For any instance or event we run, an announcement should be made in the discord server (in events) and in VRChat (sent to Public) naming the event, the world, and the instance type at a minimum.
NOTE: Our bot "Calliope" handles announcements automatically, these rules should apply, nowever, in the event that the bot doesn't automatically announce the instance.
In the case of discord announcements, be sure to @ whichever roles seem appropriate.
If more than one member of the admin/staff teams are present, please help each other out, let one admin work on opening the instance while another or others make the announcements.
After any event, an announcement should be made to the group in VRChat thanking participants for coming, welcoming new members, and reminding people to join our Discord.
If you are the only moderator in an instance, please refrain from sleeping, prolonged AFK periods, or sequestering yourself away in a private or restricted access room. If you feel the need to do so and no one else is available to assist in instance moderation, we would rather you close the instance than risk TOS/rules violations getting us in trouble as a group.
For new/trainee staff members, any event that they pilot or initiate should have a more experienced staff member or admin attend the event or instance for at least the first couple of hours to ensure things are running smoothly, assist, and train as necessary.
Slurs and bigotry are not tolerated. If someone is found to be using racial or LGBT slurs or bigoted language or dog whistles, they should be banned from the group.
Intentionally malicious actors such as obnoxious behavior, spammy avatars, or massive avatars should be warned, and then kicked if the behavior persists.
Anyone found to be harassing other players or violating the rules should be warned, and then kicked if the player persists.
Regular, non-moderation staff should escalate reports of rule-breaking and malicious behavior to moderators as quickly as possible. Non-Moderator staff does have the authority to warn people, though, just not kick/ban.
For personal issues between instance attendees where no rules are being violated, we recommend that the complainants simply block each other.
For most situations that may result in a kick, at least two admin should be involved in the decision to kick an individual unless the rule breaking or behavior is immediate and egregious.
For all situations where a ban is being considered, that should go through senior staff prior to enforcement.
If any attendee of an event blocks the staff or admin, they should be kicked. Similarly, if you feel the need to block someone, consider them for kicking instead. If their behavior is bad enough to block, why keep them around? We cannot moderate people we cannot interact with.
We use FCH Toolkit to assist in moderation. Once you warn, kick, or ban someone, you'll need to give it a minute to register, then go to the FCH Toolkit section of the Discord server and use the embed generated from your moderator action to apply tags and a text description of the reason for the kick/warn/ban. You can also reply to the thread with evidence of the action, if you have any. This can be screenshots or recordings or whatever you may have.
Be kind and empathetic with everyone you encounter. You are representing the group and are people's first impression of us.
We want to foster a welcoming, chill atmosphere.
Whenever you're running an event or instance, make sure to send group invites to new people who join, and explain a little about our group to anyone interested.
Make sure you make the rounds around an instance, meet people, talk to them. Don't let large parts of the world go un-visited for too long.
Please do not complain about an instance, other members of staff, event, or world we're in while running an event as this can alienate people from the group. After all "Man if the people running this thing don't even want to be here, why should I?"
