Discord server rules: examples you can copy

Rules are not read. They are referred to — the moment somebody does something and you need a thing to point at that was there before they did it. That is the only job, and it changes what a good rule set looks like: short, specific, and written so that quoting one does not sound absurd.

Why long rule lists fail

Twenty numbered rules feel thorough and are worse than five in every way that matters. Nobody finishes them, so they are not read; they contain edge cases nobody has hit, so they look paranoid; and the more you write, the more likely you are to contradict yourself or promise a process you do not actually follow.

A rule you would feel silly quoting is a rule you will never enforce. Cut it — it is only making the ones you do enforce harder to find.

What actually goes wrong with rule sets, in order of how often:

• Too many. The useful ones get buried. Five to eight is plenty for almost every server.
• Too abstract. "Be respectful" is not enforceable, because everyone thinks they are being respectful. Name the behaviour.
• Copied from a much bigger server. A rule about ban-appeal procedure in a server of forty people is theatre.
• No consequence stated. If a rule does not say roughly what happens, every enforcement looks arbitrary and personal.
• Legal cosplay. "Ignorance of the rules is not an excuse" and a clause about amendments. It is a Discord server.

The shape that works

A rule set that gets used has three parts, and most only have the first:

1. The rules. Five to eight, in plain language, each naming a behaviour rather than a virtue.
2. What happens. One line. "Warnings first, then a timeout, then removal. Serious things skip straight to the end." This is the part that makes enforcement feel like policy instead of mood.
3. Where to go. How to report something, and how to argue with a decision. Both quiet the two loudest complaints a moderator gets.

General community server

1. Treat people like people. No slurs, no harassment, no "it was a joke" afterwards.
2. Keep it roughly SFW. No porn, gore, or anything you would not want on screen at work.
3. No spam. That includes copypasta, mass pings, and posting the same thing in three channels.
4. No advertising or DM sales pitches. Ask a mod first if you think yours is an exception.
5. Arguments go to DMs or get dropped. Do not turn a channel into a thread about one disagreement.
6. Use channels for what they say on the tin.
7. Do not repost drama from other servers here.

What happens: a warning first, then a timeout, then removal. Slurs, harassment, and anything illegal skip straight to removal.

Report something: message any moderator, or open a ticket. If you think a decision was wrong, say so in a ticket — not in a channel.

Gaming server

1. Treat people like people. No slurs, harassment, or targeted abuse.
2. No cheating, and do not post cheats or account-selling here.
3. Do not be a sore loser in voice. Rage is fine, aiming it at someone is not.
4. Keep it roughly SFW.
5. No spam or mass pings. Use the LFG channel to find people, not @everyone.
6. Clips and screenshots go in the media channel.
7. No advertising other servers without asking.

What happens: warning, timeout, removal. Cheating and harassment skip to removal.

Creative server

1. Credit what is not yours. Reposting someone else's work as your own gets you removed.
2. Critique the work, not the person. "This does not read well" — not "you cannot draw".
3. Say what you want. Tag a post as feedback or just-sharing so people know what to give you.
4. Give before you take. If you post for critique, critique someone else too.
5. Nothing NSFW, and nothing generated-and-passed-off-as-hand-made.
6. No commission spam. There is a channel for that.

What happens: warning, timeout, removal. Art theft skips to removal.

Support server

1. Search and read the FAQ before asking. Most questions are already answered.
2. Ask in one place. Do not post the same question in three channels or DM staff.
3. Include what you tried. "It does not work" is not something anyone can help with.
4. Be patient. Everyone here is doing this voluntarily.
5. No DMing staff for support — open a ticket so anyone on the team can pick it up.
6. Do not post tokens, passwords, or anything else private. Redact your screenshots.

What happens: we will usually just ask you to move the message. Repeated spam or abuse of staff gets a timeout, then removal.

Study or co-working server

1. Voice channels are silent co-working. Mute yourself and get on with it.
2. Chat goes in the text channels, not in voice.
3. No sharing paid course material or anything else pirated.
4. Do not do someone else's assignment for them. Explaining is fine.
5. Be quiet, be kind, that is the whole thing.

What happens: a nudge first. It rarely goes further than that here.

Rules that are worth adding, situationally

Not defaults — add them when the situation is real:

• A minimum age. "You must be 13 or older to be here, per Discord's terms." Worth stating explicitly, because you may have to act on it and it is easier when it was written down.
• One account per person. Only matters if you have had alt problems, but it is what lets you act on ban evasion without an argument.
• No screenshots of this server elsewhere. For a private or paid community. Unenforceable in practice; useful as a stated expectation.
• English only in the main channels. Only if moderation genuinely cannot cover other languages. Say why — it reads very differently from a rule with no reason.
• No politics. Fine to have, and be specific about where the line is, because everyone draws it somewhere different.

Where to put them

Their own channel, locked so only staff can post, near the top of the sidebar. You need a stable link to point at, and a rule buried in a scrolling welcome channel is not stable.

• One message, not seven. So you can link to the rules, not to rule four.
• Do not put rules only in the welcome message. It scrolls away and cannot be linked.
• Keep the channel otherwise empty. No reactions, no chat. It is a page.
• If your server is a Community server, Discord's rules screening can require people to accept them before they can post at all — better than any bot equivalent, because it happens before they reach a channel.

Frequently asked

Next

Rules are only half of it — the other half is what happens when one is broken. The moderation guide covers the escalation, the log, and the parts worth automating.