As part of our commitment to safeguarding and fair play, UKQB events1 are run in accordance with the following code of conduct.
In all UKQB-run settings
This includes tournaments hosted or co-hosted by UKQB, as well as on the official UKQB Discord server.
- All members of UKQB should treat each other, as well as any other attendees at tournaments, with respect.
- UKQB does not tolerate conduct that is directly harmful or dangerous to others. This includes, but is not limited to:
- Sexual harassment of any kind
- Physical assault towards others
- Promoting hate speech (e.g. homophobia, transphobia, racism, ableism)
- Participating in any other kind of discrimination
- Any other type of conduct that is directly dangerous to others
- In general, we would like all members of UKQB to feel safe, included and welcome in the spaces that we run. As such, members should not engage in exclusionary behaviour, which includes, but is not limited to:
- Threats of violence
- Discriminatory jokes and language
- Ridiculing or insulting other participants (in the quizzing context, this may include being rude to a teammate who is perceived to be “underperforming”, or mocking members of another team)
- Generally, if someone asks a participant to stop engaging in a particular behaviour, then they should stop.
- If any member has been harassed, had discriminatory language used against them, or otherwise been made to feel unwelcome, it is strongly encouraged that they either make a report via the safeguarding reporting form or contact the UKQB safeguarding officers directly. No issue is “too small” to be reported, and we would prefer “over-reporting” than incidents going unnoticed.
- If UKQB members violate the code of conduct, the UKQB committee reserves the right to impose sanctions after investigating the misconduct. Any conduct that violates rule 2 will be immediately actionable and may include a permanent tournament ban, the informing of society presidents, and a possible report to police. Any other violations will follow the sanctions policy.
Additionally, during UKQB tournaments
- Players and moderators may not consume or be under the influence of alcohol or any illegal substances while at UKQB tournaments.
- Active players may not consult reference materials or make use of communication devices (such as phones or computers) during tossups or whilst bonuses are being read to their team. Halftime, timeouts, and any post-game period during which protests are discussed and adjudicated are not considered “during gameplay”.
- Notebooks/papers used to keep track of scores and categories are not considered reference material and are allowed at any time. However, if a person is suspected to be reading off previously written reference material in their notebooks, a moderator can request to inspect it.
- Any tournament official (this includes moderators, tournament directors, and any safeguarding officers) may find that a player associated with a team during the tournament has committed misconduct. Misconduct includes disruptive behavior, unethical behavior, any violation of this code of conduct, or other unsporting conduct. Officials may interpret these categories broadly. Teams are responsible for the conduct of all persons associated with that team.
- All instances of misconduct should be reported to the tournament director or one of the designated tournament safeguarding officers, who will relay the incident to the UKQB safeguarding officers if relevant. UKQB also has a dedicated safeguarding reporting form so that individuals can report their concerns directly to the UKQB safeguarding officers; this may be done anonymously if desired.
- Instances of misconduct may result in sanctions determined by the UKQB committee (generally the safeguarding officers and president). In serious incidents, where behaviour directly harmful to others has occurred, the tournament running team may impose immediate sanctions, such as removing a player from the tournament. The sanctions policy can be found in full here.
- Sanctions are not appealable.
When serious wellbeing concerns come up
If we have reason to suspect a UKQB member may be unsafe due to their mental health or otherwise due to observed behaviour, we may take action. Instances of this may include:
- Expressing suicidal ideation with a plan, or stating they have enacted their plan
- Erratic and dangerous behaviour at tournaments or on the server
- Other instances where we believe that a UKQB member may be in crisis
Under such circumstances, to try and keep UKQB members safe, we may directly contact their universities, loved ones, or the authorities in the case where this is necessary.
Cheating statement for online tournaments
UKQB takes cheating at online tournaments very seriously, and we see it as completely equivalent to cheating at an in-person tournament (information about how we deal with cheating at in-person tournaments may be found in our sanctions policy). To this end, we have put the following rules in place:
- All competitors must have a webcam and microphone, both working to a good standard, to play in our events.
- The webcam must be orientated such that both the competitor’s face and their hands are visible.
- Competitors should have at least one hand visible when hearing a tossup being read, and two hands visible if hearing bonuses. If they are unable to fulfil this requirement, competitors should let the tournament director (TD) or the tournament safeguarding officer know why.
- Competitors should not be typing during live tossups or bonuses, unless it is necessary (i.e. typing “buzz” in the chat).
- Competitors agree prior to the event taking place that UKQB reserves the right to record matches for any reason, which could be as part of, but not limited to, the prevention of cheating.
The TD may at various points enter the virtual room. One purpose of this is to ensure that competitors are complying with the above rules and to ensure no wrongdoing is taking place.
Competitors who believe another participant may be cheating are encouraged to report such behaviour to the TD directly or via the cheating reporting form.
UKQB reserves the right to suspend or expel players who are suspected of rule breaking from tournaments. We also reserve the right to draw inferences based on statistical evidence, though this will not form the entire basis of any decision made by a UKQB TD or committee.
After the tournament, any suspected wrongdoing will be referred to members of the UKQB committee, who will review the evidence available and determine any sanctions that may need to be enacted, which could include a ban from UKQB events for a stipulated amount of time. Further details on the UKQB sanctions policy can be found here.
Last updated 21/08/2026