'A habitable and non-toxic environment to all its playerbase'

[Robert]

I am going to make one thing clear since this post itself is semi-becoming a bit of a meme already.

Discord is next to impossible to moderate and relies SOLELY in users reporting problems, regardless of circumstances or reasoning on why they think "reporting it would do nothing" given that by not reporting, you are now allowing said behaviour and condoning it in retrospect.

Not only that, but Discord in the opinion of many I do believe is pretty much a bad idea to begin with due to its nature of being pretty much uncontrollable and unmonitored. A lot of convos happen day in and out, which 100% of staff are unaware of because checking Discord is like the biggest time-wasting task in the history of staffing, just let automodders and report tickets do all the work for you.

Also, not only that but reading this post and how you mention that the community is "Anti-White" which I read in all my 2 years has NEVER ever happened. Maybe the odd racist meme here and there which in pretty much all reported cases were removed unless pre-willard v2.5 era where it wasn't cared about by the large chunk of the community at the time because it was sorta a non-issue of everyone having a quick laugh and that was it before returning to normal.

I know quite a few gay, non-white and other such members in this community who would be happy to say the Community is not what you claim it be. At least 90% of the time with the unusual sight of plain assholes who are rather quickly dealt with when staff arrive on scene once aware. Of course, they may reply here themselves to confirm or I may DM them to check, but I at least never heard any major issues come out from them unlike how this post makes Willard sound in comparison to other's experiences.

Ontop of that, we have been investigated by Discord Moderation once for such claims back in V1 due to it being such a issue, but after cleaning up back then (bearing in mind Willard is 2 years old now and V1 as long passed) we got the claim cleared off our community because the channel was clean. Discord does watch themselves every now and then with their own administrative botting and checkups on their many communities and Willard has not been found guilty of what you claim since V1 which was over a year ago.

Overall, if you see something bad, deal with it and get it reported to the respective channels there for users to report.

 

[FungletheBungle]

Since there is no definition for what falls under this exactly, Fungle (Short Stories lead) was able to get away with using an official Willard Server to announce daily prayer and decry the "sin of homosexuality.". He remains the Short Stories lead despite this, and the channels created for this remain up and active on the SS server

Have you actually looked at Little-nuns-daily?

On that note I wish I announced daily prayer, because I have no idea that people thought I did

 

[VelmaDingus]

I know quite a few gay, non-white and other such members in this community who would be happy to say the Community is not what you claim it be.

Look at the poll. Maybe your friends are comfortable here. That's great! A lot aren't. I know plenty who are very uncomfortable here, actually, myself included.

 

[VelmaDingus]

The fact that the response to this is largely "oh, you have problems here? Why didn't you say anything. If you have an issue, report it.".

Not only have I done that, I am also raising the issue now? The animosity that arises upon any of this stuff being brought up is why it isn't.

I haven't made reports on the forums, because I know they can be seen by pretty much any admin, and the admin reports are public.

This is why I have almost entirely DM'd admins in my time here.

 

[Craw]

Chicken Leg

(Shit wrong thread)

 

[Neonity]

I haven't made reports on the forums, because I know they can be seen by pretty much any admin, and the admin reports are public.

Being afraid of staff viewing your concerns is a problem. Have you contacted Community Management or the Head of Staff? If so, what was their response?

 

[Kappatalist]

I haven't made reports on the forums, because I know they can be seen by pretty much any admin, and the admin reports are public.

This is why I have almost entirely DM'd admins in my time here.

Like Neonity said, bring this up to Maroon/SA's/CM's if you haven't already. Though you're really better off going through forums, you can make a forum conversation with dispute managers which other staff can't view unless added.

 

[VelmaDingus]

Being afraid of staff viewing your concerns is a problem. Have you contacted Community Management or the Head of Staff? If so, what was their response?

The very first thing I heard in a Willard VC was an ex-admin talking about how often and how frequently Maroon has said the N word in the admin chat along with other stuff, so, no, I've been apprehensive to bring things to him.

I brought the Fungle stuff to Rad-X, and he basically said "yeah, he got a warning for it, if he does anything again, then tell me and I'll make sure he goes to Maroon.".

I've been talking to other admins, and in regards to something that happened recently, after speaking with Rabit, I went to Atle, and he's looking into it currently.

Ultimately, though,

If people feel, rightfully, uncomfortable reporting stuff to staff because the staff have no discretion or are doing the exact behavior they're trying to report? Staff issue. Skill issue.

 

[Robert]

Look at the poll. Maybe your friends are comfortable here. That's great! A lot aren't. I know plenty who are very uncomfortable here, actually, myself included.

Fair point, but its not like anyone here can read your mind. Problem that everyone really needs to address is the fact that people are quiet about the issues. Sure, you posted this thread now but as what can only be described as your "last resort" as if an attempt had been made outside of that. Looking at your record however... I see 0 tickets, 0 results of any prior report in regards to what your described and little to no evidence to actually back it up.

The fact that the response to this is largely "oh, you have problems here? Why didn't you say anything. If you have an issue, report it.".

Not only have I done that, I am also raising the issue now? The animosity that arises upon any of this stuff being brought up is why it isn't.

I haven't made reports on the forums, because I know they can be seen by pretty much any admin, and the admin reports are public.

This is why I have almost entirely DM'd admins in my time here.

Polls are arbitrary pieces of data. Not reliable data like statistics are. The problem I find with polls is that: Anyone can vote on them. While this may not seem like a deal to many... it is actually something to account for as that includes non-Willard players. Those who have not actually touched or interacted with the Community on any level. Though will state MOST of the players who have voted thus far are at least in that category of Willard players.

But regardless as I said before... good job for raising the issue. That's step 1 of solving a problem... just you did it from what I can tell from your experience... too late. Since I can say for certain, a large majority of the staff team is in a state of ?????. Because this is the first time in a very long time we have heard of this issue being brought up. Last time as mentioned IF YOU READ my prior post was Willard V1 into parts of V2.

And from my daily usage of the discord... I have never seen anything like what you describe. And the channels I tend to sit in most are the public ones like Server-Discussion, Media and art, development and event request. Can't see anything there in the time I have typed or read up on a very regular basis.

The only channels I choose to avoid (since I know they can be either useless, chaotic hellholes or just full of random chatter) is general, memetopia and counting. All the other channels including faction ones all seem pretty clear as I do read those too. So all in all, unless there is lots of toxicity in those 3 channels I just mentioned, I must be blind.

On top of that, there is a well known quote:
"That which can't be seen, cannot be fixed."

Which I would say applies here. I haven't seen it, most staff haven't seen it. You say you reported it to some... but by only sending it to some, only a very tiny portion of active staff actually know anything remotely about it. While the others are 100% blind to it.

Can we fix this toxicity issue? No.
Can we fix the problems you are facing? No.
Can we fix the "Anti-White" propaganda you see? No.
Why? Because we can't see it because most of us don't even know it exists.
Would it be helpful to us if we got evidence and clear proof this shit still happens to date? Yes, it would.

I am sorry to find out you are uncomfortable with letting the whole team know of the issue, but by doing so, none of them can help you even remotely in any form or capacity....

And as I stated in my previous post...

Ontop of that, we have been investigated by Discord Moderation once for such claims back in V1 due to it being such a issue, but after cleaning up back then (bearing in mind Willard is 2 years old now and V1 as long passed) we got the claim cleared off our community because the channel was clean. Discord does watch themselves every now and then with their own administrative botting and checkups on their many communities and Willard has not been found guilty of what you claim since V1 which was over a year ago.

---

Now switching sides here... if you refer to Short Stories... then I will put it plainly. Staff in the main community here barely have anything to do with what goes on there and as you put in your post regarding FungleTheBungle... 99% of the staff can't do anything for you since that is outside of our area of control.

Short Stories is theoretically its own community which only Atle has any sway or power over. Same as WN7, same as Morliux and same with uh... forgot the other guys already. But to be short, whatever they do is not something within our control.

---

As for your comments against Maroon... if he has indeed done that then I do apologize, but again most staff can;t do much about that one either and would be for Maroon himself to answer to or a Community Manager or Atle.

---

Note: To be clear, I am not angry nor going off at you since if you are uncomfortable... fair do's. That is that, but it is harsh to blame a large chunk of a community which in turn is innocent. I for one do not like to be lumped into the same category and I can say now... 95% of staff are innocent... same with the rest of the Community.

Every community has its bad eggs but nothing can be done til they are put to light and seen.. hopefully by more than 1 person to prevent any chance of them escaping.

Again, for me personally. Everything you said in your post is pretty much news to my ears... well eyes in this case. Since my personal interactions and monitoring of the faction comms and a few public channels all seem like friendly people getting along. Even ingame is it rare to see any outright abusive content towards other members in any form of manner.

So yeah.

 

[VelmaDingus]

And from my daily usage of the discord... I have never seen anything like what you describe. And the channels I tend to sit in most are the public ones like Server-Discussion, Media and art, development and event request. Can't see anything there in the time I have typed or read up on a very regular basis.

I have never once seen you in the VC, and I've been in there nearly daily for the past two months.

On top of that, there is a well known quote:
"That which can't be seen, cannot be fixed."

Okay, but I have been speaking to people, as I have already said multiple times.

Can we fix the "Anti-White" propaganda you see? No.

You are actively misconstruing, misunderstanding, and misquoting me... Where did I mention propaganda or "anti-white" anything? Please reread my initial post!

That is that, but it is harsh to blame a large chunk of a community which in turn is innocent. I for one do not like to be lumped into the same category and I can say now... 95% of staff are innocent... same with the rest of the Community.

Yeah, but do not respond defensively when you're not being accused or anything, then? I haven't accused anyone of anything they haven't done. I have talked about what has happened to me, and people I know... The fact that you're responding so defensively to me airing this shit out is kind of indicative of the exact attitude that dissuades people from wanting to report stuff besides from in the DMs of admins they can trust not to get all weird about it.

 

[VelmaDingus]

I have had admins aggressively DM me over things after I've told them multiple times to stop and leave me alone. They messaged me on steam after I blocked them on discord.

I'm not going to name names, because we sorted this out with each other, and I'd rather he not get into trouble for it.

I reported it at the time though DMs, because I knew any report I made could not only be seen by them, but literally everyone else on the server. So I guess if Rad or Sif could confirm what I'm saying is true without naming the admin(s) in question, that'd be based.

It's very difficult to feel any degree of trust in reporting something about a player, when you know a team of admins will see it, some of whom you know to be incredibly unpleasant/strange, and most of whom you do not know but don't have high hopes for, considering.

 

[Drspanksz]

HL2RP was the biggest mistake ever

 

[Vulpes Callida]

I'm gonna keep this short because most people won't read the bible I'd otherwise post.

- The argument that 'people doing stupid stuff cannot be avoided nor controlled (in the discord, in the server, etc)' is a massive lie. It's just terrible administrating, but for the higher ups to admit they're doing something wrong it actually does take daily prayer, so maybe Fungle is onto something there.

- Whoever says this isn't a problem is either involved in these happenings and is full of shit or is cataclysmically detached from reality. I personally can't wait for the China event, for half the event characters to be named "Cha Ching", "Cho Chang" or similar and act like they want to eat live cats and dogs. Every racial and gender based experience in this server has been a joke, IC and OOC.

- The fact players feel unsafe OOC in the server should be reason enough to spark discussion. The fact some of you are taking this thread, which seems genuine and fair-experience based, as a joke is argument enough that a lot of you need either a ban or better education (or any education at all), but sadly time machines don't quite exist yet and neither do the balls required to clamp down on these behaviours from the staff.

- If I hear the 'it's just opinions, you're just thin skinned' argument one more time in my life I might actively go out of my way to make your experience in this shithole as miserable as possible. Which isn't much of a threat, considering these people are already more miserable than I could ever conjure them to be.

- You guys (and you know who you are) really aren't funny. No matter how much you try to be it will never make up for the fact you got beat up from third grade all across sixth, which you are currently coursing. Whether you learn or not is not so much my concern, only the players' wellbeing in my community. So if you wanna remain a failure, at least stray away from others.

- As someone born and raised Catholic, the premise of this post is hilarious to me. Whether what Fungle says is ironic or genuine it's still a major embarassment to general Christian beliefs. So don't worry too much about the implications, it seems that the one that desperately needs to fit in the world is him, not you.

 

[M3ntal]

I'm gonna keep this short because most people won't read the bible I'd otherwise post.

- The argument that 'people doing stupid stuff cannot be avoided nor controlled (in the discord, in the server, etc)' is a massive lie. It's just terrible administrating, but for the higher ups to admit they're doing something wrong it actually does take daily prayer, so maybe Fungle is onto something there.

- Whoever says this isn't a problem is either involved in these happenings and is full of shit or is cataclysmically detached from reality. I personally can't wait for the China event, for half the event characters to be named "Cha Ching", "Cho Chang" or similar and act like they want to eat live cats and dogs. Every racial and gender based experience in this server has been a joke, IC and OOC.

- The fact players feel unsafe OOC in the server should be reason enough to spark discussion. The fact some of you are taking this thread, which seems genuine and fair-experience based, as a joke is argument enough that a lot of you need either a ban or better education (or any education at all), but sadly time machines don't quite exist yet and neither do the balls required to clamp down on these behaviours from the staff.

- If I hear the 'it's just opinions, you're just thin skinned' argument one more time in my life I might actively go out of my way to make your experience in this shithole as miserable as possible. Which isn't much of a threat, considering these people are already more miserable than I could ever conjure them to be.

- You guys (and you know who you are) really aren't funny. No matter how much you try to be it will never make up for the fact you got beat up from third grade all across sixth, which you are currently coursing. Whether you learn or not is not so much my concern, only the players' wellbeing in my community. So if you wanna remain a failure, at least stray away from others.

- As someone born and raised Christian, the premise of this post is hilarious to me. Whether what Fungle says is ironic or genuine it's still a major embarassment to general Catholic beliefs. So don't worry too much about the implications, it seems that the one that desperately needs to fit in the world is him, not you.

Yep. People treating this thread as a joke and deflecting it verbatum is just a sign that this issue runs deeper. As you've said. So, honestly, what is one to do at this rate? If anything?
If the staff aren't going to take this seriously, what does that ring for the server itself? No wonder Willard's been bleeding players. As a certain someone has said, Willard is soon going to enter an age where events are a must to keep the player pop up, so these issues need to NOT be ignored. Even if this isn't the prime cause, this issue needs to be tackled, as well as all that follow. You can't root out bad apples all the time, but I get the impression that the staff are not really trying.

 

[Vulpes Callida]

Yep. People treating this thread as a joke and deflecting it verbatum is just a sign that this issue runs deeper. As you've said. So, honestly, what is one to do at this rate? If anything?
If the staff aren't going to take this seriously, what does that ring for the server itself? No wonder Willard's been bleeding players. As a certain someone has said, Willard is soon going to enter an age where events are a must to keep the player pop up, so these issues need to NOT be ignored. Even if this isn't the prime cause, this issue needs to be tackled, as well as all that follow. You can't root out bad apples all the time, but I get the impression that the staff are not really trying.

Most people involved in this negatively, exhibit such antisocial traits it actually puts me at peace knowing their only goal and way to have fun is flaming strangers through the computer they sit on 20 hours a day on, which they incidentally also got bought by their father after claming 'they needed it for school' (and in reality it's for feet overwatch porn) in between him beating their mother and blowing the money on hookers. Most of them are so insecure that were we to see a picture of them and their living conditions we'd probably be the ones laughing.

That said, no, as much as I love, and I'm friends with some of the staff, they really aren't trying. I've had conversations about this with current, and former CMs. People should own up to their responsibilities or drop their rank. Shall we really bust out the activity graphs?

God knows I will drop my rank - be it an IC or OOC one - the moment I don't feel like I am up to the task, or when outed as wrong. I'd like to see who exactly above me is wiling to play the same game as me without being a deflecting little baby.

 

[Inspector Orlok]

I've been on Willard for about two months now, the server, forums, and discord, and it's largely been a very positive experience. I've had some great experiences, story arcs, and times on this server!

The main thing that has impeded my enjoyment of this community is the hostility, rampant bad faith and prejudices toward groups of people. Both staff members and community members have specifically targeted me for who I am. Funny haha jokes are cool, but to actively tell someone you don't know that they're subhuman because they're Jewish, or that they're going to hell for being gay? That's really fucked up and unnecessary.

It's either active, deliberate, wilful hate to make someone feel upset or unwelcome, or it's an attempt at a joke. If the latter, they really should not be disingenuously unpleasant toward people until they're friends with those people and it is clear it isn't genuine. Without any previous interactions, context, or indication, it's impossible to tell if any given person on this server is legitimately hateful toward these groups or people, or is just engaging in ironic hate that is indistinguishable from the real thing.

I know at least a dozen people who joined the server, had fun, joined the discord or caught a message in the LOOC, and left immediately, realizing that queer and non-white people aren't really welcome here, or at least are targeted on the basis of being those things. Those are just the incidences I know of, of course, I don't know how many others have done the same.

Also, without naming names, I know at least another dozen people in Willard, some who have been here a very long time, who feel incredibly uncomfortable and upset by the way the community acts towards people like them.

The community has no hard and fast rules against this stuff, the closest thing being the Ideological Behaviour rule.

View attachment 15078

Since there is no definition for what falls under this exactly, Fungle (Short Stories lead) was able to get away with using an official Willard Server to announce daily prayer and decry the "sin of homosexuality.". He remains the Short Stories lead despite this, and the channels created for this remain up and active on the SS server now. Clear Ideological Behaviour making a section of Willard inhabitable and toxic for a large amount of the community, but nothing happened. Does this not fall under "special treatment"?

View attachment 15079View attachment 15082View attachment 15081View attachment 15080

Ultimately, this problem is so prominent, that I'm just gonna head out. I've had a lot of fun here, and made friends with a lot of great people! I'll think fondly of large amounts of my time on Willard, but ultimately, I don't think the staff are really able to tackle this problem, as some of the issues are coming from them.

I've informed the right people about the things that have happened to me, made this post, and now I'm gonna ollie outie, champs!

Hopefully this thread at least makes people from this community consider their actions and the discomfort they cause others. Whatever you're getting out of calling people slurs, or being ironically racist/homophobic/whatever, is surely not worth upsetting the targeted groups, or driving them from the community. Even if, ultimately, things stay the same, it might be cool for people to know why these groups of people don't feel comfortable here.

Thank you to everyone who has made my time here very enjoyable and fun! You were all based.

Be kind and have fun!

Shame to see you go Nyx but your reasons were more than justified. You were a good role-player and fun person to talk to and what ever community you go to next will be lucky to have you.

 

[VelmaDingus]

Shame to see you go Nyx but your reasons were more than justified. You were a good role-player and fun person to talk to and what ever community you go to next will be lucky to have you.

Thanks, homie! Even though our characters were often at odds with each other, they always provided interesting antagonists for mine, and I enjoyed teaming up in Alaska from time to time!

I'll definitely miss the good moments I've had in Willard, but I just don't wanna have to deal with all of the gross shit anymore.

 

[Blitz]

I don't have a lot to contribute with as most has been said already. But as several people have voiced already, to which I agree with - silence can be a great issue or just that of perception and perspective.
Like others have said, it can be difficult to get the grasp of a problem if the issue seems either isolated or non-existant (be that from ignorance or from simply not being exposed to it).

There's a lot of apparent problems with the community that has risen from this thread. The majority of these has already been put to word, but I encourage everyone to share their experiences and opinions regarding these issues to put their money where their mouth is.
It's alright if it's fairly similar to what has been said already. It's meant to represent your voice and your opinon - both to take into consideration you as an individual and how your perception of the community is, but also to facilitate a solution to the problem(s) by showcasing the scale and scope of them.

 

[VelmaDingus]

Polls are arbitrary pieces of data. Not reliable data like statistics are. The problem I find with polls is that: Anyone can vote on them. While this may not seem like a deal to many... it is actually something to account for as that includes non-Willard players. Those who have not actually touched or interacted with the Community on any level. Though will state MOST of the players who have voted thus far are at least in that category of Willard players.

I would also like to say, if you try to dismiss what the community is saying here, based on this, I really don't think any of you are doing your roles very well, lmao.

You have admins, content creators, long time players, etc voting in this poll. I personally recognize the names of almost everyone voting on this, so, like... Listen to what people are telling you?

Of course some of you are blissfully unaware of this; you're not the target of this stuff.

 

[Mc-Crabs]

I don't really think anyone is trying to dismiss it, otherwise this thread would've heavily been ignored. I'm just saying that this has all been taken into account.