Dealing with Rude Members

Dealing with confrontation and rude members

While working on WCC you’ll come across rude members and sometimes even arguments. The most important thing to do when you come across arguments or rude members is not to add fuel to the fire. Instead reasoning and control must be used in order to reduce and resolve the situation and stop it from growing or going any further.

'A member has insulted me (a staff member)' What should I do?

Generally the best way to deal with this is to defuse the situation and prevent the attack going further. If you do not feel comfortable dealing with the member in question then post in the Assistance Topic and a fellow staff member will help you deal with the situation. You should check the members’ previous history via the mod comments box and determine what course of action should be taken. Issuing a warning or reminder might be required and again if you don't feel comfortable doing this then a fellow staff member will be happy to help.

‘I’ve come across a member insulting another member, what should I do?’

First check their moderator comments box to see if they have previous history. If they do then a warning is necessary, depending on the severity then you may issue however many warnings you feel the need e.g. if they’re at green or yellow you might consider turning them to orange or red.

If they’ve got no previous for insulting members then depending on the severity you can issue a warning or reminder. Personally it is a good idea to issue a warning (one segment) as we have a zero tolerance policy on insulting members.

It’s also important to establish the cause of the insult e.g. If a member provoked the person then you might want to go easy on the offender but if it is just insulting someone then a warning or reminder is needed.

Make sure you note all reminders in the comments box

‘I’ve come across a member being rude in general (not directed towards anyone), what should I do?

Generally when a member is being rude but not directed towards anyone, for example ‘this update is shit’ then reminding them to keep their language clean is the best way to go about it.

In the event a member has been rude before either towards members or just in general like described above then you should consider issuing them a warning.

What should I do if I see a flame war breaking out e.g. two members attacking each other?

In this event what you want to do is review the thread and see how it started. Identifying who threw the first punch is a good start as this will determine if it is both parties fault or if it just the person who started it. If both members are at fault then obviously issue a warning or a reminder. If one party appears to be at fault then take action against them. However try to leave a general reminder to both parties as that way it is at least fair. If one or both parties have had previous history then you should take this into consideration before taking action.

Generally speaking if someone gets involved in a flame war then you’ll want to punish both to some extent i.e. If one person started it and one person replied and continued it and didn’t report it then issuing a reminder to that individual is appropriate while issuing a warning to the person who started it.

Useful tips

• In order to prevent a member from reply, at the end of your message you should say ‘This post does not require a reply. Please send any complaints via PM to me’ - In doing this, you’re stopping any replies and therefore the thread can get back on course.
  
• If it is random insult or flame war then possibly splitting the content might be the best option, as this minimises damage and then PMing the member and logging it in their mod box that they’ve done an offence.
  
• Use your moderation colour as this will stand out and people will read your post.
  
• Use your own judgement, as said above, this isn’t black and white and you can always ask for help on how to deal with a situation by posting in the Assistance Topic.
  
• If you see a flame war and are unsure how to proceed, post in the topic asking the members to stop and if you feel necessary lock the topic to prevent replies. Make sure you state that the topic will soon be unlocked, but is temporarily locked in order to sort out the flame (try not to do this in a support topic)
  
• Remember your fellow staff are here to help
  

Credits to FM for this information !