There are ways to be polite without using words like "please." Doing it is not very hard IMHO. It is all about word order and chosen words. If you sound rude without using obvious polite words, you often are rude, English isn't your first language, or your grammar may not be quite as strong. The point is, it is possible to be polite without using "please." Those who do not believe this probably have never met someone (or realized they have) who can do it. I don't mean to be harsh... but it is true.

I agree with using please less and in certain contexts/areas, but I do not agree on taking away things like "thank you." I do not watch the current state of ban appeals and complaints often, because I found them utterly depressing and often stupid, over a year ago. However, every couple of weeks I take a look at some just to get a glimpse of what's going on... And I do see babying. "Babying" isn't a good word though, IMHO. Being too lenient/kind is a better word choice. As well, maybe too informative (but not nearly as often) or not informative enough (being too literate and not using 5th grader's grammar and vocabulary). If a user breaks a rule, they need to be treated like an adult - or like their age. I am pretty sure most of our users are not 9 - the average age last I saw polled was about 15. Treat them like they are 15, not 9. Use the average (American's) level of grammar and vocab, but treat them like their age.

I do not agree with the suggestion, but I also don't disagree.

 

I think staff should be able to say whatever they want as long as it doesn't go against the rules. Its their decesion to say "please" or whatever and also there is no need to be rude to someone when you can ban them. If your suggestion was for stronger rule enforcement I would be on your side but saying "please" or not makes no difference and to be frank its the least of the staff's problems right now.

 

I honestly never thought I would ever see a suggestion against people being nice. Little less banning a word that only the people who spend their lives analyzing every post a staff member makes, such as you, would notice or make a big deal about it.

Let me explain this to you- the job of staff members is so much more than banning and unbanning people. A lot of their job on and off the game is to help people. This means they have to be approachable. Dehumanizing our staff team because they look "weak" (not really) will absolutely make our staff team unapproachable. "Well it is only on the Ban Appeals + Complaints!" I am expecting you to say, however you of all people should realize that tons of people read this section.

I do say this in the terms of the impending suggestions of requiring staff to only say banned, unbanned or locked. I expect suggestions about staff not able to join conversations in chat, or use faces in game. I never knew being nice made you weak.

Finally, keep in mind this is a <Staff Edit> minecraft server. Not a prison. And even then I'm sure prison guards use their please's and thank you's.

 

I agree that staff could stand to be a little more straight-forward and strict when it comes to repeat offenders and unnecessary posts on ban appeals/complaints, however mutual player-to-player respect and professionalism are the top priorities for staff and all people in leadership positions. Intimidation is not an effective leadership strategy.
-1

 

So much for family friendly server... If I was a builder, and I was appealing for griefing, I woukdnt want a staff member to be rude/mean to me. I would assume the staff was like that ingame, and decide to not play again. I agree you can be assertive if the user is a tycoon who is on their 4th scamming offense or something, but not newer users or users with very few appeals(1-2)

 

+1/-1
Be lenient towards builders or minor first time offenders
Be serious and direct towards experienced players and/or repeat offenders

 

Exactly what I said, Shane..

 

I think that there is a time and a place to be stern, but the vast majority of time being polite is the best course of action. I also don't think that being stern/imposing authority and being polite are mutually exclusive. I've been staff here for a while now and have had quite a lot of experience in dealing with issues/appeals etc. My overwhelming experience is that being polite to people leads to a better outcome than being rude, so I will definitely not ever be enforcing a ban on saying 'please' in an appeal.

As much as people want harsher treatment for rule offenders, they also don't want a completely emotionless, dictator-style staff team. Sure, there is a balance to be struck. But this balance doesn't need the staff team to not be polite.