Website & Forums Revert Rule About Discord Invites

This is NOT about shout/ingame invites, forums ONLY

As you might know, you are not permitted to post discord invites on forums. This was announced in this post. I have several problems with the thread itself:
--- They created it and (propably) never visited it again
--- Nearly everyone complained, yet Moderation Management never said anything else
--- The reason was never elaborated on. (As far as I could find)

Yes, all problems are similar. It looks like they just abandoned it. And if they actually didn't, what is the difference for normal players?



REASON FOR THE RULE: "This was done due to an increased security risk and spam that appeared from discord invite links." --Naraka00 (or the Moderator team Management)

My problems with the rule:
--- what security risk? As far as I know discord invites can be trusted.
--- does it really pay off? On how many malicious DISCORD invites have you (the reader) clicked?
---What is its purpose? It is just annoying. You can still get (IF) into trouble, just a bit later.
------ And IF a malicious one appears, it can (and should) be reported to moderators and solved within minutes (when mods are online)
------ There can be added rule so that players must verify the link before posting them. (by asking a mod for permissions)


(Also, "We hope this won't be much of a change from your normal posting routines" really?)

EDIT: READ THE UPDATE SECTION AT THE BOTTOM
SUGGESTION:

1)
Revert the rule.
There can also be a rule forcing players to verify the link before posting it.
Possible procedure:

1. (I start conversation with moderator)
2. Me: Hello, could you please verify this discord link? (link)
3. Moderator: The invite seems trustworthy, you may post it. Please send link for the thread
4. Me: Thanks! Here is the link: (link)
5. (Moderator then proceeds to check if the invites are the same. If yes, he replies on the thread: "The link is trustworthy and can be clicked on)

Side effect: Moderators seem more active

2)
Give the permission to post discord invites only to moderators
Possible procedure:

1. (I start conversation with a moderator)
2. Me: Hi, can you please post this invite (link) on my thread? (link)
3. Moderator: Sure, your invite seems trustworthy. I will post it in few mins
4. Me: Thanks!

Even safer. Side effect: Moderators look more active

3)
Give us more reasons and elaborate on them.
Side effect: Long discussion (hopefully)

4)
You have to have certain number of posts (by @Chirynnn)

EDIT: added 4th option
I am open for suggestions, feedback, criticism and corrections as usual.

UPDATE:
A mod replied and talked about it on discord. It was from the Management/Administration.
Also the verification won't work, as the Moderation team would be responsible if anything happened there.
https://forums.wynncraft.com/threads/revert-rule-about-discord-invites.273126/page-3#post-3284619

 

Yeah I don't understand the reason for banning them when mods can just verify that the discord link is safe.
Edit: Alright, I guess the mods have to be "responsible" for it, but then why remove them in the first place?

Also the lack of communication. Rule change post, community backlash, silence.


Edit 2: Not really fair to blame individual mods for this, but the administration and maybe mod managers are at fault. Why make your mod team look this bad?

 

Imo you should have a certain number of messages/posts/whatever to be able to link Discords, just an opinion tho

 

a holdover from a better time

but yeah, disabling guild invites really seemed like a way to just force players to put more effort into interacting with the community

 

Good idea, but could still post malicious invites.

The problem is it hurts everyone. For example Bomb Tracker discord. Instead of simple click you have to ask someone and hope he has the invite

 

Feedback? No one?

 

I still have yet to see the staff cite a specific instance of this "security concern" happening that prompted this rule. Ppl were asking in both the dev discord and a prior thread that was pointed out by Saya. The thread didn't even get a single upper-staff reply before they locked the thread without warning. As I said there i dunno why there can't be a verifying measure or prior authorization by msging an admin on the forums first. IT's not like someone would be so stupid as to ask an admin to verify a malicious link cuz they'd pretty much be signing up to be banned.

There are so many low-risk solutions for this "security issue" but instead they give everybody a whack with this rule, taking the most disruptive option possible. We the community are paying for the staff's backwards logic: If anything, confining the usage of perfectly innocent community discord links to PMs or DM's only makes it more dangerous because those aren't as monitored by staff as public forum posts are. The tracks could be covered easier and it would be easier for people to get away with it, and the reciever could get infested with malware from a fake disc link to a bad site and not even be able to report it.

I see nothing wrong with an "ask staff-first" type of solution for acquiring clearance to post a link. It should have been the way forward to begin with.

 

Maybe mods could give more info about the change and then have a referendum of sorts? If they're able to sway a majority of the playerbase on their side, I don't see a reason to change the new rule, but I also know people can be a bit reactionary without actually reading into the facts. Hence, a poll that would get the general opinion of the players without committing to any changes (like this one, but with more information and on a larger scale).

From this, maybe the admins/devs/mods/whoever could make a decision on whether or not to change the rule.

Regardless, I believe that more information is necessary on why they made this change in the first place.

 

a) So they ask for it in DMs, not really improvement. Also what does this mean for the staff? They are NOT associated with these servers

b) The only valid argument I have heard

c) Again, approving by mods/posting the invites themselves (to prevent changing them), but semi-valid

 

Any moderator would like to say something? ("yes" counts as an answer too)

 

Great idea!

I think that all the discord links are gonna be rickroll

 

That rule change is honestly is top, if not first in my most hated threads. there is one thing I would like to point out in particular:
"Also like, someone posting discord links with malicious intent isn't gonna stop just because the rule says so. It completely missed the target demographic."- Ascended Kitten. There are much better ways of dealing with malicious links, and a "blanket" cover on the entire thing is rather fucking stupid. I have never even SEEN a malicious link, dunno where the hell these were "spammed" before the change. The guilds section, maybe? (99.9% of those I'll bet my life were not malicious). The thread being both locked early (check my profile, I posted that day when it got locked and it was much before the point where all threads get locked due to time with no reply) AND WAS NEVER RESPONDED TO. Two pages of disagreement, if I remember correctly there is not a single person that actually said they liked the forums discord link change? and not a single reply. If you moderators want to seem more connected with the community, and less hated I can tell you that doing shit like that is the fucking opposite of what you want to be doing. I like most mods, and some are really cool and active, but hoo boy this does not reflect well on the team as a whole imo.
(I apologise for the anger and cussing, but it represents how I feel/felt about those changes and for that reason I'm leaving it in there.)

 

Quite honestly, not allowing discord links just seems to limit much of the community from contact; there are many players who exclusively use discord, and many only the forums, should the forums, and discord not inexorably be linked, rather than people needed to rely on user generated lists of discord servers? It would be safer, allow for easy access, and generally be a good addition to "knit" the community together. I'm all for allowing them (with verification of course).

 

hey remember this thing

 

Two sentences are enough. At least say "Yes, we saw this thread." and "We will look into it." or "No, we won't change it"

 

expecting content team to give half a shit about this subforum
respect

 

stuff like this isn't content team stuff aaaa

 

I think Discord links should be allowed. Unless, of course, it's unrelated to the topic (which would count as spam and should be deleted) or misleading, which people can flag. Some guilds have public Discord servers that people outside of the guild can join and talk in, and it's just a nuisance for me to have to start a conversation with someone on the forums and ask if I can be invited to x guild's Discord.