[Ryan722]

TL;DR: I agree and think that we should decrease the ban length for Mass RDM (maybe a month), and increase or at least codify the punishment for subsequent harassment warnings after the first one. If the first instance of harassment is especially severe, we should consider an outright ban.

I agree with the points you bring up. Mass RDM and teaming are annoying to people trying to play the game, but have a less personal impact on individual players. It sucks to lose a T round unnecessarily, but it certainly cuts deeper to have your identity attacked (especially repeatedly). People hang out here to have a good time playing and chatting with people, not to be (seriously) made fun of or attacked. Straight up unnecessary hate towards players should be among the most seriously taken rules we have.

I think part of the reason the guidelines exist as they do now is that RDM and targeting are a bit more cut and dry than harassment. It's easy to say "this person killed three people who are mad about it and then left". It's harder to say "the comments this person made meet this harassment severity threshold, and warrant a ban of this length". There's obviously a lot of nuance and that should be considered, but part of the purpose of the recent guidelines revision was to increase consistency of punishments. Obviously our Mods and Admins are and should be able to use discretion when dealing with different situations, but there should be some care taken in adapting to harassment of different severity while also punishing people consistently and fairly.

A ban is up for immediate consideration for severe harassment. Bryan’s new point system means the player will receive a 1-day ban for the warning alone, then the victim may file a ban request on the forums if necessary.

This actually isn't the case AFAIK. Currently, a warning for harassment is worth 8 points, which doesn't quite meet the threshold for a day ban. We could add a separate 10 point warning preset, though harassment is already considered a "MAJOR punishment", so it may just be worth bumping it up to 10 points outright. Less malicious or severe goading could still fit under Trolling and Flaming (6 points).