Moderation rules [Read Me]

[NothingClassy]

Moderation Guidelines

It is my duty to uphold and exceed the high standards of MCP. I promise to think before acting and dedicate myself to the betterment of MCP. I will not forsake my duty for riches nor for the purpose of self-benefit. To this I swear.

The rules in this post apply to any staff member A-Guard or above.

Moderators on MCP operate on common sense supported by many guidelines. It is their duty to see the server is kept a clean and friendly environment. While it is not mandatory, Staff are encouraged to follow instructions on how to handle certain situations. It is not possible to create a guideline on how to handle every offense, because of this we rely on Moderators to be fair and effectively handle situations.

Chat Offenses
Chat offenses are situations which may arise in chat that a Moderator must address. A description of these events is below. Further below is how to address these incidents.

Spam:
Excessive spamming of any type will not be permitted on MCP. This is because we at MCP strives to be a clean and friendly environment and spam within chat can be very displeasing. It is forbidden for anyone to post the same or similar messages consecutively within a short period time.

Caps:
Excessive use of capital letters (4+ letters) within the chat will not be tolerated. As stated earlier, we aim for MCP to be a clean and friendly environment, and excessive use of caps does not provide that for players on the server. If you would like to get a players attention, yelling at them will not help!

Cursing:
Please be aware other players and take them into consideration when talking in chat, this is because there are many young players on MCP. Cursing in moderation is allowed within the chat, as long as it is not directed towards another player on the server. This is because some players may find swearing to be disrespectful and can ultimately compromise the friendly and enjoyable experience we try to create on MCP. Excessive use of profound language provides you the grounds for a player to be muted up to 15 minutes.

Disrespecting Staff & Players:
Discrimination/Disrespect towards any player/staff member related to racism, sexism, ageism and remarks about disabilities is a violation of the chat rules and should be treated with appropriate action. Staff judgment may determine what punishment is deemed necessary according to the severity of the disrespect shown towards those whom were involved with the incident.

Note: Any use of blatant racism results in  a one-day ban. No warning is necessary prior to the ban.

Advertising:
Advertising at MCP is another violation of chat rules and can result in an immediate ban from MCP. This can include, but is not limited to in-game chat, private messaging, forums, and the CDGS teamspeak. Advertising can include server IP's or other server websites that are not related to MCP. This can warrant a player to be permanently banned if deemed necessary by staff. Non intentional advertising does not warrant a ban without prior warning. Cases may be a player messaging a friend to join his server or sharing a youtube link in chat.

Other Information

Hacking:
Fair play is very important to us. To ensure this, Moderators must keep an eye out and listen to player reports about potential hackers. Unapproved mods or clients are not permitted. Violators of this will be punished. Punishment ranges from a warning to a permanent ban depending on the level of offense and what the staff member decides. Staff should be certain of an offense before issuing punishment.
Note: Currently approved mods are: Optifine and Minimap. We encourage players to inquire to a Moderator or Warden to see if a certain mod is allowed.

New Players:
It is a Moderator's highest duty to help new players on the server. A Moderator needs to ensure that new players are assisted in every way possible, from providing help on how to complete tasks within the prison, to informing them of the rules if they violate them. Moderators should show more leniency towards new players as they may be unfamiliar with the rules. A Moderator should assume players below Free rank don’t know 100% of the rules. It is up to a Moderator to decide when a new player is experienced enough to be eligible for full punishment when breaking rules.

PvP:
Moderators are prohibited from starting fights with other players in the prison. This is due to the fact that Moderators are meant to be approachable and friendly. If a Moderator is victim of an attack they have every right to defend themselves. Moderators are allowed to join any faction and may use all aspects of factions however they cannot freely raid or destroy bases.

Contraband:
Moderators are very similar to normal prisoners/players when it comes to Guards. They are not exempt from any of the guard rules and are not to be given any exemptions over a normal prisoner.

Cooperation & Unknown Circumstances:
Moderators should aim to work together coherently with one another. This is because we must ensure that the staff team are professional towards one another whilst still being friendly towards the players on the server. If ever a situation arises that a Moderator is unsure about, working together allows them to share knowledge of how to deal with situations and what actions may be taken. If no other members of staff have knowledge of any matters that arise, they may seek aid from higher ranking staff such as the Wardens.

Application
As of 26/06/2018 you must include the phrase "Tiss but a scratch" in your Moderator Application.

The Strike System

This system is more of a guideline for Moderators to follow. As long as a moderator acts within reason they may call and punish offenses how they like. Players should receive at least one clearly stated warning before they are punished and not exceed 3 offenses before being punished.

The following offense result in one strike against the player. If a Moderator feels other action should be taken then they may act accordingly. Some other options are described below.
1 Strike offenses:

• Minor chat spam.
  
• Speaking in a language other than English. (People are welcome to speak in whatever language they like in private messages. This does not have to be a formal strike and more of just a general reminder, only punish if excessive violation and make warnings clear if a users English is not the best)
  
• Excessive use of inappropriate language. (Remember that swearing within reason is acceptable as long as it is not offensive.)
  
• Excessive use of caps in a message (4 capitals in unison) (using things like "ThIs IsN't CaPS" to avoid a chat call means that a player may be instantly muted due to intentional rule violation)
  
• Disrespecting or harassing the staff. (Can be instant mute or ban depending on severity)
  
• Intense caps and/or spam. (instant 15 minute mute to players with the rank Free and above, by that time they should know the rules and not be breaking them)
  

Note: Once a player has been muted their chat offenses reset. Currently there are only 1 Strike offenses and other offenses are up to the Moderator to decide.
Note: Unless excessive don't bother calling a chat offense to a player who has just ranked up. They're clearly happy so let it slide.

Why a Moderator should ban/tempban:

Chat Spam/General Rudeness
This would be something like someone joining and shortly after spamming "THIS SERVER SUCKS." If it is obvious that they don't want to be on MCP/deserve to be on MCP, you may make sure that they are not on MCP.

Racism
There are two kinds of "Racism" on the server.
The first being intentionally racist statements that are insulting to a race/religion/ethnicity. This kind of racism is very straight forward and can be punished strictly.
Other racism is known as "Racist terms". This is for terms that may be offensive to some individuals race/heritage. For example, some claim to be fine with terms such as "Nigga" or "Chink" but it simply comes down to the fact that not everyone is. As a result words/terms like this are not allowed in any way. This includes song lyrics, greetings, explanations of rules, or really any way the terms may be used. There is no reason to not follow this simple rule but since not everyone treats these terms/words as offensive they must be given a warning first.

For Intentional Racism:

1. A one day temp ban as racism is not tolerated.
   
2. A three day temp ban for a second offense.
   
3. A permanent ban.
   

For Racist Terms:

1. An explanation must be given to the offender that these terms are banned as they may offend someone. This is a one time warning. (If a user is a smart ass and tries to claim other random things offend them then just temporarily ban them for a day)
   
2. If a user continues to use racist terms after being given a warning they may be temporarily banned for a day. Experienced users are clearly aware of this rule and need no warning so they may be temporarily banned without one.
   
3. Upon a third offense a user may be temporarily banned for three days.
   
4. Final punishment is for if the user offends yet again. They have been clearly warned and chose to violate the rules. The punishment is a permanent ban.
   

Advertising
Intentional advertising such as “join <ip>” permanent ban & clear chat. Unintentional breaking of the advertising rule such as a new player saying “I used to play on <ip>” is to be met with an immediate chat clear followed by a very serious warning. Asking a friend to join a server or sharing a youtube link does not warrant a ban for the first offense.

Constant disrespect to staff
Constantly disrespecting staff is uncalled for so a Moderator may ban at their discretion if a user does this. Keep in mind there is a difference between disrespect and teasing. Moderators should have a thick skin.

Harassing other users
If a player is found to constantly harass another user or multiple users there must be a warning before action is taken. When warning the offender the harassed player should be notified of “/ignore” command. If the offender continues to act out the Moderator may ban said user at their discretion.


Moderator Commands:
/tempmute <player> <time> <reason> (Mutes the player for the time allocated)
/ban <player> <reason>
/tempban <player> <time> <reason>

• Note: Muting/Tempbanning/Banning requires proper reason to always be given for said punishment. We need to be able to look back on users bans and "bye" isn't very descriptive. So the proper format for a ban is "ban <name> <Reason for ban followed by "// appeal at cdgs.net""
  

/unban <player> (You may only unban users you banned)
/bm info <playername> - Displays how many times a player has been kicked, muted or banned.
/pmotto <motto> (This allows a Moderator to set his/her motto on the automatic staff list. Make sure to use underscores instead of places)
“qq” - (Clears chat, only use if something should not be seen by everyone is posted. Such as an advertised IP, a players personal information
/announce (Brings up a list of announcements you may use to inform users)
/bcast <message> (Broadcasts a message to the whole server, use with moderation and only in situations which users need to be notified of something important)
/warp (Brings up the warp menu for staff)


Applying fines:
Permitted staff will manually apply financial fines to applicable offenders after default punishment is issues (mute/ban). Staff are not required by any means to hand out fines but if doing so they must not selectively enforce favouring their friends.

Fines must follow guidelines and not exceed set amounts. This is a high responsibility for staff and the command must always be executed correctly in full.
The command to fine a player is /fine <name> <amount>
For players total fine counts can be seen with /fines.
Staff may see their total amount issued in fines with /finesissued.

Players may not be fined if they are the following:
- E rank or below
- Less than 20 hours playtime
- Below 75k in balance including faction balances & alt accounts. If a user has significant money in a faction/alt you may base the fine on that if you see reasonable.

Fine-able offenses include the following:

Excessive mutes - A player who frequently violates chat rules may be fined $5,000-$50,000 depending on the frequency, severity, and occurrence of their violation.

Temporary bans - Players temporarily banned for offenses that "should have known better"to do may be fined. The fine is recommended to be $50,000-$100,000 per day of the temporary ban. Fine amount must not be more than 1/3rd of their balance. These fines must be well thought out and seeking the opinion of other staff members is recommended.

Permanent bans - Players permanently banned will receive hard fines. If the player should have known better than to commit their offense they may be fined $50,000-$2,500,000 depending on the offense and the likelihood of them being unbanned (higher chance of them being unbanned via appeal = higher fine). These fines must be well thought out and seeking the opinion of other staff members is recommended. These fines must not be over 1/3rd of a players balance.

If a player is unbanned after being wrongfully banned contact a warden to have their fine returned.