[Everyjuan]

Guys,
I feel this discussion needs to be had.  

When we sign up to be staff, we agree to be mediators.  We are here to settle disputes and disagreements within the community and enforce our rules and guidelines.  Our goal as staff representing this server should be to make sure everyone has an enjoyable time and bring more people in to play.  We have to have patience with our community members (guests included) to keep that welcoming vibe.  I'm just as guilty as everyone else of losing my temper and what nots.  When that happens I try to step away for a bit and cool down.


Having said all that, I think it needs to be emphasized that BANS, kicking people OUT of our community, needs to be seen and remembered as a last resort.  I feel like it's jumped to too quickly in situations and leads to more drama and conflict. Find other ways to solve problems, be creative and be understanding.

I could be way off base here but I wanted to initiate the discussion.

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Also, inb4 everyone floods this with shitposts and memes

[Dildo Shwaggins]

It's all about finding balance I think. Do some bans jump the gun? Maybe so. Maybe there are certain cases where disputes should be settled out of public eye (not on forums/server). While a ban may look bad on paper though, sometimes it's better to have that there than rampant, blatant harassment that's occurred in the past. So, I think it varies by situation and the best thing to aim for is a civil resolution of some sort where hopefully nobody gets banned.

[Everyjuan]

It's all about finding balance I think. Do some bans jump the gun? Maybe so. Maybe there are certain cases where disputes should be settled out of public eye (not on forums/server). While a ban may look bad on paper though, sometimes it's better to have that there than rampant, blatant harassment that's occurred in the past. So, I think it varies by situation and the best thing to aim for is a civil resolution of some sort where hopefully nobody gets banned.

Definitely, ideally in all cases there's a happy medium.  But we all know that's not the case.  I think in all ban cases if we have sufficient DOCUMENTED evidence we should have no problems presenting that to the community, as well.  It will help quite a bit, especially if we are sure of our decision when we have to go to that extreme.  

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I just wanted to put this guidance/thought out there for all existing staff who may have forgotten and all new staff coming in as a reminder. Again, I could be way off base.

[Foxka]

But in most cases, at least when it comes to people no involved in the community, banning someone when they are CLEARLY here just to cause issues/troll/etc shouldn't be too huge of a problem.

[Everyjuan]

But in most cases, at least when it comes to people no involved in the community, banning someone when they are CLEARLY here just to cause issues/troll/etc shouldn't be too huge of a problem.

Agreed, there are definitely people that come in that will be no good for the community. But there are also people that come in that just have terrible social skills and no filter and aren't just trying to troll.

Example...the first day I played Gmod I mass rdm'd and got banned from three servers. I wasn't trying to troll necessarily, I just had no idea wtf was going on.

[Foxka]

But in most cases, at least when it comes to people no involved in the community, banning someone when they are CLEARLY here just to cause issues/troll/etc shouldn't be too huge of a problem.

Agreed, there are definitely people that come in that will be no good for the community.  But there are also people that come in that just have terrible social skills and no filter and aren't just trying to troll.

People like me, lol. I think one of the biggest problems is lack of understanding between certain people on the forums vs. how they actually are. You can definitely tell i am kind of an ass on the forums but if you interact with me in game i'm easily one of the nicer people around.

[StaleWater]

Maybe we could be able to discuss the banning reason instead of instantly locking the thread. Also some of the recent bans had no fucking solid evidence(witnesses don't count as said before) but the ban still happened

[Everyjuan]

To keep this friendly and conducive to discussion and not argument I would prefer if we didn't directly discuss any past bans.

[queef commando]

I fully agree. I tried to add "warning" as a first step to all the rules where I could get others to agree to it because bans matter. The offender should know exactly what they did wrong and why its wrong before they get banned. Staff should be telling people what they did wrong, and give the benefit of the doubt if it seems like the person legitimately didn't know what they were doing is wrong. Compassion and understanding other people's points of view is what fosters a community and allows it to grow. Removing people in their first few days of playing because they didn't get the rules or how to play is silly. They might well have gone on to be a valuable member of our community, but were not given the chance.

Now that's not to say we should never ban or slay anyone. There are obviously people looking to troll and get a reaction. But staff should take every effort to determine whether the person in question falls into that category or not before issuing any harsh punishment.

[❤ Miss Mari ❤]

I fully agree. I tried to add "warning" as a first step to all the rules where I could get others to agree to it because bans matter. The offender should know exactly what they did wrong and why its wrong before they get banned. Staff should be telling people what they did wrong, and give the benefit of the doubt if it seems like the person legitimately didn't know what they were doing is wrong. Compassion and understanding other people's points of view is what fosters a community and allows it to grow. Removing people in their first few days of playing because they didn't get the rules or how to play is silly. They might well have gone on to be a valuable member of our community, but were not given the chance.

Now that's not to say we should never ban or slay anyone. There are obviously people looking to troll and get a reaction. But staff should take every effort to determine whether the person in question falls into that category or not before issuing any harsh punishment.

I think some people we are too harsh on, and others not harsh enough. For example, if someones trolling and theyve made it very apparent theyre trolling, they should be punished a little more harshly than they usually are. Or if someones targeting and harassing other people nonstop, they should be punished a little more harshly than they usually are, which is given nonstop warnings to stop but never punished for it until much much much later, like bantz for example. While if someone is new to the game and accidentally mass rdms, they do not deserve to be permanently banned for it, They should be allowed to get a second chance. Or if someone accidentally ghosts, because they dont know what it is, they should just be warned, instead of instant "oh you ghosted, you just bought yourself a perma".

I hope what I said made sense, it's really late at night and im tired.