Sanctions policy

As UKQB, we seek to increase the amount of people playing Quizbowl, ensure the safety and happiness of competitors, and foster diversity within the game. As such, incidents may arise where, as UKQB committee, it is decided that action must be taken if individuals are not acting in good faith.

In general, we are not eager to take punitive measures. When we receive reports of possible misconduct, we (generally the safeguarding officers, but other members of committee may be involved in exceptional cases) will thoroughly investigate the situation. This will include things such as:

  • Speaking to all parties, including the person accused so they may recount their own version of events (unless it is something very clearly forbidden, such as saying a slur on the server).
  • Investigating any evidence, eg: online communications, documentation from tournaments.

We (the UKQB safeguarding officers and president) will decide whether, on the balance of probabilities, any misconduct has occurred. If misconduct is found to have occurred, we will then determine what, if any, disciplinary action is warranted, in line with the guidelines below. Once disciplinary action is planned, all committee members are to be notified, in order to prevent communication breakdowns.

Disciplinary action is usually only undertaken after repeated offences, after dialogue with UKQB safeguarding has already occurred. Any long-term bans are considered to be a last-resort option, unless we believe that preventing access of an individual to the UKQB community is crucial for the safety and happiness of all others within.

Sanctioned members will be made aware of the sanctions imposed, including whether a warning is informal or formal. Initial informal warnings do not come with sanctions, but repeated instances of disallowed behaviour will lead to sanctions following the below structure.

When the below disciplinary action structure will be overruled:

The disciplinary action structure will not be heeded when there has been 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
  • Using discriminatory language or promoting hate speech (eg: homophobia, transphobia, racism, ableism)
  • Participating in any other kind of discrimination
  • Any other type of conduct that is directly dangerous to others

In this case, we may engage in any or all of the following:

  • Issue a long-term or permanent ban from the UKQB server, as well as any UKQB hosted tournaments
  • Report the incident to their society president and/or their university
  • In cases where it is warranted, report our concerns to the police

If this occurs at in-person tournaments, the tournament running team (tournament director, safeguarding officers, mods, and any others) may, after notifying UKQB committee, ask the offender to leave the tournament. As there may be immediate danger to others, this does not require UKQB committee approval before being actioned, but UKQB committee asks that tournament staff thoroughly investigate the situation and determine misconduct has actually occurred before taking any action.

Sanction Structure

In general, “repeated incidents” does not necessarily have to be a second incident. Instead, it is usually something that points towards both a pattern of behaviour and an unwillingness to correct that behaviour.

Server behaviour:

This includes any direct violation of server rules (found here), as well as behaviour on the server that we do not feel aligns with its aims (i.e: to be a welcoming community of hobbyists).

  • First incident: formal warning issued by safeguarding officers
    • The status of the warning as “formal” will be indicated in the message, all other warnings are considered informal
  • Repeated incidents: short-term (up to fourteen days) restriction of server access, which may include:
    • Slowmode
    • Loss of access to channels
    • Loss of access to the server entirely
  • Further repeated incident: Depending on the severity of previous incidents, this may result in a long-term or permanent ban from the UKQB server

A long-term ban is generally a last resort, reserved for instances where we do not believe a member can remain in the UKQB server without continually causing distress to others.

Additionally, messages including content that violate the server rules (unclear set content, sexual imagery, etc.) will be deleted by committee members.

If UKQB committee members feel a conversation is becoming too heated, they may temporarily restrict message volume on a channel with slow mode. This may be done without warning. This can be done at their own discretion, but the UKQB committee should be informed.

Tournament violations:

Cheating:

Cheating is generally dealt with on a case-by-case basis, with the process overseen by the UKQB Tournaments Secretary (and not the UKQB Safeguarding Officers, though they are often the initial point of contact). In general, if there is suspicion of cheating, there are primarily two scenarios that may occur:

1) During the tournament itself, a mod or other member of the tournament running team observes and suspects that an individual is cheating.

In this case, the tournament’s running team will inform other moderators at the tournament and inform the UKQB committee, primarily the Tournaments Secretary. Action will only be taken if it is determined by the Tournaments Secretary and the tournament running team, on the balance of probabilities (ie: that it is more likely than not), that cheating has occurred.

The following immediate action may be taken:

  • suspension of an individual player from one or more matches
  • loss of game(s) for a team
  • score or result adjustment
  • expulsion of that participant or an entire team from the tournament

Additionally, after the tournament, the university society that the individual(s) are part of will be informed.

2) Either suspected cheating is reported after a tournament takes place, or suspected cheating is observed but cannot be suitably determined on the balance of probabilities to have occurred during a tournament.

In this case, the process instead typically results in evaluating the severity of it.

  • In cases where it doesn’t affect, eg, a team’s chances of going to ACF Nationals / what team has won a tournament: Usually a verbal warning, as well as informing the university society they are part of;
  • In cases where the results are more serious: As well as the above action, a team’s results may be adjusted, or they may be retroactively disqualified from the tournament.

Similar to behavioural concerns, an ongoing pattern of cheating may result in short-term or long-term restriction from playing in UKQB tournaments, even if they are “minor” instances of cheating.

Behavioural concerns (unsportsmanlike conduct)

  • First incident: warning issued by by safeguarding officers
  • Repeated incidents: short-term restriction from playing in UKQB hosted/co-hosted tournaments
  • Further repeated incident: Depending on the severity of previous incidents, this may result in a long-term or lifetime ban from UKQB tournaments

Similarly, a long-term or lifetime tournament ban is a last resort. We have not had to do this in the past, and this is only reserved for serious instances where a member cannot be trusted to conduct themselves in a safe manner while at tournaments. A ledger will be kept of individuals with a lifetime UKQB tournament ban, which will be circulated among the tournament directors of any UKQB affiliated tournament.

Last updated 21/08/2026