Suspended for Otter Nonsense

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Originally Posted by Hash_Browns

Ain't saying the OP of that thread was in the right, but derailing the topic, and then sending a wave of otter pictures isn't exactly a good thing to do either.

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A simple intervention post on the mods' end, or, in the name of Hydaelyn, locking the thread op himself derailed, would have been a better choice than waiting and tossing bans out to nearly everyone involved.

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Originally Posted by SerLuke

Yes I agree, the OP of that thread should have spoken to his former FC mates instead of trying to bait them with a post on the forums.

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Don't know it is a personal matter perhaps the player tried to talk about the subject before and didn't work out the way the player expected can't make such assumption.
The only thing I know so far is that at some point the player felt the need to express discontent and for the 1st answers from the OP there were inside the thread we could see it was something upsetting we shouldn't had pushed the thread so far, it was our fault too.

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Originally Posted by AnnaRosa

Don't know it is a personal matter perhaps the player tried to talk about the subject before and didn't work out the way the player expected can't make such assumption.
The only thing I know so far is that at some point the player felt the need to express discontent and for the 1st answers from the OP there were inside the thread we could see it was something upsetting we shouldn't had pushed the thread so far, it was our fault too.

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Remember the post. He did not try to talk anything out; he saw the joke, left fc, changed data center, and then posted on the of to bait his static.

Forum threads are fickle beasts. 9/10 there hardly ever on point most of the time. You may get 1 maybe 2 people who genuanly engage in the discussion but most of the time it's just frontlines of DPS only.

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Originally Posted by ScarboroughFairy

Ottergater here, second suspension since joining.

I find it very amusing that they would ban posters over otters, but have the person looking to stir the crap pot by trying to antagonize and name/shame former FC-mates get off free. Rules seem very arbitrary here and I say that respectfully, lest they ban me for a third and final time like a great number of people on r/ffxiv.

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He was banned lol.

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Originally Posted by Hash_Browns

The thread was derailed into people just posting otter pics. If you joined in you were kind of asking for it.

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I was expecting that. But I wasn't gonna let my chance of being part of #Ottergate slip by!! We turned a cancerous thread into something otterly amazing!

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Originally Posted by AnnaRosa

It's complex so in regards of the previous thread maybe the best solution is to take it out of the forums and solve it in real life because the way you should be using the forums would be to approach a more game related topics, instead of personal vendettas. Blergghh
The moderators and SE have nothing to do with anyone "Hero jokes" about the topic previously mentioned by Soul.

So quit trying to involve SE and forums community managers into your personal vendettas grow courage and solve it irl.

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Anything started on the forums should be settled on the forums. We're discussing forum moderation and transparency not personal grudges. Even if we were discussing personal grudges nobody should be taking that outside of the forums. Even remotely suggesting that people should find other's information so they can 'solve it IRL' is wrong in every way.

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Originally Posted by Alucard135

He was banned lol.

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Oh? I stand corrected, then. That was someone who needed it. Not those of us who tried to extinguish the trashfire with adorable pictures.

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Originally Posted by AnnaRosa

Don't know it is a personal matter perhaps the player tried to talk about the subject before and didn't work out the way the player expected can't make such assumption.
The only thing I know so far is that at some point the player felt the need to express discontent and for the 1st answers from the OP there were inside the thread we could see it was something upsetting we shouldn't had pushed the thread so far, it was our fault too.

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Anna, you literally went from “It's complex so in regards of the previous thread maybe the best solution is to take it out of the forums and solve it in real life because the way you should be using the forums would be to approach a more game related topics”

To: “The only thing I know so far is that at some point the player felt the need to express discontent and for the 1st answers from the OP there were inside the thread we could see it was something upsetting ”

When I addressed the actions of the OP that started all this, Why the contradiction here? If taking care of maters outside the forums applies to us, shouldn’t it also apply to them?

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Originally Posted by LaylaTsarra

Some people are toxic on purpose and try to get a rise out of people. Many of those same people are probably the first to report someone who responds back in kind.

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Quoted for truth. This happened to me about a half a year ago regarding a thread where people were actively bragging about abusing the mentor system and abusing new players for the purpose of getting their mentor mount faster.

I didn't get suspended but my account basically got a strike against it for creating a thread to brag about our children and the cute and smart things they do. It was created in general discussion which I assumed meant we could talk about anything in general as long as it wasn't inappropriate. I received an e-mail detailing what action was taken against my account. I was told it was against the TOS. How could an innocent thread bragging about the things our children do be against the TOS? How asinine is that? They even removed my thread. I was baffled.

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Originally Posted by Jwrigh7784

I didn't get suspended but my account basically got a strike against it for creating a thread to brag about our children and the cute and smart things they do. It was created in general discussion which I assumed meant we could talk about anything in general as long as it wasn't inappropriate. I received an e-mail detailing what action was taken against my account. I was told it was against the TOS. How could an innocent thread bragging about the things our children do be against the TOS? How asinine is that? They even removed my thread. I was baffled.

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Your thread fell into the category:
*Posting content that deviates from topics concerning FINAL FANTASY XIV.

I guess our otter revolution would have fallen into these categories:

*Posting content that deviates from topics concerning FINAL FANTASY XIV.
*Posting a number of posts with the same content.
*Posting content that does not follow the theme of the category or thread.

Looking at it that way we kinda did violated a few of the ToS, but at the same time I believe it could have been curtailed early with either a warning or by locking the thread. Not trying to justify violating the ToS, just pointing out alternate solutions.

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Originally Posted by Jwrigh7784

I didn't get suspended but my account basically got a strike against it for creating a thread to brag about our children and the cute and smart things they do. It was created in general discussion which I assumed meant we could talk about anything in general as long as it wasn't inappropriate. I received an e-mail detailing what action was taken against my account. I was told it was against the TOS. How could an innocent thread bragging about the things our children do be against the TOS? How asinine is that? They even removed my thread. I was baffled.

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General Discussion is, pretty much, an "off-topic" type section, but it's an "off-topic related to FFXIV". That be said, we should not really discuss new movies or our dogs here. We could if it's connected with thread that is, in its turn, connected to the game, but creating threads that are completely unrelated to the game is a "No".

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Originally Posted by Joven

Anything started on the forums should be settled on the forums. We're discussing forum moderation and transparency not personal grudges. Even if we were discussing personal grudges nobody should be taking that outside of the forums. Even remotely suggesting that people should find other's information so they can 'solve it IRL' is wrong in every way.

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Pretty much. Speaking as a former forum moderator of a different MMO, this was one of the worst things you could possibly do. To suggest this as an option indicates that one isn't particularly aware of how things can turn nasty with real life consequences the moment you take disputes out of the internet. People in MMOs tend to be petty as hell, to the point where exchanging information over a dispute could lead to crap happening even years later.

I recall one particular case where one dispute basically led to someone losing their guild leader position because all of their officers rebelled against him (he was known as a pretty major douchebag). But he knew one of the officers IRL because they had dated prior. Three years later, after said person had quit the game, we had to deal with a particularly nasty stalking case. He apparently decided he wasn't over what happened, and apparently wanted to get back at everyone by posing as his ex-girlfriend on Craigslist, complete with address and all, which I'm sure you all can guess what that entails.

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Originally Posted by Joven

I guess our otter revolution would have fallen into these categories:

*Posting content that deviates from topics concerning FINAL FANTASY XIV.
*Posting a number of posts with the same content.
*Posting content that does not follow the theme of the category or thread.

Looking at it that way we kinda did violated a few of the ToS, but at the same time I believe it could have been curtailed early with either a warning or by locking the thread. Not trying to justify violating the ToS, just pointing out alternate solutions.

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This is what I usually see in other forum mmos. Mod steps in, clearly describe what's the issue, warns of potential lock if it goes on and that's the end of it. Insta-bans are usually handed out when it comes to the more egregious violations like derogatory attacks, racial/ethnic slurs, etc.

For example, something like the otter spam would've been typically met with a roadblock in the form of a mod pretty much mentioning you can't post non-ff14 images or derail the thread with it. As for the latter in question, it would've been locked up long time.

I just got off another 10 day ban on these forums for "otter" nonsense as well. I am pretty much done posting here. Literally anything can be interpreted as "Breaking the ToS", doesn't matter what. People can abuse the report system and get pretty much anyone banned for anything, in my opinion.

Make sure to include "in my opinion" after everything otherwise it could be confused as "slander", in my opinion. I am serious in my opinion.

You guys should watch Sarazanmai.

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Originally Posted by SenorPatty

This is what I usually see in other forum mmos. Mod steps in, clearly describe what's the issue, warns of potential lock if it goes on and that's the end of it. Insta-bans are usually handed out when it comes to the more egregious violations like derogatory attacks, racial/ethnic slurs, etc.

For example, something like the otter spam would've been typically met with a roadblock in the form of a mod pretty much mentioning you can't post non-ff14 images or derail the thread with it. As for the latter in question, it would've been locked up long time.

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Pretty much my experience as well, both on the user side and as someone who has moderator experience under my belt. You don't necessarily have to be overtly present in the day to day going's on of the forums or even interact with it's users on a casual level, but you do need to come down from on high when there's work to be done and make sure things stay on track. It helps keep things consistent and warns people who might not know they're doing anything wrong to fix their behavior.

I'll be honest these forums are the only ones I've been in where the mods are so faceless and unreachable that it negatively impacts the userbase's perception of the actual rules that need to be followed. For all we know they are following an internal guide book on how to handle all these issues, but because we have no basis to even speculate what their criteria for bans are in many cases it just leads to constant re-offenses.

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Originally Posted by Enla

Pretty much my experience as well, both on the user side and as someone who has moderator experience under my belt. You don't necessarily have to be overtly present in the day to day going's on of the forums or even interact with it's users on a casual level, but you do need to come down from on high when there's work to be done and make sure things stay on track. It helps keep things consistent and warns people who might not know they're doing anything wrong to fix their behavior.

I'll be honest these forums are the only ones I've been in where the mods are so faceless and unreachable that it negatively impacts the userbase's perception of the actual rules that need to be followed. For all we know they are following an internal guide book on how to handle all these issues, but because we have no basis to even speculate what their criteria for bans are in many cases it just leads to constant re-offenses.

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They don't give out warnings, they give out full on bans. For what would never be considered an offense, or even a minor offense (IF EVEN) anywhere else. In my opinion, users know this and report for anything that hurts their "feelings", straight up melodrama. I never seriously report anyone, I get over it. The trend seems to be to silence for anything and everything, as long as it is reported, in my opinion.

The ToS is literally so broadly handled there is no basis to go on at all. You have to assume that pretty much anything not positive can be considered "breaking the ToS". I thought it was bad when an implication of a swear, or an actual swear was enough to get a ban, but at least there is a line where you know, "Okay it is not okay to use any kind of swear". There is no such thing for regular speech. I won't make a "my freedom of speech" argument, because I know it doesn't apply here, but the level the ToS is enforced here is absolutely ridiculous. It has me literally nervous to post on these forums at all, who knows what could get me banned!

Is it possible that the lack of moderator communication some kind of cultural difference?

Perhaps this is normal procedure for a Japanese forum, and Japanese managers are setting the rules for how all moderators must behave and handle incidents? There could be stricter social codes that they stick to anyway, and are less likely to overstep the boundaries in the first place.

Is anyone here at all familiar with Japanese forum etiquette?

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Originally Posted by Iscah

Is it possible that the lack of moderator communication some kind of cultural difference?

Perhaps this is normal procedure for a Japanese forum, and Japanese managers are setting the rules for how all moderators must behave and handle incidents? There could be stricter social codes that they stick to anyway, and are less likely to overstep the boundaries in the first place.

Is anyone here at all familiar with Japanese forum etiquette?

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From what I can tell the JP forums are very, very different they have different subcategories and much fewer but more populated threads than we do.

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Originally Posted by SerLuke

From what I can tell the JP forums are very, very different they have different subcategories and much fewer but more populated threads than we do.

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Yeah, I know they have a different, more organised approach to threads in the first place, but what about moderation?

Perhaps they rarely step over these troublesome invisible boundaries in the first place.

Do mods communicate with them? Do they ever need to? Would a silent ban like the ones handed out here be understood as "okay, I stuffed up, I deserved that" and not feel like they should have been warned first?

If it's a set rule that the mods themselves have to follow, that they have to stay silent and not be actively known and personal, they may have no choice in the matter.

The rules are in the sticky at the top of each subforum. There isn't really a guess on how to find the rules, as they are easy to find and laid out pretty clearly.

Maybe that's why they don't step in and say "hey, you are breaking these rules".

They do (or did) pop in and give a warning when topics got heated and said they would lock the threads if things continued, or lock them when the discussions are going in circles and the point is long past being made.

The forums would be a better place if the mods, instead of hiding the posts and silently ban the users, they start putting these posts on invisible, relay a public warning and keep threads monitored. Lock them if it's needed. That way you're moderating, you're sending a message and people understand what's going on. Knowing that, they will start behaving themselves when needed. Right now, the moderation team is acting more as an executioner.

They put the ban in your account which it's always 100% accurate according to the admin that "reviews" them and you gotta go through a appeal system that does nothing but to rely automated and copy pasted response. The whole process has no transparency whatsoever. I am also an ex-moderator from a relatively big MMO community and we handled things more efficiently, with warnings instead of bans and applying suspensions on severe issues. Contacting users and letting them know what's wrong with that they did. Also known as "slap on the wrist". The caring that the mod team puts on the forum community is almost non-existant.

My next issues is the complete lack of consistency. I've seen users commenting, trolling, flamming and getting away with it completely. So apparently all it takes it's an user holding a grudge on you, report your comment and wait for the guillotine to fall down. I barely use the forums anymore because of how they treat their users and I hope they address this in the future.

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Originally Posted by Iscah

Is it possible that the lack of moderator communication some kind of cultural difference?

Perhaps this is normal procedure for a Japanese forum, and Japanese managers are setting the rules for how all moderators must behave and handle incidents? There could be stricter social codes that they stick to anyway, and are less likely to overstep the boundaries in the first place.

Is anyone here at all familiar with Japanese forum etiquette?

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Not sure about the JP forums, but I have heard that community moderators of the French and German forums tend to step in more than the NA moderators of threads go off-topic or start getting nasty. I don't post on either, nor do I visit them (I can't speak French or German) - but this was told to me by a few people that do visit/post there.

I can't recall the last time a moderator ever stepped into an NA thread to ask people to either stay on topic or to calm down before the thread is locked. As I said in my post here describing this situation, I can only recall one thread that was actually locked when it needed to be. Most actions tend to be fairly silent: posts vanish or, sometimes, the thread itself does; but we don't hear from a moderator about why they removed it/started deleting posts. Moderation seems to be fairly invisible for the most part over here.

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Originally Posted by Valkyrie_Lenneth

The rules are in the sticky at the top of each subforum. There isn't really a guess on how to find the rules, as they are easy to find and laid out pretty clearly.

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My issue is it seems some people get away with breaking these rules while others do not. I think several people here share this concern, since consistency is being brought up.

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They do (or did) pop in and give a warning when topics got heated and said they would lock the threads if things continued, or lock them when the discussions are going in circles and the point is long past being made.

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The last (and only) time I recall this happening during my 3+ years posting here was for the 100+ page thread about 4.0 WHM and the Lily system made 2 years ago. And it was well after the thread had devolved past anything meaningful (the locking, that is). I can't actually recall a time where an NA moderator stepped in to tell posters to calm down when conversations get heated, and gods know there have been several of these threads within my time here.

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Originally Posted by Lilseph

The forums would be a better place if the mods, instead of hiding the posts and silently ban the users, they start putting these posts on invisible, relay a public warning and keep threads monitored. Lock them if it's needed. That way you're moderating, you're sending a message and people understand what's going on. Knowing that, they will start behaving themselves when needed. Right now, the moderation team is acting more as an executioner.

They put the ban in your account which it's always 100% accurate according to the admin that "reviews" them and you gotta go through a appeal system that does nothing but to rely automated and copy pasted response. The whole process has no transparency whatsoever. I am also an ex-moderator from a relatively big MMO community and we handled things more efficiently, with warnings instead of bans and applying suspensions on severe issues. Contacting users and letting them know what's wrong with that they did. Also known as "slap on the wrist". The caring that the mod team puts on the forum community is almost non-existant.

My next issues is the complete lack of consistency. I've seen users commenting, trolling, flamming and getting away with it completely. So apparently all it takes it's an user holding a grudge on you, report your comment and wait for the guillotine to fall down. I barely use the forums anymore because of how they treat their users and I hope they address this in the future.

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Yes! So true! I get the feeling bans are handed out via weaponized reports from users with a grudge (how I assume I was banned this most recent time).

Yeah, the ban is always "100% accurate" according to the "review". In my opinion, there isn't even actually an appeal process. The moderators are never wrong! You wait 3-4 days for them to get back to you just to say, and I'll quote my email:

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Greetings,

We understand you are contacting us in regards to an account action. However, the account action has been reviewed previously and was deemed correct. We understand this can be distressing as it means the account is not accessible, however, we request that you review the terms of service for the Official Forums to better understand the reasons for the account action.

Thank you

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It took them 4 days to tell me the account actions was "reviewed previously, and deemed correct".

I won't quote what my ban was for, but I have reviewed their terms of service, and, in my opinion, the only way what I posted was bannable was if they have the most broad interpretation of their terms of service as possible. As in, again, they can ban you for literally anything.

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Originally Posted by Valkyrie_Lenneth

The rules are in the sticky at the top of each subforum. There isn't really a guess on how to find the rules, as they are easy to find and laid out pretty clearly.

Maybe that's why they don't step in and say "hey, you are breaking these rules".

They do (or did) pop in and give a warning when topics got heated and said they would lock the threads if things continued, or lock them when the discussions are going in circles and the point is long past being made.

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I don't think anyone has a problem finding the rules, just with how or if they're chosen to be enforced or not. Also, I don't think anyone on here is going to reference the sticky post before responding to a thread to make sure what they want to say falls in line. When it becomes obvious that a moderator is already watching a certain thread it really shouldn't be too much of an effort on their part to post a quick "y'all done goofed" if things go sideways.

I think mods used to be more hands on in the past. I've seen small threads early on have a mod pop in and contribute info, but recently I've seen large threads where posters have directly called for a mod to clarify bits of info regarding things like the ToS only to be met with silence.

I was over my cousins house when he got perm off these forums I go over there a lot even to post sometimes.
he showed me the emails he got and I laughed cause a lot of the stuff he was temp banned for people say today and still are posting.

He tried to get the ban overturned and explained people post the same stuff now then they replied they don't need to give a reason.

Problem was someone he reported because he said he was going to report them for something started to revenge report when they returned.
going through Post history even got him for a post a GM told him to get help on forums in beta then 3 years later was temp banned for that post instead of the forums GM to remove the topic after the help.

Then he got banned for small things that didn't even seem right till the perm.

cousin doesn't care anymore advice he told me not to post who you are reporting or say anything if it seems like a form of a attack but isn't don't post it people will revenge by chat history.

eventually the forums will croak leaving only leaving everyone who agree's with everything you say that really seems boring.

if you cannot debate things I say and nobody has a difference of opinion than why even have a forums at all perm only gets rid of the other side of the chat table and once all of them are gone consider this the allakzham forums that's why FFXIAH forums got so popular

then you have all the same faces posting the same stuff everyday then once that happens i'll fully move to reddit.

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Originally Posted by HyoMinPark

Not sure about the JP forums, but I have heard that community moderators of the French and German forums tend to step in more than the NA moderators of threads go off-topic or start getting nasty. I don't post on either, nor do I visit them (I can't speak French or German) - but this was told to me by a few people that do visit/post there.

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So not a global ruling then, but perhaps something coming from the American management team rather than the mods themselves.

Is it possible they are not permitted to act without receiving a report first? And then have to apply certain criteria to a report, regardless of subtleties or personal judgement?

It would certainly skew the reports and punishments towards (hypothetical) "unreasonable people" taking offence to and reporting over minor issues, while more tolerant "reasonable people" might let things slide that really could/should be moderated - instead responding directly to the arguments in the discussion. Especially when we know that the punishments for being moderated are potentially harsh, and would rather gently talk it over in the hope that the other person will come to agree.

I don't want the forum to be a place where everyone gets reported for everything, but isthat what it takes for the mods to (be able to) respond if they consider it necessary?

Just don't post memes. Seems simple enough.

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Originally Posted by Zeonx

I was over my cousins house when he got perm off these forums I go over there a lot even to post sometimes.
he showed me the emails he got and I laughed cause a lot of the stuff he was temp banned for people say today and still are posting.

He tried to get the ban overturned and explained people post the same stuff now then they replied they don't need to give a reason.

Problem was someone he reported because he said he was going to report them for something started to revenge report when they returned.
going through Post history even got him for a post a GM told him to get help on forums in beta then 3 years later was temp banned for that post instead of the forums GM to remove the topic after the help.

Then he got banned for small things that didn't even seem right till the perm.

cousin doesn't care anymore advice he told me not to post who you are reporting or say anything if it seems like a form of a attack but isn't don't post it people will revenge by chat history.

eventually the forums will croak leaving only leaving everyone who agree's with everything you say that really seems boring.

if you cannot debate things I say and nobody has a difference of opinion than why even have a forums at all perm only gets rid of the other side of the chat table and once all of them are gone consider this the allakzham forums that's why FFXIAH forums got so popular

then you have all the same faces posting the same stuff everyday then once that happens i'll fully move to reddit.

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I have come to the conclusion that if you are going to post anything negative it needs to have specific wording, be directed broadly (as to not be considered a personal "insult", "discrimination", "slander", "libel", "harrassment"). Never actually address the user in your post, address the argument or statement. God forbid, if you accidentally use a swear word - you are done. I'd say you pretty much have to have a lawyer look over your posts, because something somewhere, if reported, could probably be deemed a "violation" of the ToS.

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Originally Posted by Iscah

It would certainly skew the reports and punishments towards (hypothetical) "unreasonable people" taking offence to and reporting over minor issues, while more tolerant "reasonable people" might let things slide that really could/should be moderated - instead responding directly to the arguments in the discussion.

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I think this is exactly what is happening. I think certain users are reporting over absolute nonsense with hyperbolic reports, while many other users are not reporting at all for things that could be equally "worthy" of a ban. I get the feeling the moderators are stepping in and banning specifically for reports.

Considering my case, and what I was banned for, I highly suspect the user I was responding to reported me for those exact reasons and got me banned. It was too much of a coincidence to be banned for something so ridiculous, and NOT have it be a weaponized report - over something so stupid, in my opinion. If anyone actually believes the post I was banned for equals what I supposedly "broke the ToS", even under review, Lord have mercy.

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Originally Posted by SturmChurro

I have come to the conclusion that if you are going to post anything negative it needs to have specific wording, be directed broadly (as to not be considered a personal "insult", "discrimination", "slander", "libel", "harrassment"). Never actually address the user in your post, address the argument or statement. God forbid, if you accidentally use a swear word - you are done. I'd say you pretty much have to have a lawyer look over your posts, because something somewhere, if reported, could probably be deemed a "violation" of the ToS.

I think this is exactly what is happening. I think certain users are reporting over absolute nonsense with hyperbolic reports, while many other users are not reporting at all for things that could be equally "worthy" of a ban. I get the feeling the moderators are stepping in and banning specifically for reports.

Considering my case, and what I was banned for, I highly suspect the user I was responding to reported me for those exact reasons and got me banned. It was too much of a coincidence to be banned for something so ridiculous, and NOT have it be a weaponized report - over something so stupid, in my opinion. If anyone actually believes the post I was banned for equals what I supposedly "broke the ToS", even under review, Lord have mercy.

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he wouldn't go that far he just said it should be fixed that its kinda weird that they ban someone for a word but someone who says the very same word the next day is fine.

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Originally Posted by Zeonx

he wouldn't go that far he just said it should be fixed that its kinda weird that they ban someone for a word but someone who says the very same word the next day is fine.

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In my opinion, the mods are not reading the forums. They are reading the reports. So saying something like a swear word can be completely buried if it is not reported. That is why I think there doesn't seem to be much consistency in bans.

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Originally Posted by SturmChurro

In my opinion, the mods are not reading the forums. They are reading the reports. So saying something like a swear word can be completely buried if it is not reported. That is why I think there doesn't seem to be much consistency in bans.

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his example was like this.

one group of friends post on forums regular basis, while he is alone.

lets say one of those groups of friends starts a debate gets heated but is proven wrong.
then he gets his group of friends to report since its a bunch of people he is more than likely going to get temp banned its their word vs his he's alone in the matter.

This should not exist he calls it the shark effect you are swimming in a pool of sharks and first sign of blood its a feeding frenzy

which makes you kinda right because of course mods are going to choose the pile over the one.

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Originally Posted by Zeonx

his example was like this.

one group of friends post on forums regular basis, while he is alone.

lets say one of those groups of friends starts a debate gets heated but is proven wrong.
then he gets his group of friends to report since its a bunch of people he is more than likely going to get temp banned its their word vs his he's alone in the matter.

This should not exist he calls it the shark effect you are swimming in a pool of sharks and first sign of blood its a feeding frenzy

which makes you kinda right because of course mods are going to choose the pile over the one.

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I also do not think the mods actually look over the thread for context. They look at the singular post, and the "offended" user's report. If it breaks their, in my opinion, broad interpretation of the ToS it is a ban. There is no course to appeal this ban either. Number of reports definitely has an effect, but I think a singular user reporting is enough. Considering the context of my last ban, I think this reinforces my theory.

Now I am not saying most bans aren't justified a lot are probably legit.

I have read some reddit post and some bans make zero sense, its like the meaning of words are different than what they think they are some use slang words but meant good but looked at as bad because someone doesn't know it.

some bans have you basically saying what the hell, then some bans you are like oh well then you shouldn't of said that I can see why you were banned.

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Originally Posted by Zeonx

Now I am not saying most bans aren't justified a lot are probably legit.

I have read some reddit post and some bans make zero sense, its like the meaning of words are different than what they think they are some use slang words but meant good but looked at as bad because someone doesn't know it.

some bans have you basically saying what the hell, then some bans you are like oh well then you shouldn't of said that I can see why you were banned.

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Definitely do not use any kind of slang terms, someone somewhere will no doubt be "offended" and report you, it will be considered "profanity". Don't get me wrong there are definitely some bans that are no doubt justified, but many of their reports, in my opinion, are NOT worthy of a ban at all.

I have moderated a large fan forum in the past, we gave warnings to users - messaged them directly, and even had an appeal process that was looked over by multiple senior users and moderation. I will admit to getting sarcastic in the past on these forums, but I was banned once I addressed the specific user. Did these bans in question address the user specifically, "profanity" aside? If you address a user in a negative light it can, and will be considered a violation of the ToS.

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Originally Posted by SturmChurro

I also do not think the mods actually look over the thread for context. They look at the singular post, and the "offended" user's report. If it breaks their, in my opinion, broad interpretation of the ToS it is a ban. There is no course to appeal this ban either. Number of reports definitely has an effect, but I think a singular user reporting is enough. Considering the context of my last ban, I think this reinforces my theory.

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Yeah I noticed that because on his email it was in quotations of a line and only pulled the line but ignored everything else. example would be like "you so and so thing" but totally ignored the guy who OP who baited everyone into the thread then who started fight.

to better make you understand let me try to re say what but without me saying the words.

a guy posted he should get his relic with no work at all that it should be given to him.

cousin basically said: that's no fun you should work for it and not take the L**Y way its much funner.

a z missing words trust me it happened lol

I see others posting with it all the time and said the same way and they are still around I couldn't believe it.

I don't think the op was the guy who reported it was like I said someone who wanted revenge cause it was every week he came back it was something new without posting.

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Originally Posted by SturmChurro

I think this is exactly what is happening. I think certain users are reporting over absolute nonsense with hyperbolic reports, while many other users are not reporting at all for things that could be equally "worthy" of a ban. I get the feeling the moderators are stepping in and banning specifically for reports.

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While I’m certain that people do this (revenge reporting, that is), I still see a lot of inconsistencies with posts and reports filed. I’ve reported posts in the past that have clearly violated a rule or guideline, but the post still remains to this day. Within the thread where all this went down, I reported posts by the OP that were never removed, so I wonder if it relies on a certain threshold being reached before moderators step in. I understand that the forums can be a busy place, with NA in particular having a lot of activity in terms of threads/posts made, but I’m not sure how I feel about this practice if it is the case. I know it’s probably impossible to ask for all reports to be reviewed, but...

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Originally Posted by Zeonx

Yeah I noticed that because on his email it was in quotations of a line and only pulled the line but ignored everything else. example would be like "you so and so thing" but totally ignored the guy who OP who baited everyone into the thread then who started fight.

to better make you understand let me try to re say what but without me saying the words.

a guy posted he should get his relic with no work at all that it should be given to him.

cousin basically said: that's no fun you should work for it and not take the L**Y way its much funner.

a z missing words trust me it happened lol

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Yes, so they stated that the user in question was doing something in a derogatory manner. It was enough. "You should" is what got them.

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Originally Posted by HyoMinPark

While I’m certain that people do this (revenge reporting, that is), I still see a lot of inconsistencies with posts and reports filed. I’ve reported posts in the past that have clearly violated a rule or guideline, but the post still remains to this day. Within the thread where all this went down, I reported posts by the OP that were never removed, so I wonder if it relies on a certain threshold being reached before moderators step in. I understand that the forums can be a busy place, with NA in particular having a lot of activity in terms of threads/posts made, but I’m not sure how I feel about this practice if it is the case. I know it’s probably impossible to ask for all reports to be reviewed, but...

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Did the posts you were reporting contain "profanity" or address any user in any way? However, to go back to the post previously made by Zeonx I think volume of reports may play a part here, as well.