The xhb rules, which is going to be one of the first things a new botbr sees when joining the site, do not make it clear enough that it is required to use the irc / discord (let alone that there even IS a discord, which, let's face it, people joining in 2026 do not know how to use IRC). Also, there could be text here that makes the 24 hour vote timer less confusing.

The revision specifically would be: replace "Questions and Contact" with text that says something to the effect of "here is the discord, here is the irc, they are required, voting usually lasts about 30 minutes, and the host will answer any more questions you have there."

its only required for the host to be in chats, the participants can do whatever

Watch me make an alt that never participates in chat.

It should not be required at all. It's a nice social component I didn't know about at first, but that shouldn't change that it is totally optional.

Right, it's not required. This thread isn't about that though it's about the rules text.

I think new users should understand how the battle functions before they decide not to use the chat. The website alone does a confusing job of this.

The thing is: IRC and Discord are external services, that's why we can't formalize them as an integral part of BotB. In my personal Opinion.

it could be a note separate from the rules itself.

it already is a note separate from the rules. It's in the section called "Questions and Contact". I am referring to both the "Rules" section and the "Questions and Contact" section under the XHB collectively as the "rules text". I would like to hear what you want both of these sections to say to improve the UX of the website.

I think it's a good idea to add it, when I was new to the site I joined a few OHBs before joining the Discord server. I knew it existed since there is that "Discord" button on the front page but I didn't know there was so much BotB related activity, especially related to XHBs.