The fine line between Staff Injustice & Being a Smartass

[Towelie]

Every now and then, I will see a complaint on the forums about a Staff issue.
Generally these reports sound like this: 'I asked <something> and then I got banned by a JMod".

When you first look at the title of such a thread, you immediately start thinking that the JMod who banned the player for asking something is  well... stupid and has no place being in the staff team.
Sadly, that is the truth in some cases (very rarely though).

However, most of the times, what happens is: People act like smartasses. They ask the same question 100 times, and even when asked to stop, they don't. They continue harassing the staff member in this manner, and don't stop even after getting several verbal warnings.

Latest example - today: GRIMIGAMING. When I initially saw grimi's post about how he got banned for calling a Mod a name she did not like, I instantly thought about demoting said Mod, as I thought this kind of behavior is unacceptable.

However, when I further looked, and did some digging. I have found out that GRIMI had been calling Katherine a name she did not like. But instead of stopping, when she asked him nicely to, he proceeded doing so, even after several verbal warnings and a kick. He continued doing so, knowing it annoyed her and that she disliked being called that.

This, is what I call being a smartass. It's deliberately provoking staff members, and then going on the forums and complaining, in a way that makes you look like the victim and the staff member in question, the bully.

As of this moment, anyone exhibiting behavior such as this, will only achieve one thing: Double their punishment. Say a player got banned for an hour, then complains about something like this. We will first investigate this issue (via logs, or the statements of higher ranked staff members present at the time). If it turns out the players are right, we will take action (that can mean from warning to demotion of the said staff), however, if what the player reported is not true, and it's obvious he was just trying to flamebait / be a smartass, we will double the player's punishment.

Obviously, this will not apply to permanent bans because, well.. they are already permanents. What it does apply to: temporary bans, untrusted time, and so on.

VERY IMPORTANT DISTINCTION: The doubling of someone's punishment can only be done with a manager's agreement. To minimize cases of false punishments, we will have each such case, checked by a Manager+.

Thank you!

[iLaxrv10]

Understood Towelie. I feel that this behavior is highly unacceptable and shouldn't be tolerated.

[donnydoom604]

Whenever you falsely accuse a staff member of doing anything - big or small, it causes a huge pain in the ass for the HoS team. Each report has to be taken as seriously as possible and hours of the HoS lives are lost investigating something that could've been avoided if the reporting person in question would stop and think about why it is the staff did what they did.

I have no sympathy for people who try to badmouth the staff without legitimate evidence or reason.

[Stinistar]

The amount of cases like this is too damn high.....

[Stinistar]

If you ever feel treated unfairly by a staff member, you are more than welcome to contact me. I will investigate the case and serve justice for the one who deserves it.

[Dday694]

The amount of cases like this is too damn high.....

[xJade]

If you ever feel treated unfairly by a staff member, you are more than welcome to contact me. I will investigate the case and serve justice for the one who deserves it.

ive messaged you and with proof on skype ^^ thanks for your time :p ~love frankie_jay17~

[omelott]

I've seen this occurr numerous times. This bevavior is not acceptable, and teases our hardworking staff who are just doing their job. 

[GRIMI_]

I'd like to argue my case tbh, but I'd probably get in trouble. I will say this- I was not aggravating her on purpose, but it got to a point where i didn't know what i was doing wrong, and was trying to prove a point of that I suppose. I will admit I got a little bit angry, because it seemed every alternative I called her... wait. I'm arguing my case already.

I NOW understand I did wrong and I'm sorry.

[darknuju]

Thank you! I have seen this happen too many times, there are companies and organizations that will train their employees to let customers do whatever the heck they want just for the sake of keeping customers and customer satisfaction, I guess some people think this is how SFT works and that this means staff cant retaliate to their actions even if their actions are extremely annoying and or causing a problem. What I think people don't understand is we have the logs to chat and can see what exactly happen if we dig for it so lying about what happened is only going to make things worse.

Darknuju's tip for earning peoples respect on SFT and in real life:

Be humble and don't try to put blame on other people, if you are willing to admit you are wrong, apologize and accept whatever consequences come from YOUR actions in general people will respect you more. If you do the opposite of this in fear of being punished or told your wrong the opposite will happen.

[Towelie]

Thank you! I have seen this happen too many times, there are companies and organizations that will train their employees to let customers do whatever the heck they want just for the sake of keeping customers and customer satisfaction, I guess some people think this is how SFT works and that this means staff cant retaliate to their actions even if their actions are extremely annoying and or causing a problem. What I think people don't understand is we have the logs to chat and can see what exactly happen if we dig for it so lying about what happened is only going to make things worse.

Darknuju's tip for earning peoples respect on SFT and in real life:

Be humble and don't try to put blame on other people, if you are willing to admit you are wrong, apologize and accept whatever consequences come from YOUR actions in general people will respect you more. If you do the opposite of this in fear of being punished or told your wrong the opposite will happen.

Agreed. Should be common sense.

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[Towelie]

I'd like to argue my case tbh, but I'd probably get in trouble. I will say this- I was not aggravating her on purpose, but it got to a point where i didn't know what i was doing wrong, and was trying to prove a point of that I suppose. I will admit I got a little bit angry, because it seemed every alternative I called her... wait. I'm arguing my case already.

I NOW understand I did wrong and I'm sorry.

Understood. According to Cr1, you did not stop after being verbally warned and even kick. Yours is not the worst case of staff harassment, but just a recent one I wanted to show as an example. We all do mistakes, the important part is admitting when you're wrong.

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[BluetigerESW]

Completely agree with this, I'd rather someone admit they did something wrong then blame it on the staff member and cause a lot of time to be wasted due to them being too stubborn to admit their mistake.