1. Ban AppealsYou make a helpful suggestion, although we do let users know that bans should be discussed only with a staff member on the website. The rules state it specifically, here:
There is a quote describing discussion of bans in the Forum Guidelines, as well, except with the updating of the website, we've been having an issue with that page. When a user contacts a staff member regarding their ban, in most cases, it's either a matter of not knowing what it is they did wrong (due to not reading the rules) or trying to convince staff that they shouldn't be banned. If they feel as though the punishment was unfair, they will usually tell us so. Discussion of bans, in general, should be kept private. In terms of contacting an Admin if they feel unsatisfied, this wouldn't be an effective action, believe it or not. The way the Staff page is set up is so that moderators will handle the majority of reports, to prevent the Admins from having pages filled with a large amount of messages. We ask that a user sends in a report or discusses their ban with ONE staff member-- there's no need to go around and message more than one staff member if your case has already been reviewed. Often times, trying to contact an Admin once a Moderator has already looked over the report/message from a user, you are going to get the same reply. While I like how you're thinking of a way to help those who have become banned, all this would do is add clutter to Admin inboxes and not help the user resolve their issue. Of course, if they feel as though a moderator hasn't properly looked over their report, that is one thing-- but simply because they found their request "uneffective" (which most will be, considering that there is always a good reason for placing a ban) is not a very valid reason to go message multiple staff, at least from what I see.
- Discussion Of Bans And Reports
If you are unhappy with a Mod's actions or warnings within the game, or possibly a member breaking the rules, you should contact the Administrators or Mods here on the site and explain your situation via a PM form.
This is a nice idea and would certainly be helpful for those confused about their ban. The only issue I would see here is if a user is also banned on the forum, preventing them to see such. I don't know how difficult it would be to continue to make sanctions or for something like this to be implemented, although I do find this idea interesting. We used to have bans set up to where a user would be shown the time remaining in-game, although I'm not certain if we will re-implement this.
2. Sanctions/Warnings section
3. "Report to moderator" function
Of course, if they feel as though a moderator hasn't properly looked over their report, that is one thing-- but simply because they found their request "uneffective" (which most will be, considering that there is always a good reason for placing a ban) is not a very valid reason to go message multiple staff, at least from what I see.
No, if you notice a locked thread that isn't locked and has been sitting around for a while (not on the same day; just because a thread is not locked right away doesn't mean we won't get to it c:), we would prefer if you Private Message a staff member on the forum with a link to the thread. From there, the staffer receiving the message will look over the thread and decide whether or not it needs to be locked. The report button is used more for content that is actually "report" worthy (such as foul language in a post). PM is usually the best way to contact us, instead of using the report button. c:
I don't know if making the post uneditable would be a good implementation, since the user might want to go back and edit something about the thread that doesn't involve the red text. This might be very helpful, though, so I think it's a decent idea and would be useful. We would have to discuss it a bit more.
Every single one of these ideas are very very very good. Would love to see these add ons.
What I really wanted to say is that if a user feels that a moderator has abused their power, they should contact an Admin. '^^ I don't think it's a good idea to message more than one staff member about a ban, too. Sorry for not explaining it better.Absolutely! This is definitely okay. We have a specific question for that on the MOD FAQ, actually. c:
Can I report a MOD?
If seen needed, you are able to report a mods actions to an Admin and explain your situation along with proof showing this, since the MODs shouldn't abuse their powers or walk over their own rules. The MODs should know what they are doing though, and if you're trying to frame a MOD because you hold a grudge from earlier events you could be the one getting in trouble instead.
I've send before threads which weren't locked and were sitting around for a while to a staff member via PM.
I was just curious if the feature would be a good alternative to report "solved" threads. Thank you.
To explain this better, I will use this image for an example:That is quite an interesting idea! I'm not sure how we would end up using it for double-posting (since the user may want to go back and fix something, and if we just edit the content, the user won't be notified), and leaving a post is usually just as effective, but in terms of using this to edit things that don't belong in posts/threads and being able to keep the changes a moderator makes to the thread would be nice.
(https://s24.postimg.org/7ps1sdtjp/dddddd.png)
As you can see, a user is asking why they were muted and how to appeal it (I guess) and the message is moderated by a moderator (with a reason). Now, this user cannot edit this message because it's moderated, but he can still see what was the content of the message. My idea was to maybe implement this somehow, but maybe for wrongly-posted messages (instead of removing them, but removing them is okay too) or double-posting. I understand that their forum is different comparing to ours, but it would be nice to have such feature.