Allow a trusted spokesperson to handle one’s appeals

This may seem like a bogus idea at first glance, but I do truly believe allowing somebody who has received a ban, mute, or any sort of punishment across Forums, Discord, or Minecraft, to be able to allow one trusted person to handle their appeal for them would be very beneficial for those seeking uplifts or easing of their sanctions which they believe they do not deserve, and also for staff who would much prefer a well written, professional appeal.

Why do I think this should be allowed?

Kind of like a lawyer in legal cases, being able to have a trusted person handle your bans and problems can be extremely helpful for a multitude of reasons:

1 - Unconfident in their English language.

If somebody banned is foreign speaking, with a limited English speaking ability, they may find it hard to draft a proper appeal, worthy of a staff member’s time and attention. If they are able to have one trusted spokesperson draft up and submit their appeal for them, in good quality English writing, it is more likely their case will be addressed with more attention and a higher chance of being unbanned.

2 - Unconfident in their persuasive ability.

Just like an attorney’s job is to persuade the jury in their favour, it would be great if whoever’s banned could have a spokesperson with a good ability to argue and persuade handle their case for them. If you were caught up in a legal case I’m sure you would want someone of better persuasive ability to handle your case rather than yourself (unless, of course, you have confidence in your own ability).

3 - Staff would much prefer a high quality, well written appeal.

If the banned person submits a low quality, unpersuasive appeal not worthy of a real response, staff would most likely reply slower, with less detail and less effort. Which is completely understandable. I am sure all staff would much prefer a well written, professional grade appeal, worthy of their time and effort to address.

How would this work?

Very simple! In order for this to work, in the first message for an appeal, one extra line could be added, along with the usual (name, ban reason, who banned you etc etc etc). Something that goes along the lines of ‘Would you like one trusted person to handle your appeal for you and be your spokesperson throughout the case?’ To which the appealer can say ‘No’, or ‘Yes, @User).

And once that is done, staff would grant this user ability to send messages in the appeal and thus handle the case for them!

 

No support - with very specific reasoning.

While I agree with everything you've said about the benefits of having someone create a well-written appeal for you, I think the idea of having someone else entirely handle the appeal for you defeats the point of the appeal system. When someone appeals a punishment they have to acknowledge their wrongdoing and justify why they should have the punishment removed/reduced (or prove innocence, but I'm not going to go into that at the moment). A staff member might make them reread the rules to reflect on the rule they broke, or determine based on their attitude if the user is ready to return from their punishment. By having someone else handling the appeal on a user's behalf I think those aspects of the appeal are lost.

That said, I do think it's a great idea for prospective appealers to consult with a friend and formulate good messages when appealing a punishment, for all the reasons you outlined in your suggestion, and there's nothing in the current system preventing this from happening.

 

I cannot support this, because the point of a ban appeal is for the player to explain why the ban was wrong, or apologize for their actions. I get the comparison to a lawyer, but it feels really unnecessary.

 

No support. Noobcrew cant afford to hire lawyers



xo

 

I think you missed the catch, this suggestion helps people who simply lack ability to be able to do this. It's easy for you and me but what if you were Greek and had no knowledge of the English language. I am sure you'd want someone to help you

 

I agree, I think maybe a combined system where the banned user explains why they are sorry, what has gone wrong etc, and a helper can write out things like using evidences and other things to explain maybe why they should be unbanned. Like if you were banned for IRL trading, but it was actually your co-op mate and you need to explain that to a mod, and your English is awful, what can you do? Sure Google Translate might help but I'm sure it'll still sound like quite a jumble. I agree in situations where there is no excuse the banned user should explain what they have done wrong, why, and they apologise, but in broader context when one tries to prove themselves innocent or present evidence to shorten their punishments, having a good spokesperson to do this for you would be extremely helpful.

 

It's not as easy as it sounds. A staff member themselves cannot allow users to view the ban appeal node. It can only be done by someone who is given administrative permissions on the forum (i.e. Forums Administrator, Administrator, Owner). Secondly, this would require a lot of work. The forum has various user groups which are given specific permissions in each node. You would have to create a new user group, and then allow this user group to only be able to perform specific actions in the node. Then, an administrator would have to toggle this user group on for a specified user so they can see the node. When everything is done, the administrator would have to toggle off this user group from the user.

It's not very consistent and administrators should not be expected to do this. It's a lengthy process and will interfere with other appeals as users cannot be given explicit access to a specific thread. If a user does not speak English, the staff member should find a way to communicate with them. An appeal shouldn't be severely exaggerated, it's a conversation. You talk, the staff member talks, you dispute and they dispute. No support.

 

I wasn't aware of this, that's helpful to know

 

Support, it is incredibly mentally taxing to write an appeal and most likely the person appealing is already struggling. Stel often wrote appeals for me and I wrote hers. I think this is important for people’s mental health to have someone speak on their behalf from time to time.
As someone who often found myself in the position of needing to appeal throughout the time I was a young teenager on this server, I needed someone to have my back. I was already going through a hard enough time in the real world.
For those who no support - I ask you to put yourself in the position of someone who is struggling and cannot speak up for themselves adequately or fairly, for whatever reason. Victims are allowed and recommended representation IRL, and in Australia anyone under the age of 18, guilty or innocent is provided FREE representation by the government.

 

Very well put, I understand everybody’s reasons to why they do not support, but as you said not everybody feels the same and live their lives the same, happy & healthy way. Having someone speak up for you in any way or form is always good to have.

 

I'd have to say no support. I support requesting asking a different staff to handle your appeal than the one who punished you, as this can sometimes add to the conflict between players and staff.


However the idea of an appeal is that staff can see in your own words why you're appealing. I struggle sometimes with communicating and understanding/expressing myself especially when stressed. But that's something the staff are there to support you with. They won't judge on lack of being able to explain in full details, as long as you're truthful in your appeal. Having someone else to write an appeal for you is putting your problems onto someone else's shoulder showing that you're unable to take on your own responsibilities. This other person could make stuff up in the appeal or not tell the truth from your side of the story. Best advice is to go step by step, staff are understanding and willing to help

 

The thing is, the staff are not supportive and most of the time (in my experience) can behave just as petulant and immature as the person appealing. It makes no sense for a moody 18 year old to be reviewing and handling an appeal written by another moody 18 year old. If I can find a support person who is more capable of writing a succinct appeal which accurately displays how I feel in a much more mature tone, why am I not entitled to that?

 

I've been there myself, i get it.

That's why I'd support having a different staffmember than the punisher take on the appeal. Avoids conflict between the staff who punished believing their right all the time whereas a different staff may be more understanding of the situation to help better. Less personal aggreivances then

 

By all means do ask for support, but use that support in your own words ❤ advice to help structure appeals. Anyone can copy paste Paragraphs written for them. Meaning them is something else

 

This is not the case whatsoever, there is nothing ‘lazy’ as such regarding this, in fact putting your outcome on another person’s shoulder’s is an impactful decision you decide to take. You would have to work with and communicate fully with this ‘someone else’ in order for you two to make an appealing case. This person can be here to help you, assist you, and write your appeal for you, but not in a way degrading the meaning of appeals.

 

This is true and it was common practice in 2016-2018 to ask for a different staff member to handle your appeal. This has always been granted, and I commend the staff team for doing so.
What I am talking about is having someone who can communicate a persons position much more clearly to the staff team, where the punished member may not be able to, due to personal traumas or otherwise (which we ALL have) that may prevent a player from being able to adequately represent themselves.
For a IRL example: Would you allow someone who is drugged up or suffering to represent themselves solely IRL? Would you think they were capable enough to defend themselves? It’s not only unfair, we wouldn’t allow this situation IRL and that should extend to online. People in difficult circumstances should be provided the chance to help themselves.

 

This is a forums online. People may write their own paragraphs so convincingly that you would believe that they are meaning them. People can and will deceive you online regardless of how convincing you believe they are.
Conversely, people can also 100% mean what they say in their appeal regardless of whether they write it themselves or have a support person do it for them. We are not talking to someone face to face. When it comes down to text on a forum, you have to take it at face value. Then it is up to you to decide if you agree or disagree with it. There are no nuances that you can pick up through someone’s behaviour/facial expressions.

 

Why not? I'd be fine with it.

Though anyone has the right to state "english is not my primary language so I received help drafting this appeal." I don't think getting help with an appeal is illegal

 

Yeah I’ve always found it weird why they made a big faff about wanting it straight from the person as if that increases credibility. Unless you are planning to FaceTime the guy I don’t see how else you can believe just text is believable if it is from the person themself. As long as it’s coming from somewhere it’s cool!

 

After reading through the thread and replies and arguments brought up, I honestly do feel like it does make a lot of sense and is a great idea to have as an option for someone if they feel like they need the help. Appeals should be done by the person who needs to appeal yes, but I do feel like sometimes it's great to have someone even go over stuff with you at the very least because everyone needs support. I would suggest "waiting until you feel okay" to appeal, but for some people that could not happen as easy as others may seem, so it does feel good to have someone help you out if you so need the option. It may not be in your wordings, but as long as everything you feel you need to say is said, then that is something I see being fine. I'm backing down on not supporting this simply because after going through more responses, the idea really does seem a great option for people.