staff Respecting Users By Respecting Staff Decisions.

[Ice Princess Silky <3 13,458]

Hello there, My Little Ponies.

I am making this announcement in order to explain a new updated rule based on a massive misunderstanding caused to the community due to a public reaction towards something that was meant to remain private. The reasoning shall be explained below:

It is the duty of Staffers at MLPF to ensure that users feel safe and trust enough to come to them with any report. Any and all reports are taken into consideration whether it is a friendship issue or something more grave, a Moderator or Admin is there to listen and hear you out. Depending on the severity of the case, Moderators may take action or be neutral should the matter not be so severe or threatening to another user. This is also why I am presently working on an anonymous vent section for users to voice any thoughts/feedback/complaints, etc for the appropriate staff to handle should an Admin not be around to take care of it. 

Which brings me to the main point of this thread. Respecting user anonymity. 

Recently, there were anonymous reports made by users to Moderation regarding the use of AI while forming threads and communicating exchanges. Moderators did not issue a warning or a ban towards the user. They mainly listened to the anonymous complaints, checked to verify if the suspicions were correct, inquired the user about potentially using AI and suddenly the discussion was brought into the public in a form of slight disagreement. Staff did not take any disciplinary actions towards this. They simply heard the complaints, used their tools to verify if said complaints were based on truth, inquired the other side of the story from the user being questioned on this. Awaited a Support Ticket to be replied to. Then, suddenly, the issue had been published into the public.

Despite the user’s good intentions to apologize to the public, they mentioned staff's discussion with them about potentially using AI and suddenly there was an unnecessary mass reaction ranging from "Staff falsely accusing of AI!" "Careful not to use translators cause Moderators might ban you!" "Does AI art potentially prompt Moderators to ban?!" 

The final straw was when several people who claimed to be users hopped on another platform to harass said user over the public post because they thought they might have the support of staff in doing so after reading the public blog. This is not the correct conduct and the users were not found to be part of MLPF. Any abusive behaviour, regardless of bias, shall not be tolerated. So the public blog about the private matter has been hidden for the safety and comfort of the user simply wanting to be at peace.

Staff matters and decisions are based on the safety, comfort and trust of all users. It is not limited to extroverts or social butterflies but also those who wish to not even be referenced to the public even in the slightest. If you see a staffer make a decision or reach out to ask a question, it will not be over something as petty as your using Ai art -- unless you are trying to take full credit of said Ai art -- which is a falsehood that falls under deception. Deception puts the trust of our users at risk and this is the function for why it can be a liability to your account. It is not a personal attack and you are always free to ask questions.

Staff would not ever ban you simply because you were honest or trying to ask for help. We will not support abusive behaviour even if it seems to align with something, some agreement or preference that staff may have. 

The public apology mentioning and respectfully disagreeing with staff caused the anonymous users who made the reports to feel that staff might have leaked their report publicly. It was a private matter they preferred to keep out of any public awareness. So the blog post, while it made Staffers uncomfortable, moderation preferred not to divulge anything about users reporting the matter. Moderation remained silently awaiting for the Support Ticket they replied to to be returned.

Some wanted to hide the blog but didn't want to make the OP feel disrespected or worse -- silenced, as if staff had something to hide. So they left it. It lead to more accusations from users that the person was using AI based on the text matching ChatGPT and eventually -- unacceptable behaviour that staff has had to take into their hands to do damage control. 

So please, keep staff decisions and discussions out of the public eye. You are free to ask any questions directly to us via DM, but do not play middle person between someone else and staff. If anyone has any questions, in order to prevent miscommunication again, please refer them to reach out to a staffer directly via DM or support tickets. 

If you have any questions, Moderators are happy to answer any messages and they will not ghost you. They are a friendly, open minded group, from varying cultures, customs and viewpoints. But they put the priority of your safety, comfort and trust first. 

With that said, we shall update the Guidelines requesting that users not discuss in public or make a spectacle about staff decisions or discussions for the sake of respecting other users who may not want to be public about whatever issue they were having. Staff will not engage in such a public spectacle as it will appear to be targeting a user while divulging the reason for said discussion and generally making everyone all around feel very bad. Nobody wins. Let us keep it classy and trust those who help to keep this community a safe space for those who simply do not have it anywhere else.

If you have ANY questions pertaining to any users or staff matters at all, I highly encourage you to reach out to any staff and ask. Middle person communicating between them may cause needless misunderstandings and chaos. 

Thank you for your reading and for your cooperation. 

Sincerely,
~ Silky
Community Administrator

TL: DR: Moderation matters are not to be discussed in the public for the safety and respect of users including those involved who prefer to be anonymous.