Quote Originally Posted by Ursa_Vonfiebryd View Post
In all of these cases it will be the chat (and to a lesser extent the action log) that will determine guilt. If you gave someone advice but called them a dumbass first or yelled mechanics at them during a rant or used some demeaning macro then there could be consequences even though in the barest sense, they were 'helped.' In a perfect world people would be accountable for their own actions and that would be all that was needed but often the system itself is used to hide or misdirect where the real problem lies. Online MMO continue to be carte blanche for some people's bad behavior. Since SE can't change hearts or minds, they change rules. I can't say I mind a heavier hand on the ban-hammer even as I know these new expanded criteria also could bite me in the ass as well. I'll take that gamble because of all the things that are outside my control, myself isn't one of them.
That last bit "of all the things that are outside of my control, myself isn't one of them."

The problem is these policy changes take your INTENT out of the equation. So no, you won't be in control of even yourself when it comes to guilt or innocence. This is a badly written rules change. As you said in your second sentence, "called them a dumbass first OR yelled mechanics at them during a rant" could be interpreted in any way by a GM at this point. Yelling could be interpreted differently by any GM, and so could "mechanics." The GM is now able to interpret your intent and what context your words were given in, not you. Evidence or chat logs are useless with this policy change; it is entirely left up to the interpretation of the GM, how convincing a "victim" is, and adherence to a (likely deliberately) vaguely described set of rules.

Having a heavier hand isn't hard to do without writing rules like this; just hire more GMs and crack down on people who are reported (and legitimately do bad things) more often. You don't need sweeping changes to the definition of "harassment" in order to crack down on actual harassment. You only need that if your intent is to "improve" your customers rather than improve your game.