Major Site Cleanup and New Rules

[The Proffessor]

Hello everyone.

I'll be honest, things have gotten a little out of hand while the other admins and I have been leading our insanely busy lives. Poor Playtime has been taking the main brunt of keeping the trolls in line. I usually don't take executive action without involving the other admins, but it's high time I purged this place myself. I have taken the liberty of cleaning up a sizable amount of rather...toxic threads.

There will be a few changes as to how things operate starting now:

1. New Moderators
with Playtime being the only active moderator lately, I've decided it's time to wipe the moderator list clean and get some fresh faces to assist. Obviously Playtime will stay as our Global Moderator, but I am appointing new Board Moderators as follows:

Rydian: Mabi News, Site News, Site Feedback, Guides, and The Courtyard
Blade3575: General Discussion, Client Modifications, Screenshots and Videos, and Development
Draconis: General Discussion, Client Modifications, Tech Support, and Skin Modifications

There is one open spot available for a group consisting of Pet Discussion, the entire Auction House, Guilds and Recruitment, and The Courtyard (shared with Rydian). We will begin taking applications from those interested in the near future, so stay tuned for that.

2. Return to use of the Files section of the site
We would ask that any releases of mods, tools, etc. be uploaded to the files section instead of attaching them to a post.

There are multiple reasons for this. The biggest one is the fact that it makes it a lot easier to find the files where they belong as opposed to having to look through threads hundreds of posts long to try to find them. Heaven forbid anyone use the search function, but in all honesty, I'm not sure if the search would locate attachments, since they're not a part of the text of the post.

The second is the fact that at this time, pretty much any user can upload a file as an attachment, whereas anything in the files section has to be approved by an admin or download moderator before it becomes visible to the public. You can't really trust anything people slap onto their posts. It's a major risk that I feel should be avoided.

Because of the benefits of the files section vs. attachments, we will make a rule against them in the near future. There will be a grace period until then to allow everyone to get used to using the files section again. I don't know exactly when we will start enforcing it, but I will be sure to give plenty of notice. The exception to this rule will be screenshots, error logs, etc. used to obtain technical assistance or to show off something, etc. (i.e. pics in the Screenshots and Videos forum).

In addition, I will remind everyone that when uploading a file, screenshots are HIGHLY recommended, and in some cases (visual mods) are REQUIRED.

Because of beginning to use the files section once more, we are also opening up the position of Download Moderator in like manner as the Board Mod position. Again, more details will be provided when the time comes.

3. Archive section created
I have decided for ease of navigation that we will begin archiving old threads that have no bearing on our current situation. These threads will be moved to a special hidden area of the site, so post counts will not be affected. I have also created a special hidden user group that will have access to the archives should it be deemed helpful. Mind you, the archives are read-only, and reserved for trivial stuff, or stuff pertaining to outdated/unnecessary mods; pretty much unnecessary for the community in general. Because of this, the access will be assigned only to those deemed necessary by the Administrators. The archival process will take some time, so don't be surprised if there's still old stuff in the main forums for a bit.

4. Obvious trolling will be met with stricter consequences
This is the main reason why this site's gone down the crapper. The negative atmosphere for people requesting help WILL CEASE. Even if it legitimately is a question that's been asked over a thousand times, such a question may certainly be met with a polite reminder to use the search function, or provide a simple link to the thread they seek, but just telling them off or making them feel stupid is harassment. Again...THIS...WILL...STOP.

Moderators have a guide as to what punishments to hand out, and to what extent. If you start trolling people just to put them down, you will first be met with warnings exceeding the threshold for moderation, meaning that your posts won't even appear unless a moderator sees it and approves of its content. If you keep it up, you will be banned, simple as that. It doesn't matter if you've been here for years, contributed craploads of knowledge and mods. If you cannot act in a civilized manner, you will be removed from the community.


Now, obviously it's normal to have differences of opinion. Calmly debating something does not constitute trolling. It's exercising your right to an opinion. It's when you start disrespecting another's right to their opinion that it becomes harassment. Again, you will be banned, and nothing of value would be lost.

If you see someone asking something that has an obvious answer, it would be wiser to not post anything instead of posting sarcasm or flaming.

Because of this change, those who were of the trolling type will be given a one time clean slate as it were. No further chances will be granted.

tl;dr:

[Lady Playtime]

First.
Hi Proff.

And now that this is actually public and no longer hidden... I'd like to say something actually relevant to the topic at hand.

For a long while now, it's been me alone, that's been moderating this site, with the admins mostly keeping to the behind the scenes part of the site keeping things in order, leaving me to deal with the public, although they do still show up from time to time.
And about a year ago, I developed a heart condition making it difficult to do pretty much anything, coupled with the absence of my fellow moderators, our site's taken a fairly steep decline.

It's been difficult to keep on top of every post and every issue.
Especially when it comes deciding how far something should go before it's a problem, with nobody to really consult with, it can make things a bit more of a headache to deal with. A second opinion on something, depending on the problem, can go quite a long way.

With some fresh blood on board though, we should finally be able to restore everything to it's former glory. No more constant harassment and trolling all over the site, and many other issues getting resolved.

When it comes to modding, I know what I'm doing, and I know what I'm talking about, and for awhile I kept a massive guide up to date, and in great detail on how to use and create all kinds of mods. Until my schedule and/or heart made me unable to continue my work on it.

That being said, these guys we're bringing on board could put me to shame with their knowledge of mods and software. Each with a different thing they excel at over the others, or just as well as the others.
On top of that, some of these guys have also tried taking things into their own hands in the past, in an attempt to better the community.



So welcome aboard, my new fellow staff members.
And to the users, if you don't already know these new moderators... They've been running projects on the site for a good while now, such as Tiara, and Abyss mods from Drac and Blade, with Rydian off doing his own stuff with cheat engine, video guides, and various other things... He's done quite a bit to help and contribute.

So be excited to have such people now working to help manage the forums.


Aaaand, now enough helpful words... I'm off to go get mad at Dark Souls 3, because I like playing challenge builds.
Currently I'm playing two characters, one uses exclusively bows and arrows, nothing else, not even crossbows or hands, run out of arrows, and I have to stop and restock.
My other is a sorcerer with estoc and staff, no stat points allowed in HP, and no shields, glass canon caster.

Next up, I'm going to do a miracles-only run, using whatever the hell I feel like, until I get my first damaging miracle. Then exclusively use miracles from then on.

Gunna get rekt

[Fl0rn]

Alrighty, gonna toss in my 2 cents here.  And i'm gonna start with saying sorry for the way i come across, as it's probably gonna seem arrogant as i try to stick mainly to the point over using delicate wording.


First off, new mods for the site, with rules being reviewed and changes made, i like.  Do keep in mind though, with new staff coming in, and changes being made, some of the "regular" users will need some time to adjust.  Just saying 'these things will change' and strictly adhering to the punishments list you have laid out, may get a bit excessive.  I'd suggest both sides, staff and users, take their time to try and get used to each other before going at it.  And no, not saying excuse every issue at the start, just that using your own judgement is sometimes better than strictly adhering to the rules.


Only other concern that comes to mind to me atm, is communication.  I'm gonna use an example here, it may be a bit sensitive so this can be edited if needed...  There was an incident in the past between me and another member going at it.  Things were said, post was removed for derogatory comment, then remade with the derogatory comment removed, but the rest of the post remained the same.  I looked carefully at the post, cuz at first i thought the post was just remade the exact same, and was going to ignore it thinking reposting something that got removed was just stupid anyway.  Taking a good look, i noticed that the tone was similar, but the post itself was slightly different to be less incriminating.  I talked to playtime about it, supporting the post since the poster did make a bit of effort so that he could keep the point of his post around.

I think communication like that, between staff and users, should be encouraged so long as both parties are able to calmly discuss matters.  Records are harder to clear away than a few rough feelings.  Though, if things get too heated or troublesome, staff takes priority imo.



So there's my 2 cents on everything, and again sorry for the rough mannerism there.  Should convey roughly what I would hope to see from things in the future.  Each person has their own thoughts on how things should be though, so to each his own.

[Lady Playtime]

I think communication like that, between staff and users, should be encouraged so long as both parties are able to calmly discuss matters.

I keep my contact info in my signature for this very reason.
Anything from discussing something that happened, questions, assistance, requesting moderation of a thread/post, questioning my moderation decisions, or even just feeling like playing a game with me or something (900+ on steam if you want to play something!)

Although... I think I broke the IRC chat again. I should probably get that going again at some point, and keep it online.

[Shelbat]

Ayyy

I'm not offended from being removed as a mod. I know I've been M.I.A for awhile..between personal crap, being at work like 80% of the time, or sleeping I haven't had much time to be as active as I should or wanted to be.

We all did have that skype group with the admins/global mods in it but we all kinda just poof'd.

[Tenshi07]

For anybody looking at the moderator spot and thinking that it would be nice, just keep in mind, that for now you can still be a good citizen of MabiMods by using the trusty report button. Just don't be mean spirited to anybody rule breaking, or just say nothing at all and leave it to a higher power to do their work. However I do think that if you are going to say something, just don't backseat moderate.

Happy MabiModding!