

Soliciting, begging, auctioning, selling, advertising, referrals, racism, discrimination

Long list of keywords, and they're all going to result in topic deletions or bans. This includes any of the following:

• Begging/Asking others to gift you a game or key
  
• Linking to raffles or giveaways
  
• Advertising groups, websites, games, products
  
• Referral or affiliate links, including Amazon, GMG, etc
  
• Any form of racism/discrimination is prohibited, even if it's a joke.

Drugs, alcohol

Don't talk about them, and don't post under the influence to talk about being so.

Religious, political, and other “prone to huge arguments" threads

Any topic that becomes a huge argument is likely to be closed or deleted. If something is created that is politically driven, religious in nature, it will be deleted or closed regardless of the direction it takes.

Part 3: No Backseat Moderating

Let the Moderators Do the Moderating

Backseat moderating is when people who are not moderators try to enforce the forum rules.

An example: Suggesting a better place to post is a okay, however, anything else becomes backseat moderating.

Often times it seems like the easiest thing to do, is to tell someone what they are doing wrong. This can be detrimental to the community. If you believe a rule is violated, please report it. For reporting, see the next section.

Unwritten Rules of Conduct

Within any online community there are a set of common sense rules that should always be followed. Typically they fall into multiple categories of the previous sets of rules.

Unwritten Rules

Do not post any of the following:

• Trolling, Griefing
  
• Flamebaiting, or intentionally disagreeing with others to cause an argument
  
• Rage posting (Example: "This game sucks, I demand a refund")
  
• Being intentionally unhelpful, providing wrong information (Also considered Trolling)
  
• Posting of non-constructive things/reviews (Example: "DO NOT BUY! Crap.")
  
• Demanding refunds
  
• Petition topics
  
• DO NOT POST IN ALL CAPS
  
• Naming and shaming of any kind
  
• Exposing supposed cheaters (Report them through Steam profiles or in-game reports)
  
• Criticizing others for having an opinion you disagree with
  
• Support Ticket or account related questions (Don't post personal account info)
  
• VAC Bans are permanent: Do not ask to be unbanned

Offensive usernames may result in a ban until changed to something appropriate

Naming and Shaming

Why is naming and shaming not allowed?

The Steam Community is not a place to do this. One reason is that claims can be faked. Anyone could potentially create false information about another user and encourage report abuse based on that information.

Instead of creating naming and shaming topics, use the provided “Report Violation” functionality located on a users profile to report suspected scamming or other abuse.

Some additional notes:

• More profile reports do not make them more true. A scammer, etc. will be dealt with once evaluated by Valve.
  
• Only create legitimate reports. Clogging up the system, whether that be in Game Hubs or Discussions by creating false/excessive reports, is just making the system less effective. Plus it can be considered spam.

For more information about scammers and reporting them, please see the Support FAQ regarding Trade Scams.

Bans, Repeat Offenders & Ban Evasion

Bans

There are currently a few different types of bans, depending on the nature of the rules violated:

• Warning (No ban)
  
• 1 day ban
  
• 3 day ban
  
• 1 week ban
  
• 1 month ban
  
• Permanent (hub) ban
  
• Community (global) ban

So I get 4 chances before a permanent ban?

No, this list only illustrates the types of bans used on these Discussions; Certain offenses (including, but not limited to, discussing piracy) will receive permanent bans immediately.
On the other hand a warning might be given out depending on the situation.

What's the difference between a Permanent ban and a Community ban?

A Permanent ban will block you from using the Discussions area, a Community ban will block most of the Community features except chat, accepting/denying invites and joining groups.

What is a repeat offender?

Repeat offenders are people who continue to break the above rules and guidelines after being warned or previously banned. This will result in a ban from the Steam Community.

Ban Evasion

Creating alternate accounts to get around this will result in a Community ban as well.

Closing Notes

Things To Remember

Please keep in mind that anything done within the Steam Community must abide by the Steam Subscriber Agreement and the Online Rules and Conduct.

Note: Any moderator has the ability to ban a user for violating the rules at their discretion. If they believe something has fallen into one of the categorized rules, or will become problematic, actions may be taken.

We are all human beings: Humans make mistakes

If you truly believe that actions taken against you were not justified after reading the above, you can contact Steam Support, or try reaching out to a moderator or developer to discuss it. You can easily get in touch with the person that instated the ban to replying to the ban form (an overview is found here).

If you encounter problematic moderation, you're welcome to contact Steam Support, however it's typically easier to find and speak with a moderator (or here) after reviewing your own actions in accordance with the rules.