How forum moderation works - requesting a GM response please

[MoroMurasaki]

I know several players who have been banned from the OF, two of whom were banned over nonsense. One of these players recently contested their ban via the new system and has been getting nowhere with it.

They were told initially they would receive a response within 48 hours. It's been almost a week. As far as I know there has been no response still. While this is unprofessional I suppose it's still preferable to no system at all. I digress.

Access to these forums is valuable to me. I want to be able to share my views in a place where there might be even a hint of them reaching the devs in some form or another but I also want to be able to offer help and guidance to new players and help steer them clear of the wealth of misinformation that is spread all across this place.

I do not want to wake up one day and find out I’ve been banned for no apparent reason.

I understand the GMs can't address any specific cases in such a public manner but I am requesting some sort of guideline around which I can monitor my own posting. The little rules post in each section is of no help. I have had people literally directly insult me and either recieve a temp ban or no ban at all despite being reported by multiple other users and yet I know of one person who posted the tiniest snippet off of their own fflogs page and captioned it with “Holy OP xD” and was permanently banned almost immediately.

Please, can anyone explain how calling someone stupid or mean or toxic is okay but a cropped screenshot is apparently going to bring down the sky? I just don't understand.

As of right now I have lost all faith and understanding in how these forums are moderated and as someome who is paying for access to this game which includes access to these forums I feel like that should matter to the moderation staff.

My sub pays your bills, I want someone to be able to articulate to me the criteria a post or user must meet in order for the decision to be made to remove their access to what is essentially part of their subscription.

Yes, I did post in the other “elephant in the room” thread and quoted a GM to ask this question. I have yet to recieve an answer, I hoped making my own thread might garner further attention. If you’d like to read that post or thread it's linked below

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...=1#post4736146


Also I have seen people say that likes on a post can help get it seen by the GM team. I've done what I can with the title to alert them to my desire for contact but if you are also curious as to what makes a post or user ban-worthy I encourage you to like this post so that we might get a real answer. Thanks! \o/

[Kuroka]

Welp i got a bit heated up over one bot topic and used the f* word and got hit with 10 days of ban for that and multiple other things, while im stil wondering what that would be...

While being a bit rude or rather inpolite i dont see what made me more banworthy then some others who outright mess with others or use way, waaay more bad words...

...but i guess youll either be ignored, deleted or just fed a basic rehash of forum rules or smt along that...

[AriaFairchild]

Chances are the mods will hastily glance over your OP, notice the word "toxic" then move it to the "Working as Intended" forum.

[AngelCheese77]

Good luck, OP. I said a person was being toxic to the forum community and got a 2 week suspension from the forums and had no way to fight it. /shrugs.

And yet there are people using curse words, harassing people, and still are able to post.

[Miste]

Non censored swearing seems to be a pretty common reason for posts being removed and also bans.

They seem to have a mostly no tolerance policy when it comes to that? Just my observation.

Probably a good idea if we all just do our best to avoid using that kind of language and also any other obvious things like directly insulting other posters, and ad hominem/name-calling type stuff.

Some things I've heard people get banned for were a bit strange though and some of it seems kinda vague... one being someone I know personally. It was only a temp ban, but it was the weirdest thing I've ever seen someone get temp banned for. It was quite a few years ago now though.

It might be good if SE and the forum mods maybe get together and update the rules to reflect more of what isn't tolerated.

[Sigma-Astra]

I did get a 2 week suspension because apparently the mods didn't like a signature I had. That seems a little much for a forum signature that they removed themselves, at best a warning would have been fine not to use something like that again possibly. But, a 2 week temporary ban? Geesus.

[Cylla]

I got hit with a week ban just because I either told another player to shut up because all they were doing was talking circles and getting people railed up or it was because I out right called out SE on not following their own Terms of Service over banning a person for openly admitting on the OF they were buying houses and owned half a ward. Even had a lovely signature of a screen shot with all the houses they owned just to taunt people.

Honestly, the OF is garbage. It like walking on egg shells. *waits to get the ban hammer again for saying that*

[AriaFairchild]

I got hit with a week ban just because I either told another player to shut up because all they were doing was talking circles and getting people railed up or it was because I out right called out SE on not following their own Terms of Service over banning a person for openly admitting on the OF they were buying houses and owned half a ward. Even had a lovely signature of a screen shot with all the houses they owned just to taunt people.

Honestly, the OF is garbage. It like walking on egg shells. *waits to get the ban hammer again for saying that*

What are you talking about, our community is a great community, btw! So toxic!

[Sebazy]

I am requesting some sort of guideline around which I can monitor my own posting. The little rules post in each section is of no help.

Agreed 100%.

Whilst I won't dispute my own time under the ban stick as it's pretty clear where I stepped over the line. I am good friends with a number of individuals who have been banned for highly trite reasons. It's doubly frustrating when these friends were seemingly banned over posts that were both positive and enlightening for the community. It's a shame this question didn't get a response in the 'elephant in the room' thread. I do hope it gets one here as it's something that's long overdue for being addressed IMHO.

[Canadane]

Conduct yourself professionally and you generally will never see any trouble.
This is harder than you think for some people.