Discord Timeout Policy

[Bala]

As someone that has recently been on the receiving end of several timeouts from the Eclipse Roleplay Discord, for amongst other things, expressing opinions that do not align with the arbitrary enforcement of our Discord rules, I'd like to petition for an amendment to be made regarding how the staff team handles timeouts.

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• Nudity, or explicit content of any kind is not allowed.
• Toxic, offensive or otherwise disrespectful behavior is not allowed.
• Any kind of spam sent to our channels or privately to our users is not allowed.
• Cyberthreats, or threats in general will not be tolerated. 
• Harassment, excessively targeting a specific user or staff member will not be tolerated. 
• Advertisement of servers, communities, and websites unrelated to ECRP is not allowed.  
• Discussion about politics or religion is not allowed. 
• This is an English speaking community, please use English in your messages while in our Discord server.

Specifically, in this case, the ability to appeal the time outs but also, to be provided information on who issued them and why they have been issued. 

Following my most recent timeout, the specifics of which have still not be made known to me, I asked for the staff member's name who issued the timeout so I could either discuss the matter with them privately to avoid making a repeat mistake or alternatively, to use our report system to ensure that they were acting in good faith. I was told by a Lead Head Administrator that I could not appeal my timeout and that the individual's name would not be provided.

I find this to be an unnecessary and inciting way of handling something. If I were kicked or banned or issued with a Non-RP in-game punishment, I would be able to appeal and I would know the individual that issued that punishment but in this case, where I'm being denied the use of a service in Eclipse, the reason(s) for my denial of service are being withheld from me and the identity of the individual that issued that punishment withheld from me also. That's not something that is going to do anything other than fan unnecessary flames.

The timeout is what it is, but to ensure that every staff member, whether they are a support member or a head administrator, is accountable for their own actions as I am, there needs to be transparency on why a decision was made and who is making it. I don't think I'm above following the rules and I don't think with the exception of our founders, any staff member should be either.

Before this ends up being locked or mysteriously archived, this thread is not a personal appeal nor is it an admission of any wrongdoing on my part, it's a suggestion and the suggestion is this;

• In the event that a timeout is issued on a player which is over 6 or say 12 hours, they are able to find out the identification of the staff member that issued the timeout as well as appeal the timeout as well.

[vZelfeR]

+1

I was also timed out, given no reason and  had said nothing offensive, only a negative opinion about the newest update. I know who timed me out but the appeal was swiftly denied.

I feel we should only be timed out for the rules listed above. I was not spamming my opinion nor did I say anything offensive. Being able to know the reason for a timeout would definitely help in not making the same mistake as the only other alternative I have now is to not interact at all.

 

[Earl Mud]

+1 I was banned previously from discord when I voiced some concerns about the car changes. I was not hateful or inciting anything just discussing why people were upset and was banned for a few weeks. No reason was ever given to me and even in my forum appeal I still got no info on it. If you are timeout or banned from discord you should at the very least receive an message about why and what rule just like forums and have the chance to appeal even if its just in a discord ticket instead of forums.

 

[Larintai]

As of last night, around 10 or more active members of the community were timed out between one day and one week while others were straight banned.  Silencing dissent among the community will not exactly "help" stop the dissent but only grow it and make it even stronger.  If the administration wants the dissent to stop, they need to listen to it and really understand where it is coming from.  Many of the people, including myself, were timed out for a negative remark or comment about either the community state, the server state, or moderators/administration.  Take note from communist regimes, silencing the opinions of others has never gone in favor of those performing the silencing.  Many of us care deeply for the friends we have made and the relationships we have with those we have met and we want to see the server be in a healthy state. We voice our concerns because we don't want to lose what brought us all together in the first place.  

I cannot support a KGB style discord moderation and expect it to change for the better.

[Lacey Vincero]

+1 

The first time I ever got timed out from discord I had literally no idea why and it was my first EVER one and it was as long as 7 days. Never ended up finding out who did it so I could resolve the issue, reached out to admins and basically got very blunt replies and told to appeal like a game ban... So.. I simply appealed and eventually it was accepted. And if I think back to that day, I couldn't even remember posting any hateful or disrespectful. The system needs a change. 

[Kazjii]

+1 Yea I would have to agree. After messaging several moderators, Lewis, and Aldarine - it wasn’t until Silky was able to give me a name.

 

I had gotten zero heads up or notice. I can acknowledge I was being harsh and sarcastic, but that is not against the above rules. 

[Woot_beerfloat]

+1 as well to this, I was banned for the incident last night, mind you I wasn't even discussing the active topic, just sending out updates on those who got timed out as they were getting timed out so quickly. Was it supposed to be funny? Yes. Was it? Yes.  

I was timed out, then I went on my other account (I have a sperate phone account as I cannot log into discord on my phone and I still like to see what's active in the community when I'm on vacation or away from my computer) and updated it with my name as the final nail to finish out the joke. I was then Banned on both of my accounts. From my research and communication with several people. It is not against the rules to have 2 accounts. (I have responded to admins, posted in channels for a LONG time with the other account so its not like I made a brand new account and joined the server  I was also given no heads up or warning or for why/who issued the ban or timeout

 

Overall this just feels  unnecessary and targeted a time out? Sure Ill handle that, not to mention I now have to go back in and get all of my roles and channels established once unbanned. Were some people being harsh and a little idiotic? yes but again I stand by the fact that I said nothing of the sort to anybody.  

[SneakySniper]

+1 

[Deactivation]

+1 I am also constantly timed out!

[JellyFaun]

+1

[AtlasOLimbo]

+1. Was perma-banned from the Discord for criticizing the server in what I believed to be a rather reasonable, fair manner. No message and not even a reply as to who did it on my appeal when moved. I'd appreciate more transparency.

[Bala]

I didn't make this thread so you guys could complain about how you've been treated, only that we could maybe alter the policy around the timeouts so if necessary, they can be handled with transparency and appealed.

Please don't derail this.

[BillyB]

+1

The more transparency the better, always.

[Woot_beerfloat]

1 hour ago, Bala said:

I didn't make this thread so you guys could complain about how you've been treated, only that we could maybe alter the policy around the timeouts so if necessary, they can be handled with transparency and appealed.

Please don't derail this.

I don't think the complaints were meant to derail this, just the discontent with the situation as we were almost all affected during the last big time out/ban session, you included. I think the points in your original post are valid. Multiple people were timed out and have issues with the reason/timing of it

Edited December 29, 2025 by Woot_beerfloat

[Timmaayy]

Most of the time, timeouts or bans are issued due to the result of promoting unwarranted negativity. Whilst many of you have thoughts and opinions, these should be reserved for the correct channels, such as the suggestion forum, where we can have constructive conversations. 

Regarding receiving bans/timeouts on our Discord, these are 100% appealable and have always been through our decision appeal process. Here, the member of staff who issued the punishment will provide their reasoning. 

[AtlasOLimbo]

29 minutes ago, Timmaayy said:

Most of the time, timeouts or bans are issued due to the result of promoting unwarranted negativity. Whilst many of you have thoughts and opinions, these should be reserved for the correct channels, such as the suggestion forum, where we can have constructive conversations. 

Regarding receiving bans/timeouts on our Discord, these are 100% appealable and have always been through our decision appeal process. Here, the member of staff who issued the punishment will provide their reasoning. 

"unwarranted". A majority of the negativity that occurred last night was extremely warranted given the state of the server and people who have dedicated a lot of passion and effort to this server rightfully jaded. Do I agree with how it was gone about in every case? Not necessarily. But foregoing warnings, going straight to bans in my case or week long mutes in others with not even as much as a message is frankly ridiculous for criticizing the server.

A lot of people like me wouldn't say anything if we didn't care about the server and wanted to see it improve. It feels like a poor attempt at creating a facade that everything's alright when this kind of conversation is immediately stamped out in discord without so much as a redirect to the forums like said here.

[Timmaayy]

No one is disputing that people care about the server or that frustrations exist due to the countless hours dedicated. Where the line was crossed wasn’t having criticism, but how and where it was expressed in the moment, being in General chat. As I mentioned previously, the expectation has always been that feedback goes through the correct channels designed for it, so it can actually lead somewhere productive, rather than spilling into public chat and escalating.

Nobody is trying to create a facade that everything is perfect. We as a server do want improvement, but we just need criticism delivered in a way that allows it to be heard and acted on, not drowned out by chaos. 

[AtlasOLimbo]

2 minutes ago, Timmaayy said:

No one is disputing that people care about the server or that frustrations exist due to the countless hours dedicated. Where the line was crossed wasn’t having criticism, but how and where it was expressed in the moment, being in General chat. As I mentioned previously, the expectation has always been that feedback goes through the correct channels designed for it, so it can actually lead somewhere productive, rather than spilling into public chat and escalating.

Nobody is trying to create a facade that everything is perfect. We as a server do want improvement, but we just need criticism delivered in a way that allows it to be heard and acted on, not drowned out by chaos. 

If I may be so blunt, people move to general as it feels the conversations on the forums go nowhere. Promises are made and not followed through on. Even the dedicated QoL thread made by Lewis went practically nowhere. (As far as I'm aware.) People want their voices heard, to matter. To actually make a dent.

Founders and staff must hold up their end of the bargain when it comes to these things if they're to expect feedback to be routed through proper channels in my opinion.

[Timmaayy]

Currently, the roadmap is still being worked through. We actively read through the suggestions made and pass these on to the developers so that they are aware of them. These conversations and suggestions made on the forums do not go unnoticed. 

[Aldarine]

To return back to the original suggestion at hand, @Bala I do find your suggestion to be reasonable lets say in the event of a timeout in excess of a day. Typically timeouts of shorter length are very clearly known and are meant for people to chill out for a bit and just step away. When it comes to giving a name, that is a bit hit or miss as any appeal put on the forums can be backtracked and the name provided at that time. Names provided prior can result in harassment of the staff member by some individuals if they have yet to cool down.

Thoughts?

[vZelfeR]

1 hour ago, Timmaayy said:

Currently, the roadmap is still being worked through. We actively read through the suggestions made and pass these on to the developers so that they are aware of them. These conversations and suggestions made on the forums do not go unnoticed. 

To expand on this, I think simple communication would go a long way. To give an example; your response on the racing script changes was a first and amazing, everyone knew what was being suggested to the devs and noone felt ignored. I think on every other suggestion, people feel ignored because we don't know what gets passed on to Devs and when nothing comes of it, we get disheartened and give up.

Back to the point at hand; I think the issue with this specific situation is that people got timed out for things that were not in the rules. If you time out people for negative opinions, then have a rule that states 'no negative opinions'; otherwise, as Bala posted originally, how are we supposed to learn from our mistakes? How are we supposed to prevent getting timed out when its random depending on who disagrees with you.

1 hour ago, Aldarine said:

To return back to the original suggestion at hand, @Bala I do find your suggestion to be reasonable lets say in the event of a timeout in excess of a day. Typically timeouts of shorter length are very clearly known and are meant for people to chill out for a bit and just step away. When it comes to giving a name, that is a bit hit or miss as any appeal put on the forums can be backtracked and the name provided at that time. Names provided prior can result in harassment of the staff member by some individuals if they have yet to cool down.

Thoughts?

I think 7 day timeouts are too much for 'cooling down', a couple of hours or even an hour maybe would be good. Anything longer would be for actual rule breaks in the Discord Server. I agree with the names part and when you appeal you find out who it is anyway later on; but you should definitely be given a reason as to why you were timed out or banned in the first place. Also I feel the appeals should not be handled by the banning party, but their superior. There has been a visible and obvious bias here and a conflict of interest that has been facilitated.

[SquirtleSquad]

21 minutes ago, vZelfeR said:

Back to the point at hand; I think the issue with this specific situation is that people got timed out for things that were not in the rules. If you time out people for negative opinions, then have a rule that states 'no negative opinions'; otherwise, as Bala posted originally, how are we supposed to learn from our mistakes? How are we supposed to prevent getting timed out when its random depending on who disagrees with you.

You're welcomed and allowed to express concerns of situations, however this should be done in a meaningful and constructive way. A lot of the conversation which I was observing and not partaking in was anything but constructive. It turned into memes, shit posting, and once timeouts and bans were handed out, people started spamming the same messages over and over. Constant tossing of statements of "freedom of speech" being tossed around, yet the thing is, very little of the statements made were done in a way to promote constructive conversations.

This is why we urge for discussions on the forums, as well having an open forum (Discord) just ends up with people turning something serious into a massive flame war. Then if you get one individual who pipes up with a potential opposing view, they get dog-piled on. Messages were being sent way too quickly, and any means of message cleanup would result in people flaming back "oppression" or making statements that we're "silencing the community" which further adds fuel to the fire.

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Toxic, offensive or otherwise disrespectful behavior is not allowed. 

Personally, the timeouts handed out generally are covered under this rule specifically. Comments made to "rage bait" individuals, fueling an ember has multiple times over the last 5 months turned into a forest fire. Some of the messages and things shared in General were not added to promote a means of a solution, but instead to just paint the server in anything less than ideal. Keep in mind this, we are looking to retain current players, but also looking to bring in new players. A new player joins the server, and sees this flame-war. How does that help the situation at all? Toss aside things we can't control such as the roadmap, the development, existing bugs and instead focus on what we can, ourselves and how we portray our passion for this server. This would instantly turn away newer members to the community, or members looking to return to the community.

This is not me saying I was the one who banned or timed people out, but instead an observation during this situation Saturday Night/Sunday morning (depending on your timezone).

[vZelfeR]

40 minutes ago, SquirtleSquad said:

You're welcomed and allowed to express concerns of situations, however this should be done in a meaningful and constructive way. A lot of the conversation which I was observing and not partaking in was anything but constructive. It turned into memes, shit posting, and once timeouts and bans were handed out, people started spamming the same messages over and over. Constant tossing of statements of "freedom of speech" being tossed around, yet the thing is, very little of the statements made were done in a way to promote constructive conversations.

This is why we urge for discussions on the forums, as well having an open forum (Discord) just ends up with people turning something serious into a massive flame war. Then if you get one individual who pipes up with a potential opposing view, they get dog-piled on. Messages were being sent way too quickly, and any means of message cleanup would result in people flaming back "oppression" or making statements that we're "silencing the community" which further adds fuel to the fire.

Personally, the timeouts handed out generally are covered under this rule specifically. Comments made to "rage bait" individuals, fueling an ember has multiple times over the last 5 months turned into a forest fire. Some of the messages and things shared in General were not added to promote a means of a solution, but instead to just paint the server in anything less than ideal. Keep in mind this, we are looking to retain current players, but also looking to bring in new players. A new player joins the server, and sees this flame-war. How does that help the situation at all? Toss aside things we can't control such as the roadmap, the development, existing bugs and instead focus on what we can, ourselves and how we portray our passion for this server. This would instantly turn away newer members to the community, or members looking to return to the community.

This is not me saying I was the one who banned or timed people out, but instead an observation during this situation Saturday Night/Sunday morning (depending on your timezone).

Unfortunately I do not believe I fall into this category and yet was timed out regardless for one comment. My post was not disrespectful nor was it spam, memes, shitposting, inciting violence/hate, rage-baiting or even anger/frustration that required a cool-down. In all fairness my comment was not constructive, but that is not a requirement for messaging in #general in Discord. At the very least, when appealed this should be taken into account. I understand it turned into spam and shitposting and these are the ones that should have been moderated, but there are definitely better ways of dealing with the situation than mass random bans and timeouts. Which leads me back to my point that when giving timeouts, they need to be for valid reasons; unless its a cool down timeout which should be for an hour as a warning. It is definitely not right to punish others for doing nothing wrong, and then punishing people differently based on their gender and factions they're part of is even worse.

I do however understand the point that it was a hectic situation that got out of hand from a moderating point of view, but once the situation has been resolved, remove the week-long timeout or reduce it to an hour (really doesn't need to be a week, thats crazy), where you can't even post crash reports. And if the situation is as bad as it was on the weekend, then open up a two-way discussion or an anonymous complaints area to try and calm the issue. Mass banning and timing out will make people more frustrated and you wont attract new players or retain old players. I currently have no desire to RP in the server at the moment at all from this situation and it's a shame because I really do love this server.

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Messages were being sent way too quickly, and any means of message cleanup would result in people flaming back "oppression" or making statements that we're "silencing the community" which further adds fuel to the fire.

Just to say, this is exactly what happened and made the situation 10x worse. Personally I understand your point of view with new players, but you're not looking at the source of the issue, covering it up is no way near a solution to the issue that was being discussed at the time. New players are retained in the game with a happy community and positive, good quality RP, not with a player base that has been rendered unhappy by a high level member of staff. Facilitating discussion after noticing it and calming the situation down correctly would have been a far better course of action. Obviously I agree with timing out and banning actual rule breaks regardless of it being in the server or on the Discord.

I have said what I feel needs to be said on my side so I will suspend my replies moving forward to allow others to constructively put suggestions forward.

Edited December 29, 2025 by vZelfeR

[Woot_beerfloat]

6 hours ago, Timmaayy said:

Most of the time, timeouts or bans are issued due to the result of promoting unwarranted negativity. Whilst many of you have thoughts and opinions, these should be reserved for the correct channels, such as the suggestion forum, where we can have constructive conversations. 

Regarding receiving bans/timeouts on our Discord, these are 100% appealable and have always been through our decision appeal process. Here, the member of staff who issued the punishment will provide their reasoning. 

Timmayy I love you but I disagree. The same person timed out all of us and then denied our appeals almost immediately. No way to communicate just "Im right your wrong" It really seems like an ego stroke to be honest, I don't think admins who get their feelings hurt or abuse their privilege should be the ones to handle the unban in situations like this. Totally shut down. Makes me actually want to quit the server chief 

[Woot_beerfloat]

Not to mention, having two accounts on discord isn't against the rules, I'm actually kinda laughing at the fact that out of all of the troll/meme/arguments that were going on and the things that were said even those people got timeouts. A full ban is insane behavior