New rule restricting discussions about cheats and exploits

[Leslie Clarke]

A new rule has been put in place, restricting posts about cheats and exploits:

Do not post instructions on exploits or cheats. The less a cheat / exploit is spread the better; it’s therefore against the rules to post (links to) cheats or instructions for performing exploits. This rule does not apply to patched exploits or methods of cheating, and it’s also OK to make informative posts as long as it’s kept vague enough that one couldn’t reproduce the exploit. Exploits / methods of cheating should be responsibly disclosed to TF2 Classic’s developers and/or, if applicable, Valve. This rule applies to all exploits and cheats regardless of whether such a responsible disclosure has been made.

As always, the complete rule-set can be read here.

Motivation for adding this rule

The proliferation of players who cheat using cheating-software or by abusing exploits in the game negatively impacts the game. It’s therefore been deemed undesirable for this forum to host instructions or links to methods for exploiting or cheating.

With that said, there’s a public interest in knowing that there are unpatched exploits or cheats around, and also some utility to knowing how a particular cheat / exploit works so players can know what to look out for. As such, discussion of cheats and exploits is restricted, not outright banned, so long as no actual instructions are provided. Patched cheats and exploits are fine to discuss. Advertising cheating-software (“Get good, get LMAO-box” ) is prohibited under the anti-spam rule.

Additional notes

If you’ve discovered a method of cheating or exploiting the game, you ought to report it to either Eminoma (TF2 Classic’s developers) or to Valve, whichever is applicable. Responsible disclosure should be made through private communication (e.g. email; the game’s developers can be reached via [e-mail]) rather than public forums (e.g. the official issue-tracker).

Sometimes disclosures are accompanied with a warning that failure to act will result in a public disclosure, which is usually provided in order to make those responsible understand the gravity of the situation. The new rule applies to posts about exploits and cheats regardless of whether the developers have been contacted.