Most Discord rules channels are walls of text. Twenty-seven numbered rules, three pinned messages, four embeds in different shades of grey, and a final paragraph that begins “by being a member of this server you implicitly agree...”. Nobody reads them. Then a member breaks rule #14 and the mods are surprised. Here's the structure that actually works.
Three rules. That's the limit.
Yes, three. Not seven, not ten — three. Anything past three stops registering. People read the first rule, skim the second, and ignore the rest.
Three rules forces you to think about which rules actually matter. Most rule lists are 80% restatements of one principle (be respectful) plus 20% genuinely-useful policy (no NSFW outside #spoiler-channels). Cut the restatements.
The three that work for almost any community
- Be kind.Disagreements are fine. Personal attacks, slurs, and pile-ons aren't.
- Stay on topic. Each channel has a purpose (in its description). Off-topic chat goes in #general or #off-topic.
- Don't spam.Don't flood. Don't self-promote without permission. Don't mass-DM.
That's 90% of moderation, in three lines. Steal them. Modify them. The structure matters more than the wording.
One concrete example per rule.
Rules without examples are aspirations. Rules with examples are policies. Each rule should be followed by a one-sentence example of what does and doesn't count.
- Be kind.“That argument is bad” is fine. “You're an idiot for thinking that” is not.
- Stay on topic.A meme about today's game in #general — fine. The same meme in #help or #announcements — not.
- Don't spam. Three messages in a row to finish a thought — fine. The same emoji 20 times — not.
Examples kill ambiguity. They also tell newcomers what your community actually feels like. A formal “harassment will result in immediate removal” reads like a corporate handbook. “That argument is bad” is fine, “you're an idiot” isn't” reads like a community.
What happens when a rule is broken.
Most rules channels stop at the rules. The good ones tell you what comes next. Members are less anxious when the consequence ladder is visible — and mods are more consistent when there's a default to deviate from.
Sample escalation
- First time: Public warning in chat.
- Second time: 1-hour timeout. Logged.
- Third time: 24-hour timeout + DM from staff.
- Severe stuff (slurs, doxxing, raids, scams): Immediate ban, no warning.
Two purposes. First, members know the floor (you don't get banned for one bad day). Second, mods don't have to improvise — there's a default they can deviate from when the situation demands it.
One thing they can do right now.
End your rules channel with an action. Either a self-assigning role they should grab, a channel they should read next, or a question they can answer to introduce themselves.
A rules channel without a next-step is a dead end. A rules channel that ends with “React 👋 below to grab the @member role” converts reading into participation. The same member is now active for the cost of one button.
The format you can copy
Here's the entire rules channel template. Replace the examples with ones that fit your community, but keep the structure.
# Rules
Three rules. That's the whole thing.
**1. Be kind.**
Disagreements are fine. Personal attacks aren't.
✅ "That argument is bad."
❌ "You're an idiot for thinking that."
**2. Stay on topic.**
Each channel's description tells you its purpose.
✅ Game discussion in #general.
❌ Same discussion in #help or #announcements.
**3. Don't spam.**
✅ A few messages to finish a thought.
❌ The same emoji 20 times. Mass DMs. Self-promo without permission.
---
## What happens if you break a rule
- First time: public warning.
- Second: 1-hour timeout.
- Third: 24-hour timeout + DM from staff.
- Severe (slurs, doxxing, raids, scams): immediate ban.
---
## Now what?
React 👋 below to grab the @member role — this opens the rest of
the server.
If something's unclear or you've got questions, drop them in
#help. We're real humans, slow to reply but real.
Two things this template does not do
It doesn't list every Discord ToS rule. Your members already agreed to those when they made their accounts. Don't re-litigate.
It doesn't threaten.“ANY VIOLATION OF THESE RULES WILL RESULT IN PERMANENT BAN” is a confession that your community lacks confidence. Calmly stating consequences works better than shouting them.
Why this matters more than people think
A first-time visitor to your server will spend a maximum of 15 seconds on your rules channel. Not 15 minutes. Fifteen seconds. Rules longer than 15 seconds' worth of reading aren't consumed; they're skipped. The fight isn't to write more rules — it's to write fewer rules well enough that they actually land.
Three rules. One example each. A consequence ladder. A next-step. Five paragraphs total. People read all of it. That's the win.