approved Join/Leave Message Rule

[Fred.]

I propose we make a rule that states custom join/leave messages should not mimic automated server messages, my summary below outlines why. This should also apply to anything that seems like a server message but may not necessarily be on our servers, for example "You have been warned. Please check your current warnings." we don't have this functionality on our servers, but it still should not be allowed in join/leave messages. When I refer to staff in the summary I don't mean the rank, I mean all of those who have powers they can use against people on the servers, gold admins being included in this.

 

Summary:

• Some may think it's server functionality and think a user is banned/warned or such.
• It devalues the importance of real server messages.
• Can altar instinct and make you skim past real server messages.
• Unprofessional for users to see people who they think have been banned on the servers straight after the message, makes the banning system look broken.
• If a user sees a staff member join and be banned/warned or such in the join message, only to then see them later in the day with a staff rank, it looks like we don't have any sort of vetting process with our staff applications or that our staff are misbehaving.
• When staff in particular have messages like this, it leaves a bad impression on users who actually do know that it's a custom join message, because those users may have the same thoughts as I outlined above and wonder why staff hadn't thought about said issues, it seems unprofessional.
• For the "You have been banned." message, real games like Garry's Mod have this functionality in which when you join certain servers it will show their ban message in chat when it displays their connections, potentially other TF2 servers do too so it's completely reasonable for a user to believe these messages are real.

 

Proposed Wording:

• "Custom join/leave messages must not mimic server functionality and/or potential future server functionality. Messages in violation of this are determined at the discretion of Division Staff, Division Leaders and/or Moderators."

 

[RELAX]

I think that's a pretty fair rule to implement as I've actually seen confusion caused by join messages like this before pretty recently.

Also myself before joining HG had also been pretty confused by several mods who had the banned player join message, at which point I later assumed that all admins just had that message when they joined. Generally, it's not the most prominent of issues to make a rule about but I have no problem with it's implementation as I think it helps upkeep professionality and prevents misunderstanding.

[brgr.]

I only got confused by these type of messages once. I don't think its a big of a deal since I haven't seen anyone get confused by it. If the issue at hand is that annoying then I guess we should implement a rule for it but I still haven't seen any problems for this type of issue.

I guess I'm sort of neutral for this??? I don't mind if a rule is added but I also don't mind if it's not added.

 

[Fred.]

That makes 3 of us who've had good TF2 experience and still gotten confused by it the first time. - Surely it's pretty evident that this is somewhat of a problem.

[Zeused]

its not that big a deal, I think you are being a little too strict with this lol. It is just a funny joke that confuses some people on the server and once they realize the message is fake, they have a good laugh. I don't think they go as far as thinking "wow these staff are bad" or "hey the banning system is broken".

[Fred.]

I understand that it's a joke nor a high priority thing, the point is it's unprofessional, my original reaction to realizing it wasn't a real message was wondering why staff aren't setting a good example, it's slightly exploitative. There's plenty other jokes/memes you can use in those messages. I'm not in any way annoyed or mad at anyone who do use those messages, I just think it's time to put a stop to it because making jokes out of server messages that are important devalues them, users being banned on our servers isn't a meme.

[☆Raging☆]

This honestly isn't a big issue. Surely you would've known ahead of time if an HG member was banned, things like that spread quick. I disagree (respectfully) because I think that join messages like "You are banned" are pretty amusing due to the small confusion they cause. It makes players really question it, then they laugh in the end because it's a passive VIP bonus that's essentially a gateway to small pranks. And of course being me, I love little day brighteners here and there. If the join message confuses you, just go check the ban page or ask around to see if they are actually banned. It's not that hard.

[Fred.]

Not everyone who plays the server is familiar with our website or how our server functions, of course it doesn't confuse regular players, that's not the issue. I don't feel like "it's not a big deal", "it's not a big issue", etc. is a fair argument either, little issues matter too, not as much of course but they should still be handled.

[Imperial Knight]

As each of you have noted, this just seems to cause confusion for amusement. Since that is essentially trolling, we'll be marking this as against the rules under our existing rule against trolling.