Expanded Server Rules

Introduction

As long as the Faithful Discord servers have existed, there have been one set of rules. They have a description of what to do, what not to do, and nothing more. While this sounds pretty standard for most Discord servers at first, the problem is that the interpretation of these rules can be entirely up the moderator or moderators online at any given time.

A system like this for us ended up resulting in a plethora of hasty decisions made on the spot. Long arguments between moderators would drag on over fuzzy rule boundaries, all stemming from punishments made hours before. In addition, there was little to no transparency as to how decisions were made — decisions would often be reversed hours after they were made with no explanation as to why. All of this ended up with the alienation of the community from the moderation staff, as users would seemingly get punished for no reason after just making a joke and the moderation team wouldn't give any insight as to why.

However, this problem went far further than the moderation staff and rule interpretation itself. This was a systematic problem across the entirety of Faithful, leading to an endless dilemma over how the rules should be interpreted. Moderation exists to keep the server a welcoming and civilized place, but if punishments go too far, moderation becomes meaningless and nobody wants to be on the server in fear of retribution over a simple joke. However, swing too far the other way and the Discord becomes a lawless mess where nobody takes the rules seriously and nobody can take action when necessary.

Transparency is one of our key factors, playing into the open sourced aspect of Faithful, and the community is Faithful's biggest asset. The more inviting the staff and the server can be, the better everything will end up as a result. Knowing the distinction between stern and unapproachable is essential to maintaining this — you may have noticed us ditching overly formal language in the past few months in favor of more human-readable content (e.g. the license update). Keeping all of this in mind has been central to our thought process that made us decide to fix the true source of the problem: the server rules. By removing the need for constant interpretation of the rules with inbuilt guidelines for dealing with the most common rule breaks, everyone ends up better, as the community gets a much more consistent and sympathetic moderation team and the moderators don't have to deal with constant arguments over specific rule clauses.

That's not all. While this document was originally intended to be used only by the moderation staff and just contain punishment guidelines, we eventually realized that making it public would be a far better idea. Not only would ban appeals and rule clarifications fit in perfectly, but users would know exactly the reasoning for their punishment and could even suggest changes if the vast majority considered a certain rule or punishment inappropriate. While the new rules take an overall more lenient approach, which the majority of users (taken from our moderation poll made few months prior to the rewrite) wanted, some things were disallowed due to many people requesting it.

With all of that context out of the way, let's start with the basics.

Definitions (in order of severity)

• Verbal Warning - A reminder from a moderator to avoid breaking and follow a particular rule. These have no repercussions if behavior improves.

• (Bot) Warning - A strike given by the bot when a rule is broken.
  3 warnings = short mute for 5 days.
• Short Mute - The removal of a user’s ability to type/speak in channels for up to a week.
• Long Mute - The removal of a user’s ability to type/speak in channels for over a week.
• Ban - The total removal of a user from the servers, generally reserved as a last resort.
• Report - Reporting the user to Discord for breaking their Terms of Service and a ban from the servers, reserved for the worst of the worst.

Escalating punishments means to progress down this list for each repeated offense.

Rule 1: Read & Follow Discord's Terms of Service and Community Guidelines

This includes misuse of client modifications (e.g. message loggers) and discussion or promotion of illegal activity.

1. Breaking Discord's Terms of Service - https://discord.com/terms

   • Report to Discord, as the ToS is completely non-negotiable.

2. Breaking Discord's Community Guidelines - https://discord.com/guidelines

   • While dependent on context, usually harsh penalties such as a ban or even reporting should be used.

3. Misuse of client modifications includes using a deleted message against a user, leaking private information via channel names, etc.

   • Report to Discord, as it's against the ToS.

4. Discussing or propagating illegal activity - Pretty much exactly what it sounds like.

   • This tends to depend on the severity of illegal activity, since pirating a movie and doxxing a user are two very different things and should be treated as such.
   • In general, warn and escalate up to a ban or report if continued. Genuine dangers will lead to an immediate report.

Rule 2: Use Common Sense

This is the generic "don’t be an idiot" rule. Prohibited actions include using hate speech or slurs, joking about tragedies or other sensitive topics, raiding or brigading other servers, or spreading misinformation.

1. Being rude or annoying - This is the generic "don’t be an asshole" rule — just be polite to others and you'll be fine. This includes mocking or making fun of people, toxic or degrading "jokes", snarky comments that make fun of anybody in any way, or being unable to take feedback.

   • This is one of the rules that highly depends on frequency.
   • For the most part verbal warns should be used, unless it's becoming a real problem with a particular user, in which case punishments can be escalated proportionally to frequency.

2. Brigading other servers - This involves joining a server simply to cause havoc and destruction, oftentimes with multiple users or accounts involved. Not only is it annoying and destructive, but it makes us look bad in the process.

   • Generally report, however it can depend on damage caused.

3. Using hate speech or slurs - This includes, but is not limited to: general derogatory names, racial slurs, fatphobia, slurs against disabilities or religion, homophobia, transphobia, and other slurs related to one’s identity. This additionally includes using religion as a vehicle to justify harassment or hate speech.

   • If done as hyperbole/not seriously, verbally warn the user that these terms are not allowed and delete the messages in question. Ban for repeated offenses.
   • If done to cause harm, ban and report the user.

4. Being unable to respect people's identity - Intentional misgendering, inflammatory comments, and generally rude comments towards one's identity, even those that aren't outright hate speech, are disallowed under all circumstances.

   • Anything between a short mute and ban should be used depending on the context and severity of actions.

5. Jokes about tragedies, suicides, or other sensitive topics - This includes both past and ongoing events.

   • This will depend on context, but can range between a verbal warning and ban.

6. Spreading misinformation is when a user intentionally makes up or mixes up information for the purposes of creating a reaction.

   • If accidental, tell the user to edit/delete their original message as to not confuse others.
   • If intentional, bot warn and scale up appropriately for repeat offenses.

Rule 3: Speak English

People and by extension moderators can't know what you're saying otherwise, as this is an English-speaking server. Please use a translator if you cannot fluently understand English.

1. Speaking a non-English language in general - This would include not knowing English well or not knowing about this rule.

   • There are no punishments, just a verbal warning as a reminder to use a translator.

2. Intentionally speaking another language as a joke - When done in a joking context without the intent to exclude people from understanding (e.g. an inside joke).

   • Verbal warn to stop, and if continued escalate punishments as best seen fit.

3. Speaking a different language in order to talk behind people’s backs in a rude or disrespectful way - Exactly the same as the previous point but this time with malicious intent.

   • Short mute, and escalate if repeated.

Rule 4: Be Constructive and Polite

Give constructive criticism people can use to improve their work, not just say that something is ugly or bad. Swearing is allowed within reason, however don’t cross the line into harassment.

1. Not giving constructive feedback on work - If you wouldn't want to hear it said towards your own creations, don't say it; simple as that.

   • Verbal warn initially to let the user know what constitutes good feedback.
   • If the user keeps being rude over other's creations, escalate as best seen fit.

2. Minimodding - This means acting as a moderator without the authority to act as one. It is incredibly annoying for everyone involved, can lead to misinformation, and undermines the authority of the staff team. Use e!modping or directly ping an online moderator if rules are being broken.

   • Verbal warn to stop and let a moderator take over, if continued short mute the user.

3. Excessive swearing - While swearing is usually allowed, there is a line to not cross.

   • Verbal warn the user that their language is a bit excessive, potentially give a short mute if continued.

Rule 5: Try to Not Annoy Others

This includes overly (reply) pinging, sending loud audio or seizure-inducing videos without a spoiler/disclaimer, and abusing nicknames, reactions, or spoilers. Don’t ask to ask, instead just ask your question directly to save everybody time.

1. Overly pinging people - This includes abuse of reply pinging. Constantly spamming someone with notifications can be very annoying for said user; they really do not need to be pinged for every new message you send.

   • Verbal warn the user, and if constantly continued give a bot warning.

2. Sending loud audio/seizure inducing visuals without warning - A clear warning would include a spoiler or a clearly visible message below the message.

   • Delete the message and give a verbal warning to be more cautious of content prior to posting.
   • If done with malicious intent, give a bot warn. Repeated offenses may lead to long mutes or bans.

3. Abuse of spoilers, reactions, or nicknames - These are privileges, not rights. Examples of this would include mocking each other with nicknames, using spoilers to make a word look like a slur, giving sarcastic reactions to a message you don't like, etc.

   • Generally verbal warn for spoiler abuse or using a nickname as a joke.
   • If reaction or nickname abuse is done to harm someone, a third party or a competitor, bot warn and remove the offending nickname.

4. Not asking good questions - Don't just ask to ask, say your question directly to get an answer much faster. If you just say "I have a question", someone has to guess a lot of things to be able to reply to you; whereas if you said "Is it possible to upscale textures to resolutions that aren't powers of two?", people know instantly what answer you want and are able to get you help much faster.

   • There aren't really any punishments for this rule, just a verbal warning about how to ask the right questions.
   • Helpful resources for being better at online communication can be found at https://dontasktoask.com/, https://xyproblem.info/, and https://nohello.net/en/, if you are interested.

Rule 6: Don't Clutter Chats

While short tangents are fine, we have multiple channels for a reason, so please use them as intended. Spamming random things, including emojis and stickers, or starting a chat chain contributes nothing to a conversation and only causes a mess.

1. Going off-topic - Keep messages/topics to their respective channels; when in doubt use #off-topic. This also includes putting memes in #off-topic — when someone is having a discussion, flooding the channel with GIFs and videos suddenly can be annoying for the users in question.

   • Verbal warn everyone involved to move to #off-topic or #memes.
   • If discussion persists, use a bot warn.

2. Using bot commands in the wrong channel - It generally causes a lot of clutter, and #bot-commands exists for a reason. If it's related to the discussion (e.g. magnifying a texture in #texture-discussion), that's perfectly fine.

   • Verbal warn to move to #bot-commands.
   • If spam persists, use a bot warn.

3. Spamming - Any meaningless garbage that contributes nothing to a discussion, including emoji/sticker spam, "copypastas", and chat chains. Not only does it bury actual messages, but are also a pain to clean up for the moderators.

   • If intentionally done to cause havoc and to annoy others, long mute and potentially ban depending on severity and context. Messages will be purged.
   • If part of a chat chain, meming, etc, verbal warn the users involved to not continue, and short mute if continued.

Rule 7: Avoid NSFW and NSFL Content

This includes, but is not limited to pornography, gore, and overly gross content; if you think it’s against the rules it probably will be. You can DM a moderator for approval with borderline content.

1. NSFW/NSFL content - This is literally a Minecraft art community; post that sort of thing elsewhere. Examples can be found directly above in the rule description. Just use common sense and you'll be fine.
   • Depending on severity, punishments range from a verbal warn/message deletion to a ban and report.
   • Slightly questionable content should be punished less than full on gore.

Rule 8: Stay Away From Political Discussion

General discussion about real-life events is still allowed from a more neutral perspective. If you really want to discuss politics, take it to direct messages or another server.

1. Intentionally provoking a political discussion - This would include posting "shock" content, or just generally sending inflammatory messages designed to cause harm.

   • Give a bot warn and a short mute to the user who incited the argument.

2. An unrelated discussion becoming political - Politics can easily get involved in a related but allowed topic like religion.

   • Verbal warn all users involved to stop, if it proceeds warn and short mute.

Rule 9: No Unsolicited Promoting or Advertising

Any advertising must be done in context, and spamming or direct messaging advertisements will lead to an instant ban and report to Discord. Additionally, please refrain from requesting or making monetary transactions, including with cryptocurrencies, on the server.

1. Advertising without context - Resource packs are allowed within reason, however don't overdo it.

   • Delete the offending content and verbal warn the user not to do it again. Repeat offenses will lead to a mute and ban.
   • This includes doing transactions with real-life money. Take these topics to DMs or a more suitable place.

2. Spamming/DM advertising - This also includes any sort of inappropriate advertising or scams.

   • Instant ban and report to Discord.

Rule 10: Don’t Leak Private Information

What happens in private channels stays in those channels; keep any confidential information you may have private. Doxxing will get you reported to Discord and banned from the servers.

1. Leaking private information - This applies to all users, not just staff. Always get permission before leaking information.

   • Bot warn, and for repeat offenses ban.

2. Doxxing - Leaking personal information about anyone is unacceptable, no matter who it is.

   • Ban and report, as it's against ToS.

About Appeals

Oftentimes, moderation action is required immediately and a debate over punishments isn't possible, which can lead to sub-optimal decisions being made by staff. In addition, people can change for the better and having your past looming over you isn't the best way to get a clean slate.

If you believe your punishment or ban was unwarranted, you can appeal after a grace period of self-reflecting over your actions using this form.

The "grace period" between punishment and appeal can last anywhere from a few days to a few months depending on how severe the rule violation was, and we will let you know how long a period is when a punishment is issued. Certain punishments will be non-negotiable without chance of appeal, but these instances will be generally rare in the case of unusual circumstances.

WARNING

If you submit the form before the grace period is over, it will result in harsher punishments and no appeal opportunities.

Conclusion

Well, you made it to the end. If you somehow read all the rules, hopefully you now understand our thought process into enforcing our policies with our Discord servers. If you don't, that's fine too — let us know what we can change to improve clarity and readability on our main Discord Server. None of these rules are set in stone, and if a lot of people disagree with a policy it can always be altered.

As with many things, nothing can be applied completely, as there will always be gray areas. This is why these punishment guidelines tend to have ranges of punishment and nothing concrete within them, because there will always be exceptions to the rules and we can't cover every possible edge case. After all, they're just guidelines in the end.

And finally…

Our golden rule of moderation: "If a post is not done with malicious intent and people don’t seem to care, don’t give permanent punishments".

Credits

• Concept by Pythagoras_314.
• Written by Evorp.
• A few sections by Nyodex.
• Edits by Nyodex and Fred figglehorn.
• Appeal form by Ninventoo.