Admin Policy & Conduct

Note: This page is moderated and can be referenced in OOC issues, such as ban appeals, complaints, reports, etc. This may not apply to the pages this page links to.

This page is currently under construction!

The following page is currently in the process of being created, is undergoing a major structural rework and/or is being moved.
The reason for this is: "Currently under rewrite."

Conduct we expect from admins acting in an official capacity both in and out of the servers. If you have concerns with an admin violating any of these, make a complaint or PM a Head Admin.

New Admins

You must apply on the forums following the rules and template to have a shot at being an Admin.
You may not apply for Admin while you have any active bans.
New Admins must be at least 18 years old.
Full Admins and above may vote from -1 to +1
The Head Admins may accept an application even if it doesn't have a positive tally. This also applies vice versa, applications that have a positive score may be rejected.

Senior Admins

Senior Admins are selected by the Head Admins to advise and assist in day-to-day operations.
There is no limit to how many Senior Admins there can be at once.
Senior Admins can approve events but cannot approve their own.
Senior Admins can not overrule other Admins.

Head Admins

The Head Admin role is an elected position. Only Admin and above may apply. The ones that apply will be voted on by Admins and above. The vote will end 1 week after it starts. The candidate(s) with the most votes is elected. Candidates may vote for themselves.
Head Admins are responsible for the whole of the admin team and relating rules/policy.
Head Admins have a 1-year term. There are no term limits.
Exiting Head Admins may be given the Senior Admin position.

Impartiality and transparency

Do not resolve tickets/reports about you.
- Do not handle issues involving yourself.
Ensure tickets and situations are handled equally across all players.
- Any form of bias in dealing with players is not tolerated, favoritism from players or other staff should not weigh in the decision making process.
- This includes "adminbus"
Administrative actions are to be carried out within admin channels. Any and all private communications while acting as an admin are to be documented and provided within admin channels.

Action Policy

IC and OOC punishments are separate.
- IC consequences have no bearing on OOC punishments.
Notes are a form of record, not a punishment.
Job bans are to be given out when a player has shown to be too incompetent or unwilling to learn to play as a role properly without compromising the game for others.
Server bans are to be given out when a player has shown to be non-compliant with our rules or is activity malicious towards the server, the staff, or other players.
Repeat offenses will be met with escalating punishment (e.g. Note > Minor > Major > Perma)
- Wrongfully applied bans that have been successfully appealed do not count towards escalating punishment.
Notes should not factor into a ban, unless they are directly relevant.

Trial Admin Policy

General Conduct

Trial Admins must have their tickets reviewed by an admin to issue a server ban. This rule does not apply to job bans. Trial Admins may apply job bans at their own discretion unless a higher ranking admin rules otherwise.
Trial Admins should have their tickets reviewed by an admin+ to issue a ban. Server bans that exceed 3-days require admin+ approval.
- As an exception, trial admins may apply permanent bans to players who perform unquestionable acts of grief (e.g. Plasmaflooding as a non-antag).
- Bans requiring authorization must include the name of the approving admin in the ban reason.

Trial Admin Promotions

In order for a Trial Admin to be promoted to the full admin position the following conditions must be met:

Trial Admins must have actively served at least 30 days within the administrative team.
They must have dealt with a minimum of 100 tickets.
There must be no active admin reports against the Trial Admin.

Upon these conditions being met, a vote will be held among the Head Admins, Senior Admins and Host.

Before being promoted in this manner, it is likely that questions regarding tickets will be asked, which can be unique to each time.
In the event this vote fails, Trial Admins may have their probationary period extended another month. If the Head Admins decide you are unfit, you may be demoted and forced to reapply after a one-month period.

Notes

Read the notes to determine if they’re relevant to the player’s current misconduct. To ensure a consistent record is kept for repeat offenders, include the number of similar notes in your note.
When writing notes, describe the misconduct and how the player responded. Be sure to include the rules broken, how cooperative the player was in the ticket, and any information or warnings given to the player.
Do not show a player someone else's notes, be it through Discord or in-game means. If they want to share it, they can do so through the OOC tab in-game.
Depending on the severity of a note, a manual expiration date can be set per the following guidelines:
- Severe: 1-year
- Medium: 6-months
- Minor: 1-month
As a general rule, notes should be visible to the player. However, secret notes can be used for ongoing investigations.

Playing the game

When in-game as a player, you are required to de-admin.
- If you are the only admin on and wish to play, you will still be required to de-admin.
Inform the other admins online if you are going to de-admin in order to play. This rule is simple common courtesy to keep the admin team informed and coordinated. While not heavily enforced, if caught abandoning admins during a busy round to avoid tickets you may be punished.

Event protocol

Admin Events are large-scale modifications to the round that would dramatically affect the typical flow of the game. When doing an admin event, you must do the following:

Before the event even begins a player vote must be held (OOC Tab) with a majority in favor of participating in the event.
- The vote should not specify the details of the event, only that one is to be held.
An admin announcement must be made explaining that an admin event is occurring, any information or expectations from the players must also be included. If an exemption to any rules is required, that must be stated as well.
The admin(s) holding the event and managing it’s construction are responsible to make sure the event and round are done properly.
Events must have the approval of a Senior Admin or higher before occurring.
- Events that change the rules must be approved by a Head Admin

Interaction Policy

'Interaction' governs general admin-bus as well as 'Events'

Events

Before the event even begins a player vote must be held (OOC Tab) with a majority in favor of participating in the event.
- The vote should not specify the details of the event, only that one is to be held.
An admin announcement must be made explaining that an admin event is occurring, any information or expectations from the players must also be included. If an exemption to any rules is required, that must be stated as well.
The admin(s) holding the event and managing it’s construction are responsible to make sure the event and round are done properly.
Events must have the approval of a Senior Admin or higher before occurring.
- Events that change the rules must be approved by a Head Admin

Innocent until proven guilty

Do not issue a punishment unless you can prove their misconduct through logs
Same goes for accusations of lying in tickets, you need proof that it was intentional and not misinformation.

Ticket Conduct

Admins should reply to every ticket even if it’s not relevant, inform the player of why before closing it.
Do not intercept another admins ticket without asking them first, if you need to correct them or change their ruling use asay or PM the working admin instead.
If a ticket becomes too complex or another issue prevents you from resolving it inform the other admins through asay and provide the ticket number.
Obviously, handle tickets respectfully and do not be condescending or aggressive in admin PM’s. It is only an atmospherics simulator game for clowns.

Rulings and Precedents

Head Admins can overrule other Admins.
Senior Admins may not overrule other Admins. Their only added privilege from being an Admin is the ability to approve events.
In edge cases or more complex rulings that you are uncertain about, refer to #precedent-zone in the Discord or ask for direct input through #adminhelp-help.

Admin Strikes and Demotion

Admin strikes are issued by a Head Admin as a "punishment" for breach of conduct.
When an Admin receives a total of three active strikes they are to be demoted from their position immediately.
Violating the Admin Conduct will be judged based on what happened, how it happened, and external factors; with the introduction of admin notes.
Admin strikes are removed by a Head Admin by a unanimous agreement to appeal the strikes.
Trial Admins need only 1 strike to be removed from their position.
The demotions of Senior Admins are to be handled by the Head Admins. Depending on the strike(s), they may be demoted to Admin or removed from staff completely.

Behavior

Maintain a decent standard of professionalism when operating within the community. Insulting, harassing, or intentionally offending anyone in our community is not tolerated.
If you are being insulted or harassed, don’t provoke or retort their behavior as it will only escalate hostility. You can choose to ignore them if they do this, but you should still attempt to resolve their ahelp or forum post in an efficient manner.
Do not spam ping members of the community or staff.
Remember that you set an example for the community and are expected to follow the same rules as strictly, if not more strictly, than standard members of the community.
Do not leak admin channels without expressed consent from all parties involved and head admin+ approval. Even if the information has zero sensitive information in it, always get approval before posting from restricted channels.

Antagonist Tokens

Antag tokens can only be given out when a server crashes because of an Admin (misuse of commands etc.) Host related server crashes do not count.