Policy - The appeal process & improving language rules
09-19-2020, 03:25 AM
Following recent productive discussions among staff members, we've made some improvements to the language rules to foster a more welcoming environment! These are, for the most part, standard policies found in most other communities but what we had written felt a little too loose and vague. I ask that you be mindful of this in public spaces going forward, such as the OOC/LOOC chat in-game and the Discord, as they were made to curb inappropiate language that could be off putting to a newbie glancing at the community for the first time. We don't want anyone to be turned away before they've even really engaged with people, when many of you are especially friendly and helpful.
And I'm well aware that most of the chatter along these lines is effectively shitposting, but again, it should be avoided or kept to a minimal as there are unfamiliar faces who may think otherwise and be turned off. I've specifically had a few people mention it to me as one of the reasons why they did not engage with the community, and I think we can all do a little better and be more mature!
On a similar note, I'd also like to apologize about a recent decision I made where I privately unbanned someone after they posted anti semitic, discriminatory content on the forums in an attack on another member, a few days after following a discussion with them. I realize that it was upsetting for many people to see someone behave that way re-enter the community so soon despite not making a public appeal, and I've spoken to several of you in private about this while acknowledging that any future bans should require an appeal on the forums for the sake of transparency, since there was an absolute lack of it there, as well as the details of why a decision was made. In private I made it clear to the player that racist content was not acceptable and issued a warning and should anything repeat in the future it'd mean a ban.
TLDR: All bans will require a public appeal going forward and the rule on language conduct has been made clearer.
Added to the rules page:
And I'm well aware that most of the chatter along these lines is effectively shitposting, but again, it should be avoided or kept to a minimal as there are unfamiliar faces who may think otherwise and be turned off. I've specifically had a few people mention it to me as one of the reasons why they did not engage with the community, and I think we can all do a little better and be more mature!
On a similar note, I'd also like to apologize about a recent decision I made where I privately unbanned someone after they posted anti semitic, discriminatory content on the forums in an attack on another member, a few days after following a discussion with them. I realize that it was upsetting for many people to see someone behave that way re-enter the community so soon despite not making a public appeal, and I've spoken to several of you in private about this while acknowledging that any future bans should require an appeal on the forums for the sake of transparency, since there was an absolute lack of it there, as well as the details of why a decision was made. In private I made it clear to the player that racist content was not acceptable and issued a warning and should anything repeat in the future it'd mean a ban.
TLDR: All bans will require a public appeal going forward and the rule on language conduct has been made clearer.
Added to the rules page:
Quote:Language in the Discord and game should be appropriate and non-discriminatory, while keeping in mind that minors may be present. Inappropriate use of language in a public space includes (but is not limited to) messages that are discriminatory of a person’s race, religion, sexual orientation, or gender. A specific example of inappropriate use of language includes might be the use of the broad term ‘lesbian’ as a derogatory, or giving a nickname to an in-game fantasy race that's a pun of a real-life racist slur.
This is enforced in-character, in LOOC, in OOC, and within the Eternia Discord server. Outside of these spaces is not within our purview. We wish to remind you that over the course of time, hundreds, if not thousands of people pass through the game, of different race, religion, gender, and sexual orientation, and we ask you to keep this in thought to provide a welcoming atmosphere to the game.
Generally the administration is fairly lax and friendly, and we ask the same of the players to respect the guidelines so that unfamiliar players aren't turned away by the above.