[Cespedes]

Okay so, this may hurt my rank but I feel a strong need to share my opinion on this issue. 

Earlier today, SonRooRoo came on to the server and said “Hi Potato” and i replied “Stfu” as a joke toward him. As soon as I said that, a staff member (who I I’ll not not name unless theyre fine with me naming them) said I am not allowed to say “stfu” because it encourages players to say it to others. Now I understand where they are coming from but I respectfully disagree. 

Sure, players may start saying that to others, but what people need to understand is that there is context within sentences. Mind you, Roo knew I was joking because of my context (I even asked him myself). 

I say stfu or shut up to players like Bowie, SadMinion, Spongegar, and Aecho all the time and I never once heard them say they were offended because they knew I was joking.

We should not silence players for what they say toward their friends. You can EASILY tell there their tone begins to cross over the harassment line. Our job as staff is not to prevent bros from being bros, it’s to be able to tell when a situation is getting out of hand. For instance, I remember once on the server we were talking about Harley Quinn’s ass how it was sometimes bubbly and sometimes flat and we were trying to figure out why. Okay everything is cool nothing to worry about. But then there was a certain point where the conversation got out of line when someone whispered into their mic “I would do hit that”. Then the conversation got sexual and Staff & Donors stopped the conversation.

Another example is when there was a younger player online with a high voice and another older player told him to shut up and stop talking. Warned and Gagged him (since he continued) because we knew this guy was intentionally targeting the younger player for his voice. 

But Potato, shouldn’t we stop it before it gets to that  point? No, because we do not know for certain that it WILL get to that point. The convo can go anywhere, it is not our job to predict where the conversation is going, rather to stop it as soon as it gets to a certain point. 

I feel like there’s more for me to say but I can’t think right now. I’ll edit this if I remember something. Please feel free to say your opinion below, maybe that’d help me remember what I want to say.

MIND YOU THAT WHAT EVER IS THE END DECISION OF THIS THREAD, AS A STAFF MEMBER I WILL CONSIDER IT TO BE A RULE AND INTEND TO FOLLOW IT

[TheUltraFish]

Some conversations probably should be avoided because this is the internet and it's only a matter of time before the conversation goes into the area in which you described in your Quinn example. This not to say that any part of your conversation with RooRoo was inappropriate, I don't know, I wasn't there. Depending on how you said it Roo may have known it was a joke but not other people on the server at the time. Generally, telling people to stfu is frowned upon by a staff member even though you do not mean it because people who don't know the context are on the server all the time. This is gmod and we know where some conversations are going to go just because of where we are at and our job is to maintain fun and playable gameplay for everyone. This is difficult to do in the future if some people get it into their heads that its okay to tell one another to stfu or that our server staff abuse players by randomly telling some the same thing.

[The Dutch Problem]

I understand what you're going for here but the same thing thats Obvious to you, may not be so Obvious for other players. Context.

While you may know your friends and yourself are just messing about, newer players that dont know that may take that as you being grumpy or just plain rude, and thats then coming from a member of the community who upholds the rules. And if a staff member can just say things you shouldnt to people, then he can say it to others too, even out of the context of joking with friends. I think that thats what the currently unnamed staff member was going for with that. Your activity as an upholder of rules directly influences how others behave in terms of whats accepted, and with jokes and actual bigotry sometimes having a fine line I can see why others would advice against doing it.

But thats how I stand in this, and I am a TTT player so I am sad to say I dont exactly know how the normal things go in the PH servers nor their rules on bigotry.

[Cespedes]

@TheUltraFish  I think that BECAUSE this is the internet, we are able to tell what context they’re in because we don’t communicate through our facial expressions, we communicate through our tone. I don’t know if it’s just me, but I can easily tell when a player is joking around or being serious through their tone in their mic or even in chat.

Again there are some topics that we should divert from, I 100% agree on that, but there are others you can not just assume where they are going to go.


@King Tiger Ace Fasda22 I can name countless times where a staff member (including myself) says “I’m going to ban you” or “I’m going to gag you” as a joke toward another player. Can I ask how is that different from this and no one has said anything about it before? Won’t newer players think that’s a a strict abusive staff member? How come everyone understands when they’re being serious or when they’re joking about it?

[HalfDemonLink]

you shouldn't be telling anyone to shut up when it comes to wanting someone to stop mic spamming, chat spamming, or putting inappropriate things in chat especially not shut the fuck up. In the future I recommend telling players to not mic spam, chat spam, etc. My reasoning for this is that it shows professionalism, it gives other players the the view that they can say this to other players since a staff member said it to someone, and it's just rude in general to tell someone to shut up or to shut the fuck up. I personally think the other person is right in this scenario Potato.

also "We should not silence players for what they say toward their friends" I know what you mean but this can be taken out of context so easily like what if someone comes on server with their friend and they just start saying the n-word should we not gag them then?

Also this whole thing seems kinda childish to me, I know who the other person is and was told the situation after you two talked you could've brought this up to the other staff and got their opinions on the situation but you went to the forums instead for some reason. Any staff member could have told you who was right and who was wrong, or just given their opinion on the situation.

[Cespedes]

you shouldn't be telling anyone to shut up when it comes to wanting someone to stop mic spamming, chat spamming, or putting inappropriate things in chat especially not shut the fuck up. In the future I recommend telling players to not mic spam, chat spam, etc. My reasoning for this is that it shows professionalism, it gives other players the the view that they can say this to other players since a staff member said it to someone, and it's just rude in general to tell someone to shut up or to shut the fuck up. I personally think the other person is right in this scenario Potato.

They weren’t mic or chat spamming. All the did was enter the server and said Hi to me and then I said that to them.

[HalfDemonLink]

I was just saying telling anyone to shut the fuck up for any reason is not okay even if they were breaking the rules.

[TheUltraFish]

@TheUltraFish  I think that BECAUSE this is the internet, we are able to tell what context they’re in because we don’t communicate through our facial expressions, we communicate through our tone. I don’t know if it’s just me, but I can easily tell when a player is joking around or being serious through their tone in their mic or even in chat.

Again there are some topics that we should divert from, I 100% agree on that, but there are others you can not just assume where they are going to go.

Except you can't with all ppl because of how they speak or in chat. People who don't know you may not know by your voice even if we are online especially the younger in age they are. Also, what if people type it out? You cannot tell when ppl are joking/sarcastic with text unless they are VERY obvious about it. If I were to get on and tell you to stfu in chat you wouldn't if i were serious or not. you cannot tell this most of the time because you can't hear the person say the words they are typing only your individual interpretation of the issue.

You're telling me that every player on the server, with weeks of gameplay logged, to the newest player with under 5 minutes on the server knew for a fact that you, a staff member, were joking other than Roo himself?

[Traitor Plays]

You arent going to say that anymore joking or not I was told when it happened and would rather not have others think thats its alright to say things like that to people.

[Cespedes]

You arent going to say that anymore joking or not I was told when it happened and would rather not have others think thats its alright to say things like that to people.

If this is the case then just lock this thread please.