Forum Overhaul - What I've done - Suggestions

[Faris]

So, I felt that certain aspects of our forums have been a little lacking or in general outdated. So I'm going to show what changes I've done and you're free to suggest things differently or inform me of something that needs attention, preferably with how I could deal with it.

First off, my first change was to cut down on our announcements. I felt we had too many and some were really not relevant anymore. They're still there, just not stickied/global.

https://forums.aurorastation.org/viewforum.php?f=107

Secondly, I've updated our "Who to contact" thread, which details with, you guessed it, who to speak to about certain topics, Catnip has done a great job keeping it up to date, so I had little to do. The main thing was that I added it to our "Useful links" section, so you don't need to hunt around for the link, image in the spoiler.

 

Thirdly, one of the more important changes. I've decided to clarify our "Complaints Section", some of the information provided was either inaccurate or out of date. The distinction between the ban appeals and staff complaints weren't very clear when it came to bans, which previously said "Think you've been banned unjustly? Post your appeal here." which isn't how we've operated. This has been fixed now, image in the spoiler.

 

Fourthly, during a bluespace incident, our general forum rules seems to have disappeared or sucked into the veil, who knows. So I've made a basic list that is more or less very similar to what we have on the server, simply edited it to be more fitting and gutted out the irrelevant parts. This is only a first draft and won't be implemented just yet, so you're free to suggest amendments, clarifications or additions. Keep in mind that I'd like it to remain fairly simple, nobody likes to read a rule page that could be confused for a novel.

 

General Rules:

• Don't be a dick. We're all here to have fun, not fight and argue with assholes. Don't ruin the game for everyone else, and use common sense. This includes anything from attacking other people, starting arguments over nothing, etcetera.

• This is an English-speaking server. Being able to understand and communicate in English is required for playing here. Speaking other languages to a minor degree is permitted, though please use the Latin alphabet. Random phrases there and there is allowed, but nothing long winded.

• No advertisement of other SS13 servers on this server. Please also remain respectful towards other servers when discussing them: outright bashing or trash-talking of other servers is not allowed.

• No IC in OOC and vice versa. Do not post current ongoing events and at the same time, the forums house a few mediums in which people can roleplay, do not post OOC comments there.

• Multikeying with intent to bypass punishment, such as warnings, bans; to deceive server administration in general; or to bypass other restrictions. This may result in an unappealable permanent ban.

• All sub-forums have rules, violating them counts as violating the standard forum rules.

• Do not post illegal, obscene, gore, pornographic content.

 

Regarding Staff:

• If you see anyone breaking any of these rules (or simply have questions on them), you’re free to ask us questions. For reporting, there is a “report post” function. Alternatively if it’s a time sensitive matter, you can contact staff by discord or on the server.

• If you are contacted by an admin, you are expected to reply, and communicate clearly and in good will. Failure to reply or disrespect towards admins may be grounds for a ban. We do our best to be polite and courteous with you, and thus expect you to do the same with us. This includes complaints, failure to respond within a week will result the complaint to carry on without your testimony, contact staff if you want an extension.

• All staff decisions are final. If you disagree, you may file a staff complaint or appeal the punishment.

 

Punishments:

• Verbal Warning/Warning: A warning is the lightest type of punishment we will dispense. Generally, this means you'll be informed of the rule you've broken, and we'll let you resume using the forums after you ensure us you won't break the rule again.

• Temporary Ban: Temporary bans are handed out for situations where a single warning may not suffice, and will prevent you from using the forums for a set amount of time (usually applied with lengths of 1, 3, and 7 days). All attempts to evade a temporary ban (e.g. by multikeying) will result in the ban being made permanent.

• Permanent Ban: Permanent bans are issued in two general cases. First, to force communication with staff regarding an issue which was left unresolved. Second, as a final attempt to curb a player's behaviour, following warnings and temporary bans.

• All punishments are appealable unless stated otherwise by an administrator. The latter case would only be invoked in serious cases and if you believe it was misused, should file a staff complaint.

• In the event of a permanent/temporary ban, you may file an appeal/complaint via proxy. This means you may contact someone else to post on your behalf. Do note that violating the forum rules while using a proxy will result in a punishment being escalated to our other platforms, such as the server and discord.

 

 

 

Fifthly, I felt that the for our complaint sections and application sections, that having multiple threads with info all over the place can and has led to confusion, usually for new people, as such I've decided to centralize the source of information. For the time being, I've done work to the complaint section. The whitelist section may receive a similar update but only after I discuss it with the relevant people. The header rules in those pages will also be edited.

I'll include the links for ease of access.

 

 

Ban Requests

Player/Character Complaints

Staff Complaints

Unban Appeals

 

Lastly, I decided that the best way to deal with salt is to move the complaint section below the private terminal. Now you wash away your salt with our wonderful selection of stories, fan fiction and other bizarre reads. /s

Just kidding, we do get some proper complaints and appeals, I just felt that such a sub-forum dedicated to problems shouldn't be higher to content made by our community, so I moved it down.

[Faris]

I've decided to combine all relevant info regarding command whitelists.

https://forums.aurorastation.org/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=9533

[NoahKirchner]

There's a typo in the rules, under punishments bullet 4.

"All punishments are **appealed** unless stated otherwise by an administrator"