This page is a permanent link to the reply below and its nested replies. See all post replies »
PirateMonkeyCabinet · 36-40, M
Now I believe in credit where credit is due. For those instances where someone have committed heinous acts and the SW staff has taken part in ensuring they have been brought to justice, the staff deserves respect and gratitude.
Admins are humans too. We users may spot a bad post here and there, feel revolted and click report. While we may stumble upon a few, the staff will get a torrent of these bad posts sent directly to them through reports. I hope they get the support they need for dealing with that, 'cause that sure can't be easy.
And people going around spreading some really bad stuff about the staff, be it in the form of posts on other platforms or review sites is something they should crack down on. I understand and support the need to take action against the defamatory stuff, but have also seen companies over time go further and further into treating any and all criticism as "falsehoods that must be crushed". I hope that you will keep a cool and clear head when dealing with this and not go that far down the path.
[sep]
But this is where my disappointment starts. The choice of words and way this post is presented is nothing short of amazing... in a not so good way. There is a disconnect between the intended message and the way it is conveyed.
I'm absolutely not saying that the claims made are false, but they are presented in a way that comes off to me as argumentative, threatening, unprofessional and somewhat incoherent. More like "I want to win the argument" and less like "we're trying to educate users in a clear manner". I don't doubt that you may be great devs with good intentions, but - without meaning to be rude - the public relations part could do with some polish.
[sep]
But in trying to make a constructive reply I'll add a suggestion related to this.
A lot of frustrations seem to be with users having an impression that nothing is being done and things aren't being taken seriously. How about spending one hour a month (or some similarly appropriate timeframe) to write and post a regular [i]"State of SimilarWorlds"[/i] thread focusing more on plans and broader scale facts/stats? It lets users see that things are happening and progressing without large timegaps even if it isn't visible to the eye just yet at the cost of one workhour.
Let's say you make these posts once a month as an example. Without injecting opinion, frustration an such unless absolutely necessary, among other stuff post report stats.
For instance (and I'm not claiming these are actual numbers, but there to act as an example):
[quote][b]This month[/b]
[u]667[/u] posts/groups reported
of which [u]36[/u] was from last month
[c=#005E2F][u]172[/u] valid reports[/c]
[c=#800000][u]324[/u] rejected reports[/c]
[c=#A69800][u]25[/u] warnings/suspensions[/c]
[c=#BF0000][u]12[/u] banned users
[u]32[/u] deleted posts[/c]
[/quote]
So what can users learn here?
Despite being a small staff who also have to deal with development and general maintenance, as well as follow-up with authorities, you still managed to:
[b]*[/b] Deal with almost 17 reports a day on average.
[b]*[/b] There is a backlog of 161 reports passes to next month.
[b]*[/b] About 76% of reports in queue was dealt with this month (not bad 'eh!)
[b]*[/b] A lot of seemingly bogus reports are being made.
[b]*[/b] Most valid reports likely lead to a mild response that isn't worth a full warning or suspension.
[b]*[/b] Users who keep breaking rules aren't just deleting themselves, but are being removed.
It gives insight into just how much of a workload you get on a regular basis and shows that even though some people have to wait you have still done a lot of work with reports, and without feeling like you're waving around the hammer of smiting while doing so.
If you feel people don't believe you take illegal stuff seriously, every now and then add stats for that too into the [i]"State of SW"[/i] post... perhaps at a slightly less regular rate than report stats (since legal systems and whatnot takes time to process cases).
Admins are humans too. We users may spot a bad post here and there, feel revolted and click report. While we may stumble upon a few, the staff will get a torrent of these bad posts sent directly to them through reports. I hope they get the support they need for dealing with that, 'cause that sure can't be easy.
And people going around spreading some really bad stuff about the staff, be it in the form of posts on other platforms or review sites is something they should crack down on. I understand and support the need to take action against the defamatory stuff, but have also seen companies over time go further and further into treating any and all criticism as "falsehoods that must be crushed". I hope that you will keep a cool and clear head when dealing with this and not go that far down the path.
[sep]
But this is where my disappointment starts. The choice of words and way this post is presented is nothing short of amazing... in a not so good way. There is a disconnect between the intended message and the way it is conveyed.
I'm absolutely not saying that the claims made are false, but they are presented in a way that comes off to me as argumentative, threatening, unprofessional and somewhat incoherent. More like "I want to win the argument" and less like "we're trying to educate users in a clear manner". I don't doubt that you may be great devs with good intentions, but - without meaning to be rude - the public relations part could do with some polish.
[sep]
But in trying to make a constructive reply I'll add a suggestion related to this.
A lot of frustrations seem to be with users having an impression that nothing is being done and things aren't being taken seriously. How about spending one hour a month (or some similarly appropriate timeframe) to write and post a regular [i]"State of SimilarWorlds"[/i] thread focusing more on plans and broader scale facts/stats? It lets users see that things are happening and progressing without large timegaps even if it isn't visible to the eye just yet at the cost of one workhour.
Let's say you make these posts once a month as an example. Without injecting opinion, frustration an such unless absolutely necessary, among other stuff post report stats.
For instance (and I'm not claiming these are actual numbers, but there to act as an example):
[quote][b]This month[/b]
[u]667[/u] posts/groups reported
of which [u]36[/u] was from last month
[c=#005E2F][u]172[/u] valid reports[/c]
[c=#800000][u]324[/u] rejected reports[/c]
[c=#A69800][u]25[/u] warnings/suspensions[/c]
[c=#BF0000][u]12[/u] banned users
[u]32[/u] deleted posts[/c]
[/quote]
So what can users learn here?
Despite being a small staff who also have to deal with development and general maintenance, as well as follow-up with authorities, you still managed to:
[b]*[/b] Deal with almost 17 reports a day on average.
[b]*[/b] There is a backlog of 161 reports passes to next month.
[b]*[/b] About 76% of reports in queue was dealt with this month (not bad 'eh!)
[b]*[/b] A lot of seemingly bogus reports are being made.
[b]*[/b] Most valid reports likely lead to a mild response that isn't worth a full warning or suspension.
[b]*[/b] Users who keep breaking rules aren't just deleting themselves, but are being removed.
It gives insight into just how much of a workload you get on a regular basis and shows that even though some people have to wait you have still done a lot of work with reports, and without feeling like you're waving around the hammer of smiting while doing so.
If you feel people don't believe you take illegal stuff seriously, every now and then add stats for that too into the [i]"State of SW"[/i] post... perhaps at a slightly less regular rate than report stats (since legal systems and whatnot takes time to process cases).
SW-Admin · Admin
@PirateMonkeyCabinet, we appreciate the time taken to share your thoughts and feedback.
[quote=@PirateMonkeyCabinet]But this is where my disappointment starts. The choice of words and way this post is presented is nothing short of amazing... in a not so good way. There is a disconnect between the intended message and the way it is conveyed.[/quote]
The post itself may seem a bit out of context (and thus confusing) to some users.
1) It was a direct Copy + Paste to a comment response made on the thread of the offending user.
So the context isn't perfect, as a new post.
2) This issue has been long ongoing with this offending user, and several others.
So again, it can seem confusing to those who were not involved in the prior conflicts.
[quote=@PirateMonkeyCabinet]More like "I want to win the argument" and less like "we're trying to educate users in a clear manner".
...
For instance (and I'm not claiming these are actual numbers, but there to act as an example):[/quote]
We have already taken the time and care to do exactly these things (post actual back-end statistics, with regards to reports, cases of abuse, etc..)
In an attempt to "work with users", and answer their concerns.
Those efforts are usually taken well by the good-meaning users.
However, there are certain groups of users who are in no way willing or aiming to cooperate or assist with tackling the real issue of child predators.
Regardless of how much information we share on how and why we handle such sensitive issues, every response from these users are incessant attacks on the character of SW staff.
Some users have recently crossed the line, with escalating their public libel against SW staff,
so we are making it very clear now, that legal action will be taken.
The post has nothing to do with "trying to win an argument".
We are making a clear and public statement,
so that no offending user needs to be "surprised" when they are unexpectedly hit with legal cases.
We've spent months.. years..
"educating users" with regards to our handling of criminal activity on SW.
This post was not specifically aimed at doing that at this point.
[quote=@PirateMonkeyCabinet]But this is where my disappointment starts. The choice of words and way this post is presented is nothing short of amazing... in a not so good way. There is a disconnect between the intended message and the way it is conveyed.[/quote]
The post itself may seem a bit out of context (and thus confusing) to some users.
1) It was a direct Copy + Paste to a comment response made on the thread of the offending user.
So the context isn't perfect, as a new post.
2) This issue has been long ongoing with this offending user, and several others.
So again, it can seem confusing to those who were not involved in the prior conflicts.
[quote=@PirateMonkeyCabinet]More like "I want to win the argument" and less like "we're trying to educate users in a clear manner".
...
For instance (and I'm not claiming these are actual numbers, but there to act as an example):[/quote]
We have already taken the time and care to do exactly these things (post actual back-end statistics, with regards to reports, cases of abuse, etc..)
In an attempt to "work with users", and answer their concerns.
Those efforts are usually taken well by the good-meaning users.
However, there are certain groups of users who are in no way willing or aiming to cooperate or assist with tackling the real issue of child predators.
Regardless of how much information we share on how and why we handle such sensitive issues, every response from these users are incessant attacks on the character of SW staff.
Some users have recently crossed the line, with escalating their public libel against SW staff,
so we are making it very clear now, that legal action will be taken.
The post has nothing to do with "trying to win an argument".
We are making a clear and public statement,
so that no offending user needs to be "surprised" when they are unexpectedly hit with legal cases.
We've spent months.. years..
"educating users" with regards to our handling of criminal activity on SW.
This post was not specifically aimed at doing that at this point.
SW-Admin · Admin
@Miram I understand, and it is something we have thought along the lines of before.
However, we know predictably all too well, that there are certain users who will take the opportunity to attack us on such posts, regardless of the factual and useful information we provide.
Users doing this tend to draw the most attention to themselves, and can mislead other users regarding what we are actually doing to keep this community safe.
We realize from experience that it isn't worth the hassle,
and unfortunately due to the behavior of some users, decided to step back a bit from this very forward, open approach.
However, we know predictably all too well, that there are certain users who will take the opportunity to attack us on such posts, regardless of the factual and useful information we provide.
Users doing this tend to draw the most attention to themselves, and can mislead other users regarding what we are actually doing to keep this community safe.
We realize from experience that it isn't worth the hassle,
and unfortunately due to the behavior of some users, decided to step back a bit from this very forward, open approach.