December 16, 2023, 11:10 AM
Previously, the CM team has made every effort to protect the identities of anonymous accounts. However, as anonymous accounts and identities have become more prevalent and pain points have been identified, the CM team is no longer comfortable supporting the use of anonymous accounts. While we aren't planning to outright disallow anonymity, our official stance is that anonymous accounts and identities go against the spirit of the game and we heavily discourage their use for the following reasons:
1. Anonymous accounts directly go against some of our required guidebook courtesy rules.
Anonymous accounts do not facilitate direct communication - they discourage it. Members do not know where to address concerns to if the account is not reachable, and do not know how to address them period if they extend to ooc matters. Admins also aren’t sure how to approach these accounts. We are able to see who owns them, but reaching out can feel like a violation of trust.
This is the larger violation. Members cannot set boundaries against a player when that player can just create an anonymous account and bypass by joining their threads.
In a collaborative community like this, having ooc insight into a thread partner is important for a number of reasons. It can inform on preferences, tone, and ooc communication styles that best suit all members involved. We know that anonymous accounts can be fun, and that these situations don’t often arise, but when they do they put everyone involved in a bind.
2. Anonymous accounts prevent non-CMs from being able to access player profiles. We removed the ability of PMs to award trades because of this, and this has resulted in needless headaches for everyone involved. We no longer want to force members to jump through hoops in order to manage packs.
3. Anonymous accounts force CMs to lie to the member base on a fairly regular basis. We have insight into who plays who out of necessity of enforcing bans and ensuring guidelines are followed, but when situations arise where questions are asked and/or statements are made regarding anonymous accounts, we are made to speak dishonestly about who is who. This puts us in an extremely uncomfortable position.
This results in the following new rules and clarifications around anons.
1. The OOC field is now required. You can still fill this out any way you choose, but we feel it’s better to have people be upfront with their anonymous status and want to officially encourage this.
2. When requests are made to determine the identity of anonymous accounts by other members, CMs have the right to disclose this information. This could occur when someone is unsure who they are threading with, who is trying to adopt from them, etc. Player anonymity shouldn’t be more important than open communication and the ability to set boundaries or feel comfortable writing here.
3. When situations arise in the discord and/or forum, CMs will no longer lie to protect anonymous accounts. We will likely abstain from conversations when possible, as usual, but we won’t make false statements or go along with false narratives in order to not disclose an anonymous player. The best way to not run into this is to not directly address any CMs in public discord channels about these kinds of things. (Contact the Staff is probably your best alternative)
4. PMs will be granted their previous access to the mod cp in order to perform their roles. We can (and do) ask that they respect this access and do not modify members’ profiles without permission, but it does provide access into fields and views capable of revealing anonymous accounts. They will be operating under the same rules that the CM team will abide by, encouraged not to share that information needlessly, but not officially disallowed if they feel it is necessary.
5. Because PMs will now have the ability to award trades, we are retiring the mod team. They have been helpful over the last couple of years, but their main function has been mostly taking care of maintenance requests, which the CM team feels we can keep up with between the five of us. We thank you (Jess, Suledin, Talamasca, and Delaney) for all your hard work! On that note, because the CM team feels we also have adequate coverage over the Discord server, we are also retiring the #mods channel and @Mods role.
As always, if you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please don't hesitate to reach out via Contact the Staff.
1. Anonymous accounts directly go against some of our required guidebook courtesy rules.
Quote: Practice open communication
We expect members to communicate with one another when they encounter issues. CMs are fully open to conversations about anything, anytime, but we will not speak to another member for you unless they have violated one of our conduct rules. This is a community aimed at adults; members should be mature and direct in their dealings with one another.
Anonymous accounts do not facilitate direct communication - they discourage it. Members do not know where to address concerns to if the account is not reachable, and do not know how to address them period if they extend to ooc matters. Admins also aren’t sure how to approach these accounts. We are able to see who owns them, but reaching out can feel like a violation of trust.
Quote: Respect boundaries
Members are expected to abide by any boundaries set forth by other members. However, if you feel that a boundary is being unfairly exploited, reach out to the CMs and let us know. Members must communicate boundaries clearly if they elect to impose them, and boundaries must be reasonable (eg: cease OOC communication and/or avoid entering a player’s threads).
This is the larger violation. Members cannot set boundaries against a player when that player can just create an anonymous account and bypass by joining their threads.
In a collaborative community like this, having ooc insight into a thread partner is important for a number of reasons. It can inform on preferences, tone, and ooc communication styles that best suit all members involved. We know that anonymous accounts can be fun, and that these situations don’t often arise, but when they do they put everyone involved in a bind.
2. Anonymous accounts prevent non-CMs from being able to access player profiles. We removed the ability of PMs to award trades because of this, and this has resulted in needless headaches for everyone involved. We no longer want to force members to jump through hoops in order to manage packs.
3. Anonymous accounts force CMs to lie to the member base on a fairly regular basis. We have insight into who plays who out of necessity of enforcing bans and ensuring guidelines are followed, but when situations arise where questions are asked and/or statements are made regarding anonymous accounts, we are made to speak dishonestly about who is who. This puts us in an extremely uncomfortable position.
This results in the following new rules and clarifications around anons.
1. The OOC field is now required. You can still fill this out any way you choose, but we feel it’s better to have people be upfront with their anonymous status and want to officially encourage this.
2. When requests are made to determine the identity of anonymous accounts by other members, CMs have the right to disclose this information. This could occur when someone is unsure who they are threading with, who is trying to adopt from them, etc. Player anonymity shouldn’t be more important than open communication and the ability to set boundaries or feel comfortable writing here.
3. When situations arise in the discord and/or forum, CMs will no longer lie to protect anonymous accounts. We will likely abstain from conversations when possible, as usual, but we won’t make false statements or go along with false narratives in order to not disclose an anonymous player. The best way to not run into this is to not directly address any CMs in public discord channels about these kinds of things. (Contact the Staff is probably your best alternative)
4. PMs will be granted their previous access to the mod cp in order to perform their roles. We can (and do) ask that they respect this access and do not modify members’ profiles without permission, but it does provide access into fields and views capable of revealing anonymous accounts. They will be operating under the same rules that the CM team will abide by, encouraged not to share that information needlessly, but not officially disallowed if they feel it is necessary.
5. Because PMs will now have the ability to award trades, we are retiring the mod team. They have been helpful over the last couple of years, but their main function has been mostly taking care of maintenance requests, which the CM team feels we can keep up with between the five of us. We thank you (Jess, Suledin, Talamasca, and Delaney) for all your hard work! On that note, because the CM team feels we also have adequate coverage over the Discord server, we are also retiring the #mods channel and @Mods role.
As always, if you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please don't hesitate to reach out via Contact the Staff.
This account is used for official site communication but cannot receive private message responses. If you have a question or concern about a message you have received, please start a thread in the Contact The Staff forum.
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