Adminning Policy

Admin policy, including for things out-of-game, are listed here, and is the standard of how admins should interface with the community.

Admin Rules

These apply to all individuals with access to staff chats, including but not limited to Admins and Community Moderators. Admins will be held to the same standards as any other player regarding behavior ingame and on the Discord server, and any punishments/warnings will not take into account their status as an Admin.

1. Be kind.
2. Members of the Admin Team should also be on the Discord server for communications purposes. While actively adminning, admins should also be available on the Discord server. This does not apply while not adminned in-game.
3. Admins should check the forums & tickets periodically.
4. Admins should not leak or otherwise discuss staff channel discussions (including ingame Admin channel chats) outside of said staff channels without the express consent of all involved.
5. Admins are expected to know and follow all game rules and rules imposed on Admins at all times.
6. If you're the last admin online on one of the servers and you leave, shoot a Game Staff ping into the staff channel to let everyone know the server's deadminned.
7. If you're playing, do not look at the staff chats, including the ahelp channels.
8. Don't admin intoxicated, it has the opportunity to be unpleasant for everyone involved.
9. Admins may admin while playing, but are expected to deadmin when playing important roles (AI, Command, Sec, Antags, etc.)
10. It is recommended to only do so on low population, and all rules concerning metagaming apply heavily if an admin chooses to do so.
11. Admins may not handle reports or ahelps concerning themselves and must ping other staff to do so.
12. Admins may not utilize the staff chats to report behavior while they are in-round, they must use an ahelp or a ticket, same as any other player.
13. Admins should not be discussing admin business, such as player punishments, outside of staff chats, with the exception of clarifying a misconception.
14. Avoid publicly engaging with intra-server drama. As a member of staff you're a reflection of the server.

Ranks / Structure

Head Maintainer / Host

On the same level as the Head Admin, with a focus towards development. Their duties relating to staffing extend to their responsibilities, powers, and ownership of the Funky Station servers and website.

Head Admin

On the same level as the Head Maintainer / Host, with a focus towards admin affairs. They are solely responsible for hiring new Admins and they are responsible for handling demotion procedure. They are also expected to handle rule clarifications and mediation when an issue arises between staff.

• Duties:

1. Running once-a-month open applications for Admins
2. Promoting Admins
3. Heading disciplinary action on Admins following internal procedure
4. Making sure ban appeals and admin complaints are handled in a timely manner
5. Mediating and resolving any conflicts that arise within the staff team
6. Organizing a staff meeting once a month
7. Adjusting admin policies as they see fit

Community Manager

This role is directly under the Head Admin, and their primary duties lie in assisting the Head Admin with communication on behalf of the staff team to the rest of the community, as well as representing the Funky community to external communities. They also directly manage the Community Moderators and hire new ones.

• Duties:

1. Handling hiring / demotion of Community Moderators with the assistance of the Head Admin
2. Assisting the staff team in regards with communications to the community (e.g. announcements, clarifications, Discord/Forum rule enforcement)
3. Acting as an ambassadorial role / representative to other communities

Admin

Full Admin

This is a full admin, trusted with full access to PII (IPs, HWIDs, connection log) on the admin website, access to the full-admin chat, and access to other administrative tools.

• Duties:

1. Assist in acting as a mentor to Junior and Trial Admins
2. Be able to handle the server independently and clarify rules when needed
3. Be able to handle and moderate large-scale events with the assistance of 1 other admin
4. Participate in discussions related to policy, rules, enforcement, and other important server business
5. Participate in assembled groups for the handling of admin complaints

Junior Admin

This is the second phase of orientation, they have spawning permissions for the purpose of mild gimmicks and running minor events with full admin supervision. They additionally get access to the ban appeal discussion channels and are on the list of appeal-handlers. The Head Admin should keep a tab on the Junior Admin and after 4 weeks make the decision on whether or not to promote them.

• Duties:

1. Get a handle on your new abilities, including spawning and VV
2. Start handling ban appeals with help from full admins
3. Get a handle on running some minor events and the how-tos and whys of such (with full-mins present)

Trial Admin

This is the very base orientation phase of an Admin, they do not have spawning or View Variable permissions and are just expected to get a handle on moderation duties, community duties, and general conduct. Trial Admins should get first dibs to handle any ahelps that arise in-game, and a more senior admin should only help with advice / step in if requested, or if the situation escalates. The Head Admin should keep a tab on the Trial Admin's progress, and after 2-4 weeks make the decision on whether or not to promote them.

• Duties:

1. Ingratiate yourself with the staff team!
2. Get comfortable with handling Community Duties and in-game moderation.

Community Moderator

This is a role that grants access to staff chats, and is intended primarily to moderate Discord and the Forums to prevent rulebreaks. They work under the Community Manager.

• Duties:

1. Moderating the Discord and Forums for rulebreaks
2. Mediating minor conflicts in the Discord so they don't get out of hand, and shutting them down if necessary

Community Duties

All admins regardless of position are expected to do and check these regularly, as it is a large part of their out-of-game duties. If not claimed, the Head Admin may assign any of these to any admin as they deem fit.

Ban Appeals

1. All Junior Admins and above can and are expected to handle ban appeals.
2. If a ban appeal isn't 'claimed' by an admin within a day of it being made, the Head Admin will select, either randomly or through some other method, an admin to handle it.
3. The banning admin may claim the appeal only if they intend to reduce or otherwise remove it.
4. If the ban appeal is low effort, does not follow format, or is otherwise Deeply Unserious, close the ban appeal with a short explanation.
5. When handling an appeal, put as much effort into the response as they did to their appeal. This isn't to say we encourage text walls, but an earnest appeal will be met with an earnest response.
6. If you are handling the appeal, you must check the ahelp logs, player note and ban history, and contact the banning admin prior to any judgments. Depending on the appeal, it is also recommended to look through round logs and/or replay if necessary.
7. You may ask the player questions for clarification, for which they should have a reasonable opportunity to respond.
8. If the appeal is for a ban the length of a week or longer, the handling admin should make a vote to accept, deny, or shorten the ban, and ping Game Staff.
9. If a vote is not required, the handling admin may make the judgment to accept or deny the appeal.
10. If the ban has expired by the time the appeal is handled, the ban note may or may not be stricken from the player's record at the handling admin's discretion.

Admin Complaints

Against a Regular Admin

1. The Head Admin reviews the complaint and decides if it is worthy enough to be considered.
2. If it is, the Head Admin is to gather a team of at least 5 admins, including themselves, to review the complaint.
3. The admin complaint is then reviewed and discussed among this team for 2 or so days. A message by either the Head Admin or another Admin part of the review team will post that it is being discussed.
4. After discussion has concluded, a write-up about what went wrong and how to move forward from this will be posted on the Forum.

Against the Head Admin or Host

1. If the complaint is about the Host, then the Head Admin will review it. If the complaint is about the Head Admin, then the Host will review it.
2. If the complaint also requests that a regular admin review it, if it is worthy enough to review, then gather a team of 5, including themselves, to review the complaint.
3. The review process is the same for both.

Whitelists

1. Check individual's profile for blatantly offensive content (e.g. Nazi dogwhistles) - if any are found, they may be warned or banned depending on severity.
2. Whitelists should only be run through when there is at least 1 admin ingame on either server.
3. If the name is odd or something about the individual's profile tips you off, check their username for any active ban appeals. If none are found, they should be good to whitelist with no questions.
4. If an active ban or ban appeal is found, it is encouraged to ask why in a private thread. Current precedent is recent active bans on other servers may require a successful ban appeal before whitelisting.
5. If a whitelist fails to pass the standards, it should be set to pending until the issues are solved, or denied with a minimum 1-week time requirement to re-apply.

Replay Reviews

1. Any individual can make a request for a replay review, either through an ahelp, a ban appeal or admin complaint, or through a ticket on the Discord.
2. Bans and notes may be applied upon a replay review.
3. If applying a ban or a note on a replay review, be sure to include the round number and timestamp. Note / Ban policy also applies here.

Events

Rules

1. If you're running a large event, you should have enough admin coverage for the round to do regular admin stuff while the event is being run. If this cannot be achieved, the event should not be run as moderation should take priority.
2. Large events must be pre-planned, and if significant setup time is required (e.g. mapping), it should be coordinated on the GitHub.
3. Large events should be primarily planned to run on Fridays. Funky Friday only drops the frequency expectation of events, all other rules apply.
4. Events are a privilege and should not be performed to the detriment of all other admin tasks (primarily community work e.g. appeals, as well as in-game moderation)
5. Don't interfere in another admin's planned event without communication.
6. Limit yourself. If you're doing an event every round / other round, you're doing it too frequently. Events should be well thought-out, and not everything needs to be a bit. This is waived for exceptions such as: teaching new players on Sundays, or adjusting gamerules / adding antags for round balance reasons.
7. Trial & Junior Admins should not run events of any scale without admin oversight. Exception is granted for minor things e.g. giving Cargo a mail teleporter, or CC fax responses that do not include anything of substance being sent/promised to the crew.
8. Always log events in the event logs channel, even small ones.

Scheduling

1. Scheduled events include any event that will substantially affect the game from the start of the round to the end, including any relying on manipulating mechanics or player behavior outside of roleplay.
2. A Head Admin must greenlight the scheduled event (post it in the event ideas channel for this), and at least two full-admins must be available to oversee the entirety.
3. Events requiring scheduling should be primarily planned to run on Fridays.
4. Event frequency on Fridays is more lax compared to other days, but is limited to one event every other round.
5. Scheduled events outside of Fridays must be announced to the players either prior to the round starting or earlier in the week.

Guidelines

1. Events should aim to be inclusive to as many of the players as possible.
2. The best events are typically those that most players wouldn't even think of as an admin event. Aim to keep things as ingame as possible - that is to say, avoid breaking immersion.
3. If you end up running an event that ruins the round (it happens, minor things can spiral very quickly), it is recommended to apologize and give antag tokens to affected antagonists.
4. Keep events player-friendly. Run them based on what's good for the round and players rather than what's funny to you at the moment. A good example is sending an ERT when half of the station is dead and 2 dragons are running free. A bad example is spawning yourself in as a deathsquad agent 15 minutes into the round.
5. Events and role play at Central Command (post round) are generally allowed as long as they do not dramatically interfere with post round role play or encourage no-roleplay and EORG adjacent behaviors. Antagonist ghost roles / combat focused non crew roles should be avoided.

Ahelps and Notes

Ahelp Policy

1. The goal for tone is always to be approachable and somewhat casual, or at least polite. We are people dealing with other people and that should be kept at the forefront of an Ahelp. If someone is being rude to you in an Ahelp, be sure to mention the appropriate rule-break and issue a punishment in line with the admin policy.
2. If you're Ahelping as a proactive investigation or as a non-serious message, keep it silent.
3. Always check the notes of the player you are Ahelping or receiving an Ahelp from.
4. Attempt to respond to an Ahelp in a reasonable timeframe, even if that response is just 'Looking into this.'
5. Keep one admin maximum speaking to a player in an Ahelp unless you are explicitly handing it over to another, so the player does not feel dogpiled.
6. Avoid messaging somebody who is in the middle of a situation unless highly necessary to avoid adding undue stress. People are way easier to speak to when they aren't trying to balance 5 things at once.
7. If you are unsure about an action a player has done, Ahelp the player in question and ask additional clarifying questions. Ahelping to ask questions is encouraged in-order to get as much context as possible and to avoid accidentally banning someone for something that should have been a warning.
8. Avoid making any punishments before you're positive you've fully reviewed applicable logs / have the necessary information required to make a judgment. A punishment, such as a warning or ban, is a last resort.
9. If you feel frustrated / someone's going back-and-forth with you, sometimes you just need to step back and assess the situation. This may look like asking another admin to step in and handle the Ahelp, or it may look like a temporary ban. Point the offender to Rule 4 for this purpose. It is not healthy for either the admin nor the Ahelp-ee to get excessively worked up over what's typically a warning or a time-out from the game.
10. Be sure to look at previous Admin Rulings to ensure we stay consistent on certain rulebreaks or grey areas.
11. If a situation seems it's going to resolve itself IC, even if rules were broken, consider not messaging anyone over it, at the very least until after the situation resolves. The game runs smoother and people are happier when players feel like admins aren't breathing down their backs.

Notes

1. Notes should be concise, with only the information they need, and detail a note on behavior or a warning given.
2. Ahelp policy applies in notes, other admins and players do see these - 'Shitter Behavior' is not a good note, although possibly descriptive.
3. Notes not ahelped over should be secreted, as are notes that are for a player 'toeing the line' rather than breaking a rule.
4. Notes that were a formal warning should be visible.
5. Notes that are over 3 months old should be considered as expired.
6. Expired notes should not be considered when issuing punishment, unless permitted by the Head Admin.
7. Expiry of Ban Notes should start after the ban has either been appealed or expires.
8. Notes that fall under the Non-grouping and Language sections of the banning policy are exempt from expiry.

Watchlists

1. Watchlists are to be placed primarily in cases of metacommunications and potential antag-rolling; they may also be placed for consistent, watchable, behavior (this should be very clearly observable) but should be used sparingly and in extreme cases.
2. In the case of placement for antag-rolling, the watchlist should have a 2-4 week expiry.
3. All other guidelines regarding notes also apply to watchlists.

Admin Disciplinary Action

Strikes

1. Strikes are formal written warnings from the Head Admin to any member of staff.
2. They are a last-resort tool to be used on the track to demotion or lesser punishments, where minor corrections will not suffice and major admin policy breaks have occurred.
3. While strikes aren't necessary for demotions in extreme cases (e.g. leaking of PII or other explicitly illegal activity), they are recommended to be used in cases of an admin abusing their tools or position over the playerbase, including breaches of admin policy or ingame rules in an unprofessional and consistent manner.
4. Strikes will expire 2 months after they are applied.
5. At two strikes, event privileges will be revoked.
6. At three strikes, demotion will be brought up to a randomly picked group of 5 Admins.

Demotions

1. Demotions are to be used only in extreme scenarios where an admin has consistently or extremely broken admin policy, and no other correction is feasible.
2. The demotion process may be started by the Head Admin or Host.
3. To demote a member of staff under normal procedure, a randomly picked group of 5 Admins must pass it by 2/3 majority, including the Head Admins.