Denied Mini-Modding should be Punishable

[MrTommy]

The rule against Mini-Moddinng​

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Hello, I am back here with another suggestion. I am fairly active on the Discord server, and chat in english general from time to time. One thing that always bothers me is members answering questions from the staff-help channel. Also known as mini-modding/wannabe's (Note: I will use mini-modding throughout this suggestion since wannabe is used in a negative way) Throughout the suggestion I will also use member, with member I mean people who are not a staff member. In this suggestion I will explain why mini-modding should be punishable.

Why should Mini-modding be punishable?​

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Mini-modding should be punishable because of multiple reasons. Some of you will think that this rule is not necessary because members give the correct answers. There are more negative things about mini-modding then there are good things. I will explain in the following section why mini-modding should be punishable.

Rules are already being broken
When someone is mini-modding there are multiple rules that are broken in some way. I will explain each rule and how they are broken when mini-modding. I will also show a full list of the discord rules. Please note that you aren't breaking any rules when mini-modding, they are included to show that if you look at it another way you can break rules

Spoiler: Discord Rules

A full list of the Discord rules can be found here
The Discord rules:

Misuse of channels: This rule is against the misuse of channels (see image for the complete rule). This means that you should not post unrelated images in English general, speak Spanish in the Dutch chat, etc. members are breaking this rules when they answer a question from staff help in English general. Since the English chat is meant for chatting and not answering questions.

Spoiler: Misuse of channels rule

Staff help is a channel to ask help from staff: There is already a rule that you cannot answer questions in staff help as a normal member. The rule even says: 'The #staff-help channel is only for asking for help from staff". The two words I want to focus on, "from staff". Members who ask in this channel expect a reply from a staff member in that channel. Not a ping in another channel from a member.

Spoiler: Staff help rule

Do not impersonate staff: this one is a bit questionable, but it is still a factor. The rule tells you to not impersonate anyone, especially staff. Members may think that you are a staff member after you answered their question. I have seen members ask mini-mods: "are you staff?", after they answered a question from staff help.

Spoiler: Impersonating rule

Only trust links staff members give to you
In the staff-help channel there is a pinned message saying that you should only trust links staff members give to you. This is to prevent members stealing your personal data. If you are a new member and you see this pinned message, then you ask for the report site. A few moments later you get pinged in english general and they say where you can report and they provide a link. You can't be sure if you can trust it.

Spoiler: Pinned message

Active members find it annoying
Active members that chat often in the Discord server find it really annoying, one moment you are having an conversation in english general and then a mini-mod comes and answers a question from staff help. If this would happen once it would not be a problem. But it happend so many times a day that you can't have a conversation without being disturbed. And it is not only the answer that disturbs the chat. Members who asked the question then usually say something like "thank you", sometimes they have (multiple) follow-up questions, cluttering the chat even more. English general then is like staff help where members can answer questions.

Members find it cofusing
Many members who ask a question in staff help get confused when someone helps them in english general. They get an answer not from a staff member, not in a channel where they expected the answer and they now get their reply in a channel that is also used for chatting regularly, the answer could get lost very fast. Mini-mods can also give wrong or outdated information to members what is not good. This all creates a very confusing discord server for members.
Members also find it annoying when they get helped by a mini-mod instead of staff. I have seen many members say: "Are you a staff?". And when the mini-mod replies with no they get annoyed.

Mini-modding does not help members get staff​

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Most of the members that mini-mod because they want to get Helper on CubeCraft ( who doesn't). And they think that they need to prove themself by answering questions from staff help. But this doens't boost an application at all. I did some research and almost all the staff members got staff without answering a single question from staff help in eglish general. I also asked some (ex-)staff members if they did it, and I only found one. and this was their reply about them mini-modding.

Spoiler: Staff member words

Past suggestions​

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In the past there have been made a few suggestions about this already. And one of the things that kept comming back was that staff help is sometimes unanswered for a long period of time, and that it should be allowed to mini-mod. There were also comments to suggest something in between. I disagree with both, yes sometimes staff help is unaswered for a longer period of time. But CubeCraft has a staff team with members from all over the world, and they should be capable of answering questions on their own. Sometimes you just need to be patient on your answer. And if a question is flooded you can always ask it again.

Punishment track​

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If this were to get implemted there should be a punishment track. I think it should get the same punishment track as misuse of channels, but this is open for debate. The punishment for misuse of channels is: Punishment track: Warning → 3 days ban → 7 days Ban → 30 days ban → Permanent ban

Conclusion​

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If you have any questions feel free to ask me. If you disagree with my suggestion please give me feedback.

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[Matriox]

I don't agree often staff are very busy and a member wants to do a simple thing like '@name #report a player' this only really happens when staff haven't answered for hours. This is only people trying to help other people

 

[Deleted member 492126]

I’m not completely against this suggestion but I just wanted to reply to this:

Misuse of channels: This rule is against the misuse of channels (see image for the complete rule). This means that you should not post unrelated images in English general, speak Spanish in the Dutch chat, etc. members are breaking this rules when they answer a question from staff help in English general. Since the English chat is meant for chatting and not answering questions.

You can discuss whatever you want in english-general as long as you speak English and don’t send unrelated media. Answering questions is (currently) not against the rules

Staff help is a channel to ask help from staff: There is already a rule that you cannot answer questions in staff help as a normal member. The rule even says: 'The #staff-help channel is only for asking for help from staff". The two words I want to focus on, "from staff". Members who ask in this channel expect a reply from a staff member in that channel. Not a ping in another channel from a member.

The thing you quoted (“The #staff-help channel is only for asking for help from staff”) means that you should only send messages in staff-help if you have a question for staff. This means that this rule is only related to staff-help, and answering questions in other channels has nothing to do with it

Do not impersonate staff: this one is a bit questionable, but it is still a factor. The rule tells you to not impersonate anyone, especially staff. Members may think that you are a staff member after you answered their question. I have seen members ask mini-mods: "are you staff?", after they answered a question from staff help.

Impersonating = claiming you’re a staff member. Answering questions isn’t impersonating


That’s all I wanted to say - at the moment these members are not breaking any rules at all

 

[Egg🥚]

I feel like that people when answering the questions just don’t know the rules. I have never seen known people in the discord answering in staff help. I understand wannabes are really annoying, but I’m unsure.

 

[MrTommy]

I don't agree often staff are very busy and a member wants to do a simple thing like '@name #report a player'

It is the task and responsibility of a staff member to asnwer questions from staff-help. When they signed up for staff they knew this was one of their tasks. It should not be the member who answer questions from the staff help chat.

This only really happens when staff haven't answered for hours. This is only people trying to help other people

This is not true, mini-mods will also answer question's from staff-help when a staff member is already actively helping (within 10 minutes since the last reply of staff). Sometimes people even give the answer when a staff member is already given the answer.

 

[Matriox]

It is the task and responsibility of a staff member to asnwer questions from staff-help. When they signed up for staff they knew this was one of their tasks. It should not be the member who answer questions from the staff help chat.

This is not true, mini-mods will also answer question's from staff-help when a staff member is already actively helping (within 10 minutes since the last reply of staff). Sometimes people even give the answer when a staff member is already given the answer.

I've never seen this happening, and if it does why does it matter? It's just someone trying to help. It's always an argument of players that for some reason normal members aren't allowed answer questions or give help, this makes no sense to me at all. Its a very normal thing to provide help when one is in need.

When someone asks a simple question such as 'how do I report someone' and what you, for some reason, describes as a 'mini mod' or a 'wannabe' answers it just saying '@name #report a player' when staff hasn't answered for hours and you know they won't for hours either, is somehow negative? This is simple, a communitee member helping the player to get a rule breaker punished

I will continue to disagree with you as anyone should be able to answer questions without such a severe punishment when they're just trying to help a player in need of help fast

 

[ggKort]

I think this should be allowed since there are a lot of questions in #staff-help that are commonly asked like “where can I appeal” or “where do I report someone”. Those questions can easily be answered by normal players since all they need to do is follow a link or look in a channel. I do agree that members shouldn’t help on more complex questions. Sometimes it can take a while for a staff member to respond to the question since they don’t have to look in the channel 24/7. In this case it’s nice if a player can help that user with their simple question and answer it instead of making the user wait for a while. The user doesn’t have to follow or do the things the player is saying and can just ignore it and wait for the staff member’s answer.

 

[Rodeappels]

I think this should be allowed since there are a lot of questions in #staff-help that are commonly asked like “where can I appeal” or “where do I report someone”. Those questions can easily be answered by normal players since all they need to do is follow a link or look in a channel. I do agree that members shouldn’t help on more complex questions. Sometimes it can take a while for a staff member to respond to the question since they don’t have to look in the channel 24/7. In this case it’s nice if a player can help that user with their simple question and answer it instead of making the user wait for a while. The user doesn’t have to follow or do the things the player is saying and can just ignore it and wait for the staff member’s answer.

I agree with you

 

[sweetgembi1116]

I think it’s fine to answer questions in English chat, but only staff haven’t answered for hours. Simple questions like “how to I report a hacker” or “how to apply for staff” are really simple, which are all answerable by average players. You shouldn’t answer questions in staff help if you’re not staff, but I think its fine to answer in English chat

 

[remio]

Great that someone's finally chosen to bring this up! Let me start by saying that I've been in quite some discussions with people who answer questions that were asked in #staff-help and agree with some kind of statement that prevents people from mini-modding, even though it's hard to draw a line to point out what's considered mini-modding and what's not. Let me clarify: I understand why you'd report people for swearing with certain diseases, but mostly don't understand why you'd answer questions that were asked in #staff-help only a minute ago. I guess it really depends on the type of mini-modding. Think that this thread is mostly about answering questions in other channels, so I'll be writing my reply on that topic.

Regarding to your arguments about the Discord server's rules, I think 'staff help rule' is the strongest one. Basically, people bypass the rule regarding to not answering questions in #staff-help by answering them in other channels. Shouldn't bypassing rules be punishable?
People answer in other channels for the sake of being 'helpful', while I think staff are more than capable of answering questions on their own.

However, I don't want to blame all of this on 'the wannabes', considering I understand why people'd answer questions in other channels when #staff-help is dead (which happens more often than it should). The fact that normal members feel the urge to help out because staff members don't do their job properly by leaving questions unanswered for hours is quite sad imo. Don't get me wrong though; I understand that staff members have other duties to fulfill, but I don't understand how one of the most important channels of the Discord server could be dead for hours, even if dozens of Moderators are online. The Moderation team should feel addressed in this thread as well!

 

[Technosword]

Forwarded

 

[99th_DutchNubnub]

Good evening (or morning or afternoon)
I've read everything above, and now I have my opinion:

When I ask a question in staff-help, I already know that I need to be patient
So I'm patient, but then when you get a message out of nowhere in another chat that you're mentioned in, it's very annoying and you think the following
1. Who are you
2. Are you a staff?
3. Why should you know my question if even staff 9 out of 10 times first will check it?/ask around

These points are points that I can be very annoyed with, so just let Staff do their job and don't bother me.

That's why I agree, now I also have some answers to people above:

When someone asks a simple question such as 'how do I report someone' and what you, for some reason, describes as a 'mini mod' or a 'wannabe' answers it just saying '@name #report a player' when staff hasn't answered for hours and you know they won't for hours either, is somehow negative? This is simple, a communitee member helping the player to get a rule breaker punished

If you don't know something, you're looking for the staff-help channel, right? But if you are looking and you see #report a player, or #helpfull links, then you can think logically that it is mentioned in it, and if people still have questions they go to staff-help
Where STAFF can help.

I think this should be allowed since there are a lot of questions in #staff-help that are commonly asked like “where can I appeal” or “where do I report someone”. Those questions can easily be answered by normal players since all they need to do is follow a link or look in a channel. I do agree that members shouldn’t help on more complex questions. Sometimes it can take a while for a staff member to respond to the question since they don’t have to look in the channel 24/7. In this case it’s nice if a player can help that user with their simple question and answer it instead of making the user wait for a while. The user doesn’t have to follow or do the things the player is saying and can just ignore it and wait for the staff member’s answer.

I understand you'd think that way, but if you ask for something in staff help, you also want to be answered by staff and not by any person


So after half an hour of typing finally finished, (Typing on your mobile is a lot of work)
I hope my opinion is of something like

regards
Nubnub

 

[Matriox]

I would be highly against such a severe punishment for such a kind thing, it shouldnt be added. People are just trying to help

 

[quartz 🌈]

I kinda agree with this, mini-mods interrupting the conversation is a problem/annoyance, tho I don't think someone should be punished for helping a mod out if they don't know an answer to e.g. a (very) technical question. All in all, I think this should be added, but with a softer punishment track like warning 1 - warning 2 - 3d ban - 7d ban - 30d ban - perm ban.

 

[Ornaixx]

I agree with this and it is really annoying. And they could end up giving the wrong link, no one is gonna listen to them and its just off-topic conversation and they are breaking like 5 rules.

Btw, dude how many forward threads do you have man, you're good at this!

 

[ggKort]

I agree with this and it is really annoying. And they could end up giving the wrong link, no one is gonna listen to them and its just off-topic conversation and they are breaking like 5 rules.

Btw, dude how many forward threads do you have man, you're good at this!

Which rules are they breaking while answering someone in chat?

 

[remio]

Which rules are they breaking while answering someone in chat?

did you even read the thread

 

[thwxy]

Yeah! Agree.

 

[Ornaixx]

Which rules are they breaking while answering someone in chat?

did you read the thread?

 

[Matriox]

It was concluded all ready no rules were being broken. Just the forum user describing what answering questions could technically be breaking. So no? No ones breaking rules