Courtroom Process

Reports

When the server rules are broken, a player or Staffer may report the incident using the Courtroom section of the forum. A similar report can be filed if a player has a complaint against a Staffer that they feel did not abide by the Staff Policy. Specific information on how to lay out your report is given on this page of our forum.

Rulings

One or more Staffers will review each report after it is posted, and when a decision is reached, a ruling will be made. There are two common outcomes:

• The report is marked as requiring no further action, or
• A punishment is outlined and enforced, and the first post of the thread is updated.

In cases where the banhammer is used on a player, we use our Ban Length Guidelines to decide how long a player should be banned for.

Appeals

Except for some cases of repeat offences, all rulings may be appealed by the player in question. There is no specific format required other than for the player to give as much information as they can as to why they believe the ruling should be changed.

Open arbitration

In an effort to ensure that incidents are arbitrated in the fairest and most even-handed way, all reports, rulings, and subsequent appeals should be posted in public within the relevant Courtroom thread. Staffers reserve the right to repost any forum Private Messages relating to the report onto the public thread. Though we understand that sometimes the player(s) involved may find this disagreeable, we believe it is preferable to holding discussions behind closed doors; doing so may lead to inaccurate or incomplete reports that, in turn, lead to flawed rulings.