Writing this feeling a little sick to my stomach, coming off a panic attack. The disregard for chat etiquette/rules lately is rampant, disturbing, and many times triggering.

Multiple users multiple times have been asked to drop inappropriate topics, and have 9/10 times ignored these requests.

Just recently, this is a list of topics I have witnessed being discussed (TRIGGER WARNING)



-eating disorders
-abuse
-sexual misconduct/harassment
-violence
-promotion of violence
-graphically described mental health issues/effects of said issues
-censor evading
-animal abuse

(end TW)

I am aware we're meant to self moderate, but it becomes 1000x harder when people simply won't listen to your repeated, serious requests to stop, change topic, and move on. I end up closing the page frustrated and drained. I do have a multitude of screenshots with said topics/ignoring attempts at moderation if you need. I didn't want to post here to protect those users' anonymity.

Even if it was a more useful block feature, because as I understand it it is difficult to find good moderators, I'd be happy. I just don't want to see triggering and inappropriate chat messages on a shiny pet game.

I worry for the safety of younger people on this site, being exposed to topics like this. They are topics that should be introduced and discussed by their guardian(s), not random internet strangers.

Several of my friends (and even I myself) have considered/actually have left the site because of this. It became too much, too often. I do love sylestia (and I'm sure said friends did as well) but at this point for me personally it's becoming my mental health or the site.

I sincerely hope this changes, because I love most of the community and the game itself. My life wouldn't be the same without it, but as they say, it only takes one bad apple to spoil the bunch.

TO CLARIFY:
I am not asking for mods. We've been told we won't get them.

I absolutelly agree that this issue should be targeted sooner than later.

We have younger people on the site as well as people who can and will be influenced by triggers in the RC, especially if they're not just mentioned but fully discussed without a warning.

Self-Moderation only works as long as everyone tries to stick to the rules, lately the amount of people who don't care about rules increased by a great amount.
I joined the site ~3/4ths of a year ago and it wasn't as bad at that time as it is at the moment at all.

The option to close the RC if you wan't to avoid topics like that isn't something that should be the only way to deal with it, since that means people who do care about the rules have to step back from a feature they'd like to use but can't, while people who don't really care just continue to throw inappropriate topics into RC.

I get that it is hard to find someone / hire someone to work as a sole moderator, but the bigger the site grows the harder it will get to actually do everything on your own without a huge delay.

Someone will be able to harm people, cause drama and/or insult people in RC and there won't be a reaction for a few hours or even days since it requires someone to take a screenshot and also to hand it over to Krinadon.

i support this.

i know i've probably said some triggering things in RC (and I'm sorry if I have) because i'm not super sure what the line is for what can be mentioned and what can be discussed--I've seen people talk about things that are questionable and after not seeing backlash i've responded. i have also witnessed people outright talking about triggering topics in large detail (i didn't grab screenshots, which i regret) and have had to leave the RC myself because of it.

even if it isnt a permanent block, it would be nice to temporarily mute someone on an individual level when they don't listen when people ask them to stop. it isnt nice, but without immediate action or any real way to stop questionable/outright triggering behaviors, the only other option is to just stop using the feature. and i dont feel like that is fair to people who do follow the rules.

100% agree. Some rule-breaking content can be actively harmful, and admins can't be there 24/7 to stop it as it comes up. Making players mod each other, and have to take things to krin/fai for actual consequences does extremely little to keep chat appropriate.

Also saw another thread asking for better blocking, similar to what was suggested here, so I think that'd be a good place to start. Actual moderators are going to be necessary eventually, though.

I agree with this, too. As nice as the idea of "self-moderation" is, it's really hard to enforce. The lines are blurry on what is and is not appropriate as everyone has their own idea of what the rules are; some people might not even realize that the topics they bring up aren't appropriate. Lack of real moderation leads to people having no clue what the lines and once one person crosses a line and isn't stopped, other people follow suit without realizing their mistake.

And yes, RC can be minimized, but people enjoy engaging in the community and RC is also used for a lot of on-the-spot trading and selling. Minimizing means you lose out on those opportunities.

As mentioned by other people, there's plenty of younger users on this site. As well as being exposed to inappropriate topics, it's also harder for them to learn proper internet etiquette if rules aren't being enforced. It's easy for them to begin emulating the bad behavior that's spread in RC when that behavior isn't stopped. Then they become part of the problem without even realizing it.

First off, I hope you are feeling better and calmer now.

I 100% support this, and I hope there are ways to make it happen. I like that the community here is very open and its what I immediately loved about this site when I first was active. Since then Ive seen instances like this crop up a few times and have had it personally trigger me a couple too. At the end of the day, everyone is here to play a game and enjoy themselves, and I would like to hope that most dont set out to actively cause harm, discomfort or upset to anyone else, but sometimes it happens inadvertently and it would be nice to have a moderator or third party be able to step in and stop things in good time. I used to run a large Discord server where we had things like this every so often and the best thing we did was delete posts as quickly as possible. It meant that the conversation was well and truly done, and as people understood their comments would be deleted should they proceed, they did drop it. I understand that might always be possible and dont know if it would even work in region chat, but sometimes shutting the conversation down when the text is still right above isnt quite enough and new people coming into the chat can still see it and be harmed. Words can be very triggering and there are so many young users here who are figuring out chat etiquette as well as just how to express themselves when they are struggling. As is Ive seen it in just a couple of weeks descend to conflict a couple of times and otherwise just really silencing the chat whilst myself and perhaps others stepped away or closed the window. Self-moderating doesnt work when youre still learning how to speak online or if you cant gauge other peoples boundaries, and I really hope there can be a way to improve the feature going forward, especially as we all want Sylestia to grow and it will be more likely to crop up as the community gets larger. Sorry for my novel xD Its a topic that is quite important to me.

Fully support.

I'm actually surprised there aren't moderators for the forums or RC, to be honest. I've literally watched some people continue to harass and bully others in chat, even after being asked to please stop.

Is there a reason why moderation isn't being implemented?

I agree, people blatantly ignore requests to stop discussing inappropriate topics in chat. If they do stop, many of them are likely start again by the next day. I recently even saw one person go so far as to acknowledge requests to stop talking about something against terms of service, and then immediately they continue to discuss the inappropriate topic. We cannot mod ourselves when people don't really care. We cannot even block chat content from specific users. The worst part is, what am I going to do, report it? That is potentially multiple reports, daily, for like the same 5 or so people who have been doing this for a long time. When would it be taken care of? How much of the site's development time will it take to address all of the problems that happen in chat? Krin tries hard for all of us, but he is one person with a great many things to do. I weigh all of this in my mind before I report, and usually it results in me going off to find something more relaxing to do.

I've noticed people mentioning that they try to avoid region chat because it is unpleasant. I don't blame them. My activity has dwindled as well because I feel the chat is too often a frustrating place. But yeah, this does make me wonder if the decrease in activity from those who may offer a positive contribution is causing an increase in negative contribution as it becomes the "norm."

..and speaking of the "norm," perhaps most worrying part of all this is that when these people keep mentioning inappropriate topics, they normalize said topics. Abusive behavior, traumadumping, medical misinformation, bigotry, etc. should never be normalized, especially on what is intended to be a children's site with impressionable young users.

At the end of the day, the community is a vital part of the site. I'd be thrilled to see it well-maintained with some quick action via dedicated moderation~

"I've noticed people mentioning that they try to avoid region chat because it is unpleasant. I don't blame them. My activity has dwindled as well because I feel the chat is too often a frustrating place. But yeah, this does make me wonder if the decrease in activity from those who may offer a positive contribution is causing an increase in negative contribution as it becomes the "norm." " <<< Copeh is absolutely right about this! It's very much a documented thing. In public spaces, if negative behavior is allowed to persist then eventually positive behavior is snuffed out as the negative chases it away and perpetuates.

I do really wish self moderation was possible, but it seems less and less viable.

I wish I could put into words how much this is a need. Because some people man on there info dump scary stuff. Like suicidal things, and honestly its very uncomfortable.


I WILL BE HAPPY TO MOD FOR FREE. Just for the love of all things Festival we need moderation.