Overview and Scope
These Community Rules apply to everyone who uses FindMates and to all content and activity on the service: profiles, usernames, avatars and banners, direct, group, team, and session chats, feed publications, blog comments, server listings and reviews, organizations, teams, game sessions, LFG listings, and integrations.
The Community Rules form part of the Terms of Use and explain their Acceptable Use section in plain language. If these rules and the Terms of Use conflict, the Terms of Use prevail. Game server listings must also follow the Server Rules.
“Content” means anything you post, send, upload, or link on FindMates, including text, images, usernames, profile fields, and listings.
The rules below do not list every possible violation. We apply them to the substance of the behavior, not only to its exact wording, and we consider context, intent, severity, and the rights of everyone involved, including freedom of expression.
Each rule has a permanent link, for example #harassment. When we act under these rules, the decision cites the specific rule and the version that applied at the time.
Respect and Zero Harassment
Treat other players the way you would want to be treated. FindMates is a place to find teammates, not to attack them. Criticism of gameplay is allowed; attacks on people are not.
Harassment and bullying
Do not harass, bully, insult, stalk, or intimidate anyone, and do not organize or take part in group harassment such as pile-ons or brigading.
Examples of violations
- Repeated insults aimed at one player across several chats.
- Asking others to flood a player’s profile or reviews with abuse.
- Continuing to message someone after they have clearly asked you to stop.
Usually not a violation
- Criticizing a player’s gameplay or a decision in a match without personal attacks.
Hate and discrimination
Do not attack, dehumanize, or discriminate against people based on race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, gender or gender identity, sexual orientation, age, or disability. This includes slurs, hateful symbols, and stereotypes used to demean.
Examples of violations
- Attacking a player because of their nationality, religion, or disability.
- Using a slur or a hateful symbol in a username, avatar, or message.
Usually not a violation
- Discussing or condemning discrimination without targeting anyone.
Threats and dangerous conduct
Do not threaten violence or other serious harm against a person, their family, or their property, and do not encourage others to do so.
Examples of violations
- Threatening to find and hurt a player after a match.
- Threatening to make a false emergency report about someone.
Usually not a violation
- Clearly in-game references, such as planning a raid inside a game.
Politics, Religion, and Extremism
FindMates is about gaming and community, not political or ideological conflict. This section limits campaigning, propaganda, and extremism; it does not stop you from having views or mentioning who you are.
Political or religious campaigning
Do not use FindMates to campaign for or against political parties, candidates, governments, or movements, to spread political or religious propaganda, to recruit people to political or religious causes, or to deliberately provoke political or ideological conflict.
Examples of violations
- Posting election campaign material in group chats or LFG listings.
- Repeatedly messaging players to urge them to join a political or religious movement.
Usually not a violation
- A respectful personal conversation that the participants have chosen to have.
- Mentioning your religion, nationality, or views on your own profile without targeting others.
Terrorism and violent extremism
Do not share terrorist content, do not praise or support terrorist or violent extremist organizations or attacks, and do not recruit for them.
Examples of violations
- Sharing propaganda material from a terrorist organization.
- Using the name or symbol of a violent extremist group for a team or organization.
Usually not a violation
- News, historical discussion, or condemnation that does not promote the group or the attack.
No Cheating or Cheat Promotion
Fair play is the core of a good gaming community. We do not allow cheating or anything that helps others cheat.
Cheats and unfair-advantage tools
Do not promote, advertise, sell, share, distribute, or link cheats, hacks, exploits, aimbots, wallhacks, injectors, modified clients, or similar tools designed to gain an unfair advantage, and do not teach or recruit others to cheat.
Examples of violations
- A link to a cheat download in a chat or on a profile.
- An LFG listing looking for players to abuse an exploit together.
Usually not a violation
- Discussing a known bug in order to report it to the developer.
Boosting and account trading
Do not offer, advertise, or buy paid boosting or rank manipulation, and do not sell, buy, or share game accounts where this violates the game’s terms of service.
Examples of violations
- Offering to raise someone’s rank for money by playing on their account.
- Advertising game accounts for sale.
No Spam, Scams, or Unsolicited Advertising
Keep FindMates useful by not flooding it with noise, unwanted promotion, or deception.
Spam and unsolicited advertising
Do not send repeated, mass, or automated messages, listings, requests, or reviews, and do not post unsolicited advertising, referral or link farming, or aggressive repetitive self-promotion.
Examples of violations
- The same advertisement posted in several chats.
- Sending friend requests in bulk to promote a channel.
Usually not a violation
- Mentioning your server or stream once where it is relevant to the conversation.
Fraud and phishing
Do not deceive people to obtain money, items, accounts, login credentials, or personal information, including through fake pages, fake giveaways, or false payment offers.
Examples of violations
- A fake sign-in page imitating Steam or FindMates.
- A “free skins” giveaway that asks for account credentials.
Authentic Identity and Fair Play
Be yourself and interact honestly. Manipulation breaks trust for everyone.
Impersonation
Do not pretend to be another person, creator, team, organization, game publisher, server, brand, or FindMates staff, and do not misrepresent who you are in a way that misleads others.
Examples of violations
- A profile using another player’s name and avatar.
- A profile or message claiming to be FindMates staff.
Manipulation of ratings and statistics
Do not manipulate statistics, reviews, ratings, votes, reputation, rankings, or matchmaking, including by coordinating fake or paid reviews or votes.
Examples of violations
- Asking friends to leave fake negative reviews on a competing server.
- Buying votes for a server listing.
Multiple accounts and evasion
Do not use multiple accounts to deceive or abuse others or to manipulate the service, and do not create or use another account to evade a restriction, a ban, or a personal block.
Examples of violations
- Creating a new account to keep messaging someone who blocked you.
- Using a second account after your main account was banned.
No Illegal or Harmful Content
Some content is never allowed, regardless of context. Avatars, banners, and server images are also checked automatically before publication, as described in How Moderation Works.
Sexual content
Do not post pornographic or sexually explicit content in public or shared spaces such as profiles, images, publications, comments, listings, or group chats, and do not send sexual messages or explicit media to anyone who has not clearly agreed to receive them. Sexual content involving minors is covered by the Child safety rule.
Examples of violations
- An unsolicited explicit image in a direct chat.
- A sexually explicit avatar or banner.
Illegal and violent content
Do not post illegal content, offers of illegal goods or services, content that promotes or glorifies serious real-world violence, or gore and graphic violence.
Examples of violations
- Real footage of a violent attack shared to shock others.
- Offers to sell weapons, drugs, or other illegal goods.
Usually not a violation
- Screenshots and clips of ordinary in-game combat without realistic gore.
Suicide and self-harm
Do not post content that promotes, glorifies, or gives instructions for suicide or self-harm, and do not encourage or pressure anyone to harm themselves.
Examples of violations
- Telling a player to kill themselves.
- Sharing instructions for self-harm.
Usually not a violation
- Talking about your own difficulties or asking for help. If you or someone else is in immediate danger, contact local emergency services.
Malware and security threats
Do not share malware, malicious links, stolen credentials or account data, or instructions intended to compromise users, accounts, or systems.
Examples of violations
- A “game mod” download that installs a password stealer.
- Posting a list of leaked account logins.
Piracy and rights infringement
Do not share pirated games or software, cracks, licence-bypass tools, or other content that infringes someone else’s copyright, trademark, or other rights.
Examples of violations
- A link to a cracked copy of a paid game.
- Uploading someone else’s artwork as your banner without permission.
Chat and Media Conduct
The same rules apply in direct, group, team, and session chats, uploads, and shared links as everywhere else on FindMates.
Chat and media conduct
Do not send unsolicited disturbing media, and do not use messages, uploads, or links to harass, threaten, or expose others or to distribute prohibited content or spam. Make sure the links and media you share are safe.
Examples of violations
- Sending a shock image to a player after a disagreement.
- Sharing a link to prohibited content disguised as a game guide.
Privacy and Safety
Protect other players’ privacy, and be careful with the personal details you share yourself. If you feel unsafe, use the blocking and reporting tools and contact support.
Disclosure of personal data
Do not share another person’s private or identifying information without their consent (doxxing), such as their real name, address, phone number, school or workplace, private photos, or account details, and do not repost or leak private conversations to harass or pressure someone.
Examples of violations
- Publishing someone’s address or phone number without consent.
- Posting screenshots of a private chat to shame its participant.
Usually not a violation
- Sending messages to FindMates through the report tool as evidence.
Minors and Age Safety
You must be at least 16 years old to use FindMates. Some users are under 18, and their safety is a priority.
We have zero tolerance for any sexual content involving minors, and we report it to the competent authorities.
- Report grooming, exploitation, or unsafe behavior toward minors immediately using the Child safety reason. Such reports are reviewed with priority.
Child safety
Do not sexualize, exploit, groom, or endanger minors in any way, and do not contact minors for sexual or otherwise inappropriate purposes. This includes sexual content involving minors, whether real, drawn, or generated.
Examples of violations
- Trying to involve a minor in a sexual conversation.
- Asking a minor to move to another app and keep the conversation secret.
Game Data and Integrations
Connected accounts and statistics are meant to help you find teammates, not to mislead or track people.
Game data and integrations
Do not fake or misrepresent your game statistics, ranks, or achievements, do not use integrations or profile data to stalk or track others, and respect the terms of connected platforms such as Steam, Discord, and game publishers.
Examples of violations
- Editing a screenshot to show a higher rank in an LFG listing.
- Using linked game data to follow a player across platforms after they blocked you.
Reporting Violations
Verified accounts can report profiles, messages and conversations, publications, blog articles and comments, server listings and reviews, organizations, teams, game sessions, and LFG listings with the Report action. Guests and unverified accounts can contact support.
Choose the reason that best describes the problem and add any details that help. The report form shows which evidence is attached. The reported person is not told who reported them.
Submitting a report does not block anyone. After reporting a profile or direct correspondence, you can separately confirm a personal block. You control unblocking in settings; the decision on the report does not change it.
- Reports about threats and child safety are reviewed with priority.
- The number of reports never confirms a violation or applies a measure by itself.
- A report cannot be supplemented after submission. For a different reason, submit a separate report.
Misuse of reporting
Report only in good faith. Do not submit reports you know to be false, use reports to harass someone, or flood the reporting system with repetitive or manifestly unfounded reports.
Examples of violations
- Reporting a rival dozens of times for things they did not do.
- Coordinating with others to mass-report a player.
Usually not a violation
- An honest report that turns out to be unfounded.
How Moderation Works
We learn about possible violations from user reports, legal notices, and our own checks. Decisions on reports are made by people: FindMates moderators and administrators. Cases that need legal review are handled only by administrators.
Reviewers assess the evidence attached to the report, such as the selected messages and limited nearby context. They do not get access to the full chat history. If the evidence is insufficient, the case is closed without a measure.
Some checks are automated. Avatars, banners, and images uploaded by server owners are checked by an automated image-moderation system, with OpenAI acting as our service provider, before they are published. Images flagged in a prohibited category are not published; ordinary non-graphic in-game violence is not blocked. If an image is rejected, you see a general result and can upload a different one.
We also use automated security protections such as rate limits and bot checks. Automated systems do not ban, mute, or otherwise sanction accounts.
Measures We May Apply
If a violation is confirmed, we choose a measure that is proportionate to its severity, its consequences, and the account’s history. Repeated violations lead to stronger measures, and a single serious violation, such as a credible threat, child sexual exploitation, or terrorist content, can lead to a ban.
- Warning: a recorded notice without other restrictions.
- Hiding content: a publication, comment, review, profile field, or image is hidden.
- Suspension: a server listing, organization, team, game session, or LFG listing is suspended.
- Mute: the account cannot send messages or publish content, for a set period or permanently.
- Ban: access to the account is restricted, for a set period or permanently, and its active sessions are ended.
Decisions and Appeals
When we apply a measure, the affected user receives a decision notice on the site and by email. It states the measure and its duration, the affected content or object, the rule and its version or the legal basis, a decision reference, and how to appeal. It does not reveal who reported you or their private evidence. The person who reported receives a general outcome without the details of any measure.
The affected user and the reporter can each file one appeal against a decision from the decisions page or My reports. The deadline is fixed when the decision is made: 30 days for moderation decisions and 180 days for decisions after legal review. If you cannot access your account, contact support with the decision reference.
An appeal is reviewed by a different staff member than the original decision, unless an administrator records a justified exception. Filing an appeal does not suspend the measure. If the appeal succeeds, the measures linked to that decision are reversed; deleted content cannot always be restored.
You may also refer a dispute to an out-of-court dispute settlement body certified under the EU Digital Services Act, or to a court. These options do not require you to use our internal appeal first.
We may cooperate with law enforcement where the law requires it. A suspension for a rules violation does not create a refund right, except where mandatory law requires otherwise; see the Refund Policy.
Changes and Contact
We may update these rules. The current version and effective date are shown at the top of this page, and each decision cites the version that applied at the time.
Questions about these rules can be sent to support{'@'}findmates.io.