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Going to be walking on eggshells here slightly but I think this is an issue worth bringing up. It's something that has bothered me multiple times and I know it's something other people have brought up in the past as well.

I think mods need to be better at communicating the reasons for a ban, especially when the banned person in question is asking for it to be explained to them. I want to note that I think there's a big difference between "why was i banned plz unban" and "Could you explain what you meant by this? I don't really understand what I did wrong here." but both are treated exactly the same and given the same dismissive non-responses.

So I do kind of have to talk about my experience to talk about this but I need to make my intentions in doing so clear.
I am not relitigating the one week ban I just had. I accept that ban, I am not trying to argue against the ban itself. I know that is against the rules of this thread and from my perspective I am not breaking those rules because what I want to talk about is specifically the issue regarding the responses given through the Ticket system. To emphasize this point, I am not including any details about the ban in question, and thus will not post what my ticket was in full (because it did have me explaining my perspective on the situation), but I will quote something I said in it that should hopefully make clear to anyone reading this post what the intention of the ticket was.

First of all, it wasn't sent under the "Ban Appeal" option, because I was not trying to appeal the ban, it was sent under the "Moderation Inquiry" option.
And here's some of what I said in it:
"I want to try and understand where this ban is coming from. I recognize it's only week and I'm not trying to argue or start any trouble, I am just legitimately baffled. In what way was I concern trolling?" "what could I have done in this situation"

Now, to make sure I'm not misrepresenting things, the full ticket was three paragraphs, but for the sake of not getting into specifics of the ban, I present the above as my example that I was, from my perspective rather clearly, trying to get further clarification and understanding about why I was banned because I truly honestly did not understand it. I was not trying to appeal the ban. I wrote this Ticket fully ready to accept whatever further explanation I got.

This is the response, four days later:


I was really confused by this. I didn't say anything about the ban being on my record. I was asking for more information.
I thought about sending another ticket but I knew from past experience it would just be Rejected. So I sat on this for the remainder of my ban and went back and forth on if it would be worth making a post in this thread. Ultimately I decided it was, not for me specifically, I'm no longer asking about this particular ban, I am bringing this up because I think it's a symptom of a larger problem.

First of all, let's all admit that it really comes across like whoever responded didn't really read what my ticket said. They probably skimmed it, saw me talking about the ban, and then just wrote that it was staying on the assumption I was trying to appeal the ban (even thought it wasn't in that category...). But also the wording here is just so detached, so dismissive. The only reason I don't think this is an automated response is because it took four days to get. If I'm wrong about this and my Ticket was read in full, then the read was painted with an assumption and ignored both what I was saying within it and what category it was sent under.

So here's what I started thinking about during the rest of my ban.
What is the point of a short ban on ResetEra?

Like, the point of a Permanent Ban is obvious, the staff have decided that you are no longer welcome on this forum. Pretty clear cut there. So what about the short ones? No other forum I have been on does them. But they're a slap on the wrist, right? A "go sit in the corner and think about what you did". Okay, I've made peace with that. It still feels pretty bad when it happens but that's how Era rolls. Well, how can someone think about what they did if they don't understand it? Surely the point of a ban like this requires the banned user to be able to reflect. I honestly wonder what percentage of bans have happened where the person never really understood why they were banned and just let it go.

Part of the problem is also the vibe that the mods always assume the absolute worst intentions possible from every user. Like, people complain about this all the time too. And from my perspective you can see it in the dismissive response I got. But I also imagine that a lot of mods will scoff at the idea that we deserve further explanations at all, they might think that everyone is just looking to argue and undermine them or whatever. But I really don't think that's the case and I think the culture here would be a lot healthier if there were better channels of communication between these two "sides".

So here's where my thoughts are at. The short single sentence ban messages aren't really enough. I think people deserve a little bit more about why they've been banned. I'm not saying every single one week ban needs to be sent a personal five paragraph essay on what they did wrong or anything. But a little more information is probably due and if people actively ask for a better explanation, that should be provided to them. Even if every other person in the thread understands why they were banned, if the banned person themselves doesn't then the ban doesn't really have any purpose beyond people who didn't like their post feeling satisfied they got someone in trouble with the teachers. And maybe the people seeking further information won't accept the answer given but I think there at least needs to be a way to get that answer. I think the Ticket system should be a reliable method that people feel comfortable and safe to use. It shouldn't feel like poking a sleeping bear, provided the Ticket isn't obviously abusive towards the staff reading it.

I really hope my intention has come across here. I hope this doesn't just sound like me whining about my ban because that's really not what I'm trying to do here. And while I do think the response to my ticket was kind of insulting, I'm not even complaining about that. I just think that communication between mods and users has always been at the root of most of the issues raised in this thread and I think this is one department where there needs to be some improvement. Whenever there's a big blowup here about someone being banned the mods say the banned person can send a ticket if they want to talk about it. Well that's clearly not true. This has happened to me multiple times and I know I've seen others complain about it too. There is no avenue of discussion within the ticket system. You are dismissed and the ticket closed without response. There has to be a better way.

Well, whatever happens, I thank anyone who took the time to read this post. I've been thinking about it a lot the past few days.

Known mod cock gobbler melts down when hit with the hammer themselves. Many such cases

I agree extremely much with this.

I have gotten banned at times where a post of mine was interpreted in such a way I wasn't even able to comprehend. I sincerely asked for an explanation, only to not commit the same error twice, and gotten the same "After reviewing your ban, we have decided it should remain in your record".

And I'm like "wtf okay, but that's not what I'm asking. I'm asking you to explain it to me in a way it's not just a generic one line message on top of my banned post"

Exact same thing happened to me. I asked for a clarification about a warning I received. I wasn't sure which part of my post was moderable. The only response was "the warning will stay on record". Ok...? That ain't what I asked

Like you, I also filed it under Moderation Inquiry and not Appeals. I won't pretend I'd say no to having it lifted if it was misread, but the core of my ticket was to ask for clarification.

Might as well nuke the entire "Moderation Inquiry" ticket category, because it's clearly not helping much.

Not surprised so many got the exact same response over the exact same issue but I'm glad you're all putting yourselves out there to confirm what I already suspected. This is a frequent occurrence and it needs to change. I'm not trying to "come at" the staff here or anything but surely they have to understand how frustrating it must be to be in the position where you're trying to understand what lesson you should even be learning and instead they clearly didn't even bother to read your ticket or engage with you with even a single ounce of good faith. Whatever it is about the ticket system and how it's being handled that is leading to this happening, I think it's something that should be addressed.

I love when Morricunt acts like she wasn't part of the same moderation team that created this cluster fuck in the first place. You're complicit you cunt!