Other Changes to Ban Appeals

[SirComputer]

Hi, just a quick post.

For a while, probably too long now, we've been discussing a few changes to bans and ban appeals. This will allow us to provide banned users with a bit of consistency on how we handle their bans and therefore try to ensure everyone is treated fairly. Establishing a policy now should ensure we avoid the CAs changing policy every few months in the future. The main changes aren't too revolutionary, but here they are:

• Permanent bans have been abolished. For all global bans, they will be replaced with bans that are appealable after at least one year. People currently on permanent global bans may appeal a year after their ban/last appeal. People currently on permanent server bans may appeal 6 months after either their last appeal if one was made, or their ban.
• Forum-banned people have the option to evade to appeal ONLY, as well as appealing through someone else. We’d like to have made a solution where banned people could appeal through their own account, but that is currently not yet possible. When it is possible, this will no longer be required.
• There will be a couple of things made consistent behind the scenes. If a staff member fails to respond to a ban appeal or they are no longer staff, the server staff will instead vote on the unban. With a global ban appeal, the admins will vote on the matter. A 70% majority is needed for an unban.

These changes were discussed very heavily amongst the admins, and the full "policy" is available at https://escaperestart.com/forum/help/afterappeal/. Hopefully, this should have a positive impact on the ban appeal system, providing some stability on the whole issue, and an opportunity for those currently permabanned to prove that they are good, whilst keeping the people who are here purely out of malice right out of this community.

This didn't turn out to be a quick post, did it?
-SirC

 

[JtTorso]

These are excellent changes, I was thinking about a similar idea the other day. It's a system that should encourage players to return.

 

[Notme]

INBY Jubjubers will appeal along with few other people.

Also how many times someone can be permabanned from server/whole community?

 

[SirComputer]

INBY Jubjubers will appeal along with few other people.

Also how many times someone can be permabanned from server/whole community?

Just because they appeal doesn't mean we'll let them back in :)

 

[Ltin]

Also how many times someone can be permabanned from server/whole community?

I'm sure most people only willing to appeal so many times before they just decide to never return.

 

[Vatumok]

• Permanent bans have been abolished. For all global bans, they will be replaced with bans that are appealable after at least one year. People currently on permanent global bans may appeal a year after their ban/last appeal. People currently on permanent server bans may appeal 6 months after either their last appeal if one was made, or their ban.

This is completely fair. 1 year is more than enough time for people to think about what they've done and change their behaviour. If the staff don't deem the person changed than they can always remain banned but a chance to appeal is important.

• Forum-banned people have the option to evade to appeal ONLY, as well as appealing through someone else. We’d like to have made a solution where banned people could appeal through their own account, but that is currently not yet possible. When it is possible, this will no longer be required.

There should be some way to create a banned rank on the forums which revokes the rights to read and post in all forums. They can then be given permissions only to post and read their own ban appeal. I don't like the idea of evading for appeals when there's a much more proper solution..

• There will be a couple of things made consistent behind the scenes. If a staff member fails to respond to a ban appeal or they are no longer staff, the server staff will instead vote on the unban. With a global ban appeal, the admins will vote on the matter. A 70% majority is needed for an unban.

I think bans shouldn't be decided by votes. For server bans the server admin(s) should discuss it with the staff and make a final decision based on their input. For global bans the admins should discuss it together and judge if the banned person is not harmful to the community anymore, with the CAs having the final say. Requiring a 70% vote (or something similar) is more subjective, some admins could just vote against an unban without trying to judge objectively if the person has changed. The staff team should be able to talk this out with each other and make a good decision.

 

[Psycho]

There should be some way to create a banned rank on the forums which revokes the rights to read and post in all forums. They can then be given permissions only to post and read their own ban appeal. I don't like the idea of evading for appeals when there's a much more proper solution..

I don't think that this would be possible - I looked it up and even the Xenforo devs said that being banned completely removes the user from viewing anything except for the notification saying that they're banned. Though they did mention things such as moving them into another user group or creating an alternative add-on for it.

 

[Vatumok]

I don't think that this would be possible - I looked it up and even the Xenforo devs said that being banned completely removes the user from viewing anything except for the notification saying that they're banned. Though they did mention things such as moving them into another user group or creating an alternative add-on for it.

Yeah you wouldn't actually ban them but rather set them to a user group named banned which just has a ton of rights revoked. They aren't actually banned but are unable to post and read in all sections which means they can't cause any problems.

 

[Jayfeather]

snapflash snapflash snapflash snapflash

 

[SirComputer]

I think bans shouldn't be decided by votes. For server bans the server admin(s) should discuss it with the staff and make a final decision based on their input. For global bans the admins should discuss it together and judge if the banned person is not harmful to the community anymore, with the CAs having the final say. Requiring a 70% vote (or something similar) is more subjective, some admins could just vote against an unban without trying to judge objectively if the person has changed. The staff team should be able to talk this out with each other and make a good decision.

With the vote, a discussion will happen anyway - people will still be giving opinions, and people will of course disagree. The vote is mainly just an easy way to collate opinions, from in the global ban case quite a large admin team, and check the admin/CAs aren't making any really stupid decisions. The veto powers reserved by the admin/CAs will allow them to change the result if unjustified opinions are ones affecting the vote result. What we found with purely trying to talk things out is that people will always disagree with people, and it often leads to the conversation just ending and not having a final result, primarily with large groups of people (anyone wondering why the policy took so long?), so a vote should help to make sure that time isn't being wasted and people can have appeals resolved as quickly as possible.

 

[Notme]

#MakeTheOneBlocktopiaEscapeRestartGreatAgain

Fixed.

 

[☃Dr. Bob]

I long the day for Jubjubers to return (I still don't know why they were apparently so bad, rudeness is all I've heard of, but not the severity, and people can be pretty mean so it hasn't sounded too bad so far to me).

Also, does this mean hope for Kuilin?

 

[Trap_Wolf]

snapflash snapflash snapflash snapflash

 

[snowma]

can I propose a change where we exchange a current member for a banned member

THANKS FOR OFFERING.

 

[JayApple]

snapflash snapflash snapflash snapflash

plssssssssssss bring him back snapflash is a reformed man

 

[Aqua]

Just because they appeal doesn't mean we'll let them back in :)

free jub pls

 

[Naterger]

jube4communityleadershiprole

 

[AotsFTW]

this was a great decision :)

 

[Jayfeather]

this was a great decision :)

The reformed Aots1