I mean does anyone have issue with the idea of dealing with this serious issue by giving admins the power to prevent players who engage in such behavior from posting (let's say first offense 12 hours, then 24)? We had a system in place like this previously actually but it was enforced unevenly.

Hileville, would you have the text of the old administration policy on warnings and points taken off? Once someone got a certain number of private warnings I think they got points added up and then were temporarily banned from posting for a certain period of time?

If players get out of hand then refer them to some sort of mediation? We can compile a list of neutral people who would be willing to step in and privately mediate between the two parties?

I do agree that attempting to use an April Fools joke as a means to harass and slander individuals is indeed "below the belt", but I'm looking for ways to create a balance. There's a difference between a few snarky comments and continuous harassment. I'm looking for a balance between the two, something that protects free speech, but at the same time protects individuals from being harassed at a level that may be considered actionable by the courts.

I'm... actually not quite sure where to draw the line on that one. I think that everyone's feeling a bit of a sting over the past few weeks or so. And I'll admit, I am kind of guarded. I sort of think if there was at least some kind of protection for citizens in this, it might improve the atmosphere. Sure, this means that people would have to be a bit careful, but really, harassment doesn't really build up a region. I've seen it generally derails threads, makes people feel on edge, and is stressful for not only those involved but those who are legitimately trying to have a good time. Everyone acts on it differently as well, so that kind of compounds the problem. But, like I said, I think *some* kind of protection should be given, because I think most of us are here to play a game and have a good time. Disagreements and critically arguing will happen and is totally acceptable. It'd be pretty boring if we all agreed on everything, lol. But it changes a bit when the arguer ceases to attack the argument and instead goes right for the individual.

No I don't have those handy.

As for the rest of it how about the High Court. Yep they are the body that resolves disputes.

Seriously this is a little ridiculous. This was removed from the CoL when we severely diluted the Criminal Code. Since then we have seen quite a bit of defamation going on. The amount of it is sickening.

I'm extremely against giving the admins the authority to handle defamation. This admin team has already (Tsu excluded) said they don't want to do other things the Assembly expects them to do. Why should we give them more? I personally believe we should seriously consider lessening the power of the admin team given current circumstances in the region.

Sorry, Hileville point me to a TSP where this wasn't the norm. There are threads where Unibot and SB just go at each other for pages. Not to mention Belschaft going off on any number of people. Not to mention the crapfest that was the Milgorad returning to TSP as a non-citizen for something thread where the thread had to be locked and several of the usually quiet people went off the rails.

Again Todd, the wily cunning of making it seem like the April Fool's joke thread was about you. It wasn't, honey. It was a joke thread and the person who created that thread has no power over what other players choose to do off site and the fact that you keep trying to conflate the two is troubling.

Also, were you or were you not involved in OBT? I mean the thing is if I were just to go by your words, it would seem like you weren't involved at all which is when it becomes slander. But perhaps you're using a different definition?

P.S. Hileville, it would have been nice if you let the High Court deal with the election issues but it seems like you didn't trust them enough to do so and that has its own set of echo effects.

As I have stated several times in that thread, I am not accusing the originator of it (Kris) anything and I apologize if it's construed that way. I just would rather not be a part of it. It's not about me, but since it's been used against me by someone else, I'd rather not be involved in it. That's really about it. I don't want to fight it, I don't want to cause trouble. Just want to not be a part of it.

I have stated numerous times that yes, I was involved in OBT. While it was never set into motion (and had no intentions of doing so), I nevertheless apologized for it, owned it, took a hiatus, and moved on. I could go on, but it'd probably derail the conversation and the likes. As I have said, if anyone has any issues or problems with that, they may speak to me and I'll be happy to answer questions or clear stuff up.

If anyone is being harassed or is receiving undue treatment on this forum, then the Administrative Team would be very interested in knowing. It does not seem like that often, and I am the first to acknowledge that, but we genuinely care about enforcing moderation policies, and that includes ensuring that nobody is being harassed or treated in an undue fashion.

Should that happen to anyone, please post it in the Operations Centre, report the posts/PMs in question, or send a private message to any of us, and we'll take measures as appropriate.

(04-01-2015, 04:31 PM)Sopo Wrote:

(04-01-2015, 10:04 AM)Kris Kringle Wrote:

(04-01-2015, 02:13 AM)Sopo Wrote: I would also like to note that it may be wise to include "Abuse of Administrative Powers" in the list of offenses as well, to include admins and moderators. Currently there are no repercussions if our admins/mods abuse their powers or viewing privileges.

Forum Administration is regulated by Administrative Policy, not by the Criminal Code.

But that does not include what happens if admins abuse their power, aside from removing them from the admin team. Even then, they would be removed by the other admins. Such an addition to the Criminal Code would give regular citizens the ability to hold admins accountable if they use their power nefariously (such as for political gain).

The issue I see is that "abuse" will simply be "I don't like this admin and want to crush them with any means."

You also have to grapple with the realty that the more you expose an administrative team to this kind of political arena, the more that team is going to behave politically rather than clerically.

(04-01-2015, 10:47 PM)Sandaoguo Wrote:

(04-01-2015, 04:31 PM)Sopo Wrote:

(04-01-2015, 10:04 AM)Kris Kringle Wrote:

(04-01-2015, 02:13 AM)Sopo Wrote: I would also like to note that it may be wise to include "Abuse of Administrative Powers" in the list of offenses as well, to include admins and moderators. Currently there are no repercussions if our admins/mods abuse their powers or viewing privileges.

Forum Administration is regulated by Administrative Policy, not by the Criminal Code.

But that does not include what happens if admins abuse their power, aside from removing them from the admin team. Even then, they would be removed by the other admins. Such an addition to the Criminal Code would give regular citizens the ability to hold admins accountable if they use their power nefariously (such as for political gain).

The issue I see is that "abuse" will simply be "I don't like this admin and want to crush them with any means."

You also have to grapple with the realty that the more you expose an administrative team to this kind of political arena, the more that team is going to behave politically rather than clerically.

That's not at all what I mean. I mean using power to edit peoples' posts, get into peoples' accounts, snoop in private forums... clear, flagrant violations. Not petty things.

I am not comfortable with subjecting that to the Criminal Code. We have a clear procedure for the Team to deal with admin misconduct and cannot support moving away from it. This would unnecessarily politicize Forum Administration, for no substantial benefit.