Post by Miyuki Wakahisa on Aug 15, 2015 13:36:19 GMT -5
Just a reminder to keep things and civil and constructive. As per usual, we're staggering these out, but expect the rest of the rules to be out before the end of the week. These are not definitive, so if you have any suggestions either post them here or PM Jian, Tokiyo, or Robert who will be taking all of the feedback.
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The Staff and Code of Conduct
The Team Behind Bleach Gotei
The Staff
Introduction
The Staff of Bleach Gotei works together as a single unit. Those on Staff are players, just like everyone, else who see fit to dedicate their time to help the game run smoothly and be that much more enjoyable for everyone else. They not only handling routine work but serving in a customer service role for all of our members.
All Staff work as equals and the only 'authority' rests with the Site Owner, who also owns the website and all of its contents.
Furthermore, the Staff of Bleach Gotei exists solely to complete work for the community that needs to be done and to maintain peace between players. These people are unpaid volunteers that, other than the extra work they do, are no different than any other player.
The Staff
Shun Minamoto, formerly Tova Diabló, is the current Site Owner. He does a little bit of everything but mostly serves to guide the rest of the Staff and handle the technical and legal issues of maintaining Bleach Gotei. All blame for downtime rests squarely on his shoulders, so don't let him forget it!
Tokiyo Fujikagi spends a lot of time reviewing character applications and requests for things such as Second Release and Prestige. He's also the go-to if you have an issue with a member, Staff or otherwise. He's also known to weigh in on tense moments in close fights, should the combatants find themselves at a point of uncertainty.
Robert Mühle does a bit of everything, but mostly focuses on character applications, requests, and activity tracking.
Dewis practically lives in the Character Applications board, doing the bulk of our Pre-Approvals and even Final Approvals when needed.
Jasper Aizawa focuses on moderating the boards, as well as weighing in on Second Release and Prestige requests.
Takua Megiddo is a bit of a jack of all trades, doing Pre-Approvals, requests, Prestige and Second Release reviews and anything else that needs a grade or rubber stamp.
Jian Oreachi is primarily a moderator of the chatbox, though you will occasionally find him jumping in on Pre-Approvals and Final Approvals for new applicants.
All Staff do a little bit of everything, of course. Any of them can approve your GP claims and expenditures. All of them are equally expected to handle personal matters delicately as well.
If you don't see your name on this list, but want to, don't fret. We try to keep our Staff small and lean, unobstructed by things such as job descriptions or titles. These members are on Staff simply because they have something they can contribute directly that necessitates such an acknowledgement. Find something you can do, a gap you can fill, and we'll be more than happy to bring you on board!
As a final disclaimer, members of Staff get no perks in-character or otherwise. Every name on this list is a person who donates their time (and sometimes money) without any sort of recompense.
The Interns
In order to demystify the behind-the-scenes processes of the Staff, such as discussions or reviews, we occasionally bring on “Interns” that exist largely just to shadow. They are not active members of Staff and simply there to watch, get their feet wet, and experience the process.
Any player can request to be an Intern by simply sending a Private Message to a current Staff Member. If there is an opening, the player can expect to have the process explained to them. After this, they’ll begin to shadow Staff to observe how things work, and are more than welcome to toss in their own ideas or input. The Intern will also be asked to jump in on some of the duties the Staff fulfills, such as doing Pre-Approval and even Final Approval, with supervision.
Interns are under no obligation to join Staff or to remain an intern for any length of time, meaning they may quit and even rejoin freely.
Current interns include:
- Walkren Dekharr
- Amelia
- Shinkiro
Mission Statement
Introduction
On Bleach Gotei we have a few goals as a community of writers and storytellers. These are our tenets, which will be listed and briefly explained. The entire community works together to provide an environment that lends itself to these things.
A Welcoming Environment
At all times, Bleach Gotei strives to be friendly and welcoming to everyone.
Any player here will tell you: Don’t be shy. No matter how new you are, no matter how inexperienced of a writer or roleplayer you think you are, jump right in. Ask questions, learn, ask to write with others. There’s never a reason to keep to yourself, to avoid others, or to be intimidated by those who you think are “better” or “more important” than you.
Every single person here is here to write with others, to work together, and that includes you, the person reading this. No matter your weaknesses, or your strengths, we’re happy to have you.
Thank you for choosing Bleach Gotei!
Self-Improvement
One of the biggest goals of Bleach Gotei is to make sure that every player here grows and becomes more than they once were, not only as writers but also as people.
Once such example, is after spending some time on Bleach Gotei many students have reported higher grades in their English classes. Better yet, those that have been with Bleach Gotei for long periods of time typically become one of, if not the, best writers in their class. That’s because Bleach Gotei consistently pushes and rewards improvement and self-enrichment. To look back and see how far you’ve come is one of the most satisfying experiences this community can give you and ties in naturally to the way we all tell stories.
At the same time, we’re more than that. We want players to grow as individuals as well. Here you will be exposed to all sorts of people. We have players in the United States, Canada, the Middle East, Europe, New Zealand, and even Japan. You will come across to all sorts of viewpoints and ideas with your fellow players; some you’ll love, some you’ll hate, and like we all do you’ll learn to work with and have fun with this diverse group of people. As your life continues you’ll find no end of support on Bleach Gotei, leading many to feel as though the community is a second home for them and a place where life long friendships may be forged.
The flip side of this, of course, is to remember that you will face criticism as you write here. When you put in Requests such as Milestones or Prestige, you’ll receive feedback that isn’t always positive and will include areas where you can focus on improvement. For this reason, players are expected to be able to handle this experience as part of their own development - If you want feedback, be prepared for everything that implies.
Having Fun
The last of our tenets, but certainly not the least, is to have fun. We want people to enjoy the collaborative storytelling they’ll take part in here on Bleach Gotei. For this reason we always, always encourage players to go after what they think is fun. Dare to do, be ambitious, try to make a change and leave your mark.
Bleach Gotei is not competitive, nor are we a video game. The years have proven that the players of Bleach Gotei consistently want to have fun together, not by getting in each others way. Even characters in antagonistic relationships can result in both sides having a very enjoyable time. Some of our most successful events have centered around that very sort of thing!
For this reason we all strive to do our best to keep as little as possible between players and having a good time. Asking is always free, daring to try something new will never be a bad thing, and even your failures (even our very best have histories full of instances where they fell short) will contribute to the community and the game world we all share.
Code of Conduct
Introduction
All players on Bleach Gotei, whether they’re Staff or not, are held to a very simple Code of Conduct. These are very easy behaviors that we ask for from all of our players simply so that way our community remains welcoming, so people can continue to improve, and so everyone can have fun easily. We rarely have to resort to using moderation tools to keep people in line, but when we do we tend to keep these actions private with the affected party--much like any major employer won’t divulge the HR file on any of their employees or customers.
The Code
The very first pillar of our Code of Conduct is that we ask that you do not engage in harassment. While we do not censor any sort of in-character content, repeatedly going after an individual or group of individuals will not be tolerated. We expect all players to refrain from “making a scene”, consistently attacking one another, or otherwise engaging in repeated behavior that makes another player(s) uncomfortable.
Second right after that is that we do not permit plagiarism. This means you cannot take anything on Bleach Gotei without permission, including our rules and the writing of other players. Furthermore, you cannot take content from other websites, sources, or roleplaying environments. As odd as it may sound to some readers, we have had multiple instances of players copying and pasting content from other mediums or even other applications on Bleach Gotei, replacing the identifying details with their own, and going forward from there.
Finally, we expect all players to be considerate of one another. Just as we expect Staff not to ever hold themselves above fellow players, we expect players to not hold themselves above each other. In the end, we are all people. This means that, if someone asks you to stop behaving in a certain way, you should do your best to oblige by their request. Even if you disagree, be considerate of those around you and do not turn a public venue into an arena for your argument. If possible, keep things private with that person or seek Staff assistance with your issue.
At the end of the day, we’re all here for the same thing: To write stories together. For this reason we ask for these simple things in order to make both your individual experience, and the experience of those here with you, that much better.
Conflict Resolution
Introduction
Our Code of Conduct, found above, is a simple guide on how players should conduct themselves on Bleach Gotei. In less professional terms, they can be summed as "Don't be A Jerk". Unfortunately, human interactions are rarely so simple, things don't always go as we would like them to, and part of the job of the staff team is to help resolve conflict between our users to ensure Bleach Gotei remains a friendly place to write.
When staff receives a complaint, the first thing we do is try and start a dialogue between both parties involved. This is where most complaints end, as most issues can be solved through discourse. When dialogue proves insufficient, however, staff have a range of disciplinary tools available to address toxic behavior.
Resolving Disputes
While the Staff of Bleach Gotei are happy to lend assistance in resolving an issue between members, not all conflicts require staff intervention. Though Bleach Gotei is comprised of players of all ages, the median seems to hover around the age of twenty years old; more than old enough to have learned appropriate means of conflict resolution.
Appropriate means of conflict resolution can take many forms; the simplest of which is to request that the subject be changed to a new topic, or that the individual stops sending you private messages.
Staff prefers that members work things out among themselves as amicably as possible, however, this isn't always possible. If members feel they cannot do so without an intermediary, or their attempts at conflict resolution fail to solve the issue, staff will gladly step in to ensure negotiations go smoothly.
Reporting Behavior
Staff cannot deal with issues that we don’t know exist. To keep Bleach Gotei a friendly, welcoming environment we need the help of our playerbase. When you see an offensive post, report it. When you see something inappropriate, let a member of staff know. If someone says something inappropriate to you, tell us. When these issues are left unaddressed they fester and allow a toxic atmosphere to develop.
Filing an official complaint is as simple as sending any member of the staff team a private message. If possible, be sure to copy the chat logs of the conversation or take screenshots so that there is evidence of what was said or done, as staff cannot implement disciplinary action based off hearsay. Even without evidence, however, staff will gladly mediate an issue between players. While complaints can be made anonymously, we prefer to start a conversation between the responsible parties and the party affected.
Consequences
Sometimes a conversation with someone who isn't behaving appropriately on Bleach Gotei isn't enough to resolve the issue. When communication breaks down, staff have a number of tools at their disposal to address the situation. Here is a list of these tools and what they do:
- Chat Kicks: Temporary removal from the chatbox, used as a warning when any of the rules of the chatbox are broken.
- Chat Bans: Removal of chatbox access rights, used after a significant infraction of the rules has been committed in the chatbox. Chat bans are utilized either after multiple repeated infringements, or a larger singular one. Chat bans can be implemented for an indefinite period of time or with a set time limit.
- Post Moderation: Requires all posts to go through Staff approval before being published and visible on the site. Post Moderation comes in two varieties: roleplay-only and full post moderation. The former allows free posting in roleplay-specific boards, including Metagame, while removing the ability to post in Out Of Character boards. Full post moderation requires any post the user makes to be approved by staff first.
While not often relevant, Staff can also remove a user’s Avatar, signature, and ability to send Private Messages if these are in some way connected to the offending behavior.
In all but the most serious of cases, the first offense will always be met with a warning. From there, the disciplinary action used depends on the offense. If a user is acting inappropriately on the boards, post moderation would be an appropriate response, but a Chat Ban would not. Staff will not implement disciplinary action based off hearsay, we require some form of evidence of the events in question, such as screenshots or chatlogs.
While disciplinary actions with set time limits expire once that set amount of time has passed, indefinite disciplinary actions are lifted when staff feel it is appropriate.
These tools exist to help reform problematic players, but when a player proves that their disruptive and toxic behavior will not stop, the last resort is a site-wide ban. This removes the player’s ability to access Bleach Gotei for an indefinite period of time. A player who has been given a site-wide ban can petition a member of staff via skype or e-mail in order to request their access be reinstated.
**TOKI: This has been published as of 9/21
