A Rule That Has Become Ridiculous

[Cracker_Blue]

Hello to whoever is reading this. I use the MC-Drugs server quite often, yet lately I've noticed that one of the majorly enforced rules has become more of a problem than it should be. What I'm talking about is the rule about capital letters. If someone in the chat types in ALL CAPS in any sort of way, they get berated by someone on the staff, which is often unnecessary. It seems to be a rule that is very strictly enforced, like it's hurting someone, even though it isn't. It doesn't cause any harm whatsoever. DOES THIS HURT YOU? No, it doesn't. Sometimes when another player is berated for their use of capital letters, I stand up to the staff member, and I tell them that it's a ridiculous rule. I'm then told that it doesn't matter if it's ridiculous, it's the rules. What this translates to is "It's in the rules, so we must follow it, despite the fact that it's unnecessary." Have we players become sheep? I'm genuinely wondering if that's what's to be expected at this point. Here's an example I used against that mentality. "If the rules said that Jews or something weren't allowed, should we still follow it? I mean, it's on the rules, so it must be the gold standard!" For questioning authority and challenging the staff's ideas, I often get threatened with bans. Something as unreasonable as how these rules are handled should be questioned. It's absolutely (for lack of a better word) silly. I've spoken to other players who share the same grievances as I do. I'm not just one person who has a problem with this. There are more people who want to stand up to this rule, and the staff members who enforce it. I'm not alone in this protest. I suggest that something be done about it already. Things are starting to get out of hand, and they'll only get worse if those staff members continue being unreasonable. The server could have a lot of banned players as a result, and it could fall out of popularity. What I'm asking is for the rule about capital letters be less strictly enforced, as it pretty much does nothing. Thank you for reading this. I'm hoping something will be done soon. - Cracker_Blue

 

[14Squared]

We as staff members follow a guideline that is given to us when we are given our rank, so in answer to your question yes. If it is on the guidelines and in the rules we enforce it
To expand on the rule of caps, if it is four or more words in capital letters we will warn the player. If we didn't the chat would be almost as cancer as the majority of this post.
I know this is in relation to me muting (and Killah banning) thinkplay for using caps, this may not have been as excessive of punishments if he accepted that he was rule breaking. I warned him three times over the course of an hour which is rare as I'll usually mute after one. Due to his recent punishments he was muted for longer then you went on to moan about how our staff handled rule breakers and how we should let them get away with it if it's not that serious.
If the player was just using a hacked client for full brightness, or non advantage giving hacks he would still be banned for the same amount of time as someone using the hacks in pvp. This applies to most of our rules, if you're breaking them you'll be punished no matter if the caps are 4-5 words or 4-5 message.

 

[Cracker_Blue]

Here's the problem with that. There's most likely a lot of players on the server who are completely unaware that there's a rule against caps. I know I originally wasn't. You don't see them talking in all caps. No one normally just TALKS LIKE THIS ALL THE TIME. That's just silly. And you're honestly going to tell me that a player can get as much punishment for using caps as a player hacking the server? Having a hacked-in unfair advantage, or using hacks to potentially break the server isn't as horrible as someone DOING THIS. Sometimes certain things just have to be questioned. Especially when it comes to the server rules. The things I've been saying are legitimate criticisms. I'm not just defending my friend like you said. This is about the devolution of how the rules are enforced. - Cracker Blue

 

[GotEdit]

Hello,
When you first join any server, you should probably look at the rules. On MC-Drugs, you can simply do /rules 1-4 which will bring up the basic rules that our server has. On /rules 2, you will find the rules stating "Do not use excessive CAPS." Our guidelines were changed a while ago for warning a player for using 4 words in caps, which no longer stands, and we now warn when they use 1-2 long sentences/lines in caps or 1-3 short sentences/lines using caps.
Our rules won't change just because a few players are getting annoyed that they're getting muted, the more you get muted/banned etc, the more time you will have on each punishment after that. Simply follow the rules and you won't be punished.
The staff does not get angry or mad because other people use excessive caps, it's our job to warn players that fail to follow these rules. We follow the same rules that you follow and more. If you can't deal with our rules, then you are more than welcome to leave the server or continue to break these rules which will eventually result in longer punishments
I'm going to lock this thread as I believe nothing else needs to be said, if you think otherwise, then you are more than welcome to start a conversation with me and other staff.
Thanks,
Edit