On the Moderator Team and their Decisions

I get a lot of PMs from people asking me to un-mute them, un-ban them or otherwise reverse a moderator's decision. When I reply and basically say "no", people often get mad and go spread lies about it in chat. So to be clear, let me spell out how this is going to work from now on, and I'm doing this here in the forum for all to see.

- Moderators are the law here, so show some respect. If you do this one thing, it will avoid most problems already.

- Don't come to me (or any admin) asking to be un-muted or un-banned. If you have an issue with a moderators decision, go to another moderator. We have lots of moderators now, so take your pick. If you can't get any moderator to agree with you, then guess what, you probably deserved the mute/ban/whatever it is you got!

- Moderators will be held accountable too. If a moderator is truly abusing their power, then put together your evidence and present your case to me. If you write a thoughtful message, I will consider it. But if you just send me a 1-line PM saying "that mod is corrupt", or you've got a long history of misbehaving yourself, I'm not going to take you seriously.

- Also, don't come to me (or any admin) every time someone says something offensive around here. I'm not going to get involved in every dispute, that's what the moderator team is for. You should only come to me as a last resort, after you've already gone through our established reporting process. I am not a shortcut to getting what you want. (In fact, if you irritate me, I'll ban you myself, so keep that in mind. My patience is much less than the moderators.)

- The current mod team has my complete confidence. I have been watching closely and since I came on board, what I see is a team that works well together and applies the rules fairly. Of course players who are punished get mad and like to spread rumors around... I've seen it first hand. For example a player gets caught hacking... A big violation of the rules. The mod team discusses what the appropriate action would be, a consensus is reached, and then let's say a ban is applied. Whichever mod clicks the ban button has his/her name attached to it, even though it was a group decision. But the player will go around chat saying they were banned by (whichever mod) "for no reason". And everybody jumps on the (whichever mod) is "corrupt" bandwagon. That's BS, and we all know it. (And that's why forum posts complaining about mods get archived... We're not going to sit around and watch you pollute the community with stuff we know to be lies.)

- Again, if you show respect and follow the rules, I'm happy to listen to anything you have to say. If you spend 2 seconds sending me a PM with no punctuation or capital letters, don't be surprised when you don't get a reply. But if you make your case in a thoughtful way, I will. In English there is a proverb, "you catch more flies with honey than vinegar." In other words, if you want me to get involved in something, show me that you can behave with respect, that you can follow proper procedures with reporting to moderators. That will go a long way toward getting on my good side, if that is what you want.

If you have any questions, speak now or forever hold your peace.

We need more censorship words in room,global,help chat. To protect new players from toxic players.

Kirjoittanut avatar, 27.12.2018 at 05:48

We need more censorship words in room,global,help chat. To protect new players from toxic players.

Censorship doesnt make horrible people go away. You have to have the right type of program to get rid of those types of people, censorship just ruins games. Banter is apart of this games charm and there is a big diference between harrassment and toxicity, and friendly in game banter.

Kirjoittanut Dave, 27.12.2018 at 05:04

I get a lot of PMs from people asking me to un-mute them, un-ban them or otherwise reverse a moderator's decision. When I reply and basically say "no", people often get mad and go spread lies about it in chat. So to be clear, let me spell out how this is going to work from now on, and I'm doing this here in the forum for all to see.

- Moderators are the law here, so show some respect. If you do this one thing, it will avoid most problems already.

- Don't come to me (or any admin) asking to be un-muted or un-banned. If you have an issue with a moderators decision, go to another moderator. We have lots of moderators now, so take your pick. If you can't get any moderator to agree with you, then guess what, you probably deserved the mute/ban/whatever it is you got!

- Moderators will be held accountable too. If a moderator is truly abusing their power, then put together your evidence and present your case to me. If you write a thoughtful message, I will consider it. But if you just send me a 1-line PM saying "that mod is corrupt", or you've got a long history of misbehaving yourself, I'm not going to take you seriously.

- Also, don't come to me (or any admin) every time someone says something offensive around here. I'm not going to get involved in every dispute, that's what the moderator team is for. You should only come to me as a last resort, after you've already gone through our established reporting process. I am not a shortcut to getting what you want. (In fact, if you irritate me, I'll ban you myself, so keep that in mind. My patience is much less than the moderators.)

- The current mod team has my complete confidence. I have been watching closely and since I came on board, what I see is a team that works well together and applies the rules fairly. Of course players who are punished get mad and like to spread rumors around... I've seen it first hand. For example a player gets caught hacking... A big violation of the rules. The mod team discusses what the appropriate action would be, a consensus is reached, and then let's say a ban is applied. Whichever mod clicks the ban button has his/her name attached to it, even though it was a group decision. But the player will go around chat saying they were banned by (whichever mod) "for no reason". And everybody jumps on the (whichever mod) is "corrupt" bandwagon. That's BS, and we all know it. (And that's why forum posts complaining about mods get archived... We're not going to sit around and watch you pollute the community with stuff we know to be lies.)

- Again, if you show respect and follow the rules, I'm happy to listen to anything you have to say. If you spend 2 seconds sending me a PM with no punctuation or capital letters, don't be surprised when you don't get a reply. But if you make your case in a thoughtful way, I will. In English there is a proverb, "you catch more flies with honey than vinegar." In other words, if you want me to get involved in something, show me that you can behave with respect, that you can follow proper procedures with reporting to moderators. That will go a long way toward getting on my good side, if that is what youwant.

If you have any questions, speak now or forever hold your peace.

Make this a notification, the type of people your trying to reach dont go on the forum. They wont see this.

Kirjoittanut Helly, 27.12.2018 at 05:53

Censorship doesnt make horrible people go away. You have to have the right type of program to get rid of those types of people, censorship just ruins games. Banter is apart of this games charm and there is a big diference between harrassment and toxicity, and friendly in game banter.

I agree. If we get rid of the bad people who never can follow the rules anyway, then censorship will be unnecessary.

I think the number of toxic players is actually small, but the ones who are, are very loud and obnoxious. I would rather get those few out of here, and not censor speech for everyone.

What worries me right now is that Bugs was suspended because he used a trick that exists in the game's mechanics that not many people today are aware of, which I suppose has existed since the game was created. For example, I was certain that it was completely legitimate because there are some bugs that became part of the game but apparently it is not, and that it's serious enough to suspend someone who's used such a thing, without prior warning if he has a history.

There are a lot of bugs in the game that have become an integral part of the strategy, such as turn blocking, sea defense walls with ground units, the ability to cross Brittany with a ship, zoombug to give your troops extra range and more.

What makes the method Bugs used as one to be suspended for? Does this mean that the bugs that currently exist and are used in games knowingly will be corrected? Or will it be possible to use them freely as we have been doing for years?

Kirjoittanut Abraham, 27.12.2018 at 06:13

What worries me right now is that Bugs was suspended because he used a trick that exists in the game's mechanics that not many people today are aware of, which I suppose has existed since the game was created. For example, I was certain that it was completely legitimate because there are some bugs that became part of the game but apparently it is not, and that it's serious enough to suspend someone who's used such a thing, without prior warning if he has a history.

There are a lot of bugs in the game that have become an integral part of the strategy, such as turn blocking, sea defense walls with ground units, the ability to cross Brittany with a ship, zoombug to give your troops extra range and more.

What makes the method Bugs used as one to be suspended for? Does this mean that the bugs that currently exist and are used in games knowingly will be corrected? Or will it be possible to use them freely as we have been doing for years?

Wouldnt this be better if you got all your evidence together and private messaged him? I agree with you but this is highly off the topic.

Kirjoittanut Abraham, 27.12.2018 at 06:13

xBugs has a loooong history. He's been warned many times, and banned before. He should have been on his best behavior, not continually exploiting bugs in the game. So it's no surprise he got banned again.

And yes, this one is an obvious bug that's going to be fixed.

If you want to avoid the same fate, just listen to the mods! There were plenty of chances for xBugs to stop before he finally got banned. As long as you listen to the mods and stop when they warn you about something, you'll be fine!

And also this thread is not really about xBugs, so let's try not to derail the topic.

Just to clarify things France-England tunnel was indeed specificlly blocked years ago so that even if you have unit spotted in the sea you can not cross and many attepmts to cross it in any other ways failed. However in the past two years firefox allowed us to cross many paths that were'nt possible before (Estonia - Finland, Scotland - Ireland, Nicaragua, China Southeast. North Thailand and etc). Personally I tried to see if it's possible on firefox and still failed but to Bugs defence my hands sometimes suffer from light quivers in the past couple of years so maybe he still could do it.

If it was an hack I would'nt even talk. But if it's just a bug he does'nt deserve such a long ban. He worked hard this season to finish in respectable place in the clan season and help it to grow and he cwed nearly more than anyone. 3 Months ban means season is over for his clan and hundreds of hours they spent were in vain. Just couple of weeks ago mod team desided to pardon a player that according to them was caught exploiting IE several times only after one week of ban.

Also you need to clarify that - Are firefox priviliges forbidden now? because it's so popular you can go on youtube and find people doing it.

Kirjoittanut DDDDDDDD, 27.12.2018 at 06:36

If you want us to follow the rules, we need to know what they are exactly. No ambiguous general rules as that will lead to infinite amount of disputes. Technically sea shortcuts are a form of bug abuse, but is widely used, accepted and even advertised in tips/strategy subforum...

The best long term solution is for there to be as few informal rules in-game as possible, which means you remove the option to abuse altogether. I.e. if you try to wf first turn it's not possible, if you try to zoombug it doesn't work etc.

I agree we need to fix the bugs so there is no option to abuse in the first place. Until then, the rule to follow is this: when the mods warn you to stop, you need to stop. If you follow this one simple rule, you won't be banned.

Kirjoittanut Rock Lee, 27.12.2018 at 06:34

Also you need to clarify that - Are firefox priviliges forbidden now? because it's so popular you can go on youtube and find people doing it.

I don't care which browser you use. If there is a bug that lets you get an advantage in Firefox, that's on us to be fixed.

Atwar is dead............... long live the new atwar?

Furthermore, I consider that NWE must be destroyed

We need more mods.

Kirjoittanut Abraham, 27.12.2018 at 06:13

What worries me right now is that Bugs was suspended because he used a trick that exists in the game's mechanics that not many people today are aware of, which I suppose has existed since the game was created. For example, I was certain that it was completely legitimate because there are some bugs that became part of the game but apparently it is not, and that it's serious enough to suspend someone who's used such a thing, without prior warning if he has a history.

There are a lot of bugs in the game that have become an integral part of the strategy, such as turn blocking, sea defense walls with ground units, the ability to cross Brittany with a ship, zoombug to give your troops extra range and more.

What makes the method Bugs used as one to be suspended for? Does this mean that the bugs that currently exist and are used in games knowingly will be corrected? Or will it be possible to use them freely as we have been doing for years?

Them bugs are taking advantage of the map and cheating the other player. Therefore ban. It's simple, cheating= ban. 3 months? idk, but these bugs are cheating. Simple.

One of the things that seemed to wind players up (the most overall) was inconsitancies implementing punishments for smaller offences, with cases for biased mods, over bearing mods constantly appearing, through no fault of the mods, however a lack of standard precendent in terms of direction, of how the rules and punishment processes are implemented.

Can i get a free pass the fifth time I get banned?

Seems like i should stop going for Tolfalas as Harad, better go for Osgiliath before mods find out

Kirjoittanut Skanderbeg, 27.12.2018 at 10:18

Seems like i should stop going for Tolfalas as Harad, better go for Osgiliath before mods find out

I feel like that's a cheat of some kind? But considering it's on an irrelevant map I have no idea what you're talking about

Kirjoittanut Sultan of Swing, 27.12.2018 at 10:31

I feel like that's a cheat of some kind? But considering it's on an irrelevant map I have no idea what you're talking about

Kirjoittanut Sultan of Swing, 27.12.2018 at 10:31

an irrelevant map

Kirjoittanut Sultan of Swing, 27.12.2018 at 10:31

irrelevant map

----------------

Harad must cross the river to attack Gondor, but its trans is only 3 range, so it is really hard to bring it, protect it and use it, but Harad ships can transport pirates as special units, problem is pirates can't capture cities, just fight. But if you put ship(galley) in the river center, zoom out, you can load many units no matter the number, of course that galley can't transport them, but now you can unload them on the other side of the river and capture cities. It is banable according to map rules, problem is Harad is easy to play so it is usually given to lowranks to fill game faster, and if they know about this thing, they get banned.

War to end all Wars have similar issue, using one transport to move 40-50 troops in one turn; transport can carry 10, low range, but if you put it between Italy and Albania, zoom out, you can load troops, and then unload in Balkan, all in same turn.

thought you woulda caught my sarcasm there..

Kirjoittanut Skanderbeg, 27.12.2018 at 10:46

War to end all Wars have similar issue, using one transport to move 40-50 troops in one turn; transport can carry 10, low range, but if you put it between Italy and Albania, zoom out, you can load troops, and then unload in Balkan, all in same turn.

*cough bubartemis cough*

Kirjoittanut Abraham, 27.12.2018 at 06:13

There are a lot of bugs in the game that have become an integral part of the strategy, such as turn blocking,

Ok can we stop this here. Who the hell told you turn blocking is a bug. Turn blocking is a very well known GAME MECHANIC and people can give actual percentages for each tb and calculate the best way to get a tb or to avoid tbs. I will rip my hair out if I hear another person say turn blocking is a bug.

If there was no turn blocking in atwar, there's nothing stopping people from buying only tanks and never defending. What's the point of defending when you can just spam tanks and attack. Don't even say you can attack the tanks because in a world with no tbs, you will never be able to hit enemy units.

Kirjoittanut Rock Lee, 27.12.2018 at 06:34

still failed

I have repeated the experiment independently.

It is possible

Kirjoittanut Guest, 28.12.2018 at 10:54

The Mod team needs to work on consistency, there were at least 5 moderators online when I was trying to report something. I gave benefit of the doubt at first thinking that ALL 5 of them were busy so I reported it at least 2 more times within a certain time period and there was no mention or anything. I privately messaged the issue to Google as he wasnt online at the time and as soon as he saw my message he replied and the issue was sorted within a few minutes of him seeing it. Contrary to that happening, I posted a meme in global and was instantly muted for a week(hence the meme i made about global mutes straight after) to add to that I've posted in this thread at least 3 times already and every time they get deleted for absolutely no reason. I have little to no respect for majority of the mod team and very rarely consider any of them have any actual authority over me considering some of their shady actions.

this

Kirjoittanut Guest, 28.12.2018 at 10:54

... messaged the issue to Google ... and the issue was sorted within a few minutes of him seeing it.

...I posted a meme in global and was instantly muted...

(hence the meme i made about global mutes straight after)

... to add to that I've posted in this thread at least 3 times already and every time they get deleted for absolutely no reason....

So to respond to the 4 points you raised above:

(1) If you focus on google solving your issue, it would be good. Sometimes mods get busy or are afk.

(2 and 3) i know you think everyone should be allowed to spam memes in global, but that's not what it was designed for. Post in room chat or on forums. You'll note you weren't muted in forums, as that's were memes belong. We have a whole thread devoted to memes in fact, so it would be really nice if you respected the rules and guidelines, rather than disrespected the mods when they resolve the problems you create.

(4) what were you posting in this thread that got 'deleted for no reason.'?

Kirjoittanut Guest, 28.12.2018 at 11:17

1. I don't want to drop names but I seen 2 of the moderators chatting in room chat, another player a game and then I guess the other 2 were maybe afk.

2 and 3. ... all 5 were too busy to accept my report ... but as soon as i post an image in global im instantly delt with...

4. I was simply agreeing with the post.

... I see you as a spec, I have more respect for the ants below my feet than I do for you...

i know you don't want me to quote you , but i like using your words to answer your own questions, as it seems more effective at resolving the issue.

For instance you complain that mods don't respond to you, and yet, in the same breath, you tell at least one mod you have absolutely no respect for them. So mods are put in a strange situation with you... if a mod responds to your complaints, you get upset and tell the mod you have no respect for them. But if we don't respond to your complaints, you get upset and say we are being inconsistent or ignoring you. There's just no response that satisfies you unless it's 'Yes Trystane, just ignore all rules and do whatever you want.' And even then you'd probably disagree.

As for the other two chatting in room chat, i suspect you view them with contempt as well. Maybe you told them similar things, and they just don't have 'the energy' anymore to deal with you. The mod playing is allowed to play. Sometimes a mod will be playing a game, and has 3 other conversations going, so they don't want to start a fourth conversation with a player that has no respect for them.

But in general, if you treat the mods with respect, you will have no issues and they will respond to you and try to help you resolve issues.

A global spam takes less than 5 seconds to deal with, so it's no surprise the global meme post was dealt with. Your reports and complaints can sometimes take seconds, but sometimes they take longer if evidence needs to be collected and reviewed.

Finally, if you agree with a post, just click the little upvote. Mods will sometimes remove the 'thumbs up' posts in certain forums or threads as it is unnecessary and contributes nothing to the discussion.

Kirjoittanut brianwl, 28.12.2018 at 12:12

Kirjoittanut Guest, 28.12.2018 at 11:17

1. I don't want to drop names but I seen 2 of the moderators chatting in room chat, another player a game and then I guess the other 2 were maybe afk.

2 and 3. ... all 5 were too busy to accept my report ... but as soon as i post an image in global im instantly delt with...

4. I was simply agreeing with the post.

... I see you as a spec, I have more respect for the ants below my feet than I do for you...

i know you don't want me to quote you , but i like using your words to answer your own questions, as it seems more effective at resolving the issue.

For instance you complain that mods don't respond to you, and yet, in the same breath, you tell at least one mod you have absolutely no respect for them. So mods are put in a strange situation with you... if a mod responds to your complaints, you get upset and tell the mod you have no respect for them. But if we don't respond to your complaints, you get upset and say we are being inconsistent or ignoring you. There's just no response that satisfies you unless it's 'Yes Trystane, just ignore all rules and do whatever you want.' And even then you'd probably disagree.

As for the other two chatting in room chat, i suspect you view them with contempt as well. Maybe you told them similar things, and they just don't have 'the energy' anymore to deal with you. The mod playing is allowed to play. Sometimes a mod will be playing a game, and has 3 other conversations going, so they don't want to start a fourth conversation with a player that has no respect for them.

But in general, if you treat the mods with respect, you will have no issues and they will respond to you and try to help you resolve issues.

A global spam takes less than 5 seconds to deal with, so it's no surprise the global meme post was dealt with. Your reports and complaints can sometimes take seconds, but sometimes they take longer if evidence needs to be collected and reviewed.

Finally, if you agree with a post, just click the little upvote. Mods will sometimes remove the 'thumbs up' posts in certain forums or threads as it is unnecessary and contributes nothing to the discussion.

The thing is a moderator has a higher status then the regular player, -who hasnt taken an oath to defend the admins interests- and shouldnt slip up as much.

Kirjoittanut Guest, 28.12.2018 at 18:25

Kirjoittanut brianwl, 28.12.2018 at 11:10

It blows my mind to see Sascha and CD upvoting your post when i clearly disprove your points, to me this is just pure ignorance. I still respect these 2 but I do find the mod team as a whole a joke how you all basically leech off of each other as if no matter what you have to defend each other. That's an unhealthy work environment, you should never agree with someone just because they are your friend or colleague. If someone is wrong then you should help them understand why instead of ignorantly follow their bullshit.

Nah, just agree on arguments that evidence your demand for CONSISTENCY and simultaneously not showing COHERENCE between your demands and your personal behaviour. Just that.

Kirjoittanut Columna Durruti, 28.12.2018 at 18:53

Nah, just agree on arguments that evidence your demand for CONSISTENCY and simultaneously not showing COHERENCE between your demands and your personal behaviour. Just that.

Just maybe, still people would rather punish me than help me since I treat them like they treat me. I bet if a moderator was to perma ban me just because they didn't like me then no one would do anything. Wouldn't be the first time I got banned like that.