Forums → Support Forum → MEMO: Ignore at your own risk

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Strop
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Strop
10,814 posts
Bard

Now that I-

http://i438.photobucket.com/albums/qq105/strawpony/modlocks/ttly-1.png

-have your attention, there are some things you need to know:

First, we already know there is an exploit that allows you to bypass the site censor and write expletives and other things without having to alter them.

We also know how it is done. We also know how to fix it.

But in the meantime before it is fixed, please be aware that if any of your posts contain uncensored expletives in it, you are at risk of being banned because we consider that to be excessive swearing as stated in the rules of the site. And if it happens more than once, we might just get impatient enough to have you permanently banned.

So yeah, I thought it'd be fair if you guys were told, because it's happened more than once now.

We know that the filter isn't perfect either, so if you feel the urge to swear, why not filter yourself? We have to make some kind of judgement when deciding what course of action to take when we encounter expletives, so the safest option would naturally be not to use expletives.

Now, just one other matter: seeing tons of posts insulting people and swearing etc. by a single user is annoying. It annoys us too. But please don't assume we're letting anybody get away more than anybody else. If the rules have been broken we will deal with the user accordingly.

In some cases, the posts themselves may remain for some time as we keep them as evidence while we consult the administration to see if any further action is required. In these cases, as usual, the most useful course of action is NOT to complain that we aren't doing anything, but to report the offending post to us, so that we can compile them and present them as required.

That would be most helpful, thanks!

  • 138 Replies
FireflyIV
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FireflyIV
3,228 posts
Nomad

No, Freakenstein is claiming CosmicCharlie is getting special treatment. He is not getting special treatment. Anyone who crosses the line will be dealt with in a timely manner. This does not mean instantaneously.


Make no mistake, I wasn't advocating instant action, I was saying that it's my opinion he should be banned eventually, looking at what he's posted.

I am rather curious though, is this a new mod policy, the contacting of the admins to confirm a perma ban? I could be wrong, but it seems that when other perma bans have occured there wasn't as long a delay as this.
Cenere
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Cenere
13,708 posts
Jester

I am rather curious though, is this a new mod policy, the contacting of the admins to confirm a perma ban? I could be wrong, but it seems that when other perma bans have occured there wasn't as long a delay as this.

Only the admins can give a perm, the mods can only ban for 1day-1week (as far as I know), so yes, they need to show evidence of the rude and perm worthy behaviour of the offender before the user can be banned.
Moabarmorgamer
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Moabarmorgamer
8,571 posts
Nomad

I was wondering, in threads like the once-alive Prostitution thread in the WEPR forum, where words such as rape are used in debates, is it still considered excessive swearing to uncensor it for the debate so people know what you're talking about?

Freakenstein
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Freakenstein
9,519 posts
Jester

I agree with contacting an admin, but shouldn't mods be able to do more than just..that? You may have to wait days before one admin gives confirmation. What would the mods do then, just temp-ban the user until further notice, even though that may have been a wrong move, or leave him there, letting him go berserk until an admin calls? And we all know the contact page is buggy....

Well, what I'm trying to say is, the mods should have the power to perma-ban, while the admins still have the final say and could waver the ban. I should think that the users would still use their E-Mail addresses, right?

Freakenstein
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Freakenstein
9,519 posts
Jester

I was wondering, in threads like the once-alive Prostitution thread in the WEPR forum, where words such as **** are used in debates, is it still considered excessive swearing to uncensor it for the debate so people know what you're talking about?


Through grammar usage, you can figure out which word is which. Even with that, you cannot uncensor the word. Didn't you get the memo? ;-)
Cenere
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Cenere
13,708 posts
Jester

What would the mods do then, just temp-ban the user until further notice, even though that may have been a wrong move,

Uhm, if a troll/flamer/spammer is doing something they should not, a mod will temp ban them, but they need evidence if the user is to be permanently banned, as mods cannot do that. The mods know when a user should be banned. What does happen, though, is that there are no mods or admins only when a spammer is running amok. Those are a problem, especially if the mods come too late to stop the spamming and just have to ban and then delete all the stupidity.
So basically, the mods can ban the offender for a week and ask Calie to perm them if it is needed. And in the case of superspammers/trolls (also known as account suiciders) they do not even come back to the accounts after they have been temped.

I was wondering, in threads like the once-alive Prostitution thread in the WEPR forum, where words such as **** are used in debates, is it still considered excessive swearing to uncensor it for the debate so people know what you're talking about?

Due to it having been used to harass female mods it was censored. It is okay to use it in debates, and to some point it should even be possible to get Carlie to uncensor it, maybe.
But it is as with every word that is abused: it get censored (like various sites that people kept posting links for, My Brute fx, while Zophia got the soulstealer uncensored because it is a flash game site as well as the home of the soul stealer) So if you want to use a word/link to a site, do not abuse it.
Freakenstein
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Freakenstein
9,519 posts
Jester

Okay, so it was the first choice. Glad I know now.

But it is as with every word that is abused: it get censored (like various sites that people kept posting links for, My Brute fx, while Zophia got the soulstealer uncensored because it is a flash game site as well as the home of the soul stealer) So if you want to use a word/link to a site, do not abuse it.


So...popular mmo websites are censored because of excessive advertising and other abuse...? Why? Threads that advertise are locked, and replies that advertise are deleted. Why are they censored; it's not offending to people...
thisisnotanalt
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thisisnotanalt
9,826 posts
Shepherd

Really, what's he done?


He's also posted a lot of uncensored cuss words :P

I honestly think the censorship system should be lighter, e.g. allowing words like 'd*mn' (which is used sometimes in PG movies, and this is a PG13 site) while blocking others.
thisisnotanalt
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thisisnotanalt
9,826 posts
Shepherd

I agree with contacting an admin, but shouldn't mods be able to do more than just..that? You may have to wait days before one admin gives confirmation.


Wrong. Carlie is *paid* to monitor the community (community manager, works at the AG office I'm pretty sure). People get perma'd timely and quickly if needed.
Freakenstein
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Freakenstein
9,519 posts
Jester

H, D, and A are all pg-13 words. They even say the 2 B words on public television. This is all to make the site friendly to everyone as possible though, so I can understand censorship.

Strop
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Strop
10,814 posts
Bard

You may have to wait days before one admin gives confirmation. What would the mods do then, just temp-ban the user until further notice, even though that may have been a wrong move, or leave him there, letting him go berserk until an admin calls? And we all know the contact page is buggy....

Well, what I'm trying to say is, the mods should have the power to perma-ban, while the admins still have the final say and could waver the ban.


An interesting question, one which has been addressed by different sites in different ways. However, the way that things have been set up, to give us the power to permanently ban while the admin has the ability to veto us comes to exactly the same thing, because we're able to choose the length of time as appropriate. This length of time, if necessary, is well more than enough to freeze an account until it is assessed for permanent deletion.

Also I will add that up to this point while we receive plenty of complaints about being banned, we have not received any confirmation that we ourselves have banned anybody incorrectly because, well, the rules are such that if you break them there has to be good evidence for it. In some cases, I will note, a bug in the system did ban a few random people for no apparent reason and some users suffer glitches that prevent them from logging in... but that isn't common!
Strop
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Strop
10,814 posts
Bard

Also I noted the complaints on page 1 & 2 (some of which have been withdrawn), and some questions, so I'll try to clarify those also:

* By "it's happened more than once" in the memo, I was referring to certain users who may have been mentioned in this thread. Other users are well aware of the consequences of using the exploit, as I'm getting rather tired of deleting posts because they have one uncensored expletive in them.

* Like I said, we really prefer people to use less swear words, and I suppose this includes how much you choose to censor yourselves. I think it's one of those things where "if you know it you know it", meaning that people who will get it, will get it regardless of how much you censor. This is why d*** is preferable to d*mn.

* The censoring system is changeable, yes. Some of the words aren't because they're in keeping with certain guidelines, but basically to get a word on the list we have to get too many complaints about it.

Freakenstein
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Freakenstein
9,519 posts
Jester

So uh... why are websites censored? Too much excessive advertising and abuse by it? I mean, it's not bad in the offending state, but that doesn't mean censor a website name... those can be deleted if they are advertised.

Strop
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Strop
10,814 posts
Bard

So uh... why are websites censored? Too much excessive advertising and abuse by it?


Yep.

Censorship is an additional deterrent to people advertising a site, because the censor will also wreck the link, thus people cannot link directly to the site.
the_manta
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the_manta
4,543 posts
Peasant

I remember Gametesta once got an entire website censored by our filter, haha.

Anyway, message received.

Course, I never would do that anyway. :\\

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