Server Policies

The purpose of this page is to expand on and document policies used for moderation. This is not a Rules page - instead, the purpose of this page is to detail things like how the rules are enforced. All items documented below are considered to be the current policy, any other posts will not be considered current or valid.

If you find anything that requires updating please contact a Head Admins.

Miscellaneous Documentation/Policy Links

• Rules
• PvE Info Guide
• Creative Info Guide
• Becoming a Moderator is not a promotion - Last Updated: June 16, 2013
• Community Interaction Policy - Last Updated: December 22, 2014
• Expectations for Staff - Last Updated: July 30, 2014
• Staff Responsibilities - Last Updated: August 7, 2015

Note Appeals

Last Updated: June 15, 2017 Documentation Link

• Notes are eligible for appeal beginning 1 year from the placement date and 6 months from your last appeal of that note (however if you feel a note was added in error you may appeal sooner).
• Note appeals will be handled by the staff member who issued them provided they are active and still on staff. If that is not the case the appeal will be handled by the server admin the note pertains to, or a Head admin in any other cases.
• In order to have a note removed it must be demonstrated that the behavior that caused it has changed and is no longer a reflection of your current behavior.
• Should anyone experience issues with the outcome of their note appeal then you are welcome to approach a Head admin.

Ban Appeals

Last Updated: December 10, 2017 Documentation Link

• Posting Your Appeal:
  • We treat bans and appeals seriously. This is not the place to play games or impress your friends.
  • Please do not post more than one appeal.
  • Please treat your appeal seriously or it will be denied. Jokes, memes, gifs, and other forms of spam in appeals will result in them being closed.
  • Please be civil in your appeal. Appeals that contain trolling, personal attacks, or inflammatory statements will be closed.
• Bumping Appeals:
  • If the banning moderator has not responded to your appeal after 48 hours you may make a post (bump) in your appeal to bring attention to it. At this point (48 hours of no response), any staff member may attempt to contact the banning moderator and if no response is received in 24 hours, said staff member may take over to expedite the appeal.
  • For bans, if the banning moderator is not available another moderator or admin may handle your appeal. For notes, if the moderator in question is not available, a head admin will take over your appeal.
• Posting in Others Appeals:
  • Please do not post in others appeals.
  • If you have information as a player (or moderator) that you feel is relevant to the appeal, please contact the banning moderator via message on the forums, in game, or in IRC. If you are unable to contact a moderator or feel that an admin should review the information please contact a head admin or email admins@nerd.nu.
• Escalating Your Appeal:
  • Players may request an admin to review their appeal. The banning moderator (or admin) will still have an opportunity to post their collected evidence for your ban. An admin or head admin will review the evidence and decide an outcome of the appeal.
  • Please note: As there are significantly fewer admins and head admins than there are moderators this may extend the time it takes to resolve your appeal.
• Changing Your Name After Being Banned:
  • Please reply in your appeal if you change your name, as when we unban your original username it won't actually remove your ban, and it'll help us to speed up your ban removal.
• Appealing to Hide Your Old Appeal:
  • Head admins do case-by-case evaluations whether an old appeal could be hidden or not, but not for light reasons. Contact the head admins via private message or other means to discuss this.

Ban Duration Guidelines

Last Updated: August 11, 2017 Documentation Link

The following table represents a list of guidelines to be used by staff in response to dealing with players. Staff are encouraged to use their best judgement in all cases; this table is meant to help keep staff consistant however in the event that people feel it is reasonable or necessary to deviate from this list it is allowed

Offense	1st Occurrence	2nd Occurrence	3rd Occurrence	4th Occurrence	Additional
xray	appeal - 7 day ban + rollback / inventory wipe	appeal - 30 day ban + rollback / inventory wipe			appeal - 30 day ban + rollback / inventory wipe
hacking/cheating	warning/kick	warning/kick	24 hr ban	appeal
minor grief	warn	warn	warn	warn	Considered "moderate" grief
moderate grief	24 hr ban	48 hr ban	appeal
major grief	appeal
chat spam/trolling/disruption	warn	mute (~10m)	mute (~30m)	12 hr ban
bigotry/hate speech	kick	24 hr ban	appeal
inducing lag (accidental)	warn/ask to remove	warn/ask to remove	appeal
inducing lag (Intentional)	warn/kick/rollback	appeal
advertising/spam	appeal
NSFW/offensive builds/skins	warn/ask to change	appeal
ban evasion	appeal (2 weeks)
Harassment	appeal
doxxing	appeal
ban baiting	appeal
staff impersonation	Admin Discretion
illegal pvp	appeal

Staff Responsibilities

Last Updated: August 7, 2015 Documentation Link

• Head Admins:
  • Guide the overarching direction of NerdNu
  • Approve expenditures and all other financial matters
  • Facilitate communication between staff members, such as coordinating server resets and events, or moderating disagreements between staff
  • Approve or veto rule changes, both broad and server-specific
  • Lead the creation and refinement of policy
  • Conduct staff management and address “human resources” concerns
  • Facilitate moderator nominations and provide final approval on new moderators and admins
  • Conduct periodic staff cleanups, and remove staff members as necessary
  • Provide assistance with admin tasks on any server to reduce the workload of the server admins, as needed and when comfortable
  • Interact with the community at large to have an ear to the pulse of the times, through media such as our hosted games and servers, forums, subreddit, mumble, and irc
• Tech Admins
  • Maintain the operation of the servers
  • Are responsible for server integrity - as such, techs have the final word on matters of server security and stability
  • Keep the servers running
  • Ensure plugins are up to date
  • Implement new features via plugin creation, etc. as desired
  • Advise other staff on technical matters such as server hardware, plugin selection, etc
  • Interview and approve candidates for additional tech admins
  • Address technical issues brought to their attention through avenues such as modreq, forums, or irc reporting
• Server Admins
  • Guide the fundamental direction and logistics of their respective servers, taking precedence in internal server-specific matters
  • Propose and lead discussion on rule changes for their respective servers
  • Make server-specific decisions ideally as a server admin consensus, otherwise as a supermajority (⅔) vote
  • Address admin-requests on their servers
  • Plan and develop new revisions/maps as desired and necessary
  • Select and approve candidates for respective server admins
  • Interact with the community at large on their respective servers, and additional media such as our other hosted games and servers, forums, subreddit, mumble and irc
• Moderators
  • Moderate chat content on our servers, forums, subreddit, mumble, and irc
  • Attend to modreqs as needed
  • Assist players in general
  • Help out with the production of special events or projects as needed by admin teams
  • Nominate and vote on candidates for additional moderators as needed

Returning Staff Policy

Last Updated: August 7, 2015 Documentation Link

Over the years, we have had a number of both inactive and past staff re-join the team to assist the community once more. With few exceptions we have always tended to add former staff back onto the moderating team at the very least. However it isn’t fair on the community to add people back onto staff who aren’t active. We want to ensure that there is a clear process for returning staff and that it isn’t just a case of pals being added to sit in a position without the knowledge of how to help effectively.

If you’re looking to return to staff, please use the following steps:

• Contact any / all head admins to state your intent with assisting on staff once more. I would recommend a group forum pm because it is easier to track and has timestamps.
• Show that you’re involved in the community by being active for 28 days (for example: spend some time bringing up your usage on the servers from your current point).
• The head admins will communicate your desire to return to staff in the private mod chat forum, allowing up to one week for any potential feedback.
• After 28 days of engaging with the community, provided your activity is in-line with the kind of average levels that our other staff have on the servers, we’ll move forward with updating your permissions and providing re-training.
• Re-training will vary per person depending on the length of time since last helping out on staff.

Staff Inactivity Policy

Last Updated: August 7, 2015 Documentation Link

With this Staff Inactivity Policy, we aim to address the activity issues experienced across staff for years by having a clear process documented for updating permissions of people deemed inactive.

Members of staff are active if they are fulfilling their responsibilities and investing an appropriate amount of time in doing so (on the same order of magnitude as their compatriots). While some may go above and beyond, taking the time to assist in areas not expected of them, we primarily expect each person on staff to tend to the tasks underlined in their current role.

We will implement quarterly staff cleanups (every three months), in which moderators who have not met the standard of activity across the preceding quarter will be moved to the inactive category on our website, and those who have been categorized as inactive across the preceding quarter will be moved to the past moderators category. People whose status is changed will be notified via forum message at minimum. Staff members who experience planned or unplanned inactivity should inform us of it as early as possible to avoid being unduly caught in a staff cleanup.

Since admins often have more time-sensitive responsibilities and are integral to the operation of their spheres of interest, we will keep in close contact with each admin team to make sure that inactivity does not become an issue. Much of admin activity is invisible to the public (e.g. new revision planning, or plugin development) and as such, the best window on their holistic activity is through the admin teams themselves. We expect members of each admin team to come to us if they have concerns about activity, and we will also reach out to them if we perceive any issues with a member of their team, conferring with them before making a decision.

Those staff who are active in the community but are not engaging with their responsibilities to a level similar to their counterparts will be contacted privately to discuss options such as their stepping down to take a break or determining ways in which we can support them.