Advertising in Discord Status Messages

For MCC Administrators: Please actually let this thread flow through and do not lock it after a few responses. I would like to see an actual conversation out of this topic. Yes, I know you guys have a hard stance against advertising, but I think this matter deserves a conversation as it's not 2014 anymore.

The current state of advertising on MCC:
Currently, advertising in any form that doesn't directly relate to MCC can get you permanently banned (such as on Discord) or permanently muted (such as in-game). This rule has changed somewhat over time. For example, before the early/mid-2016, advertising used to be a permanent ban, however, the administration team at the time changed it to a permanent mute. This rule is pretty similar across all mediums such as the in-game server, forums, and Discord. Some minor details that I won't include may be different, however, you can read more here.

Advertising, directly cited from the Discord Rules, counts as:


That should clear up any confusion for those who wonder how MCC defines advertising on the Discord and how they handle those situations. In this particular thread, I wish to discuss some aspects of advertising. I will be explaining it below with what I like to call soft advertising and hard advertising. The examples below are using the context of Discord's status message customization to help get the point across.

Soft advertising:
Soft advertising isn't direct and in someone's face. This could be a YouTube video or server IP in a Discord status message. The user isn't trying to flaunt in someone's face to actively go and follow through with the call-to-action. They're just making their CTA known without obstruction. I think this should be okay as it's not direct. Obviously, if it's inappropriate, NSFW, against Discord's ToS, then take action accordingly.

Hard advertising:
Hard advertising is direct. Posting links/server IPs in a public Discord text channel or sending an unsolicited DM/mass DMs to multiple users in a particular server. The intentions are pretty clear with what the user is trying to accomplish. Cases like this should be handled by server staff. In this case, it's a ban from the server until the particular status has been changed. Again, if it's inappropriate, NSFW, or against discord's ToS, take action accordingly.

Why MCC should ban advertising in status messages:
Here are some reasons MCC should ban advertising via status messages. Playing devil's advocate ya know?

• Being lenient should not be an option. A user can be driven into a funnel and ultimately no longer play on/return to MCC because they found a better option out there
• Staff members cannot control how these other servers may choose to represent themselves. So if 10 users have the same server IP set as their status, but the owners of that server are known to sell personal information without consent/knowledge of the act and 100 more people join because of it, then that causes a big issue
• If a user advertises a Minecraft server IP or Discord invite and gets banned, they can simply change their status, appeal and have the punishment lifted

I can't really think of any other arguments off the top of my head, but if I see any plausible ones via responses in this thread, I'll add it. I added this section to help give myself credibility on this argument.

Why MCC shouldn't ban advertising in status messages:
Here's why my arguments come into play and why the MCC administration team should seriously reconsider this rule knowing the scope and importance of Discord as a platform.

• A large percent of the members in the Community Discord don't even play MCC anymore let alone look at the Discord. A lot of them also use Discord for a variety of other purposes including myself. A lot of people tend to advertise the Minecraft server or Discord server they run or staff on, services they offer, etc. in their status. This is harmless because the only way someone is going to notice this is a) they click on the specific profile or b) they scroll down the member list. Anyways, the top portion of the member list is all staff members, YouTubers, and bots
  • One may ask, "Why not just leave the Discord?" Well, what sense does that make? The user has the right as long as they're not breaking any rules. Even if they're not active. Yes, this thread is about a current rule, but I'm making arguments against it.
• People from all walks of life and all backgrounds use Discord. It's not just based around gaming. I believe features such as nicknames and custom status messages help represent that. Revising this rule or Discord adding per-server status messages would help represent that in my opinion. Should I leave the Discord just so I can post the IP of my new server in my status message and other places? I would keep that in mind.
• A lot of cases aren't textbook. I gave the example of a server owner selling personal information. In a case like this, I would have a staff member reach out to those 10 members with those status messages and have them change it. If they don't change it in a reasonable time, then it's perfectly acceptable to issue a punishment. However, if it's some YouTuber SMP server, then a ban shouldn't be warranted
• Users are typically singled out when it comes to this because you actually have to look for someone breaking this rule. For example, I had a friend one time who was in an argument with someone else in the #general channel. The other use clicked on his profile and actually notified staff that he had a Discord server invite set as his status. My friend ended up leaving the MCC Discord before anything could happen, but that's an example. I know if I were to set my status as my server's IP, I could get risk getting banned due to my status in the community

These are all the arguments I have for now. I'll be sure to add on some more later if need be. I would appreciate you all read through this thread and take this into consideration as it affects a lot of us.

 

Exactly. That's a perfect example of when it should be bannable. That falls under my explanation of "hard advertising".

Thank you for noting it down for discussion in the admin call!