Hey, kdog! Good questions! You're right--I don't think members/guests are given a message if they've been muted to that effect, but it becomes pretty evident as they're unable to send messages in group chats. To address your second point first, members are able to PM mods to discuss their behaviour or the mute itself! I'm always happy to reveive those messages and to justify myself or try to help them understand why I had to mute in the first place--I'm happy to say that several of the people that have PMed me after have turned into friends or people that I speak with 1-1 as their listener. The important, take-home message is that mods are human: we can be talked to, we can be reasoned with, we aren't solely harbingers of the law!

Many, many times, people are given more than sufficient warning to realize how their behaviour is affecting the chatroom and alter it so as to be more in line with the rules and contributing to a positive environment than a potentially negative one. I do believe that many of the allegations of unfair muting are a result of emotional misjudgment--being too in the moment and being the victim can do a lot to cloud your interpretation of events, especially as the actions of a mod can be focused on one person, even though they take the entire room into account and have to make a decision based on it. I can't speak for others, but I tend to be on the liberal side with my warnings before muting, but warnings and muting is in place to protect the 7 Cups community, and the offences that can receive action for are all things that are important to preserve within the community.

I would offer a word of caution about using PMs as an alternative to muting, as that can distract from moderating the chatroom, or invite personal attacks from individuals who are upset or abusive. I'm not saying it's a bad idea, and I do welcome PMs to be given feedback (positive and constructive), to discuss my actions as a moderator, or to try and give perspectives as a moderator to those who feel they have been unfairly muted. I find that a lot of the time, all that's really necessary is to talk to the person in question and show that you're capable of compassion and understanding where they're coming from and their frustration. A lot of people are reasonable about what happened--it's only some that seem to take the reins and run.

I don't know how helpful any of this was, but it's something I'm interested in following, too, to see everyone else's thoughts!

Hey, Thanks for replying!

About the second point, I did think about it being a distraction. I guess that can't be helped. I just see it as if someone who can really just talk to the mod, they can realize like you said, mods are humans too. I know a lot of people who get muted just leave and then complain about mods when they come back on, because they are so annoyed sometimes they don't even think about contacting a mod. I think if that opportunitywas given, feedback between the member and mod could really be great. I know one of the rolls of a mod is to be resilient but your point is true, if it is just a troll who is then given the opportunity to pm the mod, that couldreally be bad, so yeah like all ideas, this has its positives and its negatives. Thanks for your feedback, appreciate it :)

Hm, quite few strong points from both of you @kdog334 and @acinonyx
Well, these days I'm receiving so many complains from the members and guests. Like they say ---> *good ones are being muted without any reason, where those people who bully others in the room and having sexual content talks aren't getting muted and so on*
They have been saying that, they don't trust mod at all. I have said them to email the admin, what actually happened in the room. Muted people now making lots of accounts or they come in the room as a guest, then trolling around. I have been noticed these things quite lately.
Also, the person who got muted by the specific mod. Some of them tried to talk to the mod via pm's but they didn't even tell the reason and banned the guest. I received this kinda complains too.
Another thing is, without the warning some mods just instantly mute the guests and members. We all mods are permitted that if the trolls going on in the room, we can directly mute them.
As a mod, I assume I will be held accountable for my actions so I mute as a last resort. But we all have bad days and one never knows the whole story. I am often Pmed by a member or guest to intervene so often things happen behind the scenes so what looks like a rash mute may actually not be. Having said that, I do think mods should be held accountable and I'm sure that the right to be a mod can and will be removed if it is abused.
Thank you for the input, much appreciated. And you're right. I'm sorry for assuming but still believe this can definitely help. It will be more work for trolls to one-step into the mod position.

Hi! Thank you for bringing up these points, as I know they have been quite a popular topic. Mods are supposed to give warnings before muting as to give the person a chance to rectify their behavior. We don't want to mute, really I don't think it's something we enjoy doing. I know every mod has a different style, but I only mute after 2-3 warnings/referrals and, as @Acinonyx said, any person muted may message a Mod to find out why and what they can do next time to avoid that, or to ask what to do if they want to dispute it.

Also, I agree with Kash and others :)

I agree with you, there are a few problems with the mod mute. What I usually face is that, I get PMs, asking why they were muted, but I can't answer as I didn't mute them. Many times a "lurking" mod seeing trouble mutes the member or if there are more than 2 mods present in the group chat it is difficult to know which mod muted them. Due to these reasons, members aren't able to get why they were muted or if it was an unjust mute, which kid to report.

This is indeed a topicbeing discussed many times over in the chatrooms. One point I want to get across is that Muting, is not something the Mods like to do. As everyone can see, Mods try hard to redirect inappropriate discussions to healthier and safer topics. It is just very sad that some chatters find it restrictive when a mod starts to point out that the rules are being broken. Some chatters will find a way to go around the rules and make the mods look bad. And these chatters are not just members and guests, there are listeners too who will try to get away with anything. So, let's keep an open mind about this. Mods are doing the task they pledged to do. And all we want is a safe environment for everyone.

Hey guys, thanks for the feedback :)

I know that mods do not like muting but ofcourse sometimes it hasto be done. What I feel is the problem most of all is that some who are muted do not know the reason why, this can cause confusion and more then often I see mods attact for it. I'd love to see a feature where maybe,If a mod where to mute someone, they could select a reason from a dropdown list as to why they are muting a person, this reason could then be sent and shown to the meber/guest. This way a member or guest can be muted, they alsosee the reason why and Is able to learn from that. This would also meanthe mod does not need to be messaged which could be a distraction. What are your thoughts on this idea?

The idea is more for members knowing what they were muted for, not to stop mods from muting for no reason. I think even if it is a troll, there are always people who don't know and I thinkto be given a reason is fair.

Hi!

I do understand your concerns here and questions. It seems they have been answered so I will just add my thoughts. :) We are getting a new warning system soon that will help this issue TREMENDOUSLY. It is a more streamlined way to warn and mute people in the chat room. It will help reduce the amount of wrongful mutes and improve the user's overall experience.

Read about the system here! :)

Love,

Jake

I've been noticing a lot of baby role-play within the welcome chat. Is there anything we can do about this issue? Itis not only taking away from the purpose of thegroup but it often timefills up the chat withunnecessary dialog. Some people can't get their word aboutbecauseof thisoccurringissue. Any ideas to asolutionor a written rule about role play within the chat?