Staff Psa: Issuing Warnings

[Vexx 112]

So apparently staff doesn't know how warnings work on the servers based on recent incidents, so I'm going to go over how warnings should be issued.

 

A normal warning: You tell the player through All Chat (which is just a single @ before your sentence in public chat) OR Voice what they are doing wrong. If the player does not acknowledge when using voice, give them another warning through All Chat, before punish them for their first punishment.

 

Quoted from the staff manual: Warn, then slay/mute (sometimes optional), then kick, then ban [WSKB]

Players should know why they were punished

When you punish a player, make sure to let them know why they were punished so they can improve.

Example: Person Y freekilled person X, you slay person Y and respawn person X. You need to tell person Y why they were slain. Something like "You were slain because you freekilled person X." works.

 

How past warnings work: If you warn a player for something in the past and they do it, don't immediately jump to banning them. Depending on the amount of time it has been since their last warning for the incident, you may need to warn them again to remind them not to do it. 1 warning per week is good enough for someone who is repeating the same offense. If you feel the person has committed an offense too many times you can jump to a kick.

 

Now keep in mind, you can skip warnings for certain things. An example of this would be: Hacking, micspamming music, exploiting, etc. Generally if you are unsure what to do about a situation, feel free to ask a fellow staff member. If you're still unsure, please look at the staff manual here: TF2 Staff Manual (Everything you need to know!)

 

@Bello @Sesh @mrnutty12 @Rejects Feel free to add on to my post if you feel I left something out.

Edited May 16, 2018 by virr
clarification (see edit history)

[Spoopy 63]

So apparently staff doesn't how warnings

doesn't "know" how

Plz fix

[Vexx 112]

doesn't "know" how

Plz fix

It has been fixed, sorry been a long day.

[Moosty 148]

+1 for the hot and heavy clarification

[Spoopy 63]

@Vexx <3 @Moosty +1? we voting on something?

[Reptile 149]

It's always a good idea to issue warnings through all chat above all else, some people keep mic chat off for a variety of reasons- this can range from anything to needing to keep their volume low, parents not wanting younger kids talking with strangers or hearing them, having company over, or simply just not wanting to hear people. They can't really be blamed for this because there's so many reasons people could want to keep things down or not hear others. Of course, as said, if they ignore you via text and keep up whatever it is and they don't respond to voice either then feel free to punish accordingly. At least, this is how I usually see things.

[Elcark 288]

It's always nice to see things clarified so finely. At the very least, thankfully this has at least seemed like only a rare problem in the past.

[Vexx 112]

It's always nice to see things clarified so finely. At the very least, thankfully this has at least seemed like only a rare problem in the past.

Even though rare, it has become a recent problem with inside incidents and whatnot, best to clarify it instead of leaving it up to speculation.

[Kypari 579]

I don't really agree with how you have to warn in chat instead of mic because you could be really busy or something such as in combat, surfing (etc) and someone could be spamming the chat and you wouldn't be able to do anything about it. Not to mention how having their in game volume off is as bad as muting a staff member so you can't hear what they say. I personally believe it's their fault for having sound disabled.

At least it's clarified but I'm not sure how I feel about this.

[Vexx 112]

I don't really agree with how you have to warn in chat instead of mic because you could be really busy or something such as in combat, surfing (etc) and someone could be spamming the chat and you wouldn't be able to do anything about it. Not to mention how having their in game volume off is as bad as muting a staff member so you can't hear what they say. I personally believe it's their fault for having sound disabled.

At least it's clarified but I'm not sure how I feel about this.

Sesh's post explained it quite well:

It's always a good idea to issue warnings through all chat above all else, some people keep mic chat off for a variety of reasons- this can range from anything to needing to keep their volume low, parents not wanting younger kids talking with strangers or hearing them, having company over, or simply just not wanting to hear people. They can't really be blamed for this because there's so many reasons people could want to keep things down or not hear others. Of course, as said, if they ignore you via text and keep up whatever it is and they don't respond to voice either then feel free to punish accordingly. At least, this is how I usually see things.

You can not blame a user for everything, staff incompetence and unwillingness to take a few seconds to type is sometimes the problem.

[Kypari 579]

Sesh's post explained it quite well:

 

You can not blame a user for everything, staff incompetence and unwillingness to take a few seconds to type is sometimes the

Some situations like i said will make this really difficult. Someone could be spamming the chat and I can't warn them. We should still count it as an official warning because they've already heard the warning on mic. This also opens up opportunities to

1. Kill the warden if they are a staff member giving a warning

2. Run past traps in deathrun

3. Saxton has to stand still

 

You should still be able to give verbal warnings and them counting otherwise gamemodes can be ruined

[Bone 364]

Some situations like i said will make this really difficult. Someone could be spamming the chat and I can't warn them. We should still count it as an official warning because they've already heard the warning on mic. This also opens up opportunities to

1. Kill the warden if they are a staff member giving a warning

2. Run past traps in deathrun

3. Saxton has to stand still

 

You should still be able to give verbal warnings and them counting otherwise gamemodes can be ruined

 

I agree, yet disagree. True, saying the warning over mic is a lot faster and easier, especially if you're busy, but I feel it leaves room for issues.

For example: Dingus is micspamming over on FF2, you say over mic "Stop micspamming ya dingus" but no one hears you due to aforementioned dingus spam and people talking over each other, which is a common occurrence. You mute them, they get rustled over a 30 min mute and start an abuse report on you. This has actually happened.

 

In reality, it takes literally 2 seconds to type: @Don't micspam, @Don't Freekill, @Don't lie about freerun, etc...

 

Plus, it gives evidence you provided a warning, which deters any false abuse or wrongful punishment claims. I just see this from the eyes of an ex-Mod and remember players who join simply to cause trouble and look for openings like this to start drama.

 

One question though. Is all chat recorded in the chat logs? I don't really remember...

Edited April 24, 2017 by Bone (see edit history)

[Kypari 579]

I agree, yet disagree. True, saying the warning over mic is a lot faster and easier, especially if you're busy, but I feel it leaves room for issues.

For example: Dingus is micspamming over on FF2, you say over mic "Stop micspamming ya dingus" but no one hears you due to aforementioned dingus spam and people talking over each other, which is a common occurrence. You mute them, they get rustled over a 30 min mute and start an abuse report on you. This has actually happened.

 

In reality, it takes literally 2 seconds to type: @Don't micspam, @Don't Freekill, @Don't lie about freerun, etc...

 

Plus, it gives evidence you provided a warning, which deters any false abuse or wrongful punishment claims. I just see this from the eyes of an ex-Mod and remember players who join simply to cause trouble and look for openings like this to start drama.

 

One question though. Is all chat recorded in the chat logs? I don't really remember...

It's not recorded in the chat logs but higherups apparently can see it? Don't quote me on that though.

 

If someone is micspamming then of course you use @ chat instead but in some situations that can be very difficult and ruin the flow of the game and makes it really difficult to play.

[Goblins 580]

Some situations like i said will make this really difficult. Someone could be spamming the chat and I can't warn them. We should still count it as an official warning because they've already heard the warning on mic. This also opens up opportunities to

1. Kill the warden if they are a staff member giving a warning

2. Run past traps in deathrun

3. Saxton has to stand still

 

You should still be able to give verbal warnings and them counting otherwise gamemodes can be ruined

 

Regardless, if you feel like they didn't see it. Then type it again. They have the ability to scroll up through chat if they're curious.

 

1 - If you're staff and playing the role as warden, then the players should have their volume on to hear the warden give orders.

2 - This one somewhat makes sense, but is it really a big deal?

3 - The Saxton you're playing as has a large amount of HP. Taking a couple hundred off to type out a warning isn't really a big deal.

 

You are a staff member. I understand that having fun is your goal, but when you willingly accept the responsibility to uphold rules on the servers, you don't always reach the goal of fun.

[Kypari 579]

Regardless, if you feel like they didn't see it. Then type it again. They have the ability to scroll up through chat if they're curious.

 

1 - If you're staff and playing the role as warden, then the players should have their volume on to hear the warden give orders.

2 - This one somewhat makes sense, but is it really a big deal?

3 - The Saxton you're playing as has a large amount of HP. Taking a couple hundred off to type out a warning isn't really a big deal.

 

You are a staff member. I understand that having fun is your goal, but when you willingly accept the responsibility to uphold rules on the servers, you don't always reach the goal of fun.

1. If they're micspamming they can't always hear

Anything past that just ruins the flow of the game and makes me wonder why people can't just listen

It's gaming community, the whole objective is to have fun. Being staff is a privilege but not a way to ruin fun for yourself