Finefire984 - Moderator Application

[Finefire984]

Byond ID:
Finefire84

Colonial Marines Character:
Michael Carrio

Age:
16 (Bday is tomorrow, but I wanted to make this today since I can't make it tomorrow.)

Gender:
M

Timezone:
GMT-5:00 Central Daylight Time

On average, how many hours are you available per week to moderate?
I'm able to moderate for the same amount of time I've been able to mentor. So about ... 42 hrs???

Do you have any previous experience in being staff (not just SS13)?
Yes, I'm a mentor on this server and used to be a mentor on Hippie station. I was not a good mentor on hippie station because I was young and dumb.

Did you play any of the previous Colonial Marine servers?
Yes, I played the pre- alpha, and the Alpha

What are the 3 biggest servers you play on besides CM?
I don't play many servers besides CM. If I had to say though, then Hippie and Aurora.

Provide links to any previous Colonial Marines applications that you've made:
I have two pred apps here: viewtopic.php?t=6554 and viewtopic.php?f=127&t=11016 I rushed these and they weren't good at all.
I have one job appeal app here: viewtopic.php?f=87&t=9825 This was for my XO job ban and it was lifted.

Are you currently a staff member elsewhere (not just SS13)? If so, where?
Nope, just a mentor here.

Have you ever been banned for more than 24 hours on Colonial Marines?
Yes, once I belive.

Have you ever been banned for more than 24 hours on ANY server? If so, which server, when, and what for?
I most likely have. It would've been a while back, so I don't remember when or what for.

Are you familiar with the chat program Slack (its use is required)?
Yep

Common Staff Situations:
Write a description of what you would do in each of the following situations. Do not write on the same line as the situation - use the space below it or make space as needed. Failure to do this proves your inability to follow instructions and your application will be automatically denied.

1. A player randomly shoots someone at round start and MPs have detained him.
I will Ahelp both the shooter and the victim. If there was no "beef" before hand, I will see if the shooter is new, or if they have any other infractions from the same incident. If he doesn't, then I will give a ban for 1 hour to give them time to read over the rules. If there are other infractions, then I will ban for 5 hours and tell them to read over the rules. If there are more then 5 infractions of the same offence, then I will ban for 7 days, and make a perma request for greifing. If there was "beef" then I will give the shooter and the victim warnings, and let it go as a IC problem. I will make notes according to the circumstance.


2. The ship has a breach to space and a bunch of players have died or are dying as a result.
I will check to see what made the breach. If it was a DS or a pred explosion, I will leave it alone. If it was a player that did it, I will fix the breach and find out who did it. I will check to see if they had any other infractions. If they did, I will ban for 3 hours. If they don't, I will ban for 1 hour. I will tell them to read the rules, and add notes according to the circumstance.

3. You see a player walking around the ship naked and clearly lost.
I will inform a mentor to help the player. If there are no mentors, then I will assist the player. I will then slack for mentors.


4. A player is being very rude to you in Adminhelps and requesting to speak to an Admin+ staff member.
I will allow the player to talk to an admin if there are any that aren't busy. If there are some online and busy, I will ask the player to wait for the admin to finish, and then tell the admin when he/she is finished. If there aren't any admins online, then I will slack for some and ask the player to wait. When the admin gets on, I will tell him/ her.

5. You notice a player with a name that doesn't fit our naming rules. The player is arguing that: They've used the name for several years, no one has told them to change it before, and that they didn't know it was a rule.
I will tell the player that it is a rule, and request that the player re reads the rules and changes the name after the round. If they don't change it after two more rounds, then I will ban for an hour. Add notes.


6. You see a Maintenance Tech running around in armor and carrying a rifle. The security level is green with no threat present.
I will ask the MT to place the rifle down, and return to their work area. If they refuse multiple times or have multiple in fractions, I will engineering ban. Add notes.


7. You see a Squad Medic performing surgery on the planet. He claims it was because there were no doctors in the FOB.
I will tell the medic to stop, close the incision, and send all the wounded back to the Sulaco. I will then remind the player about the rules, and send him on his way. If the medic refuses after multiple warning or has multiple notes of the same infraction, I will medical ban.


8. The round is stagnating. There are 30 marines and 4 aliens. The marines won't leave the ship, and the aliens won't attack. What would you do, to "encourage" the sides to engage each other?
I won't be able to do much, but I would ask an admin to make an Ares report, or make an OOC anouncement telling the marine and alien totals.

9. The round ends, a MARINE starts shooting a hostile IRON BEAR and the IRON BEAR Adminhelps complaining he was killed after the round ended.
I will tell the IB that no rules have been broken, because Marines can still attack any hostiles even after the round ends.


10. A marine is running around disarming, punching and stealing gear at round start.I will sleep, and ask why the player is doing so. If they are new, I will warn and tell them to stop doing so. If they have multiple infractions I will ban for 2 hours. If then have more than 5 bans, I will ban for 7 days, then make a perma ban request.


11. A marine has killed another marine. When you ask him why, he said it was because the other marine had punched him.
I will ahelp both marines to ask what was going on. I will then warn the marine that was killed. If the shooter doesn't have any other infractions, I will then warn and appoint them to the rules. If they do have other infractions, I will then ban for 5 hours. I will make heals and add notes.


12. An issue arises that requires Admin+ abilities.
I will let an admin handle it. If there are no admins, I will slack for some.


13. There are minor racist comments going on IC. 9 of the 10 people are laughing and RPing but one player gets offended and Adminhelps about it.
I will ask the players to stop making racist comments. If they don't stop, I will ban the offenders for 1 hour. Add notes.


14. A marine opens fire at round start in briefing killing multiple marines and instantly logs off.
I will heal the marines, and check the shooter's notes. If there are no other offences, I will ban for 1 day. If there are other offences, I will ban for 7 days, and make a perma request. Add notes.


15. You see a player playing a xeno larva/chestburster run towards the frontlines and die.
I will ask why they did so. If they have no other infractions, I will warn, revive the larva, then remove the player from the body. If they do have multiple infractions, then I will xeno ban. Add notes.


16. You see a xeno memeing, saying AYYLMAO, REEEEEE etc in hivemind chat.
I will ask them to stop. If they don't after multiple warnings, I will xeno ban. Add notes.


17. A xeno player calls the shuttle a "dropship". A different xeno player complains to you that it's metagaming/failRP to call it a "dropship".
I will inform the player that it is fine if the xeno accidentally called it a dropship. I will inform the xeno that calling the dropship "dropship" as xeno bothers people. I will ask if they changed it to "metal bird." If the ahelping player keeps arguing, then I will ask them to stop. If they don't, I will mute ahelps.

18. A Command staff player at briefing near round-start mentions there are aliens on the planet.
I will inform the player, that marines don't know there are aliens at the start of the round. If they keep argung, or have multiple infractions, I will then ban for 1 hour. Add notes.


19. A Marine kills another Marine on the EVAC Pod to take the last spot and claims it was RP as he was saving himself.
I will check to see if there was any role-playing involved. If so I will let it go as a IC problem. If not I will revive the player, and check the killer's notes. If they don't have any infractions, I will warn. If they do, I will ban for 1 hr.


20. You see a fellow staff member give wrong information in an Adminhelp or incorrectly enforcing a rule.
I will inform the staff member that they are enforcing the rules wrong, and copy and paste the rule in an ahelp to the staff member.

20a. You see a fellow staff member abusing his powers in-game.
I will ask the staff member to stop. If they don't, I will tell a higher up like Apop, Rahl, or Feweh immediately.


21. You see a player talking in OOC chat about what he did with your mom last night.
I will ask the player to stop using ahelp improperly. If they continue, I will mute their ahelps.


Any additional information you'd like to add?
Sorry for being inactive lately. I came back and there were things going on in life. It's all over now, so I should be coming back to normal.

[Jroinc1]

This is actually a -1 from me.
Edited to +1. Can see why he made decisions, and responded well to criticism.


Ban times are irregular.
6 is an IC issue, no action is required from you.
4 and 20 are REAL awkward, like robotically awkward. You wouldn't care or mention the rudeness to the admin? You'd just tell your superior he was wrong? What if the enforcement's not clear-cut?
10's kinda an IC issue...
13's also really an IC issue. I mean, you CAN ban 9 people for hurting someones feelings, but... yeah.
For 15, you'd revive the larva? Why? Was it killed via "powergaming"? What're you gonna do if it gets instakilled by 'rines again?
16, you're allowed an occasional meme.

For a current staff, and for anyone with access to the approved app section, this is kinda sub-par.

Recommend reading other approved apps/the recently changed rules and adding clarification to a few of these, as this really isn't that bad and should be easily salvageable.

[Finefire984]

4- The Admins would be able to see the player being rude because they can see when people are sending ahelps back and forth to each other. I could tell the admin that they are being rude, but it wouldn't be too necessary.

6- Something like a MT or any non combative roles armored up like they are about to go to the planet and fight would be against role play. There is work to be done and goofing around and acting like an infantryman isn't professional, or appropriate in a time of war.

10- Actions like this cause problems and usually cause ahelps to blow up. It's better to take care of the person right away instead of having 20 ahelps about the same situation.

13- In today's society racist comments cause lots of problems. We also want to keep our player base happy and where people can blow off steam and enjoy playing a video game. There is no need to have people ruin it because they decided to be racist. Yeah, only one person might've ahelped it, but there could be people that it bothers but they don't want to ahelp about the situation.

15- I would revive the larva because the aliens work hard to get the larva, and if in late game situations larva let people keep playing the game. There is no need to keep people out of the game and stop them from having fun because someone decided to join and get the larva killed instead of actually playing. I would also try to get the larva teleported to the alien nest to keep it safe until someone else takes the body over.

16- Things like "REEE"s would be fine. However, "Ayylmao"s would start to get out of hand. Just like #10, it's better to take care of it right away then to deal with t when it blows up.

20-It could be a possibility that I'm thinking he was wrong, but in those situations the staff member would usually tell me where he was going with it and how they were enforcing it correctly. However, in this situation I'm assuming that they are almost completely wrong and I'm just giving them a friendly reminder. I would also try to reinforce it with a copy and paste from the rules.

The ban times can be worked out during the trial phase. I don't ever hear ban times while I'm mentoring.

[Jroinc1]

4- Granted
6- That's WHY we have MP's. Let them deal with it, and there was a recent rule change about it.
10- I can see your reasoning, even if I strongly disagree.
13- Same as 10.
15- Same as 10.
16- Same as 10.
20- Understood.

Ban times, SERIOUSLY? How do people still not know these? 3hr, 24hr, 3 days, 7 days.

[Finefire984]

"6- Weapon use on the ship -
Code Green - Weapons may be carried by combat jobs, police jobs, the Commander, and the XO."

Says nothing about MT's. I see where you're going with it, but it's still against RP.

I'll fix these ban times according to the ones you stated:
1-5 hrs changed to 24 hrs.
2- 1 hr changed to 3 hrs. 3 hrs changed to 24 hrs.
3- No bans required.
4- The admin will handle the ban.
5- 1 hr changed to 3 hrs.
6- Stay the same.
7- Stay the same.
8- No bans required.
9- No bans required.
10- 2 hrs changed to 3 hrs.
11- 5 hrs changed to 24 hrs.
12- Admin will ban if needed.
13- 1 hr changed to 3 hrs.
14- Stays the same.
15- Stays the same.
16- Stays the same.
17- No bans required.
18- 1 hr changed to 3 hrs.
19- 1 hr changed to 3 hrs.
20- No bans required.
20a- Higher ups will determine punishment.
21- No bans required.

Ban times will still be fixed during the trial period.

[slc97]

I would be lying if I said I didn't expect better answers from a mentor and better knowledge of ban times. I'm going to go ahead and stay neutral on this for now. I'll need feedback from other staff before I make my decision.

[Scrat505]

While the ban times may not be the most accurate, I feel that the proper procedure is still there for the majority of the questions. That is, investigating, punishment or corrective action, noting. This shows a decent understanding of the process, and being that mentors might not be able to exactly know our usual ban times, shows that they've been paying attention. I'll give a +1.

[TheSpoonyCroy]

A bit late on this one but lets give this a look

• For question 1, I can see a few issues that no one really picked up on. So I'll break them down here
  1. Banning on the first offense, I might be lenient among the staff but I know most other staff rarely ban on the first offense, it will generally be a warning unless its something quite drastic ie very blatant griefing
  2. Seems you forgot to mention that misfires can happen and what do you do with them there
  3. Even if there is some "IC Beef" have to make sure it was properly executed since if someone jumped from insults to firearms, that is pretty typical breach of improper escalation.
  4. Finally, if you see no issues with the shooting and make it an IC issue, then there would be no need for any warning (I'm assuming you mean noting down their actions if you are giving them a warning)
• For question 2, again I would suggest warnings over bans on the first offense
• For question 4, I would suggest on this one after reading your additives to this one is to make sure to tell them since generally if a staff member is busy, they aren't going to always be noticing what is going on besides their case so there is no harm in saying they were rude to you.
• For question 5, you did correct the times in your additive but can you give me an example of one of these notes for names, for this example use Spike Spiegel ?
• For question 6, going to agree with Jronic on this one. This is an IC issue with the recent rule changes. It might be "violating the rp" but we are leaving cases like these to the MPs now, you can maybe throw them a bone but you don't have to do anything until they go planetside without authorization for a case like this, then that makes it an OOC issue, which we deal with.
• For question 7, medical ban might be a tad harsh. A medic ban might be a tad more fitting in this case if there are multiple warning about this kind of thing.
• For question 8, a ooc announcement is a little too much for a mod. I would maybe suggest using SM telling the commanding officer or the queen that they have a good feeling about pushing or something like that.
• For question 10, I would generally leave this as an IC issue until it gets really bad or one of the other marine rules are broken (mostly likely would be improper escalation)
• For question 11, 24 hrs would be harsh if this is only the 2nd time they have broken the improper escalation rule, I would suggest 3 hours then esclating it further if there are more warning on topic related to it.
• For question 13, this one really depends on context and banning would be fine if its truly an awful comment but how the question is posed it seems to be a light jab, which we generally allow.
• For question 16, we actually don't really allow the term "Reeeee" either but we do allow it occasionally, also a xeno jobban might be a tad harsh if there were no prior normal bans for it
• For question 21, this is in OOC not via ahelp, so what would you do then?

You are receptive to criticism however from a mentor who has been here for around 6 months now, I would expect a better insight into how mods/mins deal with cases like these. So for now I'm going to have to say -1.

[Finefire984]

I would be lying if I said I didn't expect better answers from a mentor and better knowledge of ban times. I'm going to go ahead and stay neutral on this for now. I'll need feedback from other staff before I make my decision.

Mentors never really hear the ban times. At least I don't.

[Swagile]

We're not told ban times unless the moderator / trialmod is new and asks fellow moderators on how they should precede with a ban. Otherwise, we're mostly left in the dark.

[slc97]

I feel mentors who have been here an extended period of time that would like to be moderators should be taking the initiative to find these things out. It's as simple as shooting me a PM and asking.

For now, if you would like to respond to some of Spoony's criticisms and corrections, it will help me to form a better idea of your style, but I will be refraining from moving my opinion to either side without further opinion from other staff.

[Finefire984]

Question 1- I understand giving a warning here. For misfires, I would let it go and have it play at ICly. I see "IC beef" as punching, and maybe threatening to kill the other player with their firearms. I see how that can be seen as just arguing. In the case of improper escalation, I would run it as question 11. If it is an IC issue, I would give a warning telling them not to do the same actions to get it triggered again. By noting according to the circumstance, I mean noting a ban if i give a ban, or noting a warning if I give a warning.

Question 2- I still understand the warning.

Question 4- If I'm telling an admin that a playing wants to talk to them instead of me, you'd expect that the player would've thrown at least a little bit of rudeness in there. However, I wouldn't be that offended if a player is rude to me, because I understand being on the receiving side of a ban.

Question 5- Note: Warned for having the name Spike Spiegel, fictional anime character. Told to change the name for next round.

Question 6- I never saw this in the rule changes, but understandable.

Question 7- I didn't know you can medic ban without banning all medical positions.

Question 8- Alright, then I'll use SM instead.

Question 10- This usually always causes problems, and I consider it a mild form of grief because it holds up the marine response time, and causes injuries that need to be fixed.

Question 11- Making it 3 hrs would give it the same punishment as the smaller offenses. It's like saying a Killer has the same time in prison as a person that committed petty theft.

Question 13- Again with my other comment. Racism is a big problem these days. We don't need another Reddit incident.

Question 16- There would've been a lot of warning by the same staff member. You'd think the players should stop, and if they don't then the xeno ban would be in place.

Question 21- OOC is always spammed, so I most likely wouldn't see it. Even if I did see it, other players probably wouldn't see it. So I would most likely just let it go.

[Finefire984]

I feel mentors who have been here an extended period of time that would like to be moderators should be taking the initiative to find these things out. It's as simple as shooting me a PM and asking.

For now, if you would like to respond to some of Spoony's criticisms and corrections, it will help me to form a better idea of your style, but I will be refraining from moving my opinion to either side without further opinion from other staff.

I get what you're saying, but I'm not going to distract an Admin from doing their jobs just to tell me some ban times. Expectually if we're flooded with ahelps most of the time. I would also feel a bit weird asking a question like that.

[TheSpoonyCroy]

-snip-

Question 5, that is fine.

For question 6, this would be the rule change we are talking about:

Code: Select all

"Weapon use on the ship" rule has been moved to Marine Law and is enforceable with the "Unauthorized Weapon" law.

In other words, with the exception of metagaming (e.g. using a smartgun as a Doctor), weapon handling is now player-enforced and not admin-enforced. - Rahlzel May 7th 2017 source: http://cm-ss13.com/viewtopic.php?f=57&t=5094 

being able to keep up with rule changes is quite important for the role of moderator, so might have to be tad more vigilant. Making mistakes like this that aren't correct can easily stain a player's record and with how our current system is, its really hard to get notes removed. There have been a few exceptions but they are simply outliers to the norm.

For question 10, I can see your point but we have to temper our involvement into the round. Minor grief is generally best dealt with by the MPs, we have that role for a reason and if we crack down on every case of minor grief like the question puts, the role of MP has no purpose (some people argue we are still too involved with such minor issues).

For question 11, again I see your point but the fact is most things people can do on the server is incredibly fixable from a mod's standpoint. Some gets murdered with little to no rp, well aheal the victim and apply the appropriate punishment on the offender. I know some staff will disagree with that opinion and say a 3 hour ban is a slap on the wrist but the fact is if they such problem, a player like that will be on the fast track to a perma.

For question 13, we not might like some comments made but we shouldn't be banning things because we don't like them and a certain people took offense to them. I personally dislike some terms used on the server but I'm not going to get banhappy towards those people. The only time we get involved due racism is if its OOC or super blatant (which this question doesn't make it out to be). If anything, there is a ton of reddit drama of admin overreacting to minor things, key example is "CM banned me because I wore bunny slippers" meme that surfaces from the /r/ss13 from time to time.

For question 16, once again I get your point but you have to keep in mind the current system of job bans. They are permanent until they remove via filling out a ban appeal on the forums. By giving them a standard ban first, it gives them a kick in the rump and makes them understand the next time they try this, it wont' be a mere slap on the wrist.

[Finefire984]

-snip-

Question 6- Alright, I must've missed that rule
Change then.

Question 10- Alright, Understandable

Question 13- mhmm

Question 16- ehh, okay

I understand all of that. I'll keep it in mind if I get accepted.

[slc97]

So my biggest concern here is that, if you were to be accepted, you would not go through a trail phase. Long time mentors usually jump straight to mod. Because of this, I tend to expect higher quality applications from them, and some initiative in gathering information to better understand the duties and protocols of being a moderator. That's why I'm going to -1 this.

If this is denied, I'd like you to reapply 30 days after. In that 30 days, I'd like you to take the time to understand more about the position of moderator. Understand that I have an open door policy to both staff and players. I can be messaged on slack, on the forums, on discord, or on byond, and I will always try to get back to you as quickly as I can. In those 30 days, feel free to ask me any questions to try and get a better grasp of the position.

[Finefire984]

So my biggest concern here is that, if you were to be accepted, you would not go through a trail phase. Long time mentors usually jump straight to mod. Because of this, I tend to expect higher quality applications from them, and some initiative in gathering information to better understand the duties and protocols of being a moderator. That's why I'm going to -1 this.

If this is denied, I'd like you to reapply 30 days after. In that 30 days, I'd like you to take the time to understand more about the position of moderator. Understand that I have an open door policy to both staff and players. I can be messaged on slack, on the forums, on discord, or on byond, and I will always try to get back to you as quickly as I can. In those 30 days, feel free to ask me any questions to try and get a better grasp of the position.

If I get accepted would it be possible that I'm given a trial period? I want to go through the same process as everyone else. I completely understand that I should already know the job since I'm part of staff, but I think me going straight to moderator would be unfair to everyone that isn't staff.

[Biolock]

If I get accepted would it be possible that I'm given a trial period? I want to go through the same process as everyone else. I completely understand that I should already know the job since I'm part of staff, but I think me going straight to moderator would be unfair to everyone that isn't staff.

While being a mentor isn't technechly being a part of staff, it's not favoritism that allows one to bypass the trial period. The application is used to evaluate a player's understanding of the rules and roles of a moderator; the trial period is to evaluate the candidate's activity, interaction with the community, and understanding of the player panel and server control. As a mentor, we as staff have already evaluated your performance on the things generally evaluated during the trial; to provide you with a second trial would be a waste of time for everyone.

[Feweh]

Denied, re-apply in 30days