alex wrote ...
I've been thinking about this for a long time, and decided something needs to be done about admin accountability concerning the punishment of players. I will be the first to admit that I personally do not have an established method of punishing players. Just about anything goes with me. I've done some harsh bans for minor acts of stupidity on the part of our players and I don't believe I have set the correct tone for how admins deal with punishment, kicks, and bans.

These are the steps I would like admins to follow when punishing a player for bad behavior. All admins should follow this, unless you are dealing with a repeat offender. "Repeat offender" means in the last few hours. Do not continually abuse a player over several days without talking to a lead admin or server operator first.

1. Warn the player with admin say (green text) that they will be punished and why. I need everyone to do this for accountability issues so I can see in the logs that you warned them first. All admin have the admin chat ability.
Examples:
"Stop spawn attacking, you're going to get slayed next time."
"Stop mic spamming or a mute is on the way..."
"Stop nading spawn, or I'll blind you for the round."
2. Punish the player with something "light" to let them know you're serious. Mute, blindness, slay, slap to 1 health, etc. are acceptable first punishments. Banning a player at this point is not acceptable.
3. Give the player a chance to learn from their mistake. For example, if you have muted someone, remove the mute after five or ten minutes. Do not continue to punish a player unless he or she continues to break the rules!
4. If the player appears to have stopped being obnoxious, then leave him alone. Kick the player if he continues.
5. If the player returns and complains, remind them via admin say why he or she was kicked.
Example:
"You were warned not to spawn attack."
"Post on forums if you don't like it."
"Play or leave, stop arguing."
6. If the player continues to argue or break rules, warn him or her and then ban (if you are Level 2 Admin or higher).
If you are a Level 1 Admin then try to track down a higher level admin to ban the player.
Example:
"I told you not to spawn attack, or argue with me." "You're being banned 30 minutes for not following rules."

Here is the summary that you can scribble on a post-it note and stick on your monitor.

1. Warn
2. Punish
3. Wait
4. Kick
5. Warn
6. Ban

Does anyone see any problems with this process? I know it adds a bit of extra work for admins, but this gives me a clear trail of log (especially the admin chat) entries that I can follow to resolve almost any disputes of admin abuse.

Maddogme wrote ...

What about people who have lower admin like myself, all we can do it slay and observe. I can't even chat in the big green chat.