On Safety

[Llir 5713]

When I became an Admin two years ago, we had just established our Safety Policy. Since then, I’ve tried my best to uphold this system, and I care about it greatly. I truly think we have made our server a safer place, though sometimes reports are not easy to handle. Each situation is different and although we’ve had a Safety Policy, and we take all reports seriously, there has been no formal Safety Procedure. We’re no experts or professionals, we try to look into these situations the best we can and get down to the facts before we make a decision. Giving someone the labels that come with a Safety ban on our server is no light call to make, before that happens we want to make sure that we do our due diligence and a proper investigation is conducted. While I’m proud of the work that we’ve done to make this community safer, we can do better. I’m not particularly proud of the few cases missed or overlooked that have led to posts like this.

 

We've had approximately 90 Safety Reports since we started this system, with over 90% of them leading to bans that have made our community a safer place. I want to make something abundantly clear, at no point has the fact that something happened ‘so long ago’, or ‘under another administration’, been used as a justification to not take action on a report. We look at the evidence surrounding the report, and I want to highlight what we consider valid evidence in these cases. Yes, screenshots and logs are always the best form of evidence, though there are numerous bans where all we have to go off is victim testimony, and for me that is just as valid as any ‘hard evidence’. It takes a lot of courage to come forward and give that kind of personal account of a disturbing situation that happened to you, I believe people when they come forward.

 

I think with this situation, the main issue is that nobody at the time spoke directly with the victim. When all we have to act on is a conversation between two adults, and speculation on what else could have happened five years earlier, it’s difficult to make a decision. However, when we talk to the people involved, the people our policy is here to protect, the decision is often clear. At the time of this report the evidence at hand was reviewed and determined to not be enough on it’s own. I wish I spoke with the victim then, as I did last night. As a result of that conversation, the accused player is now banned. Why didn’t we a year ago? I don’t know, to be honest. I wasn’t involved much with the investigation that occurred, and the next time it was brought up it was shrugged off as ‘already handled’, but that doesn’t excuse the inaction. That should not have happened, and as one of the more senior members of this Admin team, I should have realized that at the time and pushed for a more thorough investigation. I want to apologize to the community for the inaction on this situation. We can’t allow something like this to happen again.

 

This community has come a long way, but there’s still a long way to go. As I mentioned we’ve had no Safety Procedure, and that is something we’re changing. Although each report is unique, there are a few basic things we should assure are done with all of them, and talking directly with the victim will be at the top of that list. A report should never have to come forward to be re-investigated a year later, because it will be handled right the first time.

 

I truly do believe in our Safety system and think it has made a real difference, though situations like this erode trust in that system, and unfortunately that may cause some cases to never come forward. Trust will have to be rebuilt, and that starts now. This situation was a real eye opener for me, that we need to be more diligent, as even if we’ve banned over 80 people, the few that weren’t banned (but probably should have been) can compromise our whole Safety system on this server. We can not allow any more cases like this to slip through the cracks, the safety of our community is far too important. Last night the Admins and I went back through all the old Safety reports, to make sure nothing else was missed. This led to one additional ban aside from situation yesterday, and two indefinite bans being elevated to permanent. I want to assure anybody out there who is thinking of coming forward that you will be heard, and action will be taken. You have my word.

 

If anyone wants to talk about safety on our server, my DMs are always open on Discord: Llir#5410, or if you know about a situation that concerns safety on our server, please come forward to me, any other Admin, or submit an email to [email protected].

 

We’re not perfect, we’re a bunch of young adults trying our best to keep this community safe. This isn’t something we can do alone. This thread will remain unlocked to keep the conversation going.

 

I hope that these are good first steps.

— Llir

[excited 10833]

Thank you Kowaman.

[Ryloth 4312]

fair response

[Benleft 867]

The sentiment here is nice, but I want to know what real steps you will take. When you break someone's trust it's only productive to apologize if you demonstrate how you will improve and ensure that you will not make the same failures. What steps will be taken to rebuild community trust in the safety system and in administration?

[Dont_Advertise 1602]

10 minutes ago, Llir said:

Why didn’t we a year ago? I don’t know, to be honest. I wasn’t involved much with the investigation that occurred, and the next time it was brought up it was shrugged off as ‘already handled’,

Wanna talk about this then?

[Songwitch 1438]

2 hours ago, Llir said:

the accused player is now banned

https://streamable.com/xfdfqd

 

Spoiler

I am glad to hear that the administration has finally decided to go over 'suspended' reports such as this one, took the appropriate measures this time (and hopefully will continue to do so from now on) by communicating with the direct, first-hand victim (which may often prove difficult since some of us do not feel the courage to speak up for fear of the 'social power' that exists between the predator, and supposed lack of evidence as it has been alleged to occur), and were mindful enough to recognize these mistakes, be apologetic about the said, and rectified them.

 

In times such as these, and against individuals such as those, we all need to stand together. Thank you.

 

[E__V__O 1984]

1 minute ago, Dont_Advertise said:

Wanna talk about this then?

 

👀

 

It is good that you've taken steps to help out Llir, you've been good to the community on reaching out when needed.

[Benjikhei 696]

You've done a good thing by acknowledging this, thanks for always doing your best.

[Llir 5713]

1 minute ago, Benleft said:

The sentiment here is nice, but I want to know what real steps you will take. When you break someone's trust it's only productive to apologize if you demonstrate how you will improve and ensure that you will not make the same failures. What steps will be taken to rebuild community trust in the safety system and in administration?

 

Absolutely, it's not something that will be fixed overnight. As I mentioned, we've combed through all previous Safety reports to assure nothing else was missed, and when the new safety procedure is ready, I'll be publishing it on the forums, so that everyone can see how we handle these reports. Community safety is something we build together, and I'll be looking to the community for help along the way as we learn from our mistakes and work to improve the system that keeps this community safe.

[Polysemic 798]

I've been mostly silent about the issue after it came up, apart from speaking about it to some friends. It's good to see the situation has been handled with, and that there's been backtracking on previous reports. I'm also glad to finally see that a proper procedure is being put in place. I hope the past few days have been a lesson for everyone. As I've mentioned to some people, it doesn't deserve a beauty price for anyone, administration nor player base.

[excited 10833]

3 minutes ago, Dont_Advertise said:

Wanna talk about this then?

 

You're posting those out of context. Kowaman did not see it, at best Joel did, and Joel never saw the full contents of the discussion and the evidence.

[FunOnTheBun 66]

I think there is a reason why the player base hates most of the upper epsilon of this server. 🤔

[Werew0lf 12001]

18 minutes ago, Dont_Advertise said:

Wanna talk about this then?

I mean, he’s not wrong though. It wasn’t good evidence (and that doesn’t mean that the person is lying).  

 

And he’s also not wrong with the second part. These people that were virtue signalling are the same people that defended KPs behaviour (and many more). It’s only now they wish to step in because the bandwagon wanted my homie Nectorist as Emperor. 

 

Joel just said it more crudely (it’s a friend discord so I don’t expect him to type like a professional when relaying it). 
 

[Rat Hat 612]

Unfortunately KP isn’t the only one and this isn’t the first time this exact situation has happened. The publicity of this situation should hopefully remind staff of just how serious an issue this is and it shouldn’t be taken lightly. We as a community care, we as a community have ALWAYS cared. Going foreword i hope that the people of staff realize the gravity of not only their actions but their inactions.

 

This will take a lot of self reflection, pride-swallowing, empathy, personal judgement, and a looooooot of therapy, but to keep a community up running and safe is hard work- even if you don’t get paid for it, you have to be able to make the distance if you do it.

[Reckless Banzai Screamer 11529]

23 minutes ago, Werew0lf said:

I mean, he’s not wrong though. It wasn’t good evidence (and that doesn’t mean that the person is lying).  

 

And he’s also not wrong with the second part. These people that were virtue signalling are the same people that defended KPs behaviour (and many more). It’s only now they wish to step in because the bandwagon wanted my homie Nectorist as Emperor. 

 

Joel just said it more crudely (it’s a friend discord so I don’t expect him to type like a professional when relaying it). 
 

 

yeah it's scuffed KP becomes problematic after it's been known for half a decade out of role play gain and not genuine protection for the kids. He should have been gone when his alleged victims were still here.