Ban Appeals, Sanctions/Warnings section and "Report to moderator" function

[Insoholic]

1. Ban Appeals
As you know, players often make threads about their bans and sanctions in the help boards. Even with the rules added in-game, there will be always users who will post threads asking why they were banned. My suggestion is to make a sticky with information on how to appeal bans. The sticky thread must contain information on how to contact a moderator and generally it should tell players to gather as much details as they can about the event, and also important things to include in their messages (nickname, date, reason and explanation from their point of view on what happened and why they feel that their punishment is unfair). Also, a note saying if they are still unsatisfied with the result, they can further appeal it to the Admins. I believe this will reduce to some point the threads about bans in the help boards. If it doesn't help, it doesn't hurt either.

2. Sanctions/Warnings section
My second suggestion is whenever an account is banned in-game and this account logs in the forums, a little message saying "Your account has been banned. Click here for more information." should appear. The link will lead them to a section in their forum profile with sanctions and warnings. The section will contain information about the type of the sanction, the reason, the duration and when does it end. The only problem I can see for the staff is the amount of time they will have to waste sending sanctions and typing the reasons, the duration and the end date of the ban. Though, even with the many rulebreakers we have it shouldn't take much time, so it's worth a shot. I know Raz is quite busy and he's currently working on the site, but it would be amazing to implement such addon in the forum.

3. "Report to moderator" function
As many of you may know, there is a little function (which every user can use) called "Report to moderator". It can be seen in every single post made in threads. I have a few questions to the staff regarding this feature, so here they are:

• Should we use this function to alert moderators for "solved" threads (or for threads they have missed to lock) in the Help Boards?
• Should we use this function to alert moderators for a user who is double-posting?
• By "wrongly posted message", do you mean posts accidentally posted in threads?

To move to my next question, see this image first:

So, what will happen if a user edits the "[Edited by moderator]"? And why don't you instead moderate such posts by removing the content, make the post uneditable (if possible) and type [Moderated by mod, reason: Cussing]?
Also, do you remove double-posts (the second post)? If not, it would be great to moderate them with red text.

Thank you for your time, I really appreciate it!

[Azura]

Every single one of these ideas are very very very good. Would love to see these add ons.

[Warriorstrike]

1. Ban Appeals

You 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:

• 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.

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.

I don't think this would prevent users going to the forum and posting about their bans. If they have not viewed the Forum Guidelines thread, they likely won't be viewing the thread concerning Ban Appeals, either. If someone posts about their ban on the forum, in most cases, it's simply because they don't know it's not allowed. The Forum Guidelines already state that users should message staff members about their bans, although I do see where you're coming from in wanting to set out extra guidelines for those who do seek to request an appeal for a ban.

2. Sanctions/Warnings section

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.

3. "Report to moderator" function

"•Should we use this function to alert moderators for "solved" threads (or for threads they have missed to lock) in the Help Boards?" 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:

"•Should we use this function to alert moderators for a user who is double-posting?" Generally, this is not the best way to let a moderator know about double-posting. I'll talk about that in a moment.

"•By "wrongly posted message", do you mean posts accidentally posted in threads?" This can refer to anything from accidental posting to foul language.

Truthfully, the report to moderator button is not the best nor most effective way to go. This function is not something staff member is required to check up on (sometimes people will spam it with reports that aren't really report-worthy) and it's not often used. Staff can review reports through this function, but I would encourage any sort of contact with a staff member to be via Private Message. PM will notify us sooner, it will give us context, and it will let us reply to you more easily. If you use the Report to Moderator function, we likely won't be replying to your or be notified that we have even reviewed the reported content. The best way to let us know if something looks wrong is to message us with a link to the thread/post, with an explanation of why you think it is violating the rules.

As for the red-text edited in user posts, this is to let the user know (and others viewing the thread/post) that something was against the rules and has been looked over and corrected by a moderator. We try to only edit what we need to, and leave the rest of the post intact, since there isn't usually a reason for us to remove what is still appropriate. If someone were to remove the red quote, it's not such a bad thing, as long as they're not replacing it with a foul rule, breaking another rule, or edit it so that the reason was something that it was not. As long as it's fixed, that is what we care most about. 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.

In terms of double-posting, it all depends on what's being said and the staff member viewing the content. In most cases, moderators will leave a post below that informs the user of our rules regarding double-posting with a link to the Forum Guidelines, or even a private message to the user. If the post is blank and has no content or was edited to show no content, we may decide to go ahead and remove the post, altogether.

Hope this answered your questions! c:

[Insoholic]

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.

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.

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'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.

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.

To explain this better, I will use this image for an example:

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.

Every single one of these ideas are very very very good. Would love to see these add ons.

Thank you for the support, Azura! c:


Thank you for answering my questions, Nynx! Things are way more clearly for me now.

[Warriorstrike]

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.

Arr, usually PM is the best way. Most staff member should reply to you if they receive a report or message from a user. If you have sent more than one message about the same thing to them, it's then okay to take the report to another moderator (that is, if you think something may have gone wrong in sending the message or if a staffer is inactive).

To explain this better, I will use this image for an example:

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.

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.