• The protest can only be filed using the protest form on the ESL page. Protests filed by email or IRC are not valid. At most, they can help explain the circumstances.
• The protest must contain exact information on the reason for the protest, e.g. "They cheated" would not be a sufficient explanation. Also, the protest should be comprehensible and carefully worded in good English. It is not reasonable for the according admin to have to read sentences without case sensitivity, punctuation marks etc. It can be expected of each user to comply with the English spelling.
• Insults in any form, no matter how "harmless" they may be, are strictly forbidden in the script and can result in penalty points and should be reported via support ticket
• Protests filed because of suspected cheats must be filed in the following way:

Exact naming of the suspected type of cheat (name and description). Writing something like “He played so well, he must be cheating somehow” is not sufficient. It is necessary to name exactly which player (name/SteamID etc.) is supposed to have cheated at which point of time in the match, if the type of game allows it (e.g. CS, Q3, etc.) Download link and name of demo. Specific times of the demo which look suspicious, along with a reason for each (e.g. why it cannot have been coincidence, luck, hearing or skill)

All accused players must make their demos available unasked, if the game in question supports demos. Should the demos not be available within 48 hours after the processing of the protest has begun, the case is handled as if no demo exists. The protest is then decided in favour of the player or team that filed the protest and assessed and closed without further questions asked.

• Protests concerning ringers must be well-founded and be proven with evidence (IP logs, SteamID screens etc.) Suspicions alone are not enough and will lead to a declination of the protest. As a rule, protests of this kind are only permitted if the game was not played to the end (game-specific exceptions are possible). See also: “Protests due to wrong SteamIDs”.
• Protests due to wrong SteamIDs/pb_guid etc. must be proven by means of a screenshot or similar, which must be added to the protest unasked. Before the game, a screenshot must be made of the console. The screenshot must show all the players with their SteamIDs/pb_guid etc. Screenshots made with other programmes such as HLSW are not valid. Should players have to reconnect during a game, a further screenshot would be sensible. After the match, the players should compare the SteamIDs/pb_guid with the ones on the team sheet.
• Protests because of wrong server settings, if compulsory in the game, must be proven unasked with evidence such as screenshots, server logs, etc. These are however not admitted once the game has begun. Server settings must be checked before the game commences. Reclamations after a game has been played will not be processed. With starting a game, both participants automatically accept the server settings. Should the server settings be changed during a game, this must be proven with the according evidence.
• Protests due to players or teams quitting a match must be proven using evidence such as screenshots and/or demos. Should these not be available when the protest is processed, the protest can be rejected without further reason. The result up until the time of the protest or even a “Default win” is not to be entered in the result form, it must be clearly stated in the protest.
• Protests due to opponents not appearing to a match are not permitted. This must be entered in the result form.
• If the opponent does not hand in screenshots, this is no reason for a protest. Only if a specific reason exists for demanding a screenshot (e.g. suspected cheating) can a protest be filed. Otherwise the protest will, as a rule, be denied.
• Players/Clans that often file unfounded protests may receive penalty points, as this unnecessarily takes up the admins’ time.
• Further addendums / changes of these binding guidelines are possible at any time and are announced in the news.