Issue with chat. Can't find anywhere else to post this...

[Prophesor]

Yesterday I was in the live chat and got a message saying I was kicked. Which I found odd.

 

After waiting about 30 minutes I attempted to reconnect and got the message

 

Oops! Something went wrong!

You do not have access to our chat room.

 

I noticed that there were still other members in the live chat, so I assumed that I had done something wrong and gotten banned. So I opened up the ToS again to make sure I had not done anything wrong without realizing it. Nothing I said falls under the restricted actions, so I figured I would send a PM to REDACTED, the only admin in the chat at the time and just wait it out.

 

Subject: Chat?

Is there a reason I can't get back into the chat?

 

Perhaps not the most eloquent question. But simple and to the point.

 

After a few hours I was still unable to enter so I started digging a bit more. At the moment I am only having issues connecting to the chat. I have not recieved anything else that would indicate that I actually have been banned Then I came upon the sticky thread I Got Banned. Which states at the top

 

Note: If you were banned from chat but not the main site, please contact a member of staff via the PM system to resolve the issue.

Do not post in the forums or you may lose your site membership as well.

(More about this last part in a moment)

 

By this line it seems that it IS possible to be banned from only the chat, though it still is not very specific. I checked in the Forum rules and strikes to see if I was in fact banned, but my name is not there.

My next step was to try following these instructions. So I tried to contact a member of staff via the PM system to resolve the issue.

You would think this would be simple, considering there is a link at the bottom of the forums The Moderating Team. Unfortunatly this is another dead end because the link brings me to a blank page in

• Firefox 23.0.1 - With or without any extensions enabled
• Firefox 23.0.1 - With or without Cookies enabled
• Firefox 23.0.1 - Private browsing mode
• Google Chrome 29.0.1547.62 m - With or without cookies
• Mobile Chrome browser - (This has a different IP and it cannot get into chat either so it does not seem to be an issue with my IP block being banned)

At this point I'm confident that the Moderator list is broken so I cannot be reasonably expected to follow that route.

 

I checked my PM to REDACTED and I see this at the bottom

You cannot reply

All other recipients have left this conversation

 

OK. So I can assume my PM has been read? The problem is not resolved so I am not sure.

 

I'm wracking my brain at this point going over everything I have done in the past week that could have possibly gotten me banned. I can only think of one thing that MIGHT even remotely count.

 

At this point I am still trying to follow those instrcutions above about not making a forum post about the issue just in case I AM banned. So I search a bit more and find a section under my account tab called Client Area. I then procede to open a trouble ticket

 

 

Subject: Error while entering chat.

I got a message while in live chat saying I had been kicked from the room. NowI am getting an error while trying to enter. I am unsure if this is an actual error, or If I was mistakenly banned from the chat.

The only reason I can think of would be that I used a statement containing

F*****

That is a capital F followed by 5 Asterisks. I realize that profanity is disallowed in the Terms of service, so I censored myself. I messaged REDACTED since he was the only admin on at the time, but recieved no response.

What gives?
Prophesor

 

It has been a day since my last attempt at contact. I still have not recieved a response to my PMs or Ticket. Nor do I have any more indication as to whether or not I was banned from the chat. I still have access to all other features, and I still get the same error when trying to get into the chat. So I am posting here since it is the only thing I have left to do.

 

I believe I have done my due diligence in attempting contact through other chanels and I am justified in finally taking this route.

 

 

Could I possibly get some help with this issue?

 

EDIT: Redacted the name of the admin I contacted.

Edited September 2, 2013 by Prophesor

[Oubliette]

You can find members of the moderating staff any number of ways: searching the 'who's online' section at the bottom of the main board for red, green or blue names, looking at the closed posts in the strikes forum (which you apparently checked looking for your name) or by clicking on "top posters" as all of the moderating staff rank at the top of that list. If, after exhausting all attempts to reach one through the private message system, you are still unable to adequately answer your query - you can try contacting Dark0ne directly through the "contact us" link at the bottom of the forums as he mentions in his profile.

[Thandal]

 

 

Subject: Error while entering chat.

I got a message while in live chat saying I had been kicked from the room. NowI am getting an error while trying to enter. I am unsure if this is an actual error, or If I was mistakenly banned from the chat.

 

The only reason I can think of would be that I used a statement containing

 

F*****

 

That is a capital F followed by 5 Asterisks. I realize that profanity is disallowed in the Terms of service, so I censored myself. I messaged [The Vampire Dante] since he was the only admin on at the time, but recieved no response.

 

What gives?

Prophesor

 

 

 

 

While it wasn't me, your post above would be grounds for a Chat Ban had I been the moderator.

 

What you did is:

a) indistinguishable from having posted the full obscenity and having the built-in site censor change it, and;

b) indistinguishable in the reader's mind from posting the obscenity in the first place.

 

In other words, "Inappropriate behavior which would have justified your removal."

 

My guess? That's what happened. :dry:

 

As a follow-up point, discussing Staff actions in the public forums will draw more than just a Chat Ban. The answer to "Where else to post this..." is at the bottom of every page. It's labeled, "Contact Us." :armscrossed:

 

[EDIT: Was already replying when Obliette beat me to it.]

Edited September 2, 2013 by Thandal
Ninja'd.

[Prophesor]

Now that I know this particular word/phrase is unacceptable I will refrain from using it in the future.

 

However, I do have some counterpoints to both of your replies...

1. "Contact Us" is an industry standard phrase/link for "This is the page containing our Corporate phone number and mailing address for official correspondence". I never would have thought to look there for technical support. But now that it has been suggested, I will attempt that avenue next. EDIT: This link brings me to the same support ticketing system that I used yesterday.
2. I did look through all active users at the time I made the PM. I contacted the ONLY admin online at the time. It would make no sense to pick a random offline admin. Nor would it have made sense to message ALL of them.
3. As a normal user, I have no way of knowing...
   • That there is a built in site censor in effect as it is not detailed anywhere in the ToS nor have I seen any indication of its use. My guess was purely human moderation.
   • What the entire list of blacklisted words are. Assuming I had guessed there was a censor in the first place.
   • How the censor would mask blacklisted words. If anything, the industry standard is to change ALL characters, or remove the word/post entirely.
4. There is nothing in the ToS that prohibits implying profanity. (And in fact, the ToS refers to "Profane" which by US and UK legal definition are "acts which violate the sacred" or "Blasphemy" which I'm almost POSITIVE is not what the ToS actually refers to. It should probably be changed to "Profanity" which is defined as "a subset of a language's lexicon that is considered by some to be strongly impolite or offensive.")
5. "Inappropriate behavior" is not defined or prohibited anywhere in the ToS. The only thing involving that word is a statement about content being removed.
   

    

   These rules are open to interpretation by moderators of the site and they can and will remove any content they deem to be inappropriate for Nexus sites.

    

6. At no point in any of my posts have I discussed any "Staff actions". I was very careful to only discuss my own actions, and any included information is either a quote of my own statements, or relevant error messages included for troubleshooting purposes. I have removed the name of the admin I contacted simply to avoid further complications. Though nowhere is it prohibited for me to say I talked to anyone by name, admin or not.
7. The ToS itself is written so loosely that it both explicitly prohibits and implicitly allows any possible action (and technically inaction as well). I do always attempt to rely on my own "good judgement" as to what might be acceptable in any particular situation. But sometimes it is difficult to find statements that some person, somewhere, at some time, in some context might consider vulgar/obscene/threatening/invasive.
8. Even at this point I still have no indication whether I am having a technical issue, or an administrative one.

As a comical side note, technically saying any of these terms is against the ToS because they could refer to "Piracy".

 

• ARR
• YARR
• Boat/Ship
• Plank
• Hook
• BlackBeard
• Black Flag (Fun fact: A plain black flag was historically hoisted to indicate intent of a boarding action during piracy. Not the stereotypical skull & cross-bones)

I don't see how anyone could reasonably expect to be banned for using these terms. Though perhaps this is another example of my Good-sense leading me astray.

 

EDIT: The Contact Us link brings me to the same support ticket system that I posted about using above which has not yet resulted in a resolution. I suppose I will just continue to gather data in the off chance that this is a technical issue until I get a response to the ticket, or further instructions from another source.

(Also edited for spelling and grammar)

Edited September 2, 2013 by Prophesor

[TheVampireDante]

You got kicked for swearing, if you couldn't get back in it was a technical issue as it wasn't a chat ban.

 

There had been plenty of people warned for their use of profanity during your time in the chat, and you still decided to use it. You should take the point that if someone gets warned for something - that same warning applies to all users present. "Self-censoring" as you term is classed as "bypassing the filter" here - the simple way to avoid being called on your posts?

 

Don't swear, censored or not.

 

Just on the off-chance, I've run your username through the system as if I was processing an unban from chat, so if there is a block somewhere, that should clear it. If so, just mind what you say in the chat in future.

[Thandal]

Now that I know this particular word/phrase is unacceptable I will refrain from using it in the future.

 

 

 

These rules are open to interpretation by moderators of the site and they can and will remove any content they deem to be inappropriate for Nexus sites.

 

 

These are the only parts of your post that have any real validity. :thumbsup:

 

The very length and picayune content of your post highlights the problem. You use the absurd example of a list of words associated with piracy (all of which can be freely used here) and draw some absurd conclusion about them. Here on the Nexus we expect, in fact we demand that people behave with a certain level of maturity and politeness, including refraining from vulgarities of expression. Talking about piracy (as a problem in the video/computer game industry, or on the high seas off the Horn of Africa, for that matter...) is an acceptable topic here. What's prohibited is admitting to, excusing, advocating, facilitating, or promoting the theft of others' property.

 

You appear to be suffering under the misapprehension that the Nexus is run like some corporate site with a guide book and lawyers. It's not. It's a personal site, run by a single individual, who states this fairly clearly in the Terms of Service:

 

Nexus site staff

Nexus sites are owned and maintained by Robin Scott (member name "Dark0ne"). Robin is regarded as “the law” on Nexus sites and he has the final say on any action that might need to be taken regarding a breach of the terms of service for any Nexus site. What Robin says goes irrespective of whether there has been a breach of the terms of service or not.

 

Nexus sites and the forums are staffed by un-paid volunteers (known as “moderators” and "staff") who work hard to insure the smooth operation of Nexus sites and encourage a healthy community. The moderators and other admin on the site have been given specific privileges by Robin to keep the site clean of the bad articles listed in these terms and use their own personal judgment, that Robin trusts, to come to decisions.

 

These moderators have a right to carry out their task without harassment, insult or hassle. Members who believe that a member of staff is not conducting themselves properly should get in contact with Robin via the forums or email. Know that if Robin receives word of any members harassing or being rude to Nexus site staff then he will take every action possible to permanently remove them from his sites.

 

The Rules on the forum pages boil down to: "Be polite to everyone and don't say anything you wouldn't want your mother to know you posted."

 

The Rules on the file pages boil down to: "Do your own work, get permission to use the work of others, and give credit where due."

 

The rest of the ToS and "Robin's Rules for Posting" are basically explanations and examples of those principles.

 

As for not discussing Staff actions in your post, you did so several times. Originally mentioning one by name and asking that person directly about having read your PM. In other words, carrying on what should have been a private conversation in the Public forums. (Which is exactly why I mentioned it.)

[Prophesor]

Issue resolved, Following up in the ticket.

 

Thank you sir.