Update the Approach to Handling Player Reports

[Moonsong]

Quote

Step 1. Make it so that player reports are submitted privately and only visible to the player submitting the report and admins (much like the forums for ban appeals or faction-related issues). This would prevent threads from becoming oversaturated with information (much of it irrelevant) before an admin can even take a look.

 

I'm 100% against this for several reasons. Firsly, players need to be held publicly accountable for their actions especially if they have caused any kind of disruption during roleplay scenes effecting multiple players. This also serves as a means to keep players informed of the outcome if they've been invested in the scene in the event it is voided, or action is otherwise taken. It also helps to educate other players in similar situations.

 

Quote

Step 2. Reports should be handled in the order in which they are received, but assigned to the appropriate admins based on the admin's experience/familiarity with the subject of the report (i.e.,  an admin familiar with illegal RP picking up a report related to illegal RP).  Perhaps Support Staff can be assigned to take a look at the initial report, and that Support member can determine which admin is best suited to handle the report before passing it over to that admin.

 

Whilst this is certainly what we'd like to achieve under ideal conditions, it isn't always possible. For example TA's will generally be directed to take straightforward reports until they get used to handling them and feel comfortable taking something more challenging, so some reports are naturally going to be cherry picked, some other admins who only have a limited amount of time to give between all their other duties & real life commitments may lean towards this too. Unfortunately support staff just don't have the experience needed to decide who's best suited for each individual report and the nuances that can come with taking one. 

 

Another issue that contributes to admins being reluctant to taking some reports, is the pages upon pages of arguing that can go on with them making it take a lot longer than it should. Plus some players can be notoriously difficult to deal with. Granted reports shouldn't be left gathering dust for weeks and we are encouraged to handle them in order wherever possible.

 

I feel a lot of these issues can be resolved by simply having reports auto locked until an admin picks it up, allowing for much more control as you have suggested and will cut back on most of the childish bickering that often puts admins off handling them. Meanwhile I'd encourage players NOT to argue in reports and simply wait for an admin to handle it if you want it to be taken more quickly and help reduce not only our workload, but our stress too!

Edited December 27, 2020 by Moonsong

[The OG Juicebox]

Adding to this. I still think this would help a lot as well.

[eTaylor]

If you submit a report and the text is longer than 250 words, it should be trashed. You should only post once, if you post more than once you should be punished. Admins let too much stupid bullshit take lead on reports. They’re not suppose to be a circus or meme factory. 

[Taina]

I'm so glad than an admin replied.  I was hoping for admin input just as much as player input.  

 

1 hour ago, Moonsong said:

 

I'm 100% against this for several reasons. Firsly, players need to be held publicly accountable for their actions especially if they have caused any kind of disruption during roleplay scenes effecting multiple players. This also serves as a means to keep players informed of the outcome if they've been invested in the scene in the event it is voided, or action is otherwise taken. It also helps to educate other players in similar situations.

I agree with this, which is why the report would still be made public.  Keeping the reports public is absolutely necessary - I will always prefer transparency rather than keeping things obscure, but I believe allowing the report to be submitted privately will allow handling admins greater control so that they can steer the conversation from the start.  So, to be clear, the report is submitted privately and kept private only until an admin picks it up, at which point the report would be made public for all to see, and for the reported party and the reporting party to answer the handling admins questions.  

 

1 hour ago, Moonsong said:

Whilst this is certainly what we'd like to achieve under ideal conditions, it isn't always possible. For example TA's will generally be directed to take straightforward reports until they get used to handling them and feel comfortable taking something more challenging, so some reports are naturally going to be cherry picked, some other admins who only have a limited amount of time to give between all their other duties & real life commitments may lean towards this too. Unfortunately support staff just don't have the experience needed to decide who's best suited for each individual report and the nuances that can come with taking one. 

I realize it wouldn't always be possible, but I believe even now some reports are handed off to specific admins as necessary. I'm only suggesting  that the same thing continue to happen as much as possible if any part of this suggestion is implemented.

 

1 hour ago, Moonsong said:

 

Another issue that contributes to admins being reluctant to taking some reports, is the pages upon pages of arguing that can go on with them making it take a lot longer than it should. Plus some players can be notoriously difficult to deal with. Granted reports shouldn't be left gathering dust for weeks and we are encouraged to handle them in order wherever possible.

I agree.  Based on what I've seen (and I'm a fairly new player compared to most here), the length of the reports is a major factor in why reports are put off for so long.  I believe the suggestions above would help to curb this issue, making it so that the handling admin has control from the start, guiding the discussion with relevant questions rather than allowing the reported/reporting parties to go back and forth in a free-for-all.

 

1 hour ago, Moonsong said:

I feel a lot of these issues can be resolved by simply having reports auto locked until an admin picks it up, allowing for much more control as you have suggested and will cut back on most of the childish bickering that often puts admins off handling them.

I've seen this suggestion before and my only concern is that I imagine for many players, it would be stress-inducing to know that there is a report up but nothing the player can do to address it until an admin picks it up. As it stands, in many cases players feel unnecessarily called out or even lied about, and while some players may be able to exercise self-control and wait for the handling admin to open the report, others will not. This can lead to OOC arguments, IG, in forum PM, in Discord.  

 

I imagine it'd be less problematic to simply make it so that the reported player is alerted to the report once the report is made public, just like it is now - once a report goes up on a player, that player must be notified.  With the suggestion above, the initial report is submitted privately to admins but once it is made public, the reported player would be alerted and have a chance to reply.

 

 

Edited December 27, 2020 by Taina
clarity

[Taina]

13 minutes ago, eTaylor said:

If you submit a report and the text is longer than 250 words, it should be trashed. You should only post once, if you post more than once you should be punished. Admins let too much stupid bullshit take lead on reports. They’re not suppose to be a circus or meme factory. 

Good suggestions but often times, there are multiple people involved in reports.  If we implement a one-post per person limit, our admins are still looking at sorting through 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 long posts at a time - posts that are often full of irrelevant information.

 

Rather than limit people from posting, I think admins having more control over the discussion is what will make the difference.  Players should be allowed to respond, with admins guiding the conversation as appropriate.  If the admin is allowed to steer the conversation from the start, it would keep the entire thread on track and with less irrelevant info, and it would help to reduce the bickering that often times results when the players are allowed to control the discussion.

[eTaylor]

5 minutes ago, Taina said:

Good suggestions but often times, there are multiple people involved in reports.  If we implement a one-post per person limit, our admins are still looking at sorting through 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 long posts at a time - posts that are often full of irrelevant information.

 

Rather than limit people from posting, I think admins having more control over the discussion is what will make the difference.  Players should be allowed to respond, with admins guiding the conversation as appropriate.  If the admin is allowed to steer the conversation from the start, it would keep the entire thread on track and with less irrelevant info, and it would help to reduce the bickering that often times results when the players are allowed to control the discussion.

Nah, you don’t need 5 people posting on the report. There is a complaint, you can either dispute it or not. All this extra stuff is irrelevant. 

[Taina]

Just now, eTaylor said:

Nah, you don’t need 5 people posting on the report. There is a complaint, you can either dispute it or not. All this extra stuff is irrelevant. 

Isn't the idea of allowing players to respond to a report against them so that they can defend themselves?  So in a report where 5 people are being reported, is only one player meant to speak for the accusations against all five players? I imagine plenty of people would have a problem with that - myself included.  

 

The only way I'd see around that is requiring players to submit reports on only one individual at a time - which would only result in a greater number of reports to sift through.

[eTaylor]

Just now, Taina said:

Isn't the idea of allowing players to respond to a report against them so that they can defend themselves?  So in a report where 5 people are being reported, is only one player meant to speak for the accusations against all five players? I imagine plenty of people would have a problem with that - myself included.  

 

The only way I'd see around that is requiring players to submit reports on only one individual at a time - which would only result in a greater number of reports to sift through.

It’s over complicating simple things. If 5 people DM’ed me

the complaint is deathmatching. You don’t need 5 people telling you a whole story about the word and everything in it. You can either ignore it, or dispute it. If you dispute it all you have to do is present to the admins the reason as to why it wasn’t dm. You don’t have to tell the reporting party anything. 

[Moonsong]

Quote

I agree with this, which is why the report would still be made public.  Keeping the reports public is absolutely necessary - I will always prefer transparency rather than keeping things obscure, but I believe allowing the report to be submitted privately will allow handling admins greater control so that they can steer the conversation from the start.  So, to be clear, the report is submitted privately and kept private only until an admin picks it up, at which point the report would be made public for all to see, and for the reported party and the reporting party to answer the handling admins questions.  

 

Keeping a report private until it's picked up would still have the same effect, the reporting player is often still going to tell them about the report anyway and it's going to annoy them more by not being able to see it. Might be a little bit blunt here, but if players are getting stressed about being forum reported then I'd politely suggest players not to break the rules in the first place then it would certainly mitigate the number of reports they face. If the report is frivolous, we will clearly see it as such  (trust me, it's really obvious) so players needn't stress if they're innocent.

 

Having the reports restricted (not private) until it's picked up would be a fair compromise and still allow us to steer reports in the right direction. I'm not even sure it can be a combination of both due to software limitations, it may need to be either one or the other as ban appeals are. Those are kept private for entirely different reasons however. 

 

Quote

I imagine it'd be less problematic to simply make it so that the reported player is alerted to the report once the report is made public.  

We already make every effort to inform reported parties, except of course when they're already aware of the report.

 

Quote

I realize it wouldn't always be possible, but I believe even now some reports are handed off to specific admins as necessary. I'm only suggesting  that the same thing continue to happen as much as possible if any part of this suggestion is implemented.

They are handed over to different admins when a conflict of interest arises, or it needs to be passed over to a sub-team like IFM or property management. In particular with IFM reports, those can take a bit longer due to their complexities and long history with said factions. I think having to wait for reports to be handed off to specific admins would only serve to increase waiting times and increase workload on higher level admins who would really be the only ones qualified to decide who's suitable for each report. I get where you're coming from though, it may sound reasonable on paper but practically it's not gonna work.

[Taina]

1 minute ago, eTaylor said:

It’s over complicating simple things. If 5 people DM’ed me

the complaint is deathmatching. You don’t need 5 people telling you a whole story about the word and everything in it. You can either ignore it, or dispute it. If you dispute it all you have to do is present to the admins the reason as to why it wasn’t dm. You don’t have to tell the reporting party anything. 

 

In an ideal RP community, this would be correct.  But the fact of the matter is that we have a community full of players of all kinds, with different levels of understanding and perspectives, with varying communication skills and yes, difficult personalities.  All of these things make each report unique and can contribute to how complicated it can be for the handling admin to sort out.