=============================================================================== WIZARDS AND HELP STAFF MEMBERS POLICY =============================================================================== By granting you the status of wizard (hereafter called 'wiz') or helpstaff member (hereafter called 'helpstaffer'), the owner of the MUCK (hereafter referred as 'One') places his trust in you. Your status enables you with some power over the MUCK and its users, but it also implies that you have many added responsibilities towards the MUCK owner and users. This document is the policy which any wiz or helpstaffer must follow. Failure to abide this policy or any violation of the rules implemented in it will result in sanctions being taken, ranging from a simple warning to @toading, depending on the offense and following the sole decision of One. 1.- GENERAL BEHAVIOUR, WIZ/HELPSTAFF RULES: - You are a servant of the People, the People are NOT your servants; their needs come before your own. Remember that as a wiz/helpstaffer you are one of the representatives of the MUCK, the users will watch your actions and draw conclusions from them on what is allowed and not allowed. Please avoid "do as I say, not as I do" speeches, as the users will go by the example set for them. - You will respect thouroughly the players' privacy. The fact that some wiz/ helpstaffer tools entitle you to read private properties on characters or objects does NOT give you the right to do so unless you do need it AS A WIZ/HELPSTAFF to solve a problem or fulfil a request of the character/object owner. Violation of any player's privacy will result in an IMMEDIATE @toading (proof of the violation will be collected by One, via the examination of the MUCK server technical logs). - You will respect the player's rights to roleplay within the limits set in the MUCK AUP and policies, but you will also enforce the MUCK AUP and policies whenever needed, in your field of expertise, and will report any violation you are not able/expected to deal with to the appropriate wiz/helpstaffer. - In any situation where you are called upon to make a decision regarding a problem, you will do so impartially. If you are personnally involved in the problem being dealt with, you must refrain from taking any decision without first reporting the issue to One. It is always wise to ask for other wizzes' or helpstaffers' advice for help in arbitrating a decision. If you are unable to deal with ANY situation, ask for assistance from the other wizzes and helpstaffers. Do NOT attempt something on your own that you have no experience with. - Your views as a player are irrelevant as a wiz/helpstaffer. You will refrain from stating your personal views and objectives unless specifically asked and, if you are asked, you will present them in a format that is not offensive or combatative. Furthermore, another player's beliefs are not grounds for @toading or other harrassment of the player. - Your actions are your own. If another player causes you to become enraged and you punish them, you will be responsible for that in full towards One. 2.- GUIDELINES: - On duty vs off duty: wizzes and helpstaffers are expected to be regulars on the MUCK and in active duty. Off Duty means you are not a wiz/helpstaffer at the moment. That does not mean you can be rude, or cause problems. It just means that you are taking a break. If a user pages you while off duty, just refer them to an on duty wiz, or offer to page-mail them a response. This does not mean, if it is an emergency, to ignore the situation; it is indeed sometimes best to just deal with the user and move on. If you are to go AFK, set yourself off-duty: a player should not wait after your return to receive an anwser to their question/concern, while thinking that you are at your keyboard. - Dealing with others: always, and without question, be polite. Inevitably you will encounter a player who, for whatever reason, is not nice. The wrong way to deal with a player who is rude, brutish, nasty, obnoxious, etc. is to return the behaviour, make threats, call names, and other unpleasantries. Be polite and civil in all cases, as you will invariably maintain control of the situation if you do. If the person harrasses you (see below for more on what constitutes harrassment), tell them (via page or whisper, and do so firmly, but politely) to cease. If they continue, make a log file and submit it to the player relations helpstaff and to One. Do not stay around and take more abuse. Submit the log file and leave. If they continue to page you, ignore them. Do not engage with persons if they continue the behaviour after you have asked them to cease. Communicating via a written medium is difficult: your interlocutors don't see you, neither do they hear the tone of your voice. They can't therefore sense objectively what emotions you are having while speaking to them, they can only guess. Even a very polite and respectful phrase can be perceived as ironic. To lift any misunderstanding, the use of smileys is highly encouraged (but don't add a smiley after each of your phrases, else it becomes pretty much irrelevant and you'll not be able to emphasize the emotions properly when actually needed). ;-) - Dealing with harassments: first the definition of harassment: a course of conduct directed at a specific person that causes -substantial- emotional distress in such a person and serves no legitimate purpose. Hence a player threatening you in any way, making slurs of any kind regarding any facet of your person (i.e. sex, race, religion, sexual preference) or any obvious sexual advance (without OOC consent) is considered harassment. In this definition, the key word is "substantial". Someone calling you an "asshole" or "bitch" in a volatile situation is not reasonably considered to cause substantial emotional distress. If you're in doubt about what harassment is, contact the player relations helpsatffers or One. 3.- DUTIES: - Basic help: wizzes and helpstaffers are to provide help in their field of expertise but they are not expected to answer questions they don't know the answer to. However, the worst answer to a question is "I don't know". Instead say "Let me check on that" or "I'll get back to you". It makes the user feel less like you are blowing them off. If it is way over your head, refer them to another wiz/helpstaffer, but do your best to help. - Players relations: a players relations helpstaffer or wiz is to help and ease the relations between the players on the MUCK, and to solve conflicts. Character creation and registration class: only the wizzes can create new characters, but the players relations helpstaffers are entitled to change the registration class of each character: a user can see their character(s) set to the legacy "trainee" status as a sanction for a violation of the AUP or policies: such a sanction MUST be reported to One by the players relations helpstaffer/wiz who changed the user's status. - Builders: a builder wiz or helpstaffer is to help the users with building, to build areas for the MUCK and public use, and to have the knowledge of the MUCK's linkable areas so to help the users to link (or move) their rooms to these areas. They also ensure that the linked buildings are matching the theme of the area they are linked (or to be linked) to; a builder helpstaffer or wiz is entitled to refuse to link a given room if its description and/or contents do not match the theme of the area the user wants it to be linked in. Should this lead to a conflict with the player, One will make the final decision and the problem must therefore be relayed to him. Builder wizzes and helpstaffers are also allowed to pinpoint the rooms already linked and not matching a given area; in this case, they must first try and find a solution with the owner of the said rooms, proposing a panel of adequate measures and letting the owner decide which one is to be applied. - MPI: an MPI wiz or helpstaffer is expected to help the users with more basic MPI as time permits. An MPI helpstaffer should often try to code new and interesting things to improve upon areas already built and those that the builder helpstaffers are working on. MPI helpstaffers are expected to help the users if they have MPI problems pertaining to the MUCK, or a user's character. If it is to do with another MUCK, it is up to the helpstaffer's discretion. MPI wizzes and helpstaffers are also allowed to pinpoint any abuse of a user's MPI programs that could threaten the privacy of the other users and to disable such code until a proper agreement is reached with its author. - MUF: a MUF wiz or helpstaffer has the same responsibilities than a MPI wiz or helpstaffer, but applied to MUF programs. There is currently only one MUF wiz (One) and no MUF helpstaffer. 4.- TOOLS AND CAPABILITIES: A number of commands are implemented, allowing the wizzes and helpstaffers to achieve their duties and solve the problems in their own area of responsibilies and expertise. Below is a "who can do what" table: +---------+-----------------------------+ | Wizards | Helpstaff | | MUF/MPI +---------+---------+---------+ +-------------------------------------+Building | MPI |Building | Players | | Commands/features |Relations| | |relations| +-------------------------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | helpstaff command settings | yes | yes | yes | yes | | staff chat channel access | yes | yes | yes | yes | | @bulletin administration | yes | yes | yes | yes | | @info on all characters | yes | yes | yes | yes | | @whoall | yes | no | no | no | | character @creation/@toading/@purge | yes | no | no | no | | player registration status changes | yes | no | no | yes | | @propren, @propmut | yes | no | no | no | | @rr (rooms reports) | yes | no | yes | no | | @property reading/setting on chars | yes | yes | no | no | | @property reading/setting on things | yes | yes | no | no | | @property reading/setting on rooms | yes | yes | yes | no | | @property reading/setting on exits | yes | yes | yes | no | | extended @backlink'ing of rooms | yes | no | yes | no | | bots #level setting | yes | yes | no | no | +-------------------------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ |