In this tab, we've written common questions/feedback that we find ourselves explaining often, so that the information is always available in one place. We hope this clarifies some things that are talked about often, but not always fully explained!

Why do mods have to be 18 or older?

Atelier 801 is based in France, and the laws there are strict for volunteers younger than 18. There is a lot of paperwork, and the company is required to monitor their working hours to make sure they aren't working too much. This would be far too much unnecessary work for the three admins to deal with, so they ask us not to hire anyone younger than 18. Unfortunately we can make no exceptions.

Why don't you accept screenshots as proof?

It is very easy to make a fake screenshot. How would you feel if someone made a fake screenshot of you, and we banned you for something you didn't do? It is also possible to edit videos or take videos on pirate servers, so we cannot ban based on video evidence either.

I got muted when there were no mods online!

The EN team does have some private moderators. (Note that not all communities do.) Private staff either do not have time to actively use public accounts, or are training and not ready to be public yet. So don't hesitate to report someone just because there are no public mods online - usually there are private mods who can check reports!

Why did I get muted/banned for something, but another player didn't?

Mods are not omniscient. We can't see what happens in every room at the same time. Someone may have gotten away with breaking the rules if there wasn't an available moderator at the time, but that doesn't make it okay to break the rules. Eventually you'll get caught! Mods can also sanction silently so the pink message does not appear in the room, in case they think that would disrupt the room chat. It's also possible that the mod in the room was busy handling whispers, checking something in another window, or just missed a post or section of chat. In that case, you can let them know politely that they missed something in room chat.

Why did I get banned for breaking the same rule that someone else got muted for?

This is probably because you had multiple previous warnings for breaking that rule. If a player continues to break the same rules, the sanction time increases as a deterrent. Bans and mutes are not the price paid so a user can say something bad, they are supposed to deter rule-breaking. If one hour does not stop someone from using slurs, one more hour will likely not stop them the next time. On the other hand, if you follow the rules and pay attention to warnings, you will have nothing to worry about!

Do mods only hire their friends?

Generally, out of 10-15 applicants who are hired, moderators might know one or two people at most. We judge applications based on what they wrote and consider their in-game behavior. (Check out this thread for more information about writing your applications!) If a mod happens to be friends with an applicant, they can voice their opinion but will refrain from voting. While new staff are in training, they may become friends with public mods just from working together. So if you see mods who are friends, that likely happened from working on the same team for quite a while.

Mods silence their whispers.

'Their whispers are closed so I cannot contact them' is a very valid problem, we absolutely agree about that. Some things simply cannot be sorted through the report function, such as anything requiring admin assistance.

Unfortunately, the sheer amount of whispers we receive from the moment we log in until we log off can be a lot to deal with. Please remember that we are not only moderating en/int (already two servers), but also other very large servers, as we generally help anyone who contacts us. While we aim to help everyone in a timely manner, we face what we can only describe as a tidal wave from the moment we open our whispers, and so silencing them is sometimes the best way for mods to work through the load they already have. Of course this differs depending on the mod, but a silent mod working efficiently is better than no mod at all.

Occasionally it can be really bad...

... but not usually that much!

I am wondering about something that isn't listed here.

Feel free to ask here in the Staff FAQ or leave feedback in the Staff Contact Thread!