Discussion on transparency and staff at mcpublic

[Darkelmo]

This is the kind of personal drama that arises from conflicting input. I personally don't trust all of the staff to act only on their sense of responsibility and not on their personal emotions and examples of this is when staff members have abused their power or have caused other to step down due to their actions. However, a vast majority of the staff have been known well enough to be part of the more reasonable part of the player base. We still have, outside of the staff: Alts, Greifers, Rival clans, Rival cities, supporters of mischievous players, misinformed players, players who just hate each other, players who only play for an hour each rev and all that other jazz that generally doesn't make it into the moderator team. And it causes much less drama fuelled disputes. In a perfect world, all of the players were able to throw their personal desires aside and find the best solution for everyone. Whether it be a ban decision, a staff nomination or anything else. Heck, I'd be happy with a staff team full of people just like that. Unfortunately, we do not live in a perfect world or a perfect minecraft server, so our best option now is to just let staff handle things. Will there still be drama and abuse and stuff? Of course! As the staff say, they are not robots but human beings just like the rest of the players. They will act like most humans will from time to time. But they exercise the restraint to act on these human impulses far less than the normal players.

 

I do wish however that the staff could be a bit clearer on the banning reason for certain players. I saw a bunch of ban appeals which were just:

 

Banned Player: I'm sorry, i'll never do it again!

Staff member: It's been long enough. Unbanned!  

 

I also found that someone who was banned for something couldn't re appeal because they kept evading the ban. However, it was never specified what the original ban was for in the first place.

 

And when asking about out, a lot of players have absolutely no clue why this player was banned from the service either. I wish I could ask why someone was banned without it being called 'ban drama' 

[xXNjordXx]

Banned Player: I'm sorry, i'll never do it again!

Staff member: It's been long enough. Unbanned!  

 

I also found that someone who was banned for something couldn't re appeal because they kept evading the ban. However, it was never specified what the original ban was for in the first place.

 

And when asking about out, a lot of players have absolutely no clue why this player was banned from the service either. I wish I could ask why someone was banned without it being called 'ban drama' 

 

That is actually a good point which i will try to change at least on my bans now, and maybe others will do so too.

 

However if you are banned and trying to join the server it tells you the banreason, you can even look it up at mcbouncer.com, so not nowing why someone was banned is in my oppinion quite unlikely, but can still happen if the banreason was unconclusive.

[CROCKODUCK]

Dark, like njord was saying, all current bans contain good information as to why a player was banned. Some of the very vague bans you sometimes see are probably from about 2 years ago, when the servers ran mcbans. I understand the reasoning behind giving players who have been banned for almost 2 years another chance. Griefing in my personal opinion is a quickly dying "pass time" (if you may) and many players are finding this game fun again. So really finding out what they did (with of course the exception to major problem makers) is really just digging up old drama.

[teddylover]

Some bans don't have a reason though.

 

I know someone who got banned by admin with the reason Banned. I actually told this admin that banned player made a fake account and appealed for another person because they knew the servers better than their friend who doesn't even bother to do things himself. (Slavedriver a bit). And this admin knew it was fake because it had the same ip address as their main account.

[zifnab06]

Let's try to keep this on topic. As CROCKODUCK stated, any current ban has a valid reason - if there is something you don't agree with, please bring it to the attention of an admin.

[Darkelmo]

This wasn't only just for in game bans,

 

There still seems to be a string of other nerd.nu service bans (like mumble, irc, subreddit etc) that go on in the background that people are unaware about. I am certain these aren't on MCBouncer and although they are not the center of nerd.nu activity they are significant in the communication and collaboration of fellow minecraft players. And I wish it were easier to see why said bans took place. Of course (seeing how these mostly involve communication) there will be far more drama fueled bans but I feel that with censoring there could be more information released regarding bans even when they are more personal. Afterall, a dispute between 2 people can lead to an offending individual being unable to communicate with the enirety of the nerd.nu community. Surely friends, clan members, other builders and generally interested players could have a little more insight into why these bans took place. For one, once the ever so valid ban has been explained, it might remove drama (The players wont rebut if the reason they are given is valid right?). Also this might lead individuals to learn what is crossing the line or what is acceptable behaviour on said services. Of course there is a lot of 1 word ban reasons but even they help the player to explain a defence in their appeal. I remember there was a time when moderators took the time to explain why said offences were harmful to the community. Homophobia bans and combat logging bans had this. Xray bans (even though some may find to be obvious in their harm) were explained. There is alot of assumed knowledge that the staff associate with the unlengthy rules and ban statements. And to them, it's all very well known. Hardly any moderators don't know what the implications of the rules like homophobia and 'don't be a dick' but they don't really account for the players lack of knowledge. I just think with a tiny bit more effort, players can have things explained to them better. 

 

At the start of my time on nerd.nu I had the wrong idea about the rules such as: muting, greifing, tard towers, 'don't be a dick', advertising, doxing, mumble recording, bumping appeals, NSFW, combat logging and a few other rules (some of which have been updated to explain more) that I feel with a word or two added on, I would understand what they actually meant. There are still people who tear down 'abandoned houses' or think that by being gay that they can say f'ggot in any context they like or who think that no one is allowed to act mean (don't be a dick) or other things. Just be a little more specific nerd.nu staff. I know it seems unfair to add a little more to the huge list of things you give up your time to help the community. But I feel that this whole 'transparency' could be stopped with a few extra details on even the little things. I don't mean to be critical. Keep up the good work,

 

-dark

[CROCKODUCK]

Haha well out of that whole post, I feel the one thing I could probably clear up for you is the 'don't be a dick' rule. I recall it being explained as something mods and admins reserve in the event a rule was broken, but the rule that was broken was not extremely clear cut. It's pretty much the right to interpret a players actions and ban for breaking that rule if the need arises. As far as all the other rules, honestly you and I must rememeber old staff policies differently. If you even skim through old ban appeals (again like 2+ years old) then you will see so much of "oh terribly sorry, you griefed once? Well you will have to find somewhere else to play". Not saying that is a bad thing, however it shows that the staff has evolved into what it is now of a fully functioning process of listening to what happened, and then usually setting the appropriate amount of time for a ban. All other rules are very clear, like no NSFW (though some could use maybe a definition of what it stands for if the player isn't a regular redditor). Other rules like mumble recording, that is quite self explainitory. It really comes down to common sense and the ability to ask questions if you feel you may be breaking a rule as the staff are here to help.

[EeHee2000]

Some bans don't have a reason though.

 

I know someone who got banned by admin with the reason Banned. I actually told this admin that banned player made a fake account and appealed for another person because they knew the servers better than their friend who doesn't even bother to do things himself. (Slavedriver a bit). And this admin knew it was fake because it had the same ip address as their main account.

 

A simple, plain phrase/word like "Banned" (without guidelines to appealing) is usually to let a player know that they've been banned for obvious reasons.

If a staff member feels that a player doesn't acknowledge the ban reason, they'd likely state it.

"Banned", I assume, would only be used for the players that know damn well what they've done wrong, whilst at all other times the reason is stated and guidelines for appealing are made clear.

The staff members can think for themselves, they know how people work. They can interpret accurately, and whilst it may be unnerving to think that a staff member may interpret something wrong - I assure you, they won't. They know the classic worries of that topic/subject.

They know - it's okay. :DL

Edited September 4, 2013 by EeHee2000

[Jalamookoofoo]

To be fair, Seneca this rev didnt have a wide variety of core/regular players, most of the 200 were one time builders who left. It's the same thing with Pico.

 

Even if 75 or 80% of Seneca citizens are one-time players, that still leaves somewhere in the range of 50 regular players, and off the top of my head I can think of at least a half dozen Senecans who are among the most active players on the server. Diz is right, Seneca is underrepresented in staff because they don't "hang out" with other mods. Clan chat, while an awesome feature, has probably only served to widen this gap and further segregate "mod" and "non-mod" towns.