Introduction
Admin abuse, a problem that's been around since the dawn of blockland, or very nearly. It occurs when someone decides to misuse the powers granted to them by the server host, which often leads to regular players suffering.
Mind you, Admin abuse is not a silent issue, people have spoken out, and some of the people who abused their Admin powers lost the privilege of being an Admin or Super Admin. But it's not enough, for every badmin dealt with, two more seem to emerge, this needs to stop.
The purpose of this topic is to hopefully educate all of you on what admin abuse is (as if you don't already know), what signs to look for to identify badmins, how to stop badmins, and how to prevent admin abuse all together. Lets begin, shall we?
1. What is Admin Abuse?
As i'm sure you already know, Admin abuse is when someone who has attained the powers of an Admin or Super Admin misuses said powers and causes grief to players, However, that is only the general definition, in reality, it is deeper than that. Admin abuse comes in many forms, each as unpleasant to deal with as the next, some of the most common forms of it is kicking and/or banning players for either no discernible reason or for a very stupid reason, this is only made worse if the ban is permanent. Another common instance is destruction of builds others have made, in which admins destroy other players builds using the destructo wand or by clearing the bricks of said players. This type of abuse can be VERY frustrating to those who spend hours on their builds. Those are the more common examples, a less common example is using admin powers to cheat in minigames, which tends to ruin it for regular players. If you have admin and want to join a minigame, either don't cheat or renounce your adminship. The most severe form of admin abuse is player harassment, which itself my include things from the above forms, but is a different form in itself due to the fact that the badmin is harassing players using admin powers, this tends to happen in RP servers. Keep in mind, I'm not against admins having fun, but if it starts coming at the expense of the other players on the server, that's when you've crossed the line.
2. How can i stop admin abuse?
The easiest way would be for the server host or a Super Admin to De-Admin the abuser. In order for that to happen, the players (or regular admins) have to let the host (or super admins) know that someone is abusing admin, this is one of the biggest areas for problems to crop up, mainly because badmins may threaten players with a ban (usually perma) in order to keep them quiet, likewise super badmins might threaten regular admins with de-admining to keep them quiet. My point here is, don't let yourself be silenced because a badmin threatened you to keep you quiet report them to the host anyways. If you get banned or de-admined, so what? The host can undo all of that and keep it from happening again. In short, don't be afraid to report a badmin.
3. What if the Host refuses to stop the abuse/is being a badmin himself/herself?
In that case, you should probably leave the server. If the abuse is happening at the highest level (i.e Host), then there is nothing you can do. Likewise, if the host is not stopping the admin abuse or is refusing to stop it (*coughTezunicough*), then it would be wise to leave the server and post a drama on it (with proof of course) so people know to avoid giving that particular person admin. I would also highly advise you to stay away from servers that have had multiple documented cases of admin abuse (Like ANY server hosted by Tezuni), you can save yourself some grief that way.
4. Can i prevent Admin abuse?
Yes you can, i actually recommend it. Admin abuse can be prevented, quite easily in fact, it all starts with knowing which people to avoid giving admin to.
Do NOT!:
-Give Admin freely to players.
-Give Admin to players who ask for admin
-Give Admin to someone just because you're friends.
-Give Admin to someone just because they are well known.
-Give Admin to known problem users.
Having Admin is a privilage that comes with responsibilities, make sure you KNOW that the people getting admin will have earned it and will hold up the responsibilities associated with it. In short, Admin should be earned, not just given to players.
Another issue in this area involves admin passwords, i've seen (through drama) servers with good admins fall because the admin password got leaked or exposed somehow, which led to someone getting admin via password and abusing it. I have nothing against servers that use an admin password system, but if you must use an admin password, avoid talking about it in game AND on the forums. If you MUST do it in game, make a private server and ensure your admins are the ONLY people on.
5. Conclusion
Admin abuse is an issue that can be solved with little effort, just remember to use your common sense and to be careful when appointing admins. Thank you for reading, I hope you will remember the points and advice of this drama when dealing with badmins in the future. Good luck to those of you who have to deal with badmins that are on your admin team.
-Torak
