Checks and Balances for Server Admins

[lancebramsay]

Hi there everyone,

I have an issue here that I came across last year on the Wesnoth MP servers. The developer and admin Noy was seemingly abusing his administrative powers. For example, he banned me for being in the lobby for too long along with some other reasons. When my friend accused him of abusing his powers, he banned him as well. I don't think that admins should be ruling the MP server with a iron fist. I felt offended, hurt, and most of all, disappointed with my Wesnoth experience. Though the ban was only for a day if I remember correctly, I didn't log onto Wesnoth for several months afterwards. I went to Wesnoth.org to find some way to make an official complaint but realized nothing could actually be done.

So to my point. How come someone like Noy can bully people and be extremely rude yet nothing be done about it? I understand he is a developer and probably has done great things for the game but that doesn't necessarily justify him ruining my gaming experience. Where are the checks and balances, who is watching Noy and keeping him in check?

I just thought if anyone would like to voice up and submit their experience with Noy, good or bad, this would be the thread for it.

[scienceguy8]

I've met a good many of the admins on this board, and I can safely say that if you were kicked from the server, you deserved it. Sorry. Not what you wanted to hear. Just talk to the admins, find out why you were kicked, and don't do it again next time.

[Turuk]

So this is about a ban that is a year old?

Users often come to the forum and have issues with MP server admins over their bans. If you have an issue with an admin, take it up with the other admins first, do not try to air your grievances in a public setting. Calling on others to do so and ganging up on the admin is never going to solve anything. I suggest you get in touch with one of the other admins through PM or IRC if you have a complaint, as we direct all users.

This thread is only going to head south very quickly, so I'm locking it now. Do not attempt to open up another thread about it.

Locked.

[Noy]

I'll try to keep this short: if you read the CoC there is a clear passage about the limitations of the server and why we discourage people not to use the lobby as a chat room. Its stated there for a reason and moderators are expected to enforce it. You might think that I was being unfair and that "chatting" is not a problem. Well I've had several times to tell Russian or Brazilian players the same thing, (which many others have complained about flooding the server, making it unusable) and then they turn and ask me why am I not being consistent with English players? Thats precisely what I'm trying to do.

While I have a hazy recollection of the event in question, I suspect it may have occurred while I was dealing with another individual. I may have given out a warning as well, and you might have ignored or thought not to apply to you. To a certain point, I'm not going to sit here and keep cajoling someone on the server about their behavior, and I doubt any other administrator would as well. When four or five people are yelling at each other, asking people politely to tone it down has little effect. So I'll hand out a day ban in order to calm the situation and remove someone that is causing trouble for the immediate time being.

You might not like it, but we have an expectation to provide a generally clean environment in the MP lobby. Thats not my expectation but that of the entire development community. Sometimes moderation isn't pretty because I and others have to deal with some ugly situations. The rules are there clearly stated and I don't apply them arbitrarily; I think the only way it can work is if we're consistent and firm. In this case you got banned and you considered it harsh; you don't see what alot of us deal with and being second guessed publicly while you're doing your job isn't pleasant. Thats particularly true when its coming from a person who is complicit in the issue I'm trying to resolve... in reality it isn't tolerated and only exacerbated the situation.

So thats why you and your friend were banned. You might think that I'm unfair, but I assiduously try to be as judicious as possible in my server conduct so that there aren't any questions about my behavior. I tend to talk to other developers and other individuals around to see if my actions are warranted. Once in awhile I am wrong, and I'll admit it. Today I gave someone a month ban and dialed it down to two weeks after someone thought it was excessive. Despite the fact he was flaming me and others, I thought about it and decided I probably was too harsh leading to the reduction. However I also know that people don't like to be corrected on their behavior, and it sucks but the laws have to be enforced as well. I suspect that in your case it was probably warranted given you got a day ban. I can't second guess everything I did, especially when it happened a year ago, but I doubt I was being excessive considering the fact we have clearly posted rules about server conduct and your ban was for a short time.