Let's Have A Talk.

Discussion in 'Miscellaneous' started by caprisunisfun, Apr 25, 2015.

?

Should there be a seperate chat for mature subjects?

Poll closed Jul 25, 2015.
Yes, this is a good idea. 11 vote(s) 30.6%
No, this is not a good idea. 19 vote(s) 52.8%
Maybe, but there should be an age lock. 6 vote(s) 16.7%
  1. Hello everyone. Some of you may know me from smp4. I am categorized (most likely) as a very strongly opinionated person, especially when faced with something I see as an injustice.
    This specific injustice is a little thing called Staff Bias. Most people probably brush this off. However, it has gotten to the point where I really cannot stand seeing it anymore.
    Today, I was muted twice:
    http://prntscr.com/6y51pd
    http://prntscr.com/6y52tm
    I do believe I know who sent at least one report. This person is someone I've noticed is on good terms with many staff. I, on the other hand, don't talk to staff at all. Nor do I try to force the rules on every member. I had no idea that, by avoiding those two things, a bias would be made against me, as well as all others who don't appeal to certain staff.
    I've heard a million times on the server that it's "family-friendly". Maybe this belongs in the suggestion box, but I believe we should at least have a mature chat on all servers for people who want to discuss real subjects that aren't what is considered "family-friendly". Obviously, rude behavior would still be prohibited, but it should still be a channel where we can talk about issues (politics), mature content (drugs, alcohol), and other things that would otherwise have us banned.
    Back to the point of staff bias; staff need to stop choosing sides. The members who don't know staff very well are at a disadvantage when they disobey a set standard. All members should be given what is considered a "fair trial" when facing the possibility of ban or mute. Obviously, if a member is spamming chat with an inappropriate word or phrase, they should be muted. However, a member saying one or two "swear words" after a long discussion should not punished. If they are, it should only be because they were being highly offensive, e.g. a racial slur, personal insult, or sexist comment. Even if it doesn't fit those, there should still be a warning.
    Staff need to cease taking the word of a well-known and respected member and using the shoot-on-sight-esque ban system. Yes, staff can look back in chat. But just how much can they read before they fully understand the situation?
    Now, I know I didn't fully explain the screenshots I sent earlier in the post; I'm getting to that. I won't sit here and rant about my reasons for being banned, but I would like to discuss it a bit. The first photo says I was banned for swearing, and that I had censored it. Yes, I did censor it. I censored the location -------, Austria because I knew I wouldn't be able to say that in chat, even though it is a real place I want to move to. I suppose saying "bae" in chat should be prohibited as well, since it has an inappropriate meaning in Danish? Right? No. That is absurd.
    It doesn't matter if it is considered offensive in English. The claim that the server is "family-friendly" doesn't apply to pointing out the English connotation, apparently. If a child doesn't know a curse word, why should they have to know it is, especially if the context it has been used in was not meant to insult or offend? Saying "That's a bad word, don't say that!" in response to a particular phrase said by a fellow member has now just alerted the younger players that those words are not socially acceptable. By teaching the new generation all these words, even though the rules are supposedly meant to prevent the children from hearing such language, we are completely defeating the purpose of the rules. Now, what do children do best? Revolt and defy. So bravo, you have now just taught numerous children a curse word that they will probably now be saying on a daily basis.
    The older citizens of the Empire community need to address this issue. I believe there is a way for all members of the server to enjoy their time on here. All we need is some cooperation between staff and members. We should be able to express our opinions on any and all subjects and not be persecuted against. I would greatly appreciate it if some staff could at least consider the idea of a separate chat and if members could take the time to respond to the poll.
    I apologize if I have come off as rude to any users on here. I am only trying to express an opinion and hopefully change the way things work on all the smps. Thank you for your time, and I hope we can finally make a change to Empire's rules.
    (Proofread and co-written by BlinkyBinky and kayleighdaking)
  2. Was there, mutes were deserved. Family friendly is defined as what EMC staff considers family friendly, you overstepped the line very intentionally, big time. If you've got a problem, cm@empireminecraft.com.

    Personally, I think a mature chat channel would do nothing but fragment the community more than it needs to be. :) The rules are a lot more relaxed on language than they used to be, imo.
  3. Thank you for your input. Your opinion was appreciated.
  4. Genuinely, seriously, after the last... enjoyable.... experience when pointing out someone's flaws in suggestions, your attitude's appreciated. :) I'd have written more (there are a few more complicated flaws, especially staff side), but I think that's the most important one by far. :)
    hashhog3000, ShelLuser and jkjkjk182 like this.
  5. EMC has and always will be a curse-free, family-friendly server. It's been that way since I joined (A little over 3 years ago) and it is still like that to this day.

    If you wish to speak about more mature topics, with more mature language.

    There's something called Skype, or, there's plenty of other servers to play on.

    As for Staff bias...I have no idea what you mean. In my experience the EMC staff has always been extremely fair, to everyone. It's part of what makes us different from other servers, is that we don't let 14-year-old little kids be mods, so they can run around giving their friends free-passes and the like.

    It doesn't matter what the situation is. What the reasons behind it are. Why you did it. Who you did it with. When or where you did it.

    Rules are rules.

    You broke the rules.

    You were punished.

    End of story.
  6. i was on. I was talking about a certain city, which happened to have "a swear" word in it's name. People took it the wrong way, as the word cock has more than 1 meaning and unfortunately some uneducated people know not that it means chicken. Therefore, they got dissed, I was reported, I was muted. I argued my case, got muted again for allegedly being the one to cause the drama. I was simply stating why being muted was wrong, I was not the one causing drama.

    I think staff should be more careful with throwing out mutes and bans. I understand this is a family friendly server, but when we make words with other meanings have connotations as such, the fault of being unfamily friendly befalls on the other. In other words, an innocent kid who knows a cock is a chicken will get curious, look it up or ask their parents, all because some guy was yelling at another for saying the word.

    To make all that short, it is not my fault others have dirty minds.
    Peace.
  7. I'm sorry, but I was Skyping with two people while writing this, and I Skype nearly every day with people while playing Empire. Not everyone has Skype.
    Also, you have probably talked to many staff in your 3 years on Empire. I'm sure many staff members respect you and if you defied rules, your "sentence" would probably be mild.
  8. Also, expanding:
    You'd be surprised. I was always taught to read a good few minutes of the chat before the situation happened, and check the player history etc. before going anywhere near a punishment button.

    It's sorta complicated, and I can't really explain it. But you sorta have to blanket ban stuff when it gets particularly bad over a period of time. Good example from the past is goodbye threads.

    Groups are fairly unregulated though - so perhaps going on group chat with some other members who are okay with that sorta thing would be a good idea?

    Also, the whole "cock" thing: it's filter blocked. Filter evasion is a rule break. It doesn't get more clear than that.
  9. I agree that a group chat may be a good idea. Sometimes I just want a whole server opinion though. I don't really feel like inviting many people to a group, since I don't always know the people who I want opinions from.
  10. Well I don't know if that was really the case here. The reason I was muted was not filter evasion, you know they show why you got muted. Plus, the word was not even filtered, it was in other cases and I shall admit that. But the first time, filter evasion was not the case.


  11. But, you see. It doesn't matter who does and doesn't have skype. What matters is You. Broke. The. Rules.


    And no, I wouldn't get a lighter punishment. I would get the same as anyone else if I broke the rules (Which for the record I never have and never will, EMC is too dear to me <3)



    You however, broke the rules and got punished for it. It doesn't matter who does and doesn't have skype, what the context is, or anything else.


    It doesn't even matter what would happen if anyone else broke the rules, not in this instance. You broke the rules. You were punished.


    The staff are 100% justified in carrying out punishment for you breaking the rules, and doing so with zero tolerance, as it is clearly stated in the rules.
    Gawadrolt and Kalia1784 like this.
  12. As a former staff member, can confirm this. If a well known influential member acts up, they get at a minimum what a new player would get, if not a harsher punishment.

    Staff have absolutely no problem permabanning 3+ year old members if deserved.
  13. It was I who did the filter evasion thing, and the reason I did that was to clarify for Salman_Majid.
  14. Once again, I don't think you fully understand that those who are closer to staff member get off easy. Is it easier to punch a complete stranger or your best friend?
    Also, I KNOW I broke rules. I think it's pretty clear considering I was first to receive the notice. I also served my time, so in other words it's said and done. I don't know if you were there, but my "first offense" was saying "We are going to live in F***ing, Austria when we're all 18"...I censored (once again) the name of the town because I knew the message wouldn't be sent if I didn't filter. I had no intent of evading rules.
  15. Jackbiggin you gotta realize. Not all staff is gonna be how you were.

    On MANY occasions I've seen staff being biased. Once this guy got muted for making a joke on how you can get a million dollars playing webkinz. I asked why, the staff member said "Advertising is not allowed". When I last checked, you don't make a milly off webkinz. Also I thought advertising other SERVERS was not allowed. It turns out it's because this dude "has commited previous offenses." When you are punishing someone, you look at the "crime" at hand, not what he had done. It could be he wanted to change, and made a clean joke for once.

    Furthermore, I have seen many many other people talk about how they prefer one thing or how one company is better than the others. They never got in trouble.
    codygraw101 and Gawadrolt like this.
  16. I see what you are saying. I see a lot whom get away with this too. There needs to be more clarification that censorship doesn't exempt people from rules. Im sorry that you got punished for 'intent' than what was actually stated.
  17. Staff are trained to ask other staff to act on a situation if a friend is acting up.
    Gawadrolt likes this.
  18. Which is why cm@empireminecraft.com exists.
    Aphaea and southpark347 like this.
  19. No, I understand fully what you are saying, but what I am saying is that you are completely, wrong.

    As JackBiggin said, I would receive equal punishment. If anything it would be worse because I know what the rules are.

    Of course it would be hard for a moderator to ban their friend. But at the end of the day they still would have broken the rules and would require the same punishment as anyone else.

    As I keep saying. It doesn't matter what the staff would do in other situations. It doesn't matter what the context of you speaking was, It doesn't matter what happened before you got banned. What matters is you broke rules and were punished. Now, in response to that. Instead of accepting responsibility and saying "Hey, I screwed up, I'm really sorry." And then move on, You come onto the forums and start badmouthing the Staff, and expect to get anywhere at all.

    The staff are the staff because they are able to do the job. This means they can do it without bias, without hesitation and without any trouble. Otherwise, they wouldn't be the staff.

    Instead of doing this on a thread, go to the link below, submit your words, and move on.

    cm@empireminecraft.com

    [Edit] Why on earth it didn't add in the Quote I haven't the slightest idea.
  20. again staff can be trained to do it all but if they do not do what they were trained to do then who is to see?