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OOC Channel Moderation
Updated help, rules, and abilities for mods

I have updated the rules help file for 'ooc-chat' and it now includes clarified rules around OOC Chat and Game Help, as well as information on what moderators will be capable of doing as well as the expectations around them. Moderators are not the only ones who will be using this new system. Administrators will be using it as well.

Here is a full breakdown of the rules updates as well as examples of what the system looks like:

Moderator Commands:

@warnings - list warnings that can be issused

@warn on - issue a warning

@block - temp block someone from chatting on ooc channels

RULES

Failure to abide by the following rules will result in you being banned from OOC chat channels, and possible additional penalties such as temporary or permanent ban from the game.

NO IC INFO

You must refrain from discussing IC matters, past, present and future with other players over this channel or any other medium outside of the game. 'help FOIG' has more details.

NO PERSONAL ATTACKS

Personal attacks are not permitted on our chat channels. Do not be rude. Do not be toxic. Do not use hate speech. Joking around can be OK sometimes, but remember, this is text, and tone is hard to discern. Err on the side of caution and if someone expresses that they are not into the joking, cut it out.

NO FILTER OR TRIGGERING

This is the internet. There are plenty of sites and message boards and chatrooms you can find where people have no filter. This is not one of those places. Disgusting, grotesque, or triggering images or text are not allowed on this channel, even if you are relaying personal experiences. Use Free-Chat for that. Ignoring this will result in strict punishment.

MOVE THE CHAT

If multiple individuals have expressed that what you are posting is NSFW, gross, or triggering, please move to Free Chat. If multiple people have expressed that a conversation be moved to Free-Chat, please move it. Examples of this could be: An argument between a few people that is disrupting the channel or making a number of people uncomfortable.

NO DISCUSSIONS IN GAME HELP

Do not have discussions in Game-Help. If you want to continue a discussion from Game-Help, then please use OOC-Chat.

OTHER GAMES

This is not the place for disparaging or promoting other games. Everyone has their opinion on this game, and other games. Please utilize MUD listing/review sites if you would like to share your opinion.

OFFENSIVE ALIAS

Offensive/slanderous/NSFW/hate speech aliases are not permitted. If a moderator or administrator has deemed your alias to potentially fall into one of these groups and requests that you change it, please do so or you will be removed from the channel.

STAFF SHUTDOWNS

If a Staff member (someone with Staff prefixed in front of their name) says a discussion needs to cease, anyone failing to comply with this will suffer penalties.

MODERATION

Moderation of OOC chat channels is done by a combination of administrators and moderators. Moderators are selected on a routine basis from the player base after exhibiting a track record of exemplary behavior on our OOC chat channels.

MODERATOR ANONYMITY

Moderators may remain anonymous should they wish. Staff (administrators) will always have a 'Staff' prefixed ahead of their name. Impersonating a moderator or administrator is against the rules.

MODERATOR ABILITIES

Moderators have two abilities.

1. The ability to issue 'warnings'. These warnings send a canned warning to an alias. These warnings show up as OOC messages. They point to a specific rule that the moderator believes is being broken.

2. The ability to temporarily block someone from OOC Chat channels. They can do a 5 or 15 minute block. Administrators can block for any length they wish.

MODERATOR DUTIES

The duties of a moderator are to make sure that the rules (both the spirit and the intent) prescribed here in this help file are obeyed. Each warning or block requires the moderator or administrator to provide chat log evidence as well as an explanation of the reasoning behind the warning or block. Staff members will review these logs to make sure our rules are being fairly enforced. If a moderator fails to provide sufficient grounds for their warning or blocking, they themselves will be warned and continued failures to exercise their duties properly will result in losing their status as a moderator.

SYSTEM BLOCKING

Each warning that is issued by an administrator or moderator is tracked by the system. If the system detects someone has exceeded a certain number of warnings, and they receive a new warning, they will be automatically and indefinitely blocked. The only way to be unblocked will be at the behest of an administrator.

WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE FOR A MODERATOR TO ISSUE A WARNING

You are about to send an anonymous warning to a player who has been communicating on one of our OOC channels.

Before you continue please ensure:

1. You are being objective as opinions you do not agree with do not merit a warning.

2. You have reviewed 'help ooc-chat' for more info on what is acceptable on our moderated channels.

3. You have reviewed @warnings and understand what warning will be sent based on your selections later.

In order to submit this warning you must provide the context for why the warning is being given:

1. Copy & paste chat logs (up to 20 lines)

2. You can piece together various parts of the chat log if things happened over a period of time.

Any warnings issued will be relayed to the player and reviewed by the staff.

WARNING: Misuse of this command will result in you losing your Moderator status.

Do you want to continue? [Enter `yes' or `no']

Please select a warning to issue:

1: NO IC INFO

2: NO PERSONAL ATTACKS

3: NO FILTER OR TRIGGERING

4: MOVE THE CHAT

5: NO DISCUSSIONS IN GAME HELP

6: OTHER GAMES

7: OFFENSIVE ALIAS

[Type Please make a selection or `@abort' to abort the command.]

Please paste in the offending OOC messages. These will be send to the admin who will review it. This is your EVIDENCE that there was actually an issue. If you do not provide sufficient evidence you will lose your moderator abilities.

[Type up to 20 lines of input; use `.' (single period) on a separate line to end or `@abort' to abort the command.]

Your evidence:

He was talking about NSFW things and was asked by several people to move it to Free-Chat but he did not. So I have sent this warning.

[+][OOC-Chat] JoeBaka: check out these hot anime sex pics: linkwouldbehere

[+][OOC-Chat] JohnBaka: Hey, please don't share NSFW content here.

[+][OOC-Chat] JoeBaka: lulz here are some more: linkwouldbehere

[+][OOC-Chat] JessBaka: dude stop, take that to free-chat

[+][OOC-Chat] JoeBaka: one last set: linkwouldbehere

Are you sure you want to issue a warning to the alias 'JoeBaka' for violating our rules on MOVE THE CHAT? [Enter `yes' or `no']

The warning has been issued.

WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE FOR A PLAYER TO RECEIVE A WARNING

[OOC: A moderator or administrator has sent you a warning about a recent message or messages you sent on Game-Help. Please review this warning carefully. ]

[OOC: ]

[OOC: MOVE THE CHAT ]

[OOC: ]

[OOC: If multiple individuals have expressed that what you are posting is NSFW, gross, or triggering, please move to Free Chat. If multiple people have expressed that a conversation be moved to Free-Chat, please move it. Examples of this could be: An argument between a few people that is disrupting the channel or making a number of people uncomfortable. ]

[OOC: ]

[OOC: Further warnings may result in being temporarily or permanently blocked from using our OOC Chat channels. For more information please see 'help ooc-chat' or 'help game-help' or 'help channels'. ]

WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE FOR A MODERATOR TO BLOCK SOMEONE

You are about to block someone from all OOC chat channels. You MUST have evidence to provide in the log section. Abuse of this command will result in you losing your moderatorship. How long should they be blocked for?

1: five minutes

2: fifteen minutes

3: one hour

4: three hours

5: twelve hours

6: one day

7: one week

8: one month

9: indefinitely

[Type How long should they be blocked for? or `@abort' to abort the command.]

Why are they being blocked? You must include your reasoning along with relevant chat logs. Not including valid reasoning will result in losing your moderatorship.

[Type up to 20 lines of input; use `.' (single period) on a separate line to end or `@abort' to abort the command.]

Blocked Alias: JoeBaka

Duration: five minutes

Reason:

they ignored the warning about moving things to free chat and continued sharing NSFW photos

[+][OOC-Chat] JoeBaka: ok ok i found a few more: linkwouldbehere

Block this person? (they will be notified privately of the block and duration, unable to chat on OOC-Chat, Game-Help and Free-Chat but the channel(s) will still be visible) [Enter `yes' or `no']

The block has been initiated. The player has been notifed. A mail has been generated and sent to the admin.

WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE TO BE BLOCKED

[OOC: You have been blocked from the chatting on the following channels: OOC-Chat, Game-Help and Free-Chat. Your block will last five minutes. Please take this time to review 'help ooc-chat' and 'help game-help' for the rules of these channels. ]

CHANNEL MODERATOR HELP FILE (ACCESSIBLE TO MODS)

As a channel moderator you must obey the rules laid out on 'help ooc-chat'. You must always provide chatlog evidence and justification for any warnings or blocks that you enact. Failure to do so will result in loss of your moderator status.

As a moderator you are not required to state you are a moderator on any OOC channel. You can remain anonymous if you so choose. If you choose to announce that your are a moderator, you do so at your own risk. We recommend staying anonymous to avoid any OOC issues or backlash.

COMMANDS

There are three commands available to you to aide you in your duties as a moderator.

@WARNINGS

Typing '@warnings' will show you the list of warnings as well as their messaging. The messages shown are the exact messages sent to any player you send a warning to.

@WARN

Usage: @warn on

Channel can be either 'ooc' or 'game' for OOC-Chat and Game-Help respectively.

The command will take you through a series of prompts that will let you send someone an anonymous warning.

@BLOCK

Usage: @block

If you have repeatedly warned someone about a specific behavior, or someone is being incredibly toxic or shitty or violating rules about sharing IC information and you feel that they definitely need to be blocked, temporarily, until they can cool down, or to send a message that their behavior is unacceptable, or until you can get ahold of an admin to enact a more perm. block from the channel, this is the command to use.

It will take you through a series of prompts that will let you block them from all OOC channels (including free-chat).

This is a command of last resort, after you have attempted via @warn to alert the person that their behavior is unacceptable.

You MUST provide evidence as part of @block.

The only acceptable time to skip adding evidence is if the time it would take to copy and paste what needs to be copy and pasted would allow great harm to come to another, or to the game. Revealing IC info and not stopping, or spouting hate speech.

If you must skip the evidence, after you have initiated the block, please use the command AGAIN, and this time, add evidence.

ESCALATION

If you need to escalate an issue to the admin, please do so via xhelp. If you have a question on if you should @warn or @block, please xhelp.

Slither, thank you. I think this is going to be a great change and help bring the community together in a fun and fantastic way! I really appreciate all the work put into this.
It seems like a good update, I just hope we can trust players with the responsibility of moderating. I also hope that this will in turn stop the toxicity that's sometimes experienced, now that being insultive is properly addressed.
@Evie Personal attacks were already forbidden in the OOC channel rules. The help file specifically laid the rules out. That has been there for a while. The updates I made were to actually soften the language a bit. It was previously saying 'don't be an asshole' and a few other things which I think are communicated in a more professional manner now. This just takes an additional step in allowing us to moderate the channel more effectively with the help of a few people who are paying more attention to it than the typical admin who is doing coding or puppeting.
Your hard labor to create this functionality is greatly appreciated, Slither. 😊
I propose adding a @ignore command for all users so they can selectively ignore people just like you can in SIC. Ignore audits could be done by admin (not moderators) to help identify antagonizers as well. Plus it just adds a little quality of life and empowerment without throwing direct shade at people.
@Slither

That doesn't explain when people were insulting my personal beliefs left and right, including @Johnny. But I guess that's irrelevant. Apparently that was fine.

Being critical of someone's belief system is not really the same thing as a personal attack.
He said I was stupid for the way I saw things. And it is a personal attack when your whole life revolves around a belief system. You just have a different opinion on it. If someone is offended, it should be against the rules.
I believe he said young earth creationism was stupid, and he shortly thereafter apologized for being flippant. He never called you stupid.
He did call me stupid, and I don't recall getting an apology for it. The whole channel was mocking me and Mobius told me to just ignore it. No one got punished afaik, and I left the channel, briefly rejoined to still being made fun of. It was a very unpleasant experience.
I think you should xhelp or email an admin rather than posting specific grievances here. Slither's done a lot of work here to improve ooc chat for all of us. I'm looking forward to returning to ooc chat when there are moderators and with these clarified rules and such.
This is not the place to post your complaints. Please keep on topic.
They all know what happened and were there, it's an old issue anyway. I'm only hoping that this new feature will help enforce the OOC rules better, and hopefully not give some of the players in the community a big ego and a way to abuse power.
“If someone is offended, it should be against the rules.”

For one thing, slippery slopes.

For another, who wins when two people are offended by exactly opposite things?

@bean_dip

Take it to free chat?

Bean-dip, I think they're going to start asking people to move to free chat for a lot of things instead of just booping them out altogether if I'm understanding it right.
I equate people who think the earth is 6,000 years old with those who think the earth is flat. If thats stupid, so be it?
That input was really not necessary, and is just baiting this discussion to continue. Fucking flat-earthers. Thanks for that.
Jonathan Sarfati was a chess master in '87, '88 and has a PhD in Chemistry, and is today a young earth creationist. I doubt you have half his IQ, so your opinion means nothing to me.
This is not the place to post your complaints. Please keep on topic.

By Mobius at Dec 31, 2019 1:42 PM

In general, I think people make stupid decisions. Science is significantly explored too. (google scientific proof smart people do stupid things)

In general, don't be offended by stupidity, take it in stride. I do stupid things all the time. Like making people angry by calling them stupid. It happens!

This is not the place to air grief. This is a thread about moderation tools. I have removed all posts that are not direct discussion of these topics. If you have an issue email me. Otherwise, let's all enjoy our new years <3

(Edited by Slither at 3:15 pm on 12/31/2019)

@Reefer how would it work? Just ignore anyone you want and you just don't see their messages?
@Slither

@ignore is a pretty common feature in other online titles where users can selectively ignore people that they find abrasive. Generally syntax is something along these lines: @ignore - no switch dumps list of ignored accounts

@ignore - adds user to your ignore list. Your client is not sent messages from that user, directed or channel chat.

@unignore - removes a user from your ignore list. You once again get messages from that user, directed or channel chat.

Correction to above, since I keep forgetting that angle brackets are eaten by the forum grues.

@ignore NAME

@unignore NAME

Respectively for the second and third commands in my post.

Hmm. I guess my thoughts on why it could be challenging relate to blocking and unblocking effectively without relaying meta information in a system that does not have persistent aliases.

Say I block JoeBaka. And then he changes aliases. What happens when I type @ignored? How do I unblock? I guess we could store the alias blocked and the obj# and just always display the alias that was originally ignored. That would take it half way.

What then when the person has changed aliases and a new person takes that alias. Are people going to be confused and start calling it a bug?

What happens when you block the new person on that alias and then type @ignored and see a list of two people with the same alias but only want to unblock one of them?

I guess we could store the date of the block as well and present that info when you check your ignoreds to further clarify. We would also need to make @unignore present a list of people to unblock and then you select the # of the person to unblock.

Anyone else see any challenges I may be missing?

Valid concerns. I'd say we simply opt to use bgbb/member usernames as enforced OOC-Chat names or at least as the core identifier when using @ignore. That said, I really do enjoy the freedom of expression and slight anonymizing aspect of it - it would be detrimental to lose that and/or have people exploit @ignore in such effect.

This is definitely a slippery slope.

Your character's anonymous, but there's no reason your account should be on OOC channels. Just make it use our account name in xooc.
@vera @slither

After giving this a little thought, I have to 100% agree with Vera on this one. If we want to enable the community to moderate, then I think it's best that we remove anonymous OOC handles, with the following example as a use case.

Instead of:

@tempban joebaka 5

@tempban kewldude 5

@tempban l33ts@uc3 5

You see/do:

@tempban chum6969 5

@tempban chum6969 10

@tempban chum6969 15

You'd simply see that this was the same account each time and could escalate actions appropriately. And speaking of the spirit of the change: if we're trying to clean up the OOC communication venues of the game, then restricting people's ability to anonymously shitpost drivel is probably going to deter some people from doing it in the first place. If we're to clearly delineate OOC channels from IC actions, then I don't see a specific reason that we need anonymity on OOC channels.

Anonymous aliases have been turned off on OOC-Chat and Free-Chat. Own your words. :)
Excellent.

I think that having one single alias across all communications channels (BgBB, Game Help, OOC, etc.) will cut down on the amount of passive aggressive, and sometimes outright nastiness that has been going on.

Not really a fan of the change whatsoever imo from someone who only uses OOC occasionally, will also make kevs much worse, will definitely cut down on anonymous shit-talking and alias-hopping though.
It should also be pointed out that the vast majority of folks were in favor of this change, gathered via the poll we put out earlier this month.
I appreciate why the alias change was made, but I really liked having anonymous aliases - Not to talk trash to people, but just to add an element of protection against the meta behavior that goes on when someone knows your username. Oh well. A few bad apples can ruin it for everyone.
Anonymity is a force multiplier for bad apples.

There was recently a reddit thread concerning our game that immediately turned into a burning dumpster fire because of a few people using handfuls of throwaway accounts and shitposting to the extreme.

Let's not let a few disgruntled people or people with ulterior motives spread their toxicity in our OOC environment. By using aliases, it's going to give people new and old alike ideas that there is this mass of people who are really bad for player retention when it might simply be a case of one or two people that are fine ICly, but need moderation OOCly.

@BigArg, if you feel that you're being metagamed, or that someone else is gaming the system using kevlars or OOC discussions, then by all means, please report that behavior.