1. Want to get our most recent announcements - and XP codes - in your email?

    Sign up for our mailing list!

Guide Q+A: Admins and the report system

Discussion in 'The Network' started by Mr_Darn, Aug 22, 2014.

Guide - Q+A: Admins and the report system
  1. Mr_Darn Retired Staff

    XP:
    56,604xp
    Whilst this thread is old its content has been updated by Murgatron :heart:

    We've been asked a lot of questions about the report system.

    In this thread, I'll try to answer the most common ones for you.

    Feel free to link to this thread if you see anyone asking about the system and this thread answers their question, or the question should be asked here in your opinion. The thread link is: http://shotbow.net/forum/threads/246895/

    REMEMBER: We can't answer all questions. Some things need to stay secret.
    Admins, remember this if you want to answer questions: Check with your team leader before releasing anything.
    (If you see grammatical errors, feel free to edit this post; I won't be offended. :lmao: )


    Q: How does /report work?

    A: When you do /report, a report is submitted on our Report page. This report will include the player's name, the category they were reported for and any /c comments attached the report. The reports are ranked via an ELO scoring system and multiple reports are also shown.

    Q: Do multiple reports get a higher priority?

    A: No. Our system works on an ELO scoring system.


    Q: How does the ELO system work?

    A:
    • Players gain ELO for accurate reports of cheaters
    • Players lose ELO for continuous false reporting / abuse of the system
    Overtime this has allowed players to assist the staff team in removing cheaters quickly as we can quickly identify a report that is much more likely to lead to a cheater - compared to those people who /report EVERYONE who kills them!


    Q: What if I report but when you check they are not doing anything? Will I be punished?

    A: Not always. We tend to give a neutral score to those we don't see cheating, unless the person is abusing the system.

    Q What types of admins are there?


    A: We have 2 tiers of admins:

    • Full Administrators - These admins can typically patrol on any gamemode
    • Mini Administrators - These admins only patrol on gamemodes they are trained for. Some mini admins have multiple modes they help patrol on!
    Q: Are you going to add more report categories in the future?


    A: We may add additional categories (like bug abuse) in the future but for now we are quite happy with the system. You can also use /c to add (helpful!) comments to a report to specify exactly what rule breaking is going on.

    Q Why don't admins go the the newest report first?


    A: Reports come in faster than you might think. If we did it that way, on average we would only check out 1 in 10 reports.
    If we have many admins patrolling at once, sometimes we assign one person to take the top report on the list, while the others clear the backlog. It depends entirely on how busy we are. EVERY report is checked out where possible.

    Q: I REPORTED SOMEONE 30 MINUTES AGO! WHY ARE THEY NOT BANNED YET?!1?!

    A: The report system is manned by our volunteer admins who give up their free time to patrol and help make games across Shotbow fair and enjoyable to play. As such we cannot always guarantee that an admin will be available to check up on your report. Therefore we ask that, if you can, record and submit a player report here.

    Q: It has been a week! Why is X still on the servers??!!?

    A: As stated above there is a chance we may not have seen your report (we can't ban if we don't see it happen) which is why we always appreciate Player Reports with good evidence of a player cheating. Reports are only valid for one hour so feel free to resubmit a report if you think it's needed!


    Q: I NEVER see an admin patrolling!

    A: That's the point :wink: We patrol using VNP (Vanish No Packet). This means we join servers undetected, and leave just as quietly. We RARELY announce our presence. We need to do it this way to catch the cheaters.

    Saying things like "Ha! Reported! Get banned nub!" just makes the smart cheaters turn off their cheats for a while, meaning we don't catch them using cheats. Reporting silently, is the best way to get someone removed from the server.


    Q: Why can't you announce when you ban someone?

    A: Because cheaters learned the patterns.
    Some things we tried, and how a cheater thought:
    Admin: Bye X!
    Cheater: crap, an admin, *toggles cheats off*

    Admin: Well that's another server cleared!
    Cheater: Ha! time to turn them back on!
    Player: But what about person Y??!!?

    We have found through experience that silent is the way to go. If we have to weigh player notifying over removing an extra cheater, we choose removing the cheater every time. Even if we have to put up with the "You're lazy! You do nothing!" taunts. We know we do a good job. We know we do our best. You guys should respect that.

    Q We need more admins! Why don't you get more?

    A: We do actively look at our playerbase for new recruits and even periodically open up applications - keep an eye on the front page!

    There are pressures being a staff member however - the most common complaint from our staff is the hate. Some people just cant handle the pressure. Would you take on the job? Sure you would! Could you handle the constant "do your job! i found out where you live! i know who your parents/sister/brother/son is! Your just lazy! Do your damn job!" day after day? Maybe, but not for long. It gets old VERY quick, especially when you spend 10 hours a day here like i do.

    We have already had staff walk out. Even full admins need to take a break from it. Why? because the pure toxicity of 5% of the playerbase makes the work so unbearable, we just want to go back to being players.

    Q: Why do admins sit talking in Teamspeak / Discord / Events and not get on with patrolling!!

    A: As mentioned before all staff are volunteers - we need our own down time too and to take a break from patrolling and have some fun as well with our players, as players :)

    Other times we simply cannot get on minecraft, or are done for the day and just want to hang out. This can be a stressful job at times. Try to respect our downtime too.

    PLEASE have some consideration, and show our admins some love for what they do for free, in their spare time.
    We don't want to lose any more! :(
    Superbob1000, iDeu, Bboyan and 83 others like this.

  2. pochineko Platinum

    XP:
    2,129xp
    Shotbow NetWorkはELOなどのシステムを活用しプレイヤーのreportに効率的に対処してることがわかって、とてもうれしいです :D
    Shotbow NetWork is extremely pleased to know that it effectively copes with player's report by using ELO and other systems.
    Mysterious_Seven, iinsu and Murgatron like this.
  3. Jingle535 Platinum

    XP:
    283,182xp
    I did not even realize this was something you could respond to. I like this information and the well written explanation. Nice job updating it Murgatron.

    I have a question, is there any way for players to know if their reports were accepted / rejected? Sometimes I report people and I do not know if they were banned. If the report is rejected then I would know I should post evidence of the rule breaking, but if it is accepted then I know I do not need to.
  4. Murgatron Retired Staff

    XP:
    970,785xp
    We are having internal discussions about this :) it would likely be a similar feature that Overwatch has - you are notified your report resulted in a positive action but we will not divulge what action it was exactly. Sadly this project is fairly low priority for the development team at this time.
    Mistri likes this.
  5. connor564 Platinum

    XP:
    157,819xp
    Could, maybe, the Report team shoot like a DM saying their report has been acknowledged?
  6. Murgatron Retired Staff

    XP:
    970,785xp
    This would be a fairly intensive approach and I would rather free our admins up to patrol (and play!) more. I can always raise this with them though and see what they think. Given the amount of reports we get on some days though this may be tricky! :lmao:
  7. connor564 Platinum

    XP:
    157,819xp
    Hmm... possibly instead of every report, only the reports of hackers whove caused major disruption?
  8. Murgatron Retired Staff

    XP:
    970,785xp
    If we did a manual approach any feedback provided would likely be done on a voluntary "if you have time" basis. An automated system would obviously be able to handle the workload without impacting on staff time :)

Share This Page