Rules for individual challenges will be posted with the challenge; however, there are some rules which are blanket and cover every challenge, every time. They are:
1) BE NICE. Flaming anyone on this community will get you banned immediately. The severity of the flame dictates the length of the ban. Mods' decisions are final and any attempt to whine about it will lengthen your ban.
2) BE UNDERSTANDING. Mods are human, just like you, and we make mistakes. If you point them out to us nicely, we will correct them as soon as humanly possible. Failure to follow this rule can also result in removal from challenges or (depending on the severity) bannination.
3) SUBMIT ONLY NEW ICONS. This really should go without saying, but don't submit previously made icons to a challenge. It's not fair to everyone else who worked hard to make new submissions, and it destroys the anonymity of the voting because people already know who made certain icons.
4) ONLY ONE USERNAME PER PARTICIPANT, PLEASE. This, too, should go without saying, but it's not fair to have more than one username in the challenge, because it means you get to double up on your submissions. It also causes severe modly confusion.
5) DON'T CHEAT. Cheating takes many forms, but it includes violating rules three and four above, as well as submitting someone else's icons as your own. Cheating is an instantly perma-bannable offense.
6) NO ANIMATIONS ALLOWED. This icontest is based on still icons, so no animated icons are allowed to be submitted as an entry.