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Staff Posted Bans


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Nope, Nope, Nope!

 

Unless I am directly involved, I do not need to know. In the event that the banned Player had lots of open and active scenes (threads), then Admin should probably let people know privately that Player X is no longer with the RPG.

Someone somewhere went to sleep and dreamed us all alive.
Dreams get pushed around a lot, and I doubt if we'll survive.
We won't get to wake up, dreams were born to disappear.
And I'm pretty sure that none of us are here.
~ None of Us Here by Jim Stafford ~

 

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RPG-Initiative

*your one-stop RPG resource site!

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As a member, I would probably just ignore the thread and never look at it: unless a thread partner of mine went MIA unannounced and I wanted to make sure that wasn't the reason.  Other than that, I don't particular care and basically assume that the admin team decided to give themselves more work than should ever be necessary for whatever reason. This statement is under the assumption that it's just a list of usernames wither either no details at all or very minimal details. IE: M3m3K1ngKool - Banned for member harassment

 

BUT, THAT BEING SAID..... if the Ban list was riddled with detailed dramatizations of problems, then that would suggest to me that there's a lot of Cliquey Drama to navigate, and I'm WAAYY too old to be dealing with High School Mentalities all over again (I've been there myself, adminning during a dramafest of 15+ players in a single group that were all friends for 8 years together on the same board before it started fractioning. Back then we were all young and stupid). 

  • Preach it! 2

 

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Hell no. Do not post anything about a ban or any warning in public. There may be a few exceptions, such as illegal activities, but general activities that warrant a warn should be kept between staff and member. As a member, if I see a website that bans people with shown reasons, I close that tab immediately. Business should be kept private. It’s no one damn business. 

 

For example, I used to be on a website (FeralFront/WCRPG) that posted member bans for a few months, until they reverted back to privacy later on. Mind you, I’ve been on this website for years and seen my fair share on drama, but seeing bans posted openly was... interesting. HUGE red flag. With each ban they posted (questionable) proof, every warning given, and an in-depth explanation as to why the staff members made the decision. To me it felt as if it was a call out session and, like a previous member said, walking on eggshells. Eventually they reverted this change, but it left scars. This website’s only rule after a change of ownership was ‘don’t be a dick’, which honestly should of been a red flag. Drama still sadly proceeded. In reality, a lot of the bans were handed out for first time offenses, someone expressing their concern, offering kind criticism, or what seemed like biased reasons. The ban hammer was swung about willy nilly for unreasonable reasons.

 

I ultimately was a victim to this. Needs a little background information though... I’ve been on this website for a long time (probably too many years lol), ultimately earning my position on the staff team (but was not posting these). This all crumbled when a few of my friends and I decided to create a website of our own, ultimately leading to a few of our demotions. Personally, I shrugged it off. I was going to be preoccupied elsewhere and was planning on stepping down anyways because of some differing opinions, but how the administrators found out was beyond me. That was until one of the staff members decided to flag my map (that I was commissioned for their website) on DeviantArt as their own. I brought it up kindly with the administrators, quoting a few things that we discussed earlier when they asked me to make the map based on rough descriptions. After a message or two (that did not excel to any name calling or rudeness), I was met with a permanent ban. It was as if I was being whisked away for wanting to sort out a small predicament that did not exceed past PMs. But sadly...  This was not the first time this has happened to fellow staff members either. 

 

Proceeding my ban, there was a few people asking why I was gone and criticizing the administrators. So they ultimately released their reason for banning me. Mind you, this was in a two/three day span from what I remember, so their proceedings were quick with demotion and banning. Because of that, a lot of members were dumbfounded and confused by their explaination. Myself included, honestly. Some others revolted and left. It was a big ‘he said she said’ situation from there, as it was with the previous announced bans from months before. Ideally, I would of wished for my details to remain private and between staff members, as all drama should. Since it did go public, I did have to force my hand and provide an explaination for my own side of things, something I did not want to do. There was a lot of uncomfortable and unneeded drama, witch-hunting, and more because of the publicizing of bans previously and from there on. 

 

While releasing the bans may be beneficial for those wondering where their friend went, it will ultimately cause more bad then good. Any negative light on a user or a biased ban could cause backlash upon both sides. This information should remain private, as its expected to be between staff and member. Showing someone’s business to the world is untasteful. 

 

So if some website has a ‘wall of shame’ or a ban board? Run. Run fast. 

  • Agree 2

owner of some website ❤️

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There's no point keeping a list of bans, as there's a list of them in the Admin CP. I don't agree that it needs to be made public in any way, shape or form. And I'd honestly think twice about joining a site that parades their bans like some sort of achievement.

 

No one wants to have to ban a difficult member, the entire thing is a stress that we could do without.

 

In my opinion, the only sensible way of informing other members that someone has been banned is if they were RPing with the banned member. Whenever I've had to ban someone, and I know they had a few writing partners they frequently threaded with, I just send those members a quiet PM letting them know the unfortunate news, and apologise for disruption of those threads as a result.

 

But making a public spectacle of it just seems wrong.

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As a member, I think I would appreciate a brief announcement if there was a ban of a significant member? But to keep a running list makes me think that site doesn't let drama go. If someone's gonna be banned, ban them and move tf on. But to have a list to go off of, and especially if this banned person(s) was especially toxic, and constantly be reminded of that environment that existed while they were around? Nah dude. I'm out.

 

Then again, there's also a chance I wouldn't even notice this list or think twice about it if I was real stoked for the site. I have my priorities and this honestly isn't one of them. Not a make or break. But if I stopped to think about it, I'm probably gonna have some, y'know, questionable thoughts.

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a dark, urban fantasy;

inspired by sailor moon

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  • 2 months later...

Unless the person being banned is a potential danger to society, even online, bans should be kept private. I'd appreciate knowing that someone's committed a  heinous crime especially if said person ever tried to meet me, but bans over the little things such as spamming the forum or excessive swearing aren't that important.

Courirnu // original small-town rp

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I have players from the EU, and so even considering anything like this would be strictly breaking GDPR compliance, and would potentially open my site to being shut down.

 

Also, it's airing dirty laundry for all to see. Hard pass.

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I would never keep a public lists of bans. It would turn me right off joining a site; it looks very toxic.

But what I would tell players about a ban would vary. With discord playing such a big part in games now, players have more contact with one another than ever, so depending on what's been said you may have to let some players know what's happened. But I would try to do so privately and simply with no unnecessary details. 

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  • 5 weeks later...

I don't think I'd want to see a banned list. Notifications when someone involved in a crime (that is, something extreme like pedophilia, murder, etc.) is banned are appreciated. The sites I grew up playing on were bad at concealing who was banned and who wasn't, and it had a massive impact on the player base. People quit just because the person they looked up to was banned, regardless of the reason. These sites went from hundreds of active members to averaging between ten and twenty people online for one, and from dozens to less than four at most times--and these are real-time RP sites, as opposed to forum sites.

Anonymous poster hash: bc7b8...702

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First----my favorite thing about this thread is the first page with everyone saying they like that juicy gossip. XD 

 

Second, ban lists are scary and weird. I don't think I've ever seen a site that has one, but it sounds like it does happen? As a potential member or an existing member, this would be a huge turn off for me. While I am a nosy hoe, I don't want a list of people who got sent the chopping block. It feels like a warning and a reminder that one day I could end up there if I accidentally break rule number 35 one too many times. 

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