GMs need to start moderating the Novice Network

[Penthea]

Square Enix needs to hire more GMs to moderate Novice Network chat. They don't have to be in the chat 24/7, but they need to be able to ban bad mentors quickly before they get out of control. I suggest a three-part approach:

• Give sprouts the ability to specifically report bad mentors
  
• Remove the ability for mentors to kick mentors
  
• Bad mentors get removed from Novice Network for a day, then permanently on the second infringement.

I agree with all of this except for the ban. I think a perma ban on a second infringement is excessive. I think a system more like this would work better:

First offence - banned from novice network for two days
Second offence - banned from novice network for a week
Third offence - banned from novice network for two weeks
Fourth offence - banned from novice network for a month
Fifth offence - permanent ban from novice network

And to add to the above the ban should be account wide so that the offender cannot make an alt or use a second mentor character to continue their poor behaviour to get around the ban.

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I don't think we'll see GMs moderate the chat channel actively, but providing players with an easy way to report players (similar to how we can quickly report players for RMT directly from the chatbox) would be very helpful. And this would be beneficial for any kind of abuse, not just novice network issues.

The Novice Network on my server is full of negativity. Sometimes it even descends into full-on transphobia, homophobia, and bigotry but there is nothing the good mentors can do because kicking bad mentors will start a kick war. Just yesterday I saw a mentor trolling in the Novice Network by calling a sprout an "attack helicopter" when the sprout introduced themselves and said they were non-binary. Then the trolling mentor got kicked but his friend kicked the mentor who kicked the trolling mentor and a kick war started. I didn't think we would still have homophobia and transphobia in 2020 but here we are. Hopefully, by removing the ability to kick mentors from mentors and having GMs moderate the chat, NN will become a welcoming space for sprouts of all backgrounds.

I am so sad to read this. Many novice network channels I have seen have been quite bad but nothing on this scale. This is truly awful. What I mostly have seen is mentors using the chat as a platform to have idle chatter about whatever and often ignore the sprouts who are seeking help. However I have seen some things being said that are downright abusive.