Bystander Sports Community Guidelines

All opinions, advice or therefore expressed can be changed without prior notice.

Last Updated: August 13, 2026

Welcome to Bystander Sports. We are happy you are here with us!

Our goal is to provide a place where sports fans can discuss games, players, teams, leagues, news, opinions, and the broader sports community.

These Community Guidelines establish the standards expected of anyone who interacts with Bystander Sports, including through comments, forums, submissions, messages, social features, or other interactive areas of the website.

By using interactive features on Bystander Sports, you agree to follow these Guidelines, our Terms of Service, and applicable laws.

1. Be Respectful

Sports discussions can be passionate. Disagreement is welcome; personal attacks are not.

You may criticize a player's performance, a coach's decisions, an owner's choices, a referee's calls, a team's strategy, or an article's opinion.

You may not use our platform to:

• Harass, threaten, intimidate, or repeatedly target another person.

• Direct abusive or degrading comments at other users.

• Encourage others to harass or target someone or any group

• Publish information intended to humiliate, intimidate, or endanger another person.

• Engage in sustained personal attacks.

• Make threats of violence or physical harm.

• Encourage violence against any person or group.

  
  

We may remove content or restrict accounts when conduct becomes abusive, threatening, disruptive, or otherwise inappropriate.

2. No Hate or Discriminatory Abuse

Bystander Sports does not permit content that attacks, dehumanizes, or promotes discrimination or violence against individuals or groups based on protected characteristics.

This includes hateful slurs, dehumanizing statements, threats, or encouragement of violence or discrimination.

Sports rivalries, trash talk, and criticism are allowed when they do not cross into prohibited harassment, threats, or hateful conduct.

3. No Threats or Promotion of Violence

Do not threaten another person, organization, team, player, employee, journalist, official, or other individual with physical harm.

Do not encourage, celebrate, organize, or assist violence.

Credible or serious threats may be removed immediately and may be reported to appropriate authorities when Bystander Sports determines that doing so is appropriate or legally required.

4. Do Not Post Private or Sensitive Information

Do not post another person's private information without authorization.

This includes, but is not limited to:

• Home addresses.

• Personal telephone numbers.

• Private email addresses.

• Financial information.

• Passwords or authentication information.

• Government identification numbers.

• Private photographs or recordings.

• Non-public employment or personal information.

• Other information that could reasonably expose someone to fraud, harassment, stalking, or other harm.

  
  

Do not use Bystander Sports to facilitate stalking, harassment, identity theft, fraud, or other unlawful activity.

5. No Defamation or False Accusations

Users are responsible for the statements they make.

Do not knowingly publish false statements presented as facts about an identifiable person or organization, particularly allegations of criminal conduct, misconduct, abuse, fraud, corruption, or other serious wrongdoing without a legitimate factual basis.

Opinions, commentary, criticism, satire, and clearly identified speculation are different from factual allegations, but users should make that distinction clear.

Bystander Sports may remove content that presents unverified allegations as established facts or that creates an unacceptable legal or safety risk.

Nothing in these Guidelines prevents users from discussing matters of legitimate public interest or expressing opinions protected by applicable law.

6. Respect Copyright and Intellectual Property

Only post material that you have the right to post.

Do not upload, copy, reproduce, distribute, or publish copyrighted photographs, videos, articles, broadcasts, graphics, logos, audio, or other material without appropriate authorization or a lawful basis.

Do not copy entire articles from other websites and post them on Bystander Sports.

When linking to another website, provide appropriate attribution where appropriate and respect that website's terms and intellectual-property rights.

Bystander Sports may remove material when it receives a copyright complaint or otherwise believes that material may infringe another person's intellectual-property rights.

Nothing in these Guidelines grants users permission to use Bystander Sports' trademarks, logos, articles, photographs, graphics, or other proprietary material without authorization.

7. User-Submitted Content

Bystander Sports allows you to submit comments, photographs, videos, articles, opinions, tips, or other material, you remain responsible for the content you submit.

You represent that:

• You have the necessary rights or permission to submit the material.

• Your submission does not knowingly violate another person's rights.

• Your submission does not knowingly violate applicable law.

• Your submission does not contain malicious software or harmful code.

• Your submission complies with these Guidelines and our Terms of Service.

  
  

Do not submit material belonging to someone else while falsely claiming that you created it.

8. No Impersonation

Do not impersonate another person, athlete, coach, team, league, organization, journalist, Bystander Sports employee, or other entity in a manner intended to deceive users.

Parody and satire may be permitted when they are clearly presented as parody or satire and are not being used to defraud, harass, or harm others.

9. No Fraud, Scams, or Deceptive Activity

Do not use Bystander Sports to:

• Conduct scams or fraudulent transactions.

• Phish for passwords or financial information.

• Misrepresent products, services, affiliations, or identities.

• Manipulate users through deceptive schemes.

• Distribute malicious software.

• Promote fraudulent giveaways or contests.

• Attempt to obtain money or property through deception.

  
  

Suspicious activity may be removed and accounts may be restricted without advance notice.

10. Spam and Manipulation

Do not flood the website with repetitive, irrelevant, automated, or promotional content.

Prohibited activity may include:

• Repeatedly posting substantially identical material.

• Automated comment spam.

• Excessive self-promotion.

• Artificially manipulating engagement.

• Creating multiple accounts to evade moderation.

• Posting links primarily for advertising, traffic manipulation, or malicious purposes.

• Coordinating activity intended to disrupt the website or its community.

  
  

Bystander Sports may limit or remove promotional content at its discretion.

11. Sports Betting and Gambling

Where discussion of sports betting is permitted, users must comply with applicable laws.

Do not use Bystander Sports to facilitate illegal gambling, fraudulent betting schemes, or deceptive betting promotions.

Do not present gambling claims as guaranteed financial outcomes.

Bystander Sports does not guarantee the accuracy of betting information, odds, predictions, statistics, or projections unless expressly stated otherwise.

Users are responsible for determining whether gambling or betting activity is lawful in their jurisdiction.

12. Minors and Exploitative Content

Do not use Bystander Sports to exploit, sexualize, threaten, groom, or otherwise harm minors.

Sexual content involving minors is strictly prohibited.

Content involving the exploitation or abuse of minors will be removed and may be reported to appropriate authorities when appropriate or legally required.

13. Nonconsensual Intimate Imagery

Bystander Sports strictly prohibits the posting, uploading, sharing, requesting, threatening to share, or distributing of intimate images or videos of any person without that person's consent.

This prohibition applies whether the material is authentic, digitally altered, manipulated, or generated using artificial intelligence.

Do not use Bystander Sports to threaten someone with the release of intimate images, blackmail or extort someone using intimate material, or encourage another person to distribute such material.

If you believe an intimate image or video of you, your child, or another person has been posted on Bystander Sports without the person's consent, you may report it immediately through our designated Nonconsensual Intimate Imagery Removal Request process. You do not need to have a Bystander Sports account to submit a removal request. Initially submit your request to admin@bystandersports.com.

Bystander Sports will review valid removal requests and take action consistent with applicable law and our policies. Where applicable, Bystander Sports will comply with legal requirements concerning the removal of nonconsensual intimate imagery and known identical copies.

Do not repost, download, share, or redistribute the material while submitting or discussing a report. When possible, provide the location of the content and other information necessary for us to identify it rather than sending or redistributing the intimate material itself.

Content involving the sexual exploitation or abuse of minors is strictly prohibited. Do not upload, request, possess, distribute, or otherwise facilitate such material through Bystander Sports. Reports involving potential exploitation or abuse of a minor may be escalated to appropriate authorities when required or appropriate.

Violations may result in immediate content removal, account suspension or termination, preservation of relevant information, and referral to law enforcement or other appropriate authorities where warranted.

This policy does not limit any rights or remedies available under applicable law.

14. Illegal Activity

Do not use Bystander Sports to plan, facilitate, encourage, or coordinate illegal activity.

This includes attempts to facilitate fraud, violence, hacking, theft, trafficking, or other unlawful conduct.

15. Misleading Content and Manipulated Media

Sports discussion frequently involves rumors, speculation, predictions, and incomplete information.

Users should distinguish between:

• Confirmed information.

• Reported information.

• Personal opinions.

• Predictions.

• Rumors or speculation.

  
  

Do not deliberately present fabricated information as confirmed news in order to deceive users.

Manipulated images, videos, audio, or other media should not be presented as authentic when doing so could reasonably mislead users.

15. Respect Athletes and Public Figures

Athletes, coaches, officials, executives, journalists, and other public figures may be discussed and criticized.

However, being a public figure does not make someone an acceptable target for threats, harassment, knowingly false factual allegations, private-information exposure, or other prohibited conduct.

Criticism of someone's public actions or professional performance is permitted.

16. Content Moderation

Bystander Sports reserves the right, subject to applicable law, to:

• Remove or restrict content.

• Edit or limit visibility of content where appropriate.

• Disable commenting or other interactive features.

• Restrict, suspend, or terminate accounts.

• Limit access to particular features.

• Take action against repeat violations.

• Preserve information when appropriate.

• Cooperate with lawful requests from government authorities or legal processes.

  
  

We may take action even when conduct does not fit neatly into one specific example listed in these Guidelines if we reasonably determine that the conduct threatens the safety, integrity, functionality, or community of Bystander Sports.

We are not required to provide advance notice before removing content or restricting an account when immediate action is reasonably necessary.

17. No Evasion of Moderation

If your account or content is restricted, suspended, or removed, do not attempt to evade the restriction through another account, identity, technical method, or other means.

Attempts to evade moderation may result in additional restrictions.

18. Reporting Violations

If you believe content violates these Guidelines, our Terms of Service, or applicable law, please report it through the reporting mechanism provided by Bystander Sports.

When submitting a report, provide enough information for us to understand the concern.

False, abusive, or knowingly fraudulent reports may themselves violate these Guidelines.

19. Enforcement

Bystander Sports may consider factors including:

• The seriousness of the conduct.

• Whether the conduct appears intentional.

• Whether someone may be at risk of harm.

• Whether the user has previously violated the Guidelines.

• Whether the conduct is repeated.

• The potential legal or operational impact on Bystander Sports.

• Applicable law.

  
  

Enforcement may include warnings, content removal, temporary restrictions, permanent account termination, or other appropriate action.

We do not promise that every violation will be detected or that every report will result in action.

20. Appeals

Where Bystander Sports provides an appeal process, users may request reconsideration of certain moderation decisions.

Appeals should explain why the user believes the decision was incorrect and should include relevant information.

Bystander Sports may establish reasonable procedures and deadlines for appeals.

21. Changes to These Guidelines

Bystander Sports may update these Community Guidelines from time to time.

When changes are made, the updated version may be posted on the website with a revised "Last Updated" date.

Your continued use of interactive features after updated Guidelines become effective constitutes acceptance of the updated Guidelines to the extent permitted by applicable law.

22. No Guarantee of Safety or Legal Protection

These Guidelines are intended to establish community standards and moderation rules. They do not guarantee that Bystander Sports will be free from unlawful, offensive, inaccurate, or harmful content.

Bystander Sports cannot guarantee that every violation will be identified or prevented.

Nothing in these Guidelines is intended to waive rights or obligations that cannot legally be waived or to limit any rights users may have under applicable law.

23. Contact

Questions, concerns, legal notices, copyright complaints, and other requests should be directed through the official contact method provided on the Bystander Sports website.

For legal notices, please clearly identify the nature of the request and provide sufficient information for Bystander Sports to evaluate it.

Bystander Sports reserves the right to interpret and enforce these Community Guidelines in a manner consistent with applicable law.