Ban

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Bans or 'Locks' are disciplinary actions that may be placed on a PokéFarm account for any length of time. A user with a locked account will not be able to access certain parts of the site.

Reasons

Staff members must provide a reason for an account lock; no account is locked without reason. Account Locks are given in order to make sure the site rules are followed. They will be given for any rule breaking or otherwise unruly or unnecessary behaviour displayed by a user on the site. Account locks can be issued for a variety of reasons, but tend to be for one of the following:

  • a user breaks (or is suspected to have broken) a site rule.
  • a staff member needs to contact a user. [1]
Note: Reasons for having an account locked may vary as the staff sees fit.


Public Bans

Usually, account locks are treated as private matters between the staff and a user, and are not disclosed to the general public. The ModWatch page allows users to see when users get bans, but does not show a user's username or the specific reason for their ban. Most account locks displayed on the ModWatch page are private locks, meaning that only a user's ID Number and the type of lock is shown. Personal information is not made public unless the staff determines that the offender has broken a severe rule. The severity needed to have a lock be publicly displayed is left to the discretion of the staff.[2]

Account Locks may be discussed publicly, but users involved must be respectful of both the staff and the user(s) involved. [3] If locked users choose to spread false information regarding their bans, the staff may choose make their locks public to verify released information. [4]

What to do if Banned

If a user discovers they are locked, they may contact a moderator to discuss the issue, or they can send in a support ticket at the Support Centre. Users may be unbanned when their allocated ban time runs out, or if the issue can be worked out with a moderator. Users should ensure they do not break the rule again and should be respectful to moderators when discussing the issue.

Types of Bans

There are five types of bans or locks that may be placed on a user's account: Site, Forum, PM, Trade, and Chat. Users may also have specific privileges removed, such as not being able to apply for clans.

Site Lock (Site Ban)

A user may get a full-site ban if they break a rule. A user with a site lock will not be able to play on PokéFarm for as long as the lock is in place. Publicly available information (e.g. the Public Forums and the Lab) will still be be available for viewing, but anything requiring an active PFQ account will be unavailable. The length of a site lock depends on the severity of the rule broken.

Forum Lock (or de-voice/Mute)

A user with a Forum Lock will not be able to post or edit posts on the Public Forums. A muted user will still be able to view and read the forums, and will also have limited access to their own post's codes. Communication with other users can be done through the use of Personal Messages.

Trade Lock

Users with Trade Locks cannot participate in any kind of trades with this lock in place.

PM Lock

PM (Personal Message) Locks prohibit a user from sending messages. However, PM-locked users are able to PM staff members, as an alternative to using the Support Centre.

Chat Lock

The user may not use the PFQ Chatroom or the livestream chat when PFQ Live is active.

References

  1. Single Post by Niet in "Staff Transparency Results", [1]
  2. Staff Transparency Results (Full Thread) [2]
  3. Single Post by Garthic in "Regarding Site Downtime", [3]
  4. Rule 5, Paragraph 2 [4]