Handbook

Protector Guidebook

How To Write Reports

If you have never written a report before and you’re curious on how to proceed, look no further! It’s a simple task and Zuko has created a little form on the forums to help make writing reports easier. So someone has reported an issue to you and you have to write up a report about the situation. How do you begin?

The first step is to collect any logs or screenshots the user has provided to you. They may have sent this to you on the chat, forums, or possibly Discord. You can collect them by copying the entire set of logs and/or the links to the screenshots. Paste them in a Word document or something similar so you do not lose them. Open up a new tab or window on your browser and head on over to the Arcturus forums. 

Click on the Protectors section at the top of the forums (make sure you are signed in!) and choose Bans & Kicks. The first thread you will see is called “Form for Bans/Kicks”, make sure you click on it to access the form. Copy the code and go back to the Bans & Kicks section, click on “Create Thread”, and paste the form. Your title will be the username of the person who caused the issue/situation. 

You need to fill out the form, following the instructions given on the form itself. Your reason is why this user got in trouble. What rule did they break? Why were they kicked or banned? Your location is either the room this occured in or where on the forums this happened. If you are unsure, go ahead and message the reporting person for the location and if it is still unknown, put “unknown” in that section. Time, if the time stamps are on with the logs, you can go ahead and ignore this step, but if not, go by your time on when it was reported to you. Next you need to state what action you took. Did you ban or kick the user? How long did you do it for? You will need to state what users were involved in the situation on the next line. The logs section is where you will be able to paste the logs you were given, collected yourself, or the screenshots. 

If you are ranked Tier III or above, you will be able to access the admin panel on the chat. If you are a Tier IV, you may go ahead and look at the sniff of the troublemaker and see if they have an email listed. Grab their email and put it in the next slot. Go ahead and click “create thread”. A Tier II, Tier I, or Communications member will come along and add in the extra information where needed. 

Please make sure you start a new thread for each user that has been reported, with their username in the title. This way each user has their own thread and it makes looking at their infractions easier. If they already have a thread made in their name, reply to it with a new report.

What To Report

As an administrator, a Protector, your job on Arcturus is to keep the peace, protect our users, and report anyone you see violating our rules or Chatlands’ rules. All reports to you must be taken seriously and if you are uncertain about a certain report, ask a Tier I for help. Keep in mind that as a Protector, you might run across a friend or two breaking the rules. Your job requires you to report them just as you would any other member. Favouritism is not welcome on our team. You must be able to be completely unbiased when handling reports and situations. 

The Departments and Roles

Explanation of Protector Structure

Every staff is a Protector. They are responsible for keeping the chat and forums safe. Each Protector starts out as a Trainee Protector when they become Tier III. Once they join a department, such as the Creative Director Committee, they would be titled Trainee Protector of CDC. After they finish training and become a full fledged member of the Protectors and their departments their titles change to: Protector of Mediation, for those who are pursuing the Mediation path, or Protector of [Insert department here] for other departments, as an example. Eventually, Tier III become Tier II's and Supervising and Guardian positions become available. This will look like Supervising Protector/of [Insert Department here.] Supervising Protectors handle more responsibilities such as training, approving reports, sending NG's and reporting to Guardians. Guarding Protector are the leaders of their teams. The handle serious reports and approve and post announcements. They also rally their team and make sure everyone is focused. 

ART

Guarding Protector of ART

Guarding Protectors of ART process through reports of misconduct relating to ART whether is ART theft or a report of misconduct within ART. Their daily tasks include checking the uploader, checking on team members, and checking on training process. They are also charged with making sure their team is operating like a well oiled machine. 

Supervising Protector of ART

Those in this role are in charge of coming with and executing training sessions for Trainees. They needn't worry about the uploader outside of training purposes.

Protectors of ART

They accept art and help process ART related reports. 

Trainee Protectors of ART

They focus on learning our ART guidelines and becoming a Protector of ART.

MEDIATION

Guarding Protector of Mediation

Guarding Protector of Mediation is what would formerly be known as Head of Chat Police, however, they aren’t a police chief because we no longer police the chat. They are here to make sure we are treating users with respect and upholding the COC. They assist in the training of new Mediators as well as approve promotions. In addition, they read through reports for discrepancies and approve all decisions. They report back to co owners and help set precedents for the chat. 

Supervising Protector of Mediation

Since Trainees and Protector of Mediation cannot send Nasty Grams, or “Warnings”, this is then a task reserved for Supervisors. They must process through reports and approve the actions taken as well. They are also in charge of setting time aside to train and assess Trainees and report back to Guardians with their progress. 

Protector of Mediation

They handle reports on the chat and forum dealing with misconduct of users and admins whether its small such as spamming or as serious as bullying or pedophilia. This is why Mediators must be 16+ and be able to handle sensitive material because it all comes through them. They write up reports for Supervisors and Guardians to read. They also make a decision about the report with as much knowledge and intuition they can. Another big job for Mediators is helping users to resolve negation interactions. Instead of placing bans, maybe try to resolve the conflict and help the users to move passed it and grow as individuals. We are the Protectors of the chat. 

Trainee Protector of Mediation

These members are new and their only task is to observe and learn. They are preparing to be Mediators. 

CDC

Guarding Protector of CDC

Guarding Protector of Creative Directors Committee, their job is to make sure all members are completing their tasks, events, advertisements in a timely manner. Guarding Protector’s also are the ones to approve all advertisements and events before they go public. They also work with the team to create and approve events. 

Supervising Protector of CDC

These are an admin role and this is because we don’t want access to our social media accounts shared with just anyone. These individuals approve and publish ads and posts. They also help train new members and guide the team in their efforts to make Arcturus a fun and safe place. 

Social Medial Liaison [User role]

This is a user role assigned by the CDC itself and is only mentioned for full clarity. This role creates announcements and social media posts. They use combined social know-how and trendy creativity to reach users on our social media platforms.

Marketing & Ads [User role]

This is also a user role that is meant to create advertisements specifically for ad placement. They might propose commission banners, promoted posts on social media, or suggest bought ad space. Additionally, they create ads for Social Media Liaisons to publish. 

Event Hosts [ User Role]

This is a user role as well. They create and run events for users to participate in. 

SITE MAINTENANCE

Guarding Protector of TECH

They finalize all decisions regarding the forums and implement major changes when necessary. They oversee the entire Site Maintenance, or TECH, department. They have superior knowledge of the workings of the forums, website if we have one, and chat. They are in direct contact with Tier 1’s or are Tier I’s, which means they have contact with Overseers and can troubleshoot more difficult problems. 

Supervising Protector of TECH

Supervisors being Tier II and above are the only ones allowed to handle and access Problem Tickets of more serious nature. They process these PTs and monitor Protectors of Tech to make sure they are being processed as per our Rules and COC. Supervisors also train Trainees as they are more esteemed Protectors and are trusted with this. 

Protector of TECH

There are two aspects to this department. One part is the forums and the other is the chat. On the forums, they lock and clean up old topics and troubleshoot issues. They also work with CDC on forum updates and themes. On the chat side, Protectors may access and process simple Problem Tickets. They may not access or process PT’s pertaining to bans, sensitive material, or more difficult chat technical difficulties. PTs of their caliber would have to do with how to use aspects of the chat, where to find certain things, and minor reports. 

Trainee Protector of TECH

They are still learning and are there to observe and hone their skills.

Trainees & Protectors

Trainees are the fledglings of their chosen department or departments. They are observing and learning from Protectors and Supervisors. Trainees are usually only Tier III but a Tier II new to a department might also be a Trainee. Protectors are the next step after a Trainee completes training. They perform normal daily tasks of their departments. 

Supervisors & Guardians

These are Protectors with a little more responsibility and knowledge. They are trusted with more tasks and leadership roles. Supervisors are Protectors who have been around longer and have show proficient knowledge of their duties. Because of this, they train Trainees and report to Guardians. Guardians may be Tier I but if not, then they report to them. They have proven superior leadership skills and have proven they know a great deal about what it means to be a Protector. They are the leaders and guides of their departments and for the chat as a whole. 

ART - Art Review Team

A fun department, the ART department is here to make sure all of the poses submitted to Arcturus for use are up to the standards of Arcturus. This team is dedicated to reviewing poses, looking for any imperfections that would require a rejection, and make sure the user is allowed to use that pose. 

Reviewing - When an ART member reviews a pose, they utilize the special section in the administration panel to look at the poses that are uploaded by the users. They can use this section to see the poses and decide if they should be accepted onto the chat or not. Sometimes when a second opinion is needed, the ART members will leave the pose “pending”, so someone else can take a look at it. ART members can only access this uploader one at a time.

Checking Poses - To make sure the poses are a fit for our chat and our aesthetic, ART members will look at each pose individually. They will make sure the poses are up to our standard. If the pose is not up to standard, the ART member will choose a pre-loaded option in the reviewer to tell the user why it was rejected and what they can do to fix it.

Permissions - An ART member will check the given permissions of the pose to ensure that the user does have permission to use it. If there are any discrepancies with the permissions, the pose will be rejected or left pending for other ART members to look at. This is to make sure no one uses stolen art.

Mediators

Mediators are what the former Communications and Chat Police departments were. They were merged to fit the Protector ideal more. Mediators are a sub-role of Protectors. Individuals with the role are tasked with keeping the Chat safe. They handle reports and decide how to proceed with them. Supervising Protectors of Mediators are also tasked with dealing directly with more serious reports and sending out "Nasty Grams" or NGs, which is a direct email or message sent to someone who has committed an offense or needs a warning. While any on duty Protector can receive a report from a user, Mediators are there to ensure the report is handled correctly. They are also the ones who contact the users involved with a solution.

Creative Directors

The Creative Directors is a healthy mash up of an event committee, public relations, and marketing team. There are different sub-roles within this department that outline specific duties. As a whole, the responsibility of the CDC lies with marketing Arcturus to the public with events, social media, ad creation, and handling public relations. 

Social Media Liaison - In this role, you would be responsible for updating social media accounts, keeping track of logins and passwords, writing announcements for news and updates. You also respond to people on social media. Depending on how many Protectors are in the department, you may only be responsible for one or two or all of them. Writing posts can be a group or singular effort. 

Event Hosts - While the whole of the department and any staff for the matter is more than welcome to suggest events, it is the Event Hosts job to orchestrate them. We don't let everyone run events because they are in other departments and have other jobs to do. That does not mean, however, that they cannot assist. 

Marketing & Ads - The individuals with this sub-role are creative and intelligent with a firm understanding of who to market to and how to market to them. You would create ads and have them placed. This is not the same as posting to social media because your job is to find websites with a user base that would be interested in Chatlands and post ads to their website. If it costs to run an ad, you'd have to get it approved by an owner. Ideally, we would have a reserve for runtime ads. Writing the ads is the most important part. They have to be done in a way that would capture and hook 'em in so to speak.

Site Maintenance

Site Maintenance is the combined departments of Forum and Technical. The tasks can be divided into one of two ways: the forums, or chat. Trainees are simply there to observe and learn. Protectors and Supervisors access Problem Tickets and process them. They also help bring forum changes to fruition with the help of the Guardians. They moderate reports of issues on the forums and help come up with new themes as they are needed. Problem Tickets can contain anything from serious reports of misconduct to bans, to things as simple as, “How do I upload a pose?” Supervisors and above are the only ones that can process the more serious PT’s such as the one involving bans. 

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