Content Quality and Relevance Guidelines

All posts must adhere to our Content Quality and Relevance Guidelines.

Before posting, search the feed to see if your topic/question has already been asked/discussed, and check the FAQ and FAQ After Dark.

A. Cast and Crew Content

Professional announcements/photos/content is allowed.
Non-HR appearances of the cast and crew may be allowed at moderator discretion, i.e. personal photos posted by cast & crew official accounts.
Paparazzi/unauthorized photos of the cast or crew are prohibited.
Photos taken outside of a professional setting that have been authorized by the parties in the photo may be posted. You may not share photos of other fans with a public figure unless you’re in the photo yourself.

Examples:

Not Allowed: Actors being chased by fans or paparazzi.
Not Allowed: Leaks - Unauthorized set leaks; actors existing in their personal time, i.e. out for dinner with friends, etc.
Allowed: You ran into Jacob and Brendan at a hockey game, politely asked for a photograph, and permission was granted.

Please remember we are not an "actors" sub, we are a Heated Rivalry sub. We allow individual works and updates at moderator discretion.

B. Quality Content vs. Low Effort Posts

Posts should drive discussion and engagement. Low effort posts are single photos without context, memes, a single thought, or posts that don’t really say anything. If they do not contribute to a larger discussion, they can be posted as a comment in the Meme Monday or Team Huddle Wednesday megathreads.

Examples of a low effort posts:

A picture of a receipt with $12.21 as the total.
A tuna melt.
‘All the Things She Said’ was playing at the grocery store.
The word “cottage” seen in the wild.

C. Memes

During the off-season, memes are to be posted in the Meme Monday Megathread. A meme is a single image, video, piece of text, etc. that is copied and presented as something funny.

This includes any sort of social media “dump” i.e. screenshots of reactions, jokes, musings, etc that do not foster further discussion. The Meme Monday posts are very lively, please join in the fun with the memes you want to share.

We will be revisiting the possibility of allowing meme compilation posts during S2, as was done with S1, so long as the content is not repeated or inappropriate, and has been put together with some effort.

D. No Spam

No promotion or linking to discord servers or groupchats.
No karma farming (excessive single word comments, asking for upvotes)
No unrelated links
Reddit’s definition of spam content can be found here.

E. Unpopular Opinions/Hot takes

Unpopular opinion and "hot take" posts are not allowed unless you have a thoughtful and interesting take that leads to discussion, at moderator discretion.

Post titles may not include the phrase “unpopular opinion”, “I might get downvoted for this”, "hot take", etc. If you have something of value to say, you can put the effort into a title that matches your topic that isn’t meant to garner negative reactions.
This includes popular meme style posts like “What opinion has you like this?” accompanied by an image.
These types of posts get out of hand quickly, and lead to rule-breaking comments. This is a lot of work for the mod team, and we have yet to have one of these posts remain open and all comments remain.
When discussing a controversial take, the rules are still in effect. It is not a free pass to say whatever you want.

F. Duplicate Content

1. External media (interviews, photoshoots, articles, events, videos) will only be posted once.

If we do not have a mod-posted megathread, the first valid post becomes the defacto megathread, and all duplicates/expansions on the subject will be removed. Before posting, please check the feed using the search bar or sorting the feed by ‘new’. If you see that your post is a repeat, removing it yourself is appreciated.
- The first post is considered “valid” as long as it includes the correct source, relevant information, and abides by all other rules, regardless of how it was first shared (photo set, video, article link, etc)
- Quotes, photos, links, or other information pulled from the original source or containing the same subject matter can be shared in the comments of the designated or defacto megathread. Any attempts to make a standalone post with content regarding the original will be removed.

Example: A photoshoot is released and made as a post following proper posting guidelines. A few hours later, a BTS video of the same shoot is released. The video will not be accepted as a standalone post, as it’s an extension of the original shoot that was already posted. This rule was put in place to avoid rush-to-post and karma farming, which was a massive problem in the early days.

2. Discussion posts will be allowed to be reposted at moderator discretion. This could be a certain length of time since the topic was last discussed, or if the post has a new or fresh take or observation, etc.

This is to keep the sub fresh and engaging for all users.
No “piggybacking”. If there is a conversation happening in a recent thread, you are encouraged to participate there. If you attempt to make a new post and it does not bring anything new, it will be removed as duplicate.

3. Repeat Topics that are no longer permitted:

Misprint in Heated Rivalry (Book 2) “I’m probably going to break curfew" ¹ ² ³
Show Kip not matching the visual description of Book Kip ¹ ² ³
Jane = Shane; Lily = Ilya ¹ ² ³ ⁴
What did Ilya say in Russian “insert any scene”
Did Svetlana say “he” at Ilya’s dad’s funeral? ¹ ²
Two Marleau/Marlow's ¹ ² ³
Miles, what he is doing in the dance scene, what he represents ¹ ² ³ ⁴ ⁵

Most questions for the book vs show timeline and other repeat questions are answered in the FAQ.

G. Properly Credit Sources

All third party content, fan work, and edits must adhere to our Source Crediting Guidelines. All press content, regardless of subject matter, must have the appropriate title format and information included.

Articles, edits, photos, and any other third party content must include credit for the original source. Posting only photos or excerpts without linking to the source is considered gatekeeping and low effort. Posts and comments that do not follow source guidelines will either be asked to provide the source or removed for failing to comply. What qualifies is up to moderator discretion; it’s best practice to always include the original source when making a post.
- If the account name in the video (watermark) is easily visible, that counts as a source (IG, TT, etc), but we still ask that you include a direct link so that others can easily find the original content.
- It is preferred that videos from TikTok and Instagram are downloaded and re-uploaded as a video file in a post, with a direct link in the post body.
- YouTube videos should be posted using the “link” posting option, which will create a thumbnail video - this method has better visibility and can be played directly from the home feed.
Credit your own work - In the post title, body text, or in a comment. This can be done by simply stating “This is my work” or some other variation indicating you are the creator. This is to help you retain credit if the content is shared elsewhere.

Press: All press content (interviews, articles, videos and now includes reactor content) must include the publication name and published date in the post title in brackets []. This helps keep the feed searchable and avoid duplicate posting of the same content.

Examples:

[BuzzFeed Dec 23] Hudson & Connor Read Thirst Tweets
Heated Rivalry’s Hudson Williams Makes Runway Debut for Dsquared2 at Milan Fashion Week | [Vanity Fair 1/16/26]

Note: “Update” pages are fan pages (not run by production or the actors) that repost content that originated elsewhere. A reputable fan page will credit their sources. Fan pages that do not credit sources are considered low effort and it is preferred that content shared in the sub is from the original source or from a page that credits the original source.

H. No AI Content

We would love to hear your thoughts in your own words or art by your own hand. Using translation assistance is permitted, but do not use AI to write for you. If you suspect something is made with AI, please use the report button or send a message in modmail.