How this place stays worth reading
Anti-toxic by design.
Most fan sites follow the same arc: loud, then mean, then empty. The fans who knew the depth chart stop posting, and the comments turn into something nobody reads on purpose. AppStateFans.com was built the other way around. The tools that keep the argument about the team — and not about each other — are part of how the site works, not something bolted on after it went bad.
The short version
Argue about the team, not the person. Everything below makes that the easy choice.
Blind moderation
Nobody gets judged by who complained.
- When you report something, the person you reported never finds out it was you — not in the notice they get, not anywhere on the site.
- Moderators don’t see who filed a report either. They see what was reported, the category, and how often that account has broken the rules in the last 90 days. No names means no grudges and no favorites.
- Notices about moderation never name the moderator who acted.
A block that actually blocks
Blocking someone isn’t a mute button. It’s a wall, and it works in both directions.
- Once either of you blocks the other, neither of you sees the other’s posts, threads or comments — in the feeds, on the boards, or under anything.
- No messages either way, and any conversation you already had drops out of your inbox.
- No replies to each other, no reactions, no upvotes, no quoting — and no notifications from each other, @mentions included.
- The friendship ends, and neither of you can send a new request.
- If someone else quotes a person you’ve blocked, that quote is folded away behind a Show button, so the rest of their reply still makes sense.
- Moderators and staff can’t be blocked. The people enforcing the rules stay visible to everyone.
Reports a person reads
Every report ends up in front of a moderator.
- Posts, comments, messages and profiles all have a 🚩 Report button. Say what’s wrong — hate speech, harassment, threats, spam and so on — and add any context.
- An AI reads each report first and suggests how serious it is, so the worst lands at the top of the queue. That’s all it does: a moderator reads the report, can change the severity, and makes the call.
- Reports from verified members move up the queue.
- Reporting the same thing twice doesn’t count double. One clear report is enough.
- Report a comment from someone without an account and it comes down until a moderator has looked at it.
Consequences that stick
A penalty here actually stops someone.
- When a moderator upholds a report, the content comes down and a penalty follows. It climbs with how serious it was and with the account’s record over the last 90 days: a warning, then a 48-hour restriction, then a mute for a week or a month, and a ban for the worst repeat offenders.
- Restricted means you can still comment and react, but not start posts or threads, upload photos or send messages. Muted means read-only. Banned means read-only for good — and the most serious bans also block the internet connection the account used.
- Hate speech, slurs, threats and doxxing skip the warning and start at a mute.
- You’re told what happened, why, and until when. You’re never told who reported you.
- Think we got one wrong? Write to us from the contact page. An administrator reviews it and can lift a penalty early. The exact ladder is in the Moderation Policy.
Verified accounts
A real person behind the account, without anyone asking for an ID.
- Verify by linking a Google, Facebook or X account — or, if you don’t use any of those, ask a moderator to verify you by hand. The badge on your profile says which.
- Until an account is verified it can post, start threads and comment — up to 5 new posts or threads a day and 50 comments a day — but it can’t put links in what it writes or message fans who aren’t its friends, and every photo it uploads is checked by a moderator first.
- Joining GameDay HQ takes a verified account as well as 100 APP Points.
- Why bother? Throwaway accounts are how banned trolls come back. Verification makes a new account cost something.
- A separate badge for Yosef Club members is coming soon.
Friend requests need a yes
Nobody gets into your friends-only posts by clicking a button.
- Every friend request waits for the other person to accept it. Ignore one and nothing happens.
No downvote button
Disagreement isn’t a scoreboard.
- Threads can be upvoted, never downvoted. A downvote button quietly teaches people to post the safe opinion.
- Bad take? Reply to it, or scroll on. Breaks a rule? Report it.
Earn your way in
The busiest room on game day isn’t open to an account made that morning.
- GameDay HQ — the organized game-day crowd — opens at 100 APP Points and a verified account. Points come from taking part over time, so a brand-new account can’t walk straight in at kickoff.
- How points are earned is on APP Points & Mountain Money.
Every photo gets checked
Images are looked at before anyone else sees them.
- Every uploaded image is scanned automatically. Images that are very likely explicit or violent are refused; borderline ones wait for a moderator.
- Photos from unverified accounts, and from verified accounts under 100 APP Points, are approved by a moderator before they appear.
- GIFs come from Giphy, filtered to PG-13.
Guests get the strictest rules
No account means more checks, not fewer.
- People without an account can comment on what they can read — behind a bot check, a ban on throwaway email addresses, no links, email addresses or phone numbers, rate limits, and no posting the same text twice.
- An AI screen reads each guest comment against the post it answers and holds anything it isn’t sure about for a moderator. If the screen can’t run, the comment waits.
- A guest’s comments wait for a moderator until they confirm their email and have a few comments approved.
Players and recruits are people
Most of the people we talk about are college students.
- Criticize the performance — that’s fair game and always has been. Character, family, appearance and mental health are not, and neither are recruits who haven’t even arrived yet.
- The full standard is in the Community Guidelines.
Rivals welcome, same rules
A rivalry is only fun with someone on the other side of it.
- Rival Row is a real home for fans of other programs, not a containment zone. Trash talk is welcome. The line is the same everywhere: the team, not the person.
What we won’t do
- Tell anyone who reported them.
- Sell a way around the rules. There’s no paid badge and no paid pass.
- Describe a rule here that the site doesn’t enforce. If how it works changes, this page changes with it.