Well honestly, from my own experience as moderator, the rules didn't have much impact. The only rule as moderator for some reason applies for ban logs, at least it used to, the rule was to log ur bans in about 14 days I'm pretty sure. That's not much of a deal tbh, obviously some moderators had so many bans that it took them days to log, but there wasn't much of a penalty whenever they didn't. All of the rules for moderators basically become important whenever there's a staff report. I don't know how active the head mods are right now, Sando I hope ur doing ur job well, but before, it took a few days on a staff report to get a reply from a head mod, which made the whole process even slower meaning that everyone took it less seriously.

My point is that moderator rules are a thing, but they're not taken seriously by the mods themselves, there are basically no penalties whenever a mod goes against his rules. Considering that most of the moderators are friends with each other it makes the rules go blank, they simply start allowing each other to break the rules little by little. That's why I think the head moderators are supposed to be less friends and more serious type of people in the staff team. They should be looking at the rules dead cold and taking the demotion game a lot more seriously. Then the moderator rules will become a lot more important and known. Moderators will finally write their inactivity or resignation threads.

 

I'm not a fan of this mindset. The mods having rules in my day were usually a code of conduct to prevent abuse of powers. I never logged bans or other punishments and the results were that any ban appeals that I had were passed due to a lack of posted evidence. Fortunately most of my bans went uncontested.

 

It’s a lot more different now then it was back then, you were staff when cyp ran things correct? Or am I thinking of someone else

 

IIRC staff follow the same rules as players but they’re a little stricter. With all the chat rules a player can still be a total toxic piece of crap, a staff member can’t. Also they have the 4-day inactive rule but it isn’t enforced.

Also I don’t believe staff being inactive is a major issue. Yes some staff are lazy but there is plenty of staff to pick up the slack. Then you got mods like xSoulHero, that guy was inactive like crazy but when he was online he was one of the best mods we’ve ever had. Mineverse has such a large staff compared to playerbase a few mods being inactive isn’t an issue.

 

I resigned more than four years ago (this still boggles my mind) so in no way am I an authority on the current inner workings of the staff team. However, when I ran the team, we did have a set of guidelines that all moderators were expected to follow. We had a code of conduct and certain report, help thread, and activity quotas that were frequently checked and enforced quite aggressively. I realize legacy Mineverse with 1,500 concurrent players is far cry from a 150 player server so different measures were a necessity but there is definitely still value in strictly enforcing a set of clear guidelines. I created a staff guidelines thread in the staff section but I have no idea if it remains; I actually still have many founding staff documents in my Google account all these years later. Personally, I don't see a downside in publicizing these guidelines. If anything, there is a benefit in allowing the community to better play a role in policing the moderators who are there to serve them. After all, we do always say "thanks for your service" when someone resigns. I am in no way advocating for players to have unrestrained authority. False staff reports should still be punished harshly and it would still be entirely at the discretion of the head moderators to enact the appropriate punishment.

I created a tiered staff punishment system but I'm not sure if it's still used. Basically, it was a three strike and you're out system wherein certain offenses would either be one strike (warn), two strikes (heavy warn), or three strikes (instant demotion) based on the severity of said offense. For example, certain offenses like leaking and abuse were classed as instant demotion offenses whereas bias and disrespect would be either one or two strikes based on the context of the situation. Again, I'm not sure if this system is still around so take what I say with a grain of salt.

There is certainly no harm in creating or publicizing the staff guidelines document so that players have a better idea of what they can a) expect from their staff members b) expect if they were to become a moderator themselves c) report a staff member for if they happen to violate any rules. This would clear up any ambiguity, fear of punishment if one creates a false staff report, and provide for a more cohesive community where we all hold each other accountable. Operating behind closed doors often breeds distrust in the system.

I hope everyone is staying safe and doing well. It's been a wild year. Here's to a brighter 2021!