The Case of the Vanishing Juggler

[Cat Square]

My friend CJ, aka Crusty Juggler, aka =OTS= Mark Dacascos, recently caught a mute for letting a little language slip. The mute was punishment for his commending of a teammate, which he punched up with an expletive. The admin responsible muted him with no warning, and did so incognito, effectively dodging any sort of conversation about it. The mute will be in effect for six months.

It would be one thing if this had happened to a disruptive or unpleasant player, one that complains and adds nothing to the game, but CJ is quite the opposite. He's friendly, helpful, communicates well, almost exclusively plays medic, has an uncanny knack for detecting the Carolton Cheater, has been a gold donor many times over, has captained a Ville Cup team, and more. Players like him make The Ville a better place; somewhere we all like to come back to.

I know that 'rules are rules', but haven't certain players earned a bit of slack? Wouldn't a "hey, watch it buddy!" have been enough? (It would have). Must you cling to and enforce these rules so harshly? And shouldn't The Ville do everything in its power to hold on to players like CJ? I think so.

I don't mean to sound entitled or unappreciative, these servers are uniquely good and I'm thankful that there exists a pleasant place to play online, but treating worthwhile players like they're disposable is a mistake. This isn't about reversing the mute, it's about expressing disappointment in The Ville for such severe discipline against someone who has given so much. CJ has told me of some bad experiences with admins here in the past, and after being slapped in the face like this, I wouldn't be surprised if we never saw him at The Ville again.
What a shame.

[belak]

I'm no admin, but I've always seen a warning before action is taken... I've almost always seen the admin text show up for players to watch their language... if something like that was used and he ignored it, I could understand... Still, I completely understand where you're coming from.

I don't mean to speak for the admins, but if what you said was really was the case, I could see the mute at least being reconsidered if CJ were to ask an admin about it.

I'm sorry to hear that your friend was muted. And even sorrier to hear about how the situation was handled. However, I think it would be worthwhile to hear both sides of the story before passing blame on our admins.

[c4ridw3n]

Yeah, six months is a really long time to be muted for language.
I wonder if there was something else going on? Sorry, Catsquare.
Perhaps he can win an appeal.
We are all human, we all make mistakes.

[Garrett]

I have a feeling this thread will be shut down by an admin with the "forums are not the place to discuss bans" response. Suffice it to say that the mute will probably stay in place since CJ is unlikely to appeal it given past history with admins.

[Flyte]

Yeah last time I had something to say for a friend I did pm an administrator.
But the response I received is they do not discuss bans or mutes or gags with those not directly related.

[M's]

As has been stated before. We do not discuss the status of a Ban/Mute/Suspension with anyone but the party involved.
With that said, if anyone has a particular issue with anything that is being done around here, good or bad please address it with a Help desk ticket. http://www.theville.org/helpdesk/

[Flash]

As has been stated before. We do not discuss the status of a Ban/Mute/Suspension with anyone but the party involved.
With that said, if anyone has a particular issue with anything that is being done around here, good or bad please address it with a Help desk ticket. http://www.theville.org/helpdesk/

This. If you have a complaint about an admin choose that option and it will restrict it so only the Ville Council can see the ticket.

There always seems to be a misconception around here that when an admin takes action they do so in secret with no oversight. This is untrue. Every single admin action is logged and the logs are open to all other admins. All HelpDesk tickets (except those flagged "Admin Issues") are viewable by all admins. Nothing is secret, nothing is hidden.

Very rarely does any issue get resolved without input from multiple admins. We practice very open peer review here amongst the admin staff. While the admin who takes any action is ultimately responsible for handling the issue, no one does so without seeking the input of their fellow admins.