These Rules may be appended and altered as seen fit. They are posted for ALL Administrators to read and withhold responsibility for reading, acknowledging and abiding by.
Should you have any questions or concerns in regards to these Rules, please PM an Alpha.
General Administrator Behavior
Fraternization & Nepotism - An Administrator's S/O(s) or family member(s)/sibling(s) are not permitted to be a member of the Administration Team if their partner or family is already an Administrator. This Rule is in place to prevent any favoritism or "ganging up" of Team Members in a relationship or family relationship vs others. Should your significant other or family member/sibling apply at a later date, their Application would be disqualified. Should the Administration find out later that you and your partner sibling(s), or family member(s) applied, were accepted, and have become full-fledged Administrators, we require that you deliberate among yourselves to decide which one of you steps down.
Hate Speech - Wolfhome has 0 tolerance for racism, xenophobia, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, or any type of cultural appropriation on the Wolfhome Administration. If Wolfhome Administrators become aware that you are a part of any hate groups/statements made pertaining to any of the above you will be terminated of your administration position. Wolfhome strives to have a diverse community that includes different cultures, races, as well as LGBTQ+ community.
Room Limit - Do not enter a full public room unless you have been howled there to help with a problem. The ability for Administrators to enter a full room is strictly in case a room is already full with no Administrators in it and a troublemaker needs to be dealt with.
Admin Ignore Lists - I confirm that I have cleared my Ignore List upon promotion, unless otherwise approved by the Alpha Team. If a user is persistently bothering you as an Administrator, you can present the case to the Alphas, who will discuss it and will either approve or disapprove of the ignore feature being utilized.
Email Visibility - I confirm that I have edited my Forum Profile and the Sniffs of all Chat Accounts to hide my email address. The email address that is used to validate my accounts is not displayed in my forum posts or in the contents of my Sniff(s).
Login Name - Do not change your login name without FIRST asking an Alpha for permission. Seeing an Administrator account with a different name can be confusing to the users so we would like to limit that as much as possible. You are always welcome to login under a different name using a Non-Administrative Account. There is a 4 month cool down before you may change your username to a new username, and a 2 month cool down to change your username back to a username that you have used previously.
Professional Mannerism
Administrators are encouraged to openly communicate and maintain not only a professional persona to the user base, but to show our "real selves" so to speak as well. We do not want to give off the impression that we are simply robots who only exist to enforce the Rules. However, there is, in fact, a time and place to joke given the situation and location. We strongly encourage our Admins to have fun and joke (including mild/minor swearing) in Public Rooms so long as you both use common sense and respect the Chat Rules. Administrators are held to a higher standard than the general user base, so that should be reflected even when letting loose. When it comes to handling a report, you absolutely MUST remain professional and unbiased regardless of time, place, or user in question.
• For example, it would be extremely unprofessional for an Admin to swear at the users, ignore questions, or treat them poorly in a Private Room. Just because you are in a Private Room that does not mean you're permitted to dismiss a user's question or disrespect them.
• Consuming any alcoholic drinks, smoking weed or use of any other controlled substances that could affect your ability to administrate is strictly prohibited. We ask that if you are to do this, to switch onto an alternate account if you wish to be online or refrain from going on chats altogether. Failure to do so can result in a demotion, and action taken against your account(s).
• Under absolutely no circumstances are we to use derogatory slurs or other epithets in Public Rooms. Even if it's in jest among friends. Even in Private Rooms, use your judgement and common sense.
• Off-site conduct is not particularly something we are strict on nor do we want to be strict on. If you are vulgar or inappropriate on Facebook, DeviantART, Tumblr or any other website, that is completely your choice. However, any and all malicious statements made against or about Admins, or users of Chatlands, be it to the individual themselves, or to another Chatlands member can result in a demotion. Regardless of where the comments are made, it still reflects poorly on us as a whole. If you are dealing with users directly or indirectly outside of Chatlands, you do so appropriately and respectfully.
• No site, Admin or Owner is allowed to make Discords, or forum modifications to include even monitored NSFW art to be posted, or having NSFW environments with pornography being allowed without it being properly filtered. Proper filtration and moderation of any Mature Forums or Discords must be fully satisfied and viewable by the Chatlands Guardians. New Forums/Discords must present their filtration methods BEFORE they can be opened to the public.
• Under absolutely no circumstance is an Administrator permitted to bash, slander disparage or make negative personal remarks about the users. This is wholly unacceptable behavior and will not be permitted on Chat, off-site, or on the Wolfhome Admin Discord server. You are of course allowed to have your own opinion and views, however you MUST remain respectful.
Bias
Being an Administrator means you cannot be biased in situations where you're close to anyone. Whether dealing with a friend, partner, or family you must always handle them like you would any other user. We also ask that if someone you know sends in a Problem Ticket, that you are not involved with handling that Problem Ticket. Voting on Applications of friends/partners/family is also strictly prohibited and we ask that you abstain from voting. As for giving opinions on if the user in question should be handled a certain way or if they broke a rule, if you feel as though you are too close to this individual we also ask that you abstain from voting.
Negative bias is also a huge issue, if you feel as though you cannot be fair toward an individual whom you've had a bad experience with or feel negative toward we ask that you not handle this user or vote on action against them. You may not increase a user's ladder just because of how you feel toward them. When voting for users' admin applications, if you have a situation that was bad with the user who applied, please bring it forward for the alphas to discuss if it is worth the team to know about to not cloud judgment from the user who applied. If the alphas decide it is important enough for the team to know about said situation they will allow the admin who was affected by this individual to post their experience.
In an instance that you are the only alpha, and feel like there may be bias toward a problem ticket or an alpha-only situation we ask that you reach out to the Guardians to handle this matter. If it is able to be handled by the team then post it for discussion and remain out of the voting for it.
Confidentiality
Anything and everything said on these Forums or discussed among ourselves is assumed to be private. If you're unsure if something is fit for public release or discussion, (including conversations among friends) please ask an Alpha for discussion as a Team. User information should never be shared with the public. This includes E-mails, IPs, Ban Records, etc. As an Administrator you are trusted with sensitive information and content that is confidential. Under no circumstances are you to share any of this information with the public. You ARE allowed to state a user is banned but the reasoning why may NOT be shared with the users. Should you share information with someone that is viewable with your Rank and not theirs, there are consequences.
• Alphas are the ONLY individuals allowed to give out alleged Ban reasons and proof of the Ban to any user who requests it. This of course will be heavily dealt with on a case-by-case scenario, and Alpha can refuse to give out this information to the users for any reason.
The following below is the Guideline as to what is and is not permitted to be shared:
• Proof of Bans that are smaller offenses or offenses that effect the community, such as Art Theft (which effects the community) or spamming (a minor offense) may be shared with anyone.
• Proof of Bans that involve vulgarity, excessive swearing, or slurs may only be provided to users over the age of 13.
• Proof of Bans that involve severe offenses such as sexual harassment, sexual/drug solicitation, safety threats, or spreading information on how to glitch and or hack Chatlands are only to be shared to Guardians, and may not be shared to subordinates or other site's Administration. There are NO EXCEPTIONS (including Owners) in regards to sexual harassment and solicitation Bans. As it currently stands, logs pertaining to sexual harassment/threats are strictly Alpha Only. Any logs containing such should be given to an Alpha.
• Alphas are NOT allowed to share any proof to subordinate users that may uncover the identity of the user who sent in a report. Revealing the identity of the reporter is a serious offense and may result in severe repercussions such as removal of the Chat Site and ability to ever Administrate again.
Rank Guideline
Alphas: Alphas may confirm a Ban has been placed, share the length of said Ban, the alleged Ban reason (or confirmed reason if a Guardian has approved firstly), and proof of the Ban if it falls in the shareable category. *Local Bans Only*. Please note that Alphas can refuse for any reason and are under no obligation to release this information.
Betas: Betas may confirm a Ban has been placed and share the length of the Ban. *Local Bans Only*
Gammas: Gammas may confirm that a Ban has been placed and share the length of the Ban. *Local Bans Only*
Apprentices: Apprentices may not share ANY Ban information whatsoever.
• Please note that upon becoming an Administrator and agreeing to abide by these Terms, that you are also agreeing to withhold confidential matters and sensitive information as a Subordinate. All information that you learned throughout your time as an Administrator is meant to stay private, even after leaving the Team. Should the confidentiality be breached after leaving the Team, your account is subject to a Chatlands Ban. This Rule applies to past, current and future Administrators.
Demotions
By signing the Code of Conduct you are acknowledging that if demoted, your demotion will be shared with the team, as well as the public community. The team will get full details as to why you were demoted, specific evidence may be included, and a full reason will be written up. The demotion information will be released to the public by an Alpha and posted on the topic of demotions and resignations, the only information that will be posted for the public will be the rule or code of conduct section that was broken. Alphas may not give full details as to why an admin was demoted such as "sharing private logs" or "stealing art from Loki".
When resigning, an alpha will post on the topic stating you have resigned and will not give out information as to why as that is personal to you. Only alphas may post on this topic, if you are found posting on this topic it will be promptly removed.
Upon signing this, you also agree to not share demotion details if posted, if a user asks you why an admin was demoted you can only share the information on the public topic and nothing that was shared via the administration boards.
Cooperation with Other Sites
Chatlands is a working community, and in turn, all Chat Sites are expected to be united in that sense. Site Owners and Staff Members will be required to cooperate with one another and mutual respect will need to be shared at all times.
• All Alphas are welcome and encouraged to apply to join the Chatlands Guardians Forum / Discord, a community of Admins (Alpha+) who work collectively to ensure that Chatlands is a fair place and that all Rules are upheld and enforced.
• Every Administrator is expected to fully cooperate with the Guardians and provide information as requested, as well as demote any Staff Member that is either ineligible for their Rank and/or causing an issue, and remove artwork that is deemed inappropriate or is in violation to the CoC / fair usage permissions.
• Slanderous remarks regarding any Administrator on any Team, attempts to deprecate or ridicule another Chat Site or Administrator, encouraging users to leave a specific Chat Site, and acts of spreading false rumors or misinformation concerning another Site or Staff Member in any manner are strictly prohibited no matter the circumstances. These types of offenses can result in harsh reprimands.
• While Staff are permitted to advertise Administrative Applications for their own Site on different platforms, it is not acceptable to promote Applications or recruit Staff Members for Wolfhome on different Sites WITHOUT that specific Site Owner’s explicit permission, as it is considered to be discourteous. We also ask that you do not go to other Chatlands Sites and advertise for Wolfhome or Staff Applications for Wolfhome without the Site Owners permission, as it is considered disrespectful. You may advertise only on that sites Forum, if an appropriate section is available.
Dealing With Users
Upholding Rules - Any user who breaks the Rules gets in trouble, but for an Admin to break a Rule is even worse. The Administration has the additional responsibility of being both an upstanding user and a role model to the user base. We are expected to follow the Rules and deal with troublemakers regardless of any social ramifications.
Trust - Upon promotion you have been placed into a position of trust and users will look up to you and how you present yourself. We have a very good level of trust between both the Administrators and users; they come to us when they have an issue that they need dealt with and we try our best to resolve any dispute. We are a Team, and we trust that as individuals, we use our best judgement when policing the Chat. Please do not jeopardize or abuse that trust that we have strived so hard to achieve; do not use your status to meet your own ends or to kick someone from the Chat simply because of any personal issues you may have with them. If you find that you are having difficulty due to your personal feelings on a situation we urge you to ask another Team member to deal with it.
Warnings - When a user misbehaves in Chat, make sure to give them a warning prior to kicking or banning them. Then, make sure to kick at LEAST once before you Ban. Some users may just not understand the Rules until they get a Warning or they may not fully comprehend that there will be consequences to breaking the Rules. If you were sent a Chat Log after the fact, make sure to send the user a Warning in the form of a WH Message or NG unless they have already been warned for the same offense prior. The exceptions to this Rules are obviously trolls, ie. users who are only on the Chat with the intention to flame, antagonize and disturb the peace. (Per our Rules trolls should be immediately banned across All Sites.) When warning a user, please stick to whisper as much as possible to keep their warning confidential.
Reporting - Do not leave any Bans, Kicks, or Warnings unreported or not properly logged on the Forum. Every single case should be posted in the Warnings & Bans section of the Admin Forums as soon as possible. Please refer to the Guidelines in that Forum for posting.
Impartiality - Each Admin must be an impartial judge and enforcer of the Rules. Whether or not you get along with someone like a best friend or dislike them strongly, you must be completely neutral when Administering the Chat. If a friend breaks a Rule and you take no action, you will also be held at fault. Likewise, if you are known to be at odds with a user and blatantly abuse your privileges, you will be held responsible for that.
Log Checks - Please reserve Log Check Requests strictly for when they are absolutely necessary. Log Checks will absolutely not be done just because you may want to know what a user said about you. When applicable, Log Checks are provided upon serious offenses such as: safety threats, hacking threats, fraud, stalking, or soliciting sex from minors just to name a few. You may @ an Alpha, or comment in the "Alphas Help" Channel on the Discord Server for such situations. When it's possible please try to get the log from the user who reported the issue. If you are unable to receive it, simply ask them for the room name it happened in, and a general time frame (make sure to get the user's time zone!) in which the incident occurred.
Sharing Information About A Ban With Others (Subordinates) - If a user asks you about a Ban or the reason another user was banned, you may ONLY tell them two things: You may confirm that a user has or has not been banned and you may share the length of the Ban. Under absolutely no circumstance are you allowed to explain why a user was banned or anything else about the Ban situation, such as where it took place, and who else may have been involved. You may only tell people that ask you about a Ban whether or not the user being asked about is in fact allowed on the Site or not allowed on the Site and when, if ever, that user will be allowed back on the Site.
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