Staff Guidelines & Regulations (Minecraft) (Anonymised)

Introduction#

Being a member of staff for [REDACTED] comes with the expectation that you will be able to uphold the community rules and exercise professionalism where it is needed.

The guidelines and regulations outlined below set out the standard for what is expected of you as a staff member of the Minecraft server. You should ask for clarification about anything that is unclear or that causes confusion.

These guidelines and regulations may be changed at any time. You can expect to be notified about significant changes, so you are aware of them before they come into effect and enforcement begins.

Staff Guidelines & Regulations#

1. Staff members are subject to the same rules that normal users are. You are expected to enforce the rules, so it only makes sense that you should also follow them to the greatest extent.
2. As a staff member, you are held to a higher standard in terms of behaviour towards users. Even if you dislike a user for whatever reason, you should treat them with dignity and respect.
3. You should not use any staff privileges to give yourself an unfair advantage over other users. Any permissions that are given to you are solely to fulfil your responsibilities as a staff member. Using permissions to further progression of yourself or other users will result in disciplinary action.
4. You should make an active effort to help out users with queries whenever possible, especially where other users are not doing so. This increases trust in the staff team and increases user retention.
5. Avoid punitive action where it is not necessary. You should only issue formal punishments (i.e., warnings, mutes, kicks and bans) when it is the most appropriate remedial action and no other response would suffice in comparison to the offence.
6. Do not argue with staff members in chat. It is important that we are seen as a unified whole to the user base. While it is acceptable to disagree with a staff member on a matter of moderation, you should express this disagreement in a private environment, which would mean in a private communication channel (like on Discord).
7. Use objectivity when deciding on punishments. You should issue punishments solely based on a user’s punishment history, the severity of the offence, and the impact, if any, it had on any other users. If you feel that you cannot reasonably exercise objectivity in regard to a certain user (for example, because you know them in real life), you should ask for another staff member to deal with the situation at hand.
8. Communicate with staff members about anything you are unsure about. If there is a situation that you are not sure about how to respond to, you should seek the opinions of other online moderators to ensure that the decision made is as fair as possible. This may also help with consistency across moderation within our team.
9. Be proactive in moderation, not reactive. You should be conscious of what you are saying in chat, especially when they might instigate an argument. Steer conversations in a different direction if you know they are getting heated.
10. Notify senior staff members about any extended leave of absences. There is nothing wrong with taking an extended break for whatever reason, but we ask that you notify us beforehand so we know you are still wanting to retain your position.
11. Do not discuss Discord or Minecraft punishments in public channels. There is no need to publicise case information, especially where it may degrade the quality of ongoing conversation. You should encourage users to communicate with you privately if they wish to dispute or discuss a punishment.
12. Permissions should be used in the way that they are intended to be used. For example, nicknames should only be applied to users when they have an inappropriate username or non-alphanumeric characters in them.
13. Cooperate with internal reviews of cases. In certain situations, you may have one or more of your decisions challenged by a senior staff member. This is not to doubt your competence, but to understand your thought process in reaching a decision. As such, you should be prepared to defend your position with evidence and conclusions derived from this evidence.
14. Above all else, use common sense. Your decision-making, when not guided by predefined rules, should be based on your common sense. You should act in a way that a reasonable person would in those specific circumstances.

Responding to Situations Requiring Moderation#

15. We understand that some scenarios requiring moderation may be difficult to deal with and a solution is not imminently clear. However, you are expected to exercise your best judgement and common sense.
16. You should ensure that your reactions to situations (including punishments) are wholly proportionate to the offence committed. They should also be consistent across users to eliminate bias.
17. There are no specific regulations for what you should do for each and every scenario. You should exercise your sense of logic and common sense, as previously mentioned, when deciding what is appropriate. Context is also incredibly important, too. If a user was aggravated into saying something they otherwise would not have said, the punishment may be less severe than it would if they were otherwise unprompted, for example.
18. Punishment reasons inputted should be straightforward, objective, and understandable. They should not be overly long or include anything indicative of bias. If there are multiple reasons for a punishment, you should ideally separate them with a semicolon. See the table below for an example of what to and what not to do.

19. Punishments should only ever be issued where they are in reaction to an offence committed. They should never be issued jokingly or to demonstrate your ‘power’ on the server. This is considered a serious violation of these regulations and guidelines. You should not taunt users with any permissions you have, especially with regard to moderation abilities to intimidate or threaten anyone.
20. It is okay to make mistakes. If you issue a punishment to the wrong user by mistake, or issue the wrong type of punishment accidentally, do not panic. Reverse the action and offer your apologies to the user where possible. Alternatively, ask for assistance from a senior staff member if you feel you are not sure exactly how to rectify the situation. In these situations, you will be talked to about how future mistakes can be avoided and use this towards continuing your development as a staff member.

Complaints Procedure

This procedure sets out what you should do if you would like to complain about a fellow staff member for a breach of the above guidelines and regulations, as well as the consequences enacted on the perpetrator if a breach is confirmed.

To initiate a complaint, you should contact a senior staff member to the one that you are intending to report. You should include the following information in your initial communication with them on this matter:

1. Minecraft username of staff member*
2. date and time of incident - an approximate is acceptable if not known*
3. reason for report - this should be very short and straight to the point*
4. explanation of incident - this should include a simple sequence of events*
5. desired action, if any

* indicates required

The below information shows what consequences may be determined to be necessary in an individual situation. Senior staff members will take account of prior incidents as well as the severity of the incident in and of itself. These consequences may not be followed in order across multiple offences.

Please note that disciplinary action for misconduct on the Discord server will also be taken into consideration when deciding what the most appropriate action to take is for an offence on the Minecraft server.