Staff needs to show that they are holding other admins and moderators accountable when a report gets approved, for instance one admin has been reported around 7 times with seemingly no penalty leveled against said staff. if the community is unable to talk about notes then staff need to show us that they are acting on staff reports
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I can’t speak for discord policies since I stay out of all discord affairs. That said, I do understand what your (and many others’) concerns are regarding staff reports. I have been a player on servers where it feels the staff members act with impunity, and are so ‘buddy-buddy’ with other staff members that it seems as though they are untouchable. This is not one of those servers, not so long as I have a say, anyway.
Segrain, the staff member of whom you are speaking, has been the subject of numerous staff reports. I have taken those reports seriously and have addressed the player side of the issues throughout that process (undoing/ amending notes, bans, etc.) that were found to be unwarranted. A significant portion of the approved reports resulted in a note being modified to reflect an oversight, or an honest mistake.
A majority of staff reports (in general) do not demand penalties being brought against staff members, but just a resolution of the issues that were overlooked or mishandled, and a discussion about how we as a community want things being handled in the future. In the cases where penalties are levied, I prefer to not make them public. Staff members face enough criticism from players without having their own dirty laundry aired.
I understand that it might not always be entirely satisfying for players to not know exactly what swords fell on the staff member they reported, but at some point I have to make a cost-benefit analysis of whether I think broadcasting a staff member’s penalties (and exposing them to harassment as a result) is worth community satisfaction.
A high volume of reports is an indication that something probably isn’t right, and the details of the reports often help signal what the issue might be. I take staff reports in earnest, and use them to try and bring about consensus with the staff team, protect players from unwritten rules, or otherwise use them to tailor the team to better the community. But if you’re seeking vengeance, you’re probably not going to get it out of a staff report unless the staff member has broken a cardinal rule.
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It’s not about vengance it’s about escalation, if a player breaks a rule several times their ban will get escalated, if a staff member breaks the same staff policy perhaps more than talking to them is required?
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Very true. It appears to outsiders that the same thing is occurring without an increase in penalty. And, it begs the question, why are players penalties public but staff are not? By this logic it seems to be ok to expose players to harassment.
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The only way to publicise player penalties, is if the player themselves show it. Either by appealing it, reporting it, or blatantly showing it off.
So what you would want is for staff reports and ban appeals to be private between the player and the admins, which is not really an ideal setup, and if you want admin on admin reports/appeals, then it won’t make much sense as it shouldn’t happen in the first place.
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sorry if this seems off-topic; this thread/post will just de-evolve into shitflinging and become locked at some point like all other transparency posts in Policy Feedback.
Agreed
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I should have been more clear & apologize for the initial lack of clarity. I was referring to outcomes of reports. For example if a player report is accepted and a note is placed. We may not know the exact wording of the note but have a good idea how it will read. When staff are reprimanded in reports it is usually, we will talk with them. My question is, what are the nature of those discussions and how is it recorded? The issue, in many peoples view is the same infraction is made by staff over and over and no escalation in punishment seems to be taking place.
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I appreciate you taking the time to speak with the community.
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I may be missing something here, but I don’t think in the time I’ve been the mod manager that I’ve accepted a report for a staff member doing the same thing twice. Truthfully, I tried to not post the details of players’ punishments in player reports when I was an admin (in keeping with the way we don’t share notes elsewhere) but management at the time didn’t appreciate that approach.
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Appreciate the response man. I know you are truly trying to make this community a better place. I and many others really appreciate it.
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