Moderation FAQ

[Realitycrash]

In the R&P we discuss a lot of things, because people have opinions about a lot of things. A lot of these things are very mature (zoophilia, age of consent, you name it). Yet some of these things apparently break the Code of Conduct:

Similarly, posts including, advocating, or linking to illegal or adult material are a very quick way to end your time as part of The Escapist community. An example of these are:

Piracy
Ad Blockers
Illegal Drugs in the United States
Illegal Acts in the United States
Pedophilia
Pornography
Sexist, Racist or Perverted Remarks

"Posts including or advocating". Well, if, for instance, I believe that something illegal should be made legal in the US (and we have many, many of those topics), how can I argue this without breaking the CoC? Can I even MENTION said thing without 'including' it in my post and thus breaking the CoC?

 

[sky14kemea]

In the R&P we discuss a lot of things, because people have opinions about a lot of things. A lot of these things are very mature (zoophilia, age of consent, you name it). Yet some of these things apparently break the Code of Conduct:

Similarly, posts including, advocating, or linking to illegal or adult material are a very quick way to end your time as part of The Escapist community. An example of these are:

Piracy
Ad Blockers
Illegal Drugs in the United States
Illegal Acts in the United States
Pedophilia
Pornography
Sexist, Racist or Perverted Remarks

"Posts including or advocating". Well, if, for instance, I believe that something illegal should be made legal in the US (and we have many, many of those topics), how can I argue this without breaking the CoC? Can I even MENTION said thing without 'including' it in my post and thus breaking the CoC?

You are welcome to discuss those options, as long as you do not admit to using it, or give anyone advice on how to use it.

Arguing it's legality is fine, but as long as you argue both pros and cons.

It's an iffy area, so really I'd advise not discussing it at all if you're unsure as to whether or not you'd get banned for posting it.

As always, you're welcome to PM a Mod to ask if your OP is within the CoC before posting.

 

[Something Amyss]

Okay, question:

Someone's harassing you via PM. Now, I've tried the "contact" form before and I no longer get responses (I've checked my spam filter, I've whitelisted the Escapist, I have received email from here before) and the last time I contacted a community manager, it was clear nothing came of it. If I bring this up with a regular mod, is this the sort of thing they can handle, or am I just out of luck?

 

[Shadow-Phoenix]

I'd like to ask and know exactly why the Jak & Daxter thread was locked because I saw normal discussion going on in there whilst the gaming forum section is full of talk of sexism, the Zoe case and Anita, why are those threads allowed to stay alive when there as very similar threads like those going on in the "off-topic" section, it doesn't make sense because the gaming section is to be for gaming discussion topics only and yet one gaming discussion was locked while allowing 5 other threads non gaming related to be open.

I feel that allowing those threads to multiply and spread is just giving you guys too much work and in the end I feel I;m going to see random lockdowns compared to threads that have long long overstayed their discussion period (the Zoe thread is now 370 pages long, pretty sure enough has been talked about such a hot topic).

There's even a post two above that asks how the workload for you guys is working with the Zoe thread in particular, I;d say letting it live to beyond 370 is just going to increase the pointless workload, if it's that bad why not hire new mods or lock the thread, from the much smaller threads I've seen locked like the Jak & Daxter which is nowhere near as bad as the Zoe one I;d say it's not really a problem for you guys.

I know one of you will point out a rule being broken but let's be honest here, plenty have already been broken in the past without much mod thought or interaction, yes you are human and make mistakes but I can tell some are overlooked like allowing hot topic threads to stay alive or deliberate threads in order to garner more hits, I'm not unfamiliar with that as I've seen it happen on multiple sites, this one isn't any unique and special to such things.

I'd also like to point out as a final note that a user previously in the gaming section had become active again after some time being away since we'd not seen him around since 2011 and he ended up posting 2-3 topics designed to anger others and two of them just bringing more fuel to the console vs PC fire, why weren't those threads locked?, two of them were recent and even after repeated flagging nothing was done about it, was it due to the sexism, Anita and Zoe threads?.

 

[Irick]

I didn't see it covered and I apparently can't start topics so:
Who/where do I talk to about not being able to start topics or other technical issues on the forum? (they are listed but 404, check my past three topics)

 

[Zombie_Fish]

I didn't see it covered and I apparently can't start topics so:
Who/where do I talk to about not being able to start topics or other technical issues on the forum? (they are listed but 404, check my past three topics)

Either make a post in this group: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/groups/view/Tech-Team

Or submit a ticket here: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/contact/subject/tech

Please not that staff members are less active over the weekend, so it may not get looked at until Monday.

 

[TheArcaneThinker]

I have a major doubt . I am new to this site and i do not know how to make a thread . Where is the button or the option that creates a thread ? Can someone help ?

 

[Bat Vader]

I have a major doubt . I am new to this site and i do not know how to make a thread . Where is the button or the option that creates a thread ? Can someone help ?

If you hover over the forums tab at the top of the page it will expand and show you the different forums you can click on. Click on the forum that you want and under the big blod letters of the forum name you should see the options New Topic, Forum Index, and Search Forums.

The new topic option is bright blue so it is pretty easy to see.

 

[rasta111]

I just have to say, there's a fine line between keeping the peace and beings dictators as if the people posting don't even have minds of their own, the fact they do being what you rely on if you want them to actually continue and y'all just took a swan dive over it... I think I'm done here. Thanks for the memories.

 

[IceForce]

I reported someone by mistake, is there any way I can undo that? I clicked the link to get to the page, but the one in question had actually already been moderated. I don't want to seem like I'm randomly reporting users for nothing.

I wouldn't worry about it. They can't see who's-reporting-what anyway; reports/flags are anonymous.

 

[IceForce]

Oh, good tips, I appreciate that thanks. I would ask some more questions, but it's going to take me a bit of time to sort through this wealth of information and advice. So welcoming.

You're more likely to get a response if you make a new thread asking these sorts of questions.

No one reads the stickies.

 

[Superbeast]

I reported someone by mistake, is there any way I can undo that? I clicked the link to get to the page, but the one in question had actually already been moderated. I don't want to seem like I'm randomly reporting users for nothing.

I wouldn't worry about it. They can't see who's-reporting-what anyway; reports/flags are anonymous.

No, they're not anonymous.

Well, it might be anonymous to the moderators, but not the staff - a few years ago I accidentally hit the report button on a Community Manager's post as I was scrolling past and got a hostile PM message from the Community Manager in question.

 

[TakerFoxx]

What exactly is the rationale behind the captchas? Has this place been subject to robot spam without it?

Pretty much. We still get them slipping through the cracks even with the captchas in place on occasion.

 

[IceForce]

Three days posting this in another thread with no reply? I'll try here.

I don't know if this is the place for it, but I suppose the people who need to see it, will. Would it be alright if the forum stopped asking me for my birthday every time I stand up to take a piss? I'm not likely to to forget it, but there can't be any good reason for asking this many times either. Thanks

What you're describing is an 'age gate', and it's a fact of life on websites that host age-restricted content.

 

[IceForce]

I wouldn't worry about it. They can't see who's-reporting-what anyway; reports/flags are anonymous.

No, they're not anonymous.

Well, it might be anonymous to the moderators, but not the staff -

That seems plausible. I've heard that part of the criteria that goes into selecting a new mod is observing and tracking how accurate they are with their reports. (Or to put it another way, the staff are unlikely to promote someone to mod status who goes around reporting everything and everyone just to be annoying.)

So yeah, I'm guessing it's a 'staff-only' thing.

 

[Zombie_Fish]

Well thanks for that brother, but I know what an age gate is, and this isn't that. When I first log in, it needs me to update my user registration. Then a few more times, none of it linked to any particular objectionable content. Can I turn this off?

The forum mods themselves don't have power over these things. Try submitting a support ticket [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/contact/subject/account], which is sent to The Escapist staff directly. The more detail you can give -- specific webpages where you have seen this happen, links to screenshots, URLs if your page is redirected -- the better. Any responses to your ticket will be sent to the email address you provide in that form, so make sure to check that inbox and your spam filter if you haven't noticed a difference in a few days.

 

[IceForce]

I saw that Rathkor was banned, but there's no "Was banned for..." link. What's up with that?

It means that they weren't banned for a post. They were banned for some other reason instead, like an offensive/insulting PM or moderation appeal ticket, breaking the rules in a usergroup, or because they were posting on multiple accounts (with a ban currently on one or more of their accounts).

We can only guess, but it's practically always one of the above reasons.
We'll never be told the actual reason, though; something about 'user privacy' or something.

 

[IceForce]

Why is this thread locked? http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/663.931846-Sex-Negativity-and-its-effects-on-gaming?page=10#23454944

I came back after the holiday break and the whole thing is shut down without any reason given.

You're more likely to get an answer if you ask this question here instead:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/contact/subject/forums

Messages submitted via ^that form are actually checked, unlike this thread, which hasn't had a moderator post in it since... holy shit, November 2013. Look at all the unanswered questions on this page!

 

[deleted+75193]

DELETED

 

[Secondhand Revenant]

I was given a warning in the Levels You Couldn't Beat thread, but I'm not sure why. The only reason provided to me was that my image needed to be removed. I provided plenty of verbal content with my post. I'm perplexed as to why I'd receive a warning for posting an image of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for DOS.

When you get a warning there's a link to appeal it. Pretty much only place you can really get an answer is there. The reply comes to the e-mail you signed up with.