[DEPRECATED] Community-Driven Silence Program (!report)

[Rab]

why tell the troll you're ignoring them?

because if they continue typing to me it results in everyone else getting spammed too, so it's better if they know not to bother.

[Sir BattyCrease]

i've watched you in pub (rab) get involved with arguments and then declare that person "ignored" or "added to ignore.txt" - in fact, a lot of people do this. why tell the troll you're ignoring them? just ignore them and continue to play the game you big fucking pussy
then if they change alias again and start harrassing you, ?ignore them, don't tell them you've ignored them - problem solved. literally you're being such a girl over nothing lol

[qan]

Those are both somewhat up to interpretation. Though obviously there are many derogatory slurs that go totally overlooked, in large part because they are not enforced anywhere online anymore, except perhaps in family-friendly/child-oriented areas.

Moderators in the past had used an incredibly broad interpretation of these rules, resulting in rampant abuse and simply banning people they don't like, then often gloating over it. We went the other direction (far more explicit rules about what can and can not be punished for, with a lot of oversight on the part of ban ops) in order to prevent such abuse, which at the time was a substantial source of trouble, and likely worse than being more lenient and precise on enforcing rules.

We're working on a public-facing version of the ban manual that makes it clearer what we are and are not enforcing, which will then open up more discussion as to what those rules should be and how they should be enforced. This will also be reflected in A1.

[Rab]

Yeah, plz remember I was originally just calling for A1 rules 4 and 5 to be enforced. That continues to be what I'm calling for.

I'm not calling for aliases to be banned, it's just a consequence of you not doing your job, and therefore me having to try and find alternative suggestions in the hope you'll agree to one.... in the nicest possible way :/

[qan]

POiD was working on an alternate version of the biller in which only two aliases are allowed. However, I'm not sure how easy it would be to bypass. (Undoubtedly there would be a way; then the way would be patched; then another would be discovered, and so on and so forth. It would certainly make it more difficult than it is now, though, which is to say trivial.)

Bots can and do automatically alias check players for the purposes of certain zone functions. However, alias checking is far from perfect. False matches are possible, and it's also not assured that a strong match will always register. In other words, any such system would be thwarted relatively easily. Or, if it were broadened such that it could not easily be overcome, it would then catch players under it who were not meant to be caught.

We would also probably need to allow Mac and Linux players to disregard the rule, or just outright prevent them from playing altogether.

But as voth points out, it's not as though many people are calling for the banning of aliases. Many people enjoy playing under aliases, and not just to annoy others, but to have some level of anonymity in a community that has ties dating back two decades, myself included. (If you tend to get a lot of PMs when you play that are unrelated to the game at hand, it doesn't exactly encourage you to want to play on that name.)

[Voth]

Well, if a staffer can alias check then so can a bot, so:
- player logs in
- bot alias checks them
- bot takes action if aliasing detected

Sure, maybe. I have no idea. I don't do that type of stuff. But again, I don't see anyone else calling for the widespread ban of aliases besides you...

[Rab]

Well, if a staffer can alias check then so can a bot, so:
- player logs in
- bot alias checks them
- bot takes action if aliasing detected

[Voth]

You are above my expertise when you go into things like that -- but I was under the impression we couldn't ban aliasing unless we switched to ASSS. Don't quote me, I could be wrong.

And that is completely ignoring all of the other arguments against banning aliasing, but just to be direct with you...

[Rab]

As a developer I'd never suggest to do anything manually. Whatever is done should be automated. The manual-ness of this program is why it doesn't work.

For example, if you automatically ban all aliasing, period. This problem is completely solved. Also solved are: double-squadding, elim aliasing, account sharing.

[Voth]

I'd be satisfied with you stopping people evading ?ignore or ignore.txt. It sounds derpy as fuck every time staff suggest using it because it just straight-up doesn't work.

The biggest problem with this issue is that normal moderators do not have alias checking powers. Only TWD Ops and upper staff have these abilities. Manpower on staff is (in my opinion) at an all time low, making this a very difficult thing to police. Upper staff simply can't be available 24/7 to make the game bearable for you. Sorry.

[Rab]

I'd be satisfied with you stopping people evading ?ignore or ignore.txt. It sounds derpy as fuck every time staff suggest using it because it just straight-up doesn't work.

[Voth]

I'm not shocked that we haven't issued even one of these silences so far. Several of the heavy hitters are either serving out 10,000+ minute silences due to prior transgressions, and a few of them are outright banned from the zone for various reasons. The only one seemingly making much of a stir lately is Manco, and even he has been quieter than his normal self lately. Who knows - perhaps even the possibility of getting muted makes some of them think twice before they hit "enter."

Either way, the program is here and we will continue to assess whether we should be tightening the guidelines on it or letting it ride as things progress.

Rab: this program was not meant to replace your ignore.txt or anyone's ?ignore command. Nothing will ever satisfy you short of someone giving you 60 minutes of unlimited ban power and letting you go to town. And we all know that is not going to happen.

[kthx]

Too bad this was not implemented 15-18 years ago.

Free speech has nothing to do with shit in the zone; playing this zone was always a privilege, not a ‘right’. Staff common sense could have easily managed Pub chat. The Pub chat rules could have simply been no politics, no religion, no personal attacks backed up by staff monitoring by someone with an IQ over 75. If people wanted to talk shit they could PM or go into another arena.
Over the years Pub became a self-fulfilling prophecy, the majority of people who tolerated learning the zone where typically shit talkers themselves.
Eph

[Rab]

Well I wasn't in pub this week, so you wouldn't have. Quick to judge aren't we.

[Mootland Farmer]

I was about to say the same thing...