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Hall Monitors - false reports?

AuthorMessage
Survivor
Jan 28, 2012
5
I was recently in an extremely filled realm.... The realm was full of rule deniers (cursing, giving age, etc). I figured it would've been best to report them, but I wasn't able to. Now, just know I wasn't aware there were updates to the W101 community involving these so called, "Hall Monitors", a moment later there was a message that had exclaimed as though a Hall Monitor joined the game... Okay, now here is where I get confused and talk before I think.

Conversation:

Me: "I'm a Hall Monitor" (forgetting the question mark, also not knowing as though they were admins/moderators, thinking as though they were some type of "hackers")
Hall Monitor System: "Your account has been muted for 24 hours" (this also showed up in the area I was at, to where everyone could see it, this resulted in laughter, and hurtful comments that were not reattacked by a Hall Monitor) BTW: about 4 or 5 hours later it had updated and said I was muted for 4 days, all through the holiday weekend. Now, I was upset, but at the same time wanted to resolve this problem. I must say, the Hall Monitors have helped out quite a bit, they've made this game 100% more family safe! I just think that if we can remove these false reports by giving a warning it would change the aspect of a 4 day mute, and an angry, unhappy player... This can resolve around regular reports, as though you had gotten a warning from the W101 community. I have faith in you KI representatives/staff. This game is incredible and has kept me interested for the past 5 years, keep up the good work!

"Hall Monitors - false reports?"
please leave your replies,
and your support.
thank you.

Mastermind
Jun 23, 2010
345
lordskittlez unfortunately by forgetting the ? you stated you were a Hall Monitor. I believe KI takes that the same way as someone impersonating KI Staff, very seriously. Professor Greyrose has stated that claiming to be a Hall Monitor is a reportable offense. So taken at face value this was not a false report. You might consider contacting KI Support. Chances are though they are off for the long weekend. Here is her response to another poster.

"We appreciate your concerns but please have a little faith in us that we do extensive account background checks before we extend an invitation to be a Hall Monitor.

It is solely at the discretion of KingsIsle Entertainment as to who will be included in this program.

And yes, since the program is completely anonymous to everyone but KingsIsle, claiming you are a Hall Monitor is a reportable (and bannable) offense."


Yes they have a global announcement. I think that is just brilliant. It is like being called up to the front of the class and punished by your teacher.

Here is the announcement about Hall Monitors from the Game Updates.

"Hall Monitors
Something we take very seriously at KingsIsle is making sure that the Spiral is a fun and appropriate place for Players of all ages.

We are expanding our current reporting tools for a select group of players who have earned the privilege of being a “Hall Monitor”. This group of players will operate anonymously and anyone claiming to be a Hall Monitor is certainly not one at all.

These Hall Monitors, who are selected by invitation only, will have the ability to take direct action when they see behavior that violates our Terms of Use. This action includes warning and muting players who circumvent our chat filters. These sanctions will be reviewed by our senior Wizards to ensure the correct action was taken, and may escalate sanctions as necessary.

Hall Monitors are not to be confused with other player initiated reporting groups and the basic reporting function will still be available to our current Members and players who have made a purchase of Crowns in the last 30 days. We will continue to be diligent to keep the Spiral a clean and safe place for all our young Wizards."

Megan


Survivor
Mar 13, 2011
42
Claiming you are a Hall Monitor is reportable, since KI informed as that they work "undercover". I understand what happened was an accident, but it is still against the rules, I'm afraid.

Have fun exploring the Spiral :-)

Archon
Feb 07, 2011
3175
Hey there~ I'm sorry this happened, but saying "I'm a hall-monitor"(without the question mark) can easily be misinterpreted as you impersonating KI staff, which is against the rules. Even in the event of a rather-unfortunate typo, the HM/whoever reported you doesn't know that and, therefore, s/he was justified in muting you.

My concern is that the mute-message appears to everyone in the area~ that's wrong, as it opens the door to harassment and bullying, and I hope that KI will look into this for you.

Cheers,
"El Veeb"

Archmage of Awesomeness,
Wizard City Protector,
& Shameless Drake Fan-Girl,
with mad gr@mm3r skiLLz

Illuminator
Oct 22, 2011
1304
It's not a false report if you typed in "I'm a Hall Monitor" and got muted.

Claiming to be a Hall Monitor and/or claiming to work for KI, is a reportable offense and can get you muted or banned. The way you typed it sounds like you claim to be a Hall Monitor, whether you meant it that way or not.

KI takes this very seriously. I saw several people type the same thing, or similar and ..... BOOM, they were muted. I may have been there when this happened to you.

KI looks over every report a Hall Monitor makes, and can impose stricter sanctions if they feel it's warranted. In your case, they extended your mute to 4 days.

A better wording would have been, "What is a Hall Monitor?"

Armiger
Feb 25, 2009
2425
lordskittlez wrote:
I was recently in an extremely filled realm.... The realm was full of rule deniers (cursing, giving age, etc). I figured it would've been best to report them, but I wasn't able to. Now, just know I wasn't aware there were updates to the W101 community involving these so called, "Hall Monitors", a moment later there was a message that had exclaimed as though a Hall Monitor joined the game... Okay, now here is where I get confused and talk before I think.

Conversation:

Me: "I'm a Hall Monitor" (forgetting the question mark, also not knowing as though they were admins/moderators, thinking as though they were some type of "hackers")
Hall Monitor System: "Your account has been muted for 24 hours" (this also showed up in the area I was at, to where everyone could see it, this resulted in laughter, and hurtful comments that were not reattacked by a Hall Monitor) BTW: about 4 or 5 hours later it had updated and said I was muted for 4 days, all through the holiday weekend. Now, I was upset, but at the same time wanted to resolve this problem. I must say, the Hall Monitors have helped out quite a bit, they've made this game 100% more family safe! I just think that if we can remove these false reports by giving a warning it would change the aspect of a 4 day mute, and an angry, unhappy player... This can resolve around regular reports, as though you had gotten a warning from the W101 community. I have faith in you KI representatives/staff. This game is incredible and has kept me interested for the past 5 years, keep up the good work!

"Hall Monitors - false reports?"
please leave your replies,
and your support.
thank you.


I am sorry you are experiencing a mute, but as with all other players, it is your responsibility to keep up with any changes in the game as to ToU/Chat rules or any other updates.

But as for changing the sanction, that is not likely to happen. KI passes sanctions for exactly what they see as being Chatted in the game.

In this case it is not nor will it be considered a False report. Regardless of what you see or hear, you should ALWAYS get the facts before you repeat something. Claiming to be someone you are not is a Reportable and Sanctionable offense. Some of those can even get you banned.

KI is doing more to make the game safer and it would be wise for everyone to pay close attention to any changes KI does make. Read the update notes often especially when the Test Realm has been up and running.

Fallon WinterLeaf Founding Member WCP

Mastermind
Jul 28, 2010
312
vonawesome1 wrote:
Hey there~ I'm sorry this happened, but saying "I'm a hall-monitor"(without the question mark) can easily be misinterpreted as you impersonating KI staff, which is against the rules. Even in the event of a rather-unfortunate typo, the HM/whoever reported you doesn't know that and, therefore, s/he was justified in muting you.

My concern is that the mute-message appears to everyone in the area~ that's wrong, as it opens the door to harassment and bullying, and I hope that KI will look into this for you.

Cheers,
"El Veeb"

Archmage of Awesomeness,
Wizard City Protector,
& Shameless Drake Fan-Girl,
with mad gr@mm3r skiLLz


See I disagree there. By having the mute message appear this gives the warning to everyone in the area. This is a statement. Why use force when you can just use fear? Yes there will be people that want to harass but the HM have the power to mute them. Plus the ones that do harass are the ones making a ton of free accounts just to swear.

Armiger
Feb 25, 2009
2425
Plus the ones that do harass are the ones making a ton of free accounts just to swear.

Why do you think other changes have been suggested?

Hopefully, now with the Hall Monitors, KI will also see that some of those changes are needed to help get this under control.

When you see players, ESPECIALLY in the Dye Shop say "Go ahead, mute me I have 7 more accounts", I seriously hope KI takes a look at those players and the number of sanctions that have already been applied to that PLAYER, and takes steps from any more of this happening.

I saw this happen last night. One player did get muted on one account and was right back in minutes laughing about it and that he had 7 accounts. He continued to TAUNT the Monitor. SERIOUSLY????? I wish I had taken screenshots of the number of players in that shop at the time. It was packed tighter than a sardine can and with some of the most outrageously rude comments flying back and forth.

But I will say this to those that are inciting and harassing those that get warned or muted. Your display of this nature is almost as bad as those being warned and muted. It shows the disrespect you have for other players including the Hall Monitors. They are doing what KI selected them to do and if you don't want to be on the other end of their reports or those of the WCP or any other group doing the same thing, then GO PLAY as the game was designed for. If you are not playing the game to begin with, then what are you doing there? It is not a social CHAT ROOM and definitely not an ADULT chat room.

Maybe KI needs to take a look at all the F2P accounts being reported and tie the sanctions to their SUBBED accounts as well. Too many times we hear players state they are not on their subbed accounts so they don't care if that particular account gets muted or banned, they will just make another. It would not be that hard for KI to determine who the accounts belong to. Are you willing to risk it?

I am sure others can come up with ideas that would work just as well.

I and many of my friends have had the priviledge to watch the Hall Monitors in ACTION and I can guarantee you, they are NOT making false reports.

Thank you KI for giving us the "Hall Monitors".

Fallon WinterLeaf Founding Member WCP

Archon
Feb 07, 2011
3175
Snowyandspots wrote:
See I disagree there. By having the mute message appear this gives the warning to everyone in the area. This is a statement. Why use force when you can just use fear? Yes there will be people that want to harass but the HM have the power to mute them. Plus the ones that do harass are the ones making a ton of free accounts just to swear.


I've witnessed HM mutes, and the subsequent harassment of the muted players by everyone else in the area. Sure, the HMs can dole out sanctions to the harassers, but that doesn't make it any more right.

As for the second part of your reply, that's why I think KI should hand out IP blocks far more freely, at least for the vilest of the vile. Were it my game, here's how it would work:

Warning (s)~ optional, # depends on severity of offense.
1-day mute
3-day mute
1-week mute
Perma-mute or IP block, depending on severity of offense.

I mod on another website, and I based the structure on what we use there. Our team tracks IP addresses; that way, we'll know if someone's creating multiple accounts and we IP-block them accordingly. Here's how our system actually works, depending on the offense(s):

Warning (s), if applicable.
Temporary silencing
1-day ban
1-week ban
Permanent loss of chat privileges
Lifetime ban & (if required) IP block

AP is also a multi-age site, and all public areas (member profiles, chat areas, forums) are G-rated, though members over 15 can post works containing profanity and mature themes; explicit works can only be viewed or posted by those over 18. Swearing in the chat-box will get you a temporary silencing (a person who is "silenced" cannot chat, edit her profile, or send messages to other users), but predatory behaviour nets a lifetime ban immediately. If a banned user is discovered making new accounts to get around the sanctions, s/he is IP-blocked and all accounts are silenced/perma-banned.

...Naturally, repeat offenders are rare, and we're definitely not hurting for membership (half a million members is pretty good, for an online writing community~ fan-fic'ers, take note!).

Once again, one step at a time. KI has a good thing going here, and I'm grateful for it! Hopefully, they'll add more safety-features down the road. ;)

"El Veeb"
wizarding aunt, archmage of awesomeness, WCP