Nice post mineocreeper, always nice to hear about players experience on the server. Things like that happen sadly, but you got it sorted out and happy ending after
"one day i got perm muted for no reason"
Sorry to hear that.. the mute command was terrible.. because unlike banned players joining or tempbanned, there would always be a server log and a chance that I might notice it and especially if it was a mistake or staff member had done something I wasn't aware of like banning a player I wouldn't have thought would do anything to get banned etc.
But a muted player could rejoin the server and I'd never know they were still muted and neither would any Staff member know, unless they were the ones who muted the player... I would guess it was probably a mistake that you got muted permanently or at least a mistake that you were forgotten about and not unmuted... KZ staff had rules to follow when it came to how I wanted the server to be run.
Anyway here is my 'Staff Basics' thread that is sticky'ed in the Staff forum ... Thought I'd share it, I wrote it years ago for any Helpers to read before they got Staff rank... It was how I wanted the server to be run when I wasn't doing it, and I think all KZ staff did a good job on things.
Always try to help players understand the basics, with how things work on Kraftzone.
As staff you should be familiar with most the commands available including the various helper commands such as...
/vote (playername)
/rules
/ranks
/welcome | /kraftzone
/helpcmd
/spawner
/chestshop
/mychunks
/towns
/tblocks
Where I have put (playername) eventually you will be able to just direct the information to that player name without needing to use the below announce commands.
For all of the above commands there is usually a staff/helper only version that announces to everyone on the server the same info. It is sometimes useful to use these as a way to provide the relevant information on the screen to anyone asking about something that one of these commands would provide the info they wanted to know.
/avote (playername)
/arules
/aranks
/awelcome | /kraftzone
/ahelpcmd
/aspawner
/achestshop
/amychunks
/atowns
/atblocks
Spawners
Use /espawner ..it will give a list of the mob types.
Never sell more than 10spawners to the same player, or multiple players of the same town who are building grinders, just follow the rules of /spawner
Repairs
/erepair all
Staff don't have to do repairs, though you should charge for doing them if you do.
Troublesome players
Fights, trouble, ..................
<time> = can be minutes, hours, days.... 5m, 1h, 2d
Always make a distinction between a new player who has just joined and a regular player who votes and holds a rank higher than the default.
Preference and leniency always goes to the regular player or the player with the highest rank.
Except in the cases when it is the player with the higher rank who is causing the trouble.
Warnings - Always make it clear you are giving them a warning, and say what will happen (ie next time it will be mute, tempban) if they persist in doing whatever it is they doing to get them in trouble the first time.
Kicks- This is generally only good when a player is not listening or ignoring you, don't be quick to just kick players out of lazyness to not talk or warn them. Players should always be given a warning about being kicked if they continue. Kicking is not a replacement for a warning. They will often reconnect and if what they were doing was disruptive to the server they will do it again most likely and you will have to deal with them again when you should have warned them that a mute or tempban would happen.
Mute- Only good for when a player is causing trouble in the chat, and has been given plenty of warnings that they would get a mute if they didn't chill out and stop reacting to things said in the chat. If multiple players are involved in a fight that is disrupting the chat give warnings to both of them. Mute lengths should only ever be 1min -10mins for first time. If after the mute they continue, then considering either a longer mute, or tempban.
command /(e)mute <playername> <time>
example: /emute Bob 1m
Max length 1-10mins, longer only if you will be on the server after the mute expires. Never longer than 30mins to an hour. And never longer than the time you will be playing on the server if you mute without putting a max length, so muted players are not forgotten and left permanently muted!
Tempban - This is the highest form of action I permit staff to use for troublesome players, players should have been given warnings that this would happen, or there actions on the server were deemed enough to give them a tempban regardless of them being on the server or offline. If you make a tempban you should also have screenshot evidence, or written evidence explaining what happened, and what further action should be taken.. Such as full ban and or ip ban off all servers.
Updated-23/04/2014 Make a new topic or (post in a topic you have already made) on the staff board with at least minimum information (playername, tempban time etc) and what had happened, and if further action is needed If they were advertising then you should still make a topic so they can be ip banned.
command /(e)tempban <playername> <time>
example: /etempban Bob 1d
Max length 1-3days.
Always a shorter length for higher the rank, and make a post on the staff board about what happened.
Currently we do not have any easy way to make notes on players, but it will be implemented in the future so that both Kraftzone and KraftWars can sync all mutes, tempbans, bans, ipbans, and notes made on players name/ip for respective staff+ on those servers to be informed.
Griefing
Seriousness of griefing depending on if they griefed a protected area, or just an unprotected area.
If they are online, warning or tempban depending on seriousness, and rollback area.
Minor griefing, just a warning.
In all cases: Instruct the towny, mychunk or sponge owner on how to better protect the area they own, and ask them to kick out the griefer and any other relevant players who might have joined in a group at the same time.
Advertisers
This can be split up into 2 cases, the new player who just joined and is spam advertising.
Instant tempban, and I suggest getting fast at doing it because it is usually not the server advertising, but the spamming of the chat that is disruptive to players.
/etemp SpammerName 3d
2nd case.. the player is a regular, or higher rank than member.
They are advertising, give them a warning let them know they should use a server list to advertise etc.
Muting is not recommended for spammers or advertisers with 1 exception, you are support rank, you have social spy on, and you are going to be on the server for duration of the mute time. To make sure they are not just advertising via private messages. The only reason you would do this is so they stay on the server longer.
I do not recommend it though.
Spamming
Similar to Advertisers, but always give fair warnings to regular players spamming nonsense, if they are a new player spamming then kicking, muting or tempban.
The KZ staff board is like a hidden piece of server history, I haven't taken a look at it since closing the minecraft server but looking at it again today since reading your post.. I almost feel like unlocking it to members to look back on, the screenshots of griefed buildings towns, the server chat / spam that staff sometimes took pictures of, the drama, the banned player reports.. lol you guys would enjoy looking back at it from the side of those who helped run it back from when it started through its popular period right upto to the closing. Perhaps even remember being present at the time of such events.
I don't think some of the ip addresses that might be exposed in some posts would matter years later would it
heh . So maybe I might go through and sort out the topics and posts that can be checked and unlock the 100's of threads and posts for all to check out
or not I can't decide, you'd get the see hidden kz history though
Maybe if there is enough interest in it I'll do it.