Welcome to SB Nation! We’re glad you’re here.
SB Nation is a network of communities where sports fans from all backgrounds gather to share their passion for the teams they love. We strive to create a fun and welcoming place for everyone to come fan with us. These guidelines help ensure that happens across SB Nation’s communities. Here’s the short version:
- Be respectful in your interactions with contributors and fellow fans.
- Don’t be a jerk, and don’t call other people jerks.
- We’ll remove anything we see that jeopardizes our communities.
- You can help with that. If you see something that doesn’t align with our guidelines, let us know. Flag any comments, FanPosts, or usernames that violate our guidelines so our community managers can review them.
The rules below extend to our SB Nation communities everywhere: in our comments, on social media, and in real life.
We do not allow any of the following:
- Personal attacks: This includes name-calling, insults, threats, hurtful comments about someone’s appearance, voice, or style, and all other forms of attacks. We want our communities to be welcoming and fun. Personal attacks are the opposite of that.
- Attacks on staffers: It’s fine to critique a post, disagree with a take, or point out errors. We draw the line, however, at personal attacks (see above) about writers, editors, moderators, etc.
- Discriminatory or derogatory language: This includes racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, or other forms of discrimination.
- Harassment: This includes, but is not limited to, intimidation; stalking; unwanted photography; inappropriate physical contact; use of sexual or discriminatory imagery, comments, or jokes; and unwelcome sexual attention.
- Wishing harm on athletes: Don’t root for an injury, don’t root for harm to befall a coach or athlete. You can want someone to get fired or released, but please do not hope for bodily harm.
- Misinformation and disinformation: Sharing demonstrably false information about news or world events, beyond the scope of reasonable sports opinion or analysis, can be harmful to our communities. These comments will be removed and may result in a suspension or a ban.
- Illegal activity: Don’t promote, encourage, or make light of any kind of illegal activity, including DUIs, domestic violence, or sexual assault.
- NSFW images and comments: Keep it PG-13, or you will be removed. This includes language and images that are sexual, violent, or generally offensive in nature.
- Excessive profanity: Fans get worked up on game days, and we’re fans, too. We understand that. As a general rule, keep profanity to a minimum. Some communities prohibit profanity, so be sure to review guidelines for the individual communities you participate in.
- Multiple accounts and throwaway emails: These are a signal that you’re not interested in being a productive member of our communities, and we do not allow it.
- Trolling: We know it when we see it, and we’ll remove it. Don’t go to a rival team’s community for the sole purpose of riling up their fans, either. Moreover, you should never publish any private or personally identifiable information. Doxxing is strictly prohibited.
- The “first post” rule: If you break any of these guidelines with your very first post or interaction, it signals to our community managers you’re just here to be disruptive. Violators may be banned, blocked, or removed.
- Spam: We have a zero-tolerance policy on spam, which includes sharing links to illegal game streams or downloads. Spam will be deleted and spammers may be banned, blocked, or removed.
Anyone who doesn’t follow these rules when engaging in our communities will at best be removed from the conversation, and at worst will end up banned from that community. These decisions will be made at the discretion of our community managers and other SB Nation personnel. Community managers and moderators have final say on interpretation of violating our community guidelines, and on all decisions resulting in a warning, suspension, and/or ban.
If you see any of these things happening in our communities, please flag it and it will be reviewed. If you see it happening on social media or elsewhere, flag it to the community manager or team brand managers, who should be listed on our masthead. You can also reach out via our contact form.