1:44 AM
Broken
Recently, it has been rumored that "users are hunted from the day they join the site to the day they leave"; and that the name of the department, "Support", is misleading because this activity does not support the users. A lot of concern has been generated over this and a few other statements. Hopefully this post will clear all that up!
When a new user is noticed on site, they are absolutely checked out. The word "Support" in our department means that we maintain the site and its users by providing what is needed and taking action where necessary. Wouldn't you agree that checking out new users is something that is needed? If BobbyJoeSue shows up on the chat 2 minutes after joining, advertising their hatches for sale, would you want to buy those hatches if the user's former account BillyJoeSue was just banned for scamming? Support is being provided to all of our legitimate, honest players when new users are checked out. If nothing is found wrong, we move on.
Another statement claimed that we are forced to perform "witch hunts" daily or the job is considered not to be done. This is an extreme exaggeration of the truth.
Part of the daily support staff duties are to monitor the bank and activity logs. It's a very simple duty to perform; you simply hit a button and review the 200 most recent logs in these areas. This needs to be done several times a day since the logs are limited to such a small amount. The reason this is part of a daily staff duty is because it is very easy to spot someone who is signing up as many accounts as they can and transferring the 10K from all the extra accounts to their main account.
If a support member is neglecting to perform this duty, then yes, they are slacking on the job. Finding cheaters and removing them from the game supports the honest players.
A third claim was made that users are not given any evidence found for their ban, and are threatened to be banned again if they persist in asking. Again, this is an untrue statement.
Copy-paste evidence will not be given when asked. There are several reasons for this, but the main reason is that the information is too confusing for the user to make any sense of it. (The next blog post coming up will show some screenshots that will make it clear why.) A summary of the evidence absolutely is given when a ban is made and the user requests it. This can be verified by Patrick, who receives a copy of every email, back and forth. Never once has anyone on the Support team threatened to ban someone over asking for evidence or questioning the decision. The only time there is a problem is when drama over the ban is started in the chat or the forums. At this point, the rule about not discussing bans would be enforced.
It is completely understandable that you guys would be concerned when reading these false statements. As you can see, however, those things were not presented in a truthful light.
Coming up next! We will be showing screenies of the process of reviewing logs when it is time to make a ban. You will be able to see why mistakes in banning rarely happen, and yes, sometimes they do happen. The ban is reversed in that case, happily. See you soon!
When a new user is noticed on site, they are absolutely checked out. The word "Support" in our department means that we maintain the site and its users by providing what is needed and taking action where necessary. Wouldn't you agree that checking out new users is something that is needed? If BobbyJoeSue shows up on the chat 2 minutes after joining, advertising their hatches for sale, would you want to buy those hatches if the user's former account BillyJoeSue was just banned for scamming? Support is being provided to all of our legitimate, honest players when new users are checked out. If nothing is found wrong, we move on.
Another statement claimed that we are forced to perform "witch hunts" daily or the job is considered not to be done. This is an extreme exaggeration of the truth.
Part of the daily support staff duties are to monitor the bank and activity logs. It's a very simple duty to perform; you simply hit a button and review the 200 most recent logs in these areas. This needs to be done several times a day since the logs are limited to such a small amount. The reason this is part of a daily staff duty is because it is very easy to spot someone who is signing up as many accounts as they can and transferring the 10K from all the extra accounts to their main account.
If a support member is neglecting to perform this duty, then yes, they are slacking on the job. Finding cheaters and removing them from the game supports the honest players.
A third claim was made that users are not given any evidence found for their ban, and are threatened to be banned again if they persist in asking. Again, this is an untrue statement.
Copy-paste evidence will not be given when asked. There are several reasons for this, but the main reason is that the information is too confusing for the user to make any sense of it. (The next blog post coming up will show some screenshots that will make it clear why.) A summary of the evidence absolutely is given when a ban is made and the user requests it. This can be verified by Patrick, who receives a copy of every email, back and forth. Never once has anyone on the Support team threatened to ban someone over asking for evidence or questioning the decision. The only time there is a problem is when drama over the ban is started in the chat or the forums. At this point, the rule about not discussing bans would be enforced.
It is completely understandable that you guys would be concerned when reading these false statements. As you can see, however, those things were not presented in a truthful light.
Coming up next! We will be showing screenies of the process of reviewing logs when it is time to make a ban. You will be able to see why mistakes in banning rarely happen, and yes, sometimes they do happen. The ban is reversed in that case, happily. See you soon!
Great to see that staff are finally opening up to the users about bans and how they are done. This sounds like a big improvement and I hope this transparency is used on the site as well.
ReplyDeleteThanks! The reason for lack of transparency all these years was mainly due to the limited logging staff was given to do their job. Disclosing those methods would have provided instructions on how to avoid detection entirely. Now that Patrick has established logging for virtually every action on site from clicking "log in" to leaving, we are able to provide much more detail on how things are done, without worry.
DeletePressing issue: Why is there still only 1 writer after so many years were there 0 promising applications ever? Why is Frank allowed to change his staff kind by himself? It is OP. He purposely shows off in chat when switching. Second hand knowledge but have you read rescreatu rants on tumblr yet? There are some good submissions there. If applications are closed how did Wolf become support as of recent? No offense Wolf. Keep the hiring forum up to date or delete it. Do you have the answers I seek? Thank you for your time.
DeleteI am not in charge of the writer department so I can't give you an answer there.
ReplyDeleteFrank works for Content Management as well as Support, so it is necessary for his staff level to change to access the required tools. If Frank is doing it to purposely show off, you will need to submit some screenies showing it. I just checked the chat history logs and found zero instances of him changing his staff color at all, much less showing off. He does not have the ability to modify the chat logs; only Patrick does.
I'm not interested in reading rants on tumblr; I simply do not have enough time in my day to track those down.
Sometimes when there is a need for staff, someone who is already staff in another department will apply and be accepted to fill that need. Since they are already staff, it is much easier to make the transition to another department than it is to train someone totally new. We don't always have the resources we need to take on new trainees, especially in a pinch.
The chat logs were purged yesterday, so I only have midnight and beyond to look at. I did some testing to see if my color changes would show in the logs, and they do. When did this showing off happen?
Delete