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Thank you for posting this, as there has been a lot of misinformation floating around here that needs to be cleared up. First of all, i have heard that asking for your notes will result in a permaban. This is utterly untrue. Notes may have information to do with suspected ban evasion, metagaming, antag fishing, etc. We require these to be secret to properly do our jobs. We will not be showing these. Other notes may not be written in a manner that we want the player to see, eg, "acted like a complete fuckwit as a captain.", or just "i have a bad feeling about this guy". I prefer admins leave blunt and honest notes about things rather than having to phrase it in a way that won't look bad when its posted on reddit. There are plenty of times we have shown notes to players. With at least 100k notes, determining whether or not to show players is done on a need to know basis. Even if we do show some, its entirerly our word that you're seeing them all. Same as for those other servers. We're also clearly not showing you everything said about you on the staff discord, host chat, or when we talked about you when ive met up irl with admins. I'm sure players won't dilvuge everything theyve ever said about admins to other players, friends, etc. Comparing this to the evidence in a criminal case or the like is insane. No one here is getting imprisoned. No one is on trial where notes are evidence to if they did or didn't commit a crime. Notes don't contain some smoking gun or evidence of a one armed man who actually committed the crime. If you get banned for breaking the rules then you either did it or not. If you didnt, post in an appeal that you didn't and we'll go log diving. Being warned or banned is purely at admin discretion. If you've ever been warned not to do something that's against the rules, you could have been banned. If you got a temp ban it could have been perma. If youve been pmd by an admin before and been told not to do (x) then its likely in a note. All the admin pms are also in the logs, as are all the attacks and says and mes etc. We don't like people discussing their bans because they lie, or leave out vital information (eg, people saying they were banned for powergaming, and leaving out thar they told the admin to fuck off and ban them already). Having to constantly correct people requires us to constantly monitor the discord. Thats a pretty big waste of time. We have better things to do, and discussion of bans has rarely been productive at all. If you want to discuss a ban, past or present, then you can message an admin. This is complete bullshit. That has never been said in any banning or warning. If im wrong, please let me know so i can tear the admin a new one. This is a perfect example of why we dont want people discussing bans. Because many people lack the maturity to discuss this properly without resorting to reductive reasoning, or in this case, absolute lies.

So first off, I'm unsure if this is the correct sub-forum but at the heart of this thread will be a change of server policy that I think will make the server better so here goes. To get started, let me state how we go about admin notes for those who might not be aware. The basic idea is that when an admin sees a player do something wrong, be it an invalid murder or just poor behavior, and they message you about it they will usually leave a note on your account that other admins can see that describes what happened. It could be as simple as "Player killed some guy when he wasn't an antag, corrected behavior and issued a warning" or as complex as they like. From the little I know they are usually at least a few sentences that describe what the player did wrong and the steps that were taken to rectify the problem. These notes are kept a secret and can only be viewed by admins. Now let me talk about Colonial Marines. The basic principle is the same on CM, they see bad behavior, they correct it and make a note about it and how they handled it. The large difference is visibility. At any point if a player wanted to know about their notes all they could ahelp and the admin will show them their notes. Now, for a third example of how I've seen it done, let me talk about Bad Deathclaw, the Fallout server. Once again, the basic principle is the same except the big difference is there is a button in the OOC tab at the top right where you can just click the button and it'll pop up your admin notes, making it so that the player can view them whenever they want and see the names of the admins that left the notes so they know who to address questions to. Now, onto the problem. The last time I asked an admin, that I will not name unless asked by another admin, about what my notes were I was told that I was not allowed to know. They said that it was for admin use only and they were afraid that if players were able to view their own notes then the admins would be less likely to leave notes when they see players doing bad things. As much I can respect that thought I still disagree that it should be a barrier to players being able to know what they might have done wrong. I've been told different things in the past about my own notes but I've never been able to get a straight answer. Imagine, if you will, you were on trial before a judge. They had evidence against you but you and/or your lawyer weren't allowed to know what that evidence was and you would be judged by that evidence alone. I want to be able to know what I have done wrong in the past to eliminate that behavior for good. I want to know problems that admins have had with how I play so I can do a better job of trying to protect that behavior. Having something explained to me is never as effective as when I can just read it myself. My proposal should be obvious by this point. I suggest that we adopt one of the two systems in use by our sister servers of Bad Deathclaw or Colonial Marines. Either notes are something that the player can view whenever they want or they are something that we can just ask an admin to give to us if we feel we want to know what they are. Honestly, I doubt that the policy will change but I wanted to make a public statement on why I think they should change where others would be able to offer their own ideas and make the server better. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Something else that I wanted to address that is closely related to this but I don't think was worth it's own thread was the new policy on ban discussion on discord. I was fine with the old policy where active bans weren't to be discussed in the public discord because, honestly, that just wasn't the place for players to be discussing it with various staff members. The new policy though on no discussion of bans, past or present, is troubling to me. To me it signals a desire to shut down conversations about punitive measures that have been taken in the past and the reasons for which they were applied. If people aren't allowed to discuss what they might have done wrong in the past for others to read then how are they to know where the lines are drawn. The server rules aren't perfect and there are some grey areas in them, mainly in the self-defense area. I've seen players brutally kill antags in self-defense with no repercussions but then I've seen other situations that were vastly different. Obviously, I won't go into details for the reasons stated above. The lessons of past examples is invaluable, it allows players to share what is bannable behavior with actual in-game experiences and past admin actions. I know the ban appeal forum is there for everyone to read but it feels like it's not enough. Forums can feel dead and slow while the discord is a free forum for fast dialogue and expression that no forum will ever be able to match. I suggest that this new policy is reversed and we return to the previous policy where only current bans can't be discussed. If you've gotten to this point, thank you for reading.

I'm in favor of note transparency, however... I'm not an admin. And I'm not so sure I'd have that stance if the shoe was on the other foot. I can see where admins are coming from. I can see how certain players may view their notes, take a disliking to what is there, and take issue/hold a grudge against the admin who issued that note. That's a problem. While CM/Other servers do have different policies, it doesn't mean their policies are the correct method. Maybe it works for them, but there is no real basis to judge how it affects them from a staff point of view. I'm very much trying to look at this from both sides, and I can see reasoning for both. To use a recent scenario in which a player had to correct a mistake on their notes going through the admin complaint process, situations like those seem to be rare but this is only because the player was concerned that their note was an unfair representation of their behavior that round and took visible action to correct it. Turns out they were right to be concerned and the note got corrected. I feel like this is why we should have at least limited transparency in some form, because there could be many more examples of this. Notes are being cast off as somewhat 'insequential' to players by staff. I feel that is unfair because notes seem to play a vital role in judging that player's behavior in ban appeals etc, so it makes sense that a player would like to know what it is they are being judged on. The staff response of "Well, you received X amount of warnings and should be self-aware of your behavior as a perfectly good indication of where your notes are" is a good point, but doesn't solve the issue of misrepresentation here. I'm rather conflicted on the whole note issue cause I can see the many problems of having them transparent from a staff pov. Some players will hold a grudge against staff for it. Some players may take issue with legitimate notes (being salty) and cause excessive workload for staff and create a backlog And then the other concerns raised by Bryan which are all good points On the other hand... There may be (and has already been proven, is) situations when a player feels that an admin note/warning misrepresents them as a player and will be used unfairly against them in an appeal. Notes are important to how an admin (especially new admins dealing with players they've not dealt with before but have extensive note history) forms an opinion on that player in the appeal process. A player being completely ignorant of the judgement being laid upon them is essentially at the mercy of staff. Players who have displayed corrective behavior but their notes do not display this and/or portrays them in a completely different light is going to be a lingering issue for them moving forward So there is valid concerns here from both sides. I do honestly feel that some of the player concerns are being cast aside too quickly with the rebuttal of, "Well, here's why that wouldn't work..." And it is fair. Good points on both sides, but understanding the player concern here is key and why some feel transparency is wanted. I personally don't think a player should have access to their notes at the drop of a hat or request. No. Nip that in the bud there. Despite the policy of other servers, I can see this being an issue here on Para. I would think a better method for this would be opening a dispute (as has been done in the past and seems to work nicely) on a warning/unfavourable bwoink they've received in-game and create a process to see what note, if any, has been added to their record as a result of that warning. It seems notes being shared in this process is already a thing, and that could be expanded upon further by allowing, and making it aware to players, that they can dispute a note that they may feel is unfair because after all, notes don't provide full context and lets be honest, from a staff pov, you are making judgements/forming opinions on notes without full context in mind. Is that entirely fair? No, but its the system we have and it isn't a perfect system, and I think efforts should be made to improve it to lessen the staff/player divide and give players more room to maneuver in situations like these. Again I don't think notes should be open to players completely, but I do think a cemented process of what a player can do and making them aware of their options when they receive warnings/bwoinks and opening up a process for them to discuss it. I don't think we should open the floodgates to having players dispute past notes that are long gone, because that just opens up the hellgates.

Intentions or not, that's a big false accusation. The context of the quote takes place in a conversation, which implies direct PMs with an administrator. It doesn't visualize what you wanted to; as you said. Thank you for clarifying though. It is not a comment you have to spend minutes "carefully crafting". It is not that hard to not misrepresent something to that degree. If you misconstruct a point, and your point is taken in the misconstructed way, it is entirely your own fault. People cannot read into your mind to see what you really meant, only what you portrayed. You portrayed your real point poorly, and it came across as a different point entirely. The portrayed point in this case is completely false and is equal to a lie, minus the intent. At the end of the day, the portrayed point, not the real point in your head, was responded to. Exaggeration in arguments is a fallacy (flaw). You shouldn't include these when you are having a serious discussion. It discredits you and your proposition.

@Dinarzad Allow me to take your statement point by point then. Players are well aware when we warn them since we get confirmation that they understand the warning, any of you who have been warned know we expect a reply. There shouldn't be any bewilderment or confusion about notes unless the player forgets the warning in which case maybe they should write it down since we will almost always note it in their file if we do warn them. Receiving multiple warnings from the administration team should be a clear indicator of a player's downward spiral and be enough for them to think "Hey, maybe I should change my behavior and improve myself so I stop being warned by the staff and I don't get banned." Having access to their notes privately isn't going to help this unless you're speaking that it can jog their memory of past transgressions, at that point I refer you to the fact that if their memory is that poor about this maybe they should be keeping their own set of notes. Notes are not focused solely on punishment, it is a way for us to share information with each other regarding either administrative actions taken against the player or if we want to say something positive for other administrators to consider. All players are given ample opportunity to self-correct considering its incredible rare for first offenses to be banned, usually requiring individuals to make multiple offenses at the time or show an utter disregard for playing nice with others and following the rules. The inability to talk about bans publicly is mainly because individuals 9 out of 10 times will salt about their bans. They'll complain that the staff was too harsh or that they didn't do it and that the staff has an ax to grind against them. There really isn't much constructive to be gained about talking about a ban to the general public since they'll likely not know about the situation and only receive a story, more often than not, spun to make the individual complaining look like a victim and to rally support against badmins. Allowing players to do so and then just banning the individuals who do those actions really doesn't change anything, since the individuals who want to talk about their bans publicly are usually the ones who want to salt about it and the ones who don't realize "Hey, I fucked up and I really don't want to draw attention to this fuck up of mine." I know I personally wouldn't want to talk publicly about a ban if I ever received one since it isn't exactly something to write home about. As for stacking the deck, there are staff available to speak to them regarding their behavior if they honestly want to change, there's absolutely nothing preventing anyone from contacting us and asking "Hey, what can I do to be a better part of this community?" Saying that being able to see notes and discuss bans will suddenly have the community policing itself and take a weight off our shoulders as prevention instead of cure hasn't taken into account the variables of friends and, cliques people of like minded nature who will not only agree with the individual that the administrator is wrong but will also reinforce the bad behavior, hell it happens even without the discussion of bans and notes being made available and nothing will really change that aspect. As for players who have been banned for oopsies so to speak, if its just a singular oopsie incident there really isn't a lot of work involved in the appeal process, it only becomes an issue when multiple oopsies have occurred. At that point there really isn't an excuse for them not taking the opportunity to change their behavior if they've been banned/warned multiple times over the same oopsie or just general oopsies with multiple rule breaks. Once again, nothing is stopping the player from remembering or taking note of their own warnings. They don't need access to administrative notes regarding this. Its very clear to us if an individual doesn't remember or doesn't care, the latter usually from multiple notes over a steady period of time The excuse of, I don't remember, is rather flimsy to begin with since it is a rather memorable moment to have an administrator contact you. I remember when I was contacted THE VERY FIRST TIME over something that didn't mesh with the rules over a year ago. Not only do I remember the administrator that contacted me I remember the conversation we had as well as the contents of it and let me tell you, my memory can be quite awful, I'd forget my own birthday if it didn't actually serve a purpose. The only way I can think of players forgetting multiple times we've contacted them, which usually is the case before it leads to a ban, is if they've grown accustomed to it and simply don't care. That or they're living in a 30 First Dates scenario where they relive the same day over and over again because of memory issues. If I can remember something from well over a year ago, it really isn't a stretch to think the average person can remember a MONTH ago. As for individuals who say "Well Bryan, what about notes from several months ago? From half a year ago? A year ago? Am I expected to remember that?" Usually no, those don't get taken into consideration if there's a large block of time between notes or when your last note is from a long time ago. Its when players start accumulating a good amount of notes after that long period of time we'll start referencing that since it either indicates A) That person stopped playing for the block of time and that's why there're no notes or B) They've burned themselves out and stopped caring. Giving them the opportunity to look at their notes and saying "Well, you didn't look at your notes you had ample opportunity to change." well, they're not going to change regardless if they have their notes available to them. People who want to change will change regardless if they have access to their notes because they realize they've done wrong and they want to become a positive force for the community, to share in the fun and the laughs and are usually genuinely upset that their actions have impacted others in a negative way. People aren't going to magically want to start bettering themselves because they can see our notes and be reminded of their poor behavior at that time and making them public to everyone would just end up with players looking at other players notes and being shamed, even if they are good players now and had issues in the past, something There are people who will use it intentionally to shame or will bring it up in conversation not with the intention to do so but ultimately leading to that same outcome, something that I am vehemently against. After addressing these points I'll leave you with some others. There are notes that as stated before aren't administrative actions taken against the player but opinions of the administrative staff regarding behavior that may potentially be detrimental to the community or a potential rule break. Nothing is gained from players knowing these observations and it very much can be used to say "Hey, the administrative staff hates me! LOOK I HAVE PROOF! BADMIN SAID X ABOUT ME!" which is only a negative for us because then it makes us out to be the enemy. There are notes that contain information about other players, things that players have said to us that we don't wish to divulge because it can open up the floor to other players not trusting the individual or ostracizing the individual completely because they ran to Staff to "tattle" on them. Nothing productive will come of this and the fallout from these actions would just create more work for us and ruin the game for those people who actively help and try to keep the server a good place for others by bringing these things to our attention. It can place a barrier between the staff and the player base as some players are friends with staff and we have to do our duty as staff before being your friend. Nobody likes seeing something unflattering being said about them and it could negatively impact the relationships we have with those individuals in the community which would eventually end up in there being a divide. As Necaladun pointed out, we'd have players requesting alterations or removal of notes which could very well increase our workload since we'd have to investigate the legitimacy of the note itself on a case by case basis.

"You did something bad, stop doing that." "Oh, okay what did I do?" "You don't need to know what, just stop doing it." Not being able to see your own notes leads to confusion and bewilderment. It's curbing another avenue for problem players to recognize a downward spiral and any chance for them to right that behavior. It focuses solely on the punishment for doing something wrong rather then giving that player a chance to self correct. The inability to talk about bans on discord in addition to not being able to see what you've been doing wrong, it's stacking the deck as much as possible into preventing a problem player from correcting his behavior BEFORE it comes to a head and requires a ban, instead of taking the "Ounce of Prevention" we've opted for multiple pounds of "Cure", it's ultimate more work to deal with all those ban appeals from people who had an oopsie then to give those people a means of self-correction before administrative intervention is needed. It's giving people the tools to solve their own problem before Admins have to. In addition, if a player has access to their own notes, they run out of excuses for continued misbehavior real fast. A player can't claim they didn't know something was a problem, when they had full access to see those notes and see that it WAS a problem, they could have seen it at any time and didn't care and continued to break rules and tow lines anyway, which helps lead to more open and shut cases, it's a more telling sign of someone's attitude as a player and whether or not they're any good for the server.

This is a comprehensive guide for the new player who wants to start playing security without becoming too overwhelmed when starting. There are a lot of things to know in regards to positions, best practices, equipment, etc. So, for the sake of brevity, this guide will only address the core basics of most things as to stay relevant for the longest time possible. Table of Contents: 1. Security Roles and Duties 2. Security Equipment 3. Basics of Law and SOP 4. How to Arrest / Brig 5. FAQ / Understanding Advanced Concepts SECURITY ROLES AND DUTIES Security Officers The basic security officer is primarily responsible for actually patrolling, arresting, and responding to threats appropriately. They are given their authority via Space Law, Security SOP, and Legal SOP. It should be mentioned that they are far from all powerful and are held to the standards outlined in those same guidelines. As a new member of security, you should start out here and become proficient in this job prior to branching off and joining other jobs (except for Detective). Detective This is a rather interesting role within security as they are responsible for using their Forensic Analyzer (see gear section for more details) to help security figure out who committed crimes. Additionally, they are charged with launching investigations that are a breach of Space Law and may require someone to be jailed. By default the detective actually does NOT have the authority to make arrests per SOP unless it is a matter of life or death. Don't get confused, just because you work for security does not make you a security officer, as such, you should not be attempting to do their jobs. You are there to assist them and in times of dire need, only then can you expect to potentially get in on the action. NOTE: You are the only one who spawns with a .38 with rubber rounds as well as a shoulder holster. The shoulder holster accepts the .38 as well as tazers. You can holster and unholster such weapons from and to your hand with the hotkey "H". Security Pod Pilot The Security Pod Pilot is given an armed space pod that is plated to give resistance against damage. The pod is armed with disabler and can be re-equipped with lethal lasers should the situation require it. Outside of piloting duties, the security pod pilot acts much like a regular security officer in that they are permitted to make arrests and patrol as they deem fit. The cost to play this role is currently 30 Karma points. Brig Physician The Brig Physician is a great role for those who enjoy medical but want a different flavor of it. The Brig Physician is in no way permitted to operate as a security officer yet they are given access to security areas as a way to help treat wounded officers and prisoners. Understand that unlike a regular doctor you have two additional requirements: 1. To be cautious with prisoners as they will want to kill you for your ID and subsequent access. 2. You have to pretty much build up Brig bay yourself to have scanners and gain the means of preforming surgery. It's unlocked for 5 Karma points. Warden The warden is labeled as a "Very Difficult" role to play and for a good reason. They are the ones primarily responsible for actually brigging, overseeing the armory and weapons distribution to security, and maintaining the integrity of security's brigs / cell systems. This job REQUIRES a strong knowledge of Space Law, Security SOP, and Legal SOP as it is the basis for how you will go about determining who gets brigged for how long and where. This includes working with short term and long term prisoners as well as knowing when people cannot be safely briged at all. Additionally, you are considered the "second in command" of Security thus you are required to have a strong understanding of not only your job but everyone's job as to effectively lead them. It is advised that you play several shifts in the fields of Security Officer and Detective prior to becoming the Warden. Head of Security The Head of Security is, as the namesake implies, the leader of security and thus the person with the highest amount of responsibilities and the highest amount of authority. You report to the Captain and Central Command but are under the magistrate's purview like everyone else when it comes to Space Law. You are also the third in line for the captain's chair if the Head of Personnel (HOP) goes missing. It is highly advised that you have no less then 20 hours minimum prior to even looking at attempting this job. Additionally, you should have spent a few shifts as both Security Officer and Warden at least prior to attempting this job. SECURITY EQUIPMENT The title of this section is also a hyperlink to the actual Security Items wiki. Rather then go line for line about what each object does, I am going to more over go over the proper use and function of items that you will typically interact with as a member of security. Bare in mind that I won't cover armor or worn equipment aside from the Security HUD as I feel they don't really warrant a lot of explanation. IMPORTANT NOTE: DO NOT ATTEMPT TO USE DISABLERS, TASERS, OR STUN BATONS ON NON-HUMANOIDS ESPECIALLY AS THEY ARE IMMUNE. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO STUN, TASER, OR FLASH SPIDERS, XENOS, OR OTHER CREATURES LIKE THAT AS THEY WILL SIMPLY LAUGH AT YOU WHILE RIPPING YOUR FACE OFF. YOU ARE TO KILL THESE CREATURES ON SIGHT INSTEAD, DON'T TRY TO STUN AND ARREST THEM. Stun Baton The ultimate symbol of space justice, this device is capable of emitting a very strong shock when applied to organic humanoids that will stun them on the ground long enough for you to apply handcuffs or zip restraints. To activate the device, hold it in hand and hit Z or Y (use / activate hotkeys) to enable it, you should hear it buzz to life. Be aware of your Intent. You SHOULD be on HELP intent when using this device to bring someone into custody. If activated, it will both stun and harm someone if you are on other intents which WILL get you into trouble if you're doing it in the wrong situation. However, for situations in which you are dealing with subjects who you need to dispatch, it's a very good if not powerful tool to use against someone's head to cave it in. Times you will use it to attempt to kill persons include: Syndicate Nuclear Operatives, Wizards, Non-Organic/Non-Humanoid Antagonists such as spiders and blobs, Pirates, Ashwalkers, Syndicate Traitors with Holoparasites, Changelings, Empowered Vampires, etc. The common theme here is that you cannot arrest / contain these creatures or lack an obligation to do so. Hybrid Taser The "Hybrid" aspect of the Hybrid Taser refers to its unique function of being able to switch between Taser and Disabler mode by using the activation key (z/y). In Taser mode, the device will appear yellow along the top as shown in the picture and will fire a single, powerful stun that will instantly down most humanoids for more then enough time to advance and arrest them. The downside to this mode is that it has a very slow firing rate and takes a few seconds to charge again before the next taser round is able to be fired, thus making it a mode very reliant on your ability to aim and anticipate your targets movements. The second mode is disabler mode which will make the device appear to be blue on top instead of yellow. In this mode, the device will fire blue beams that drain the target's stamina when they make contact. Unlike the taser, it takes multiple disabler shots to take down a standard person however each successful shot will actually make the target progressively slower as their stamina is sapped. Additionally, unlike the taser you can fire the disabler rather rapidly making it a better choice for those who are unsure how well they will hit their target or if their target is very fast/mobile. Note that people will automatically start recovering from stamina damage over time if not given more damage to their stamina. Rechargers Perhaps one of the most important pieces of equipment that are actually on the station. Rechargers come in two varieties, wall mounted ones like those next to the armory entrance door, and those that are small semi-portable ones like in the picture. Rechargers accept energy based weapons such as stun batons, tasers, energy guns, laser guns, and more and apply power to them to refill the internal batteries. You will know that the charger is done charging when it starts flashing yellow. Additionally, you can move non-wall mounted ones via a wrench, note that they must be wrenched in place prior to being used. Flash Flashes are extremely effective weapons against those who lack eye protection or against machine enemies such as Cyborgs as it overloads their sensors and stuns them. Note that there are some races such as the Vulpkanin and Kidians who have very sensitive eye-sight and it is considered cruel and sometimes punishable to use them against them due to this as you will always cause eye damage when you use this device, it just hurts them more then others. To use this device, stand right next to your target with it in hand and left click on them. Pepper Spray Like flashes, stuns targets who are not wearing appropriate eye protection. Unlike flashes that can go through most eyewear, any eye/headwear tends to block this effect and as such its very situational. The advantage of using this device is that it can be used more then a flash, it can be refilled unlike a flash, and can be be devastating to groups of people. Use of this device is the same as a flash yet can be deployed while aiming at a floor rather then a specific individual. Flashbangs Small grenades that emit bright flashes of light and sound and will down targets for a short time. Note that the down time on flashbangs is actually relatively short thus it is advised that if you manage to use this against an uncooperative target you rush them immediately with a followup stun from a device like a stun-baton. Note that using flashbangs inappropriately can and will get you reprimanded or fired. To use the device, hold in hand and activate. You will automatically have thrown turned on when this happens, thus you can simply left click in the direction you wish to toss it. Handcuffs Handcuffs are an EXTREMELY important tool to understand how to use properly. Handcuffs are the reusable version of Zipcuffs, this comes with advantages and disadvantages. Handcuffs will last you the entire shift and so long as you keep up with them and don't leave them on someone or laying somewhere, they're your trusty restraint system. The downside is that they lack the ability to distinguish between good and bad guys, thus the badguy can steal handcuffs from you if you leave them on them and use them on you or other targets later. To use handcuffs, stand next to your target with handcuffs in hand and left click on them, this will start a small countdown timer and will give a rather loud sound and chat notice. Once in restraints, the subject will drop whatever they were holding in their hands and will be unable to activate things around them but can run into doors to escape. It is advised that you drag them around IMMEDIATELY by control + left clicking them. You can also restrain people to chairs, beds, and pipes by dragging a restrained persons sprite over the target, left clicking the subject-holding-dragging-and releasing the left click over the item you're wanting to restrain them to. This adds another layer of security as it is something else they have to break out of prior to breaking out of handcuffs. Subjects can Resist to break out of handcuffs and will succeed after about a minute of not moving (hotkey B) thus you can stop them by simply moving them for a brief moment or interrupting them with a stun. To remove handcuffs from someone, left click and drag their sprite to your sprite while standing close to them. This will open their inventory interface. At the bottom you will see "Handcuffed" left click that and you will start to remove them. NOTE: If you choose to restrain someone to a bed while setting up their brig cell charges via the computer outside the cell please make sure that you recover your cuffs. You can do this by having your baton activated and in hand, removing their cuffs, stunning them quickly, and recovering your cuffs prior to leaving. DO NOT LEAVE HANDCUFFS ON PEOPLE OR THEY WILL BREAK OUT OF THEM EVENTUALLY AND USE THEM ON YOU LATER. NOTE: KEEP A PAIR OF HANDCUFFS IN YOUR POCKET! The longer it takes for you to reach and grab your handcuffs the higher the chance someone gets up and beats you to death. Do NOT keep your handcuffs in your bag, belt, and especially not in a box within your bag as this takes WAY too long to reach. Zipties Function the exact same as a pair of handcuffs but are not reusable. Once they are removed from the suspect they will be "cut" and unusable again. You cannot make them re-usable so do not waste the time and effort in trying. Security HUDs These stylish glasses will act as not only protection against flashes and pepperspray (provided that you get one that have BOTH lenses) but also allows you to see people's jobs as listed on their IDs as well as their wanted status. Rather then going through what all the icons will look like for jobs, just go around the station and learn by shift + left clicking on people to examine them and their jobs. Note that if they are not wearing an ID it will show up as a black box with a question mark in the middle of it. Note that if they are not wearing an ID and disguising themselves with a mask, you will not get a notice of their wanted status. If someone is wanted there will be a giant red "W" below their job indicator, meaning this person has a warrant for their arrest. If they have a grey X they're set for execution and if the situation calls, use lethal force against them. If they have an orange "P" they're a prisoner, and if they're outside of the brig you should probably arrest them. If they have a blue "R" they were released from jail after serving time. How do I see if someone's wanted? Can I see why someone is wanted? The answer to both is YES! Shift left click on someone to examine them, you'll see something come up that looks like this, the name of the person was removed for their protection. Notice at the bottom we see "Criminal Status, Security Records, Physical Status, and Medical records*. Criminal Status refers to their warrant status, in this case this person is set to arrest. If they were not wanted previously it would show "NONE" instead. We can edit their criminal status by left clicking that option which will bring up a screen that allows us to set their wanted status to whatever we see the need to do. Note that after setting their status you'll be prompted to type a reason, this is important to do as we'll see in the next couple of steps. Below "Criminal Status" is "Security Records". If we want to see WHY she is set to arrest, we're going to need to check there to see what's up. When we click on the "View" next to the "Security Records" option we'll get a chat notice that looks like this: Above we see details of their major and minor crimes. Under the Minor and Major Crimes and their details, officers who are sitting at a Security Records Computer can edit that information to reflect Why a subject was previously arrested. Whoever set this noted that they had an EMP kit but didn't elaborate in the details. Under that you see "NOTES" this is flavor text that can be added by the actual player of that character. As you notice we STILL don't see WHY they are set to "Arrest' so to find that let's keep digging, only option is "View Comment Log". When we hit that we get this little box: Ah ha, we can see the officer who set it, when they set it, and why they set it per the comment box they filled out at that time. In this case, they were a suspected Enemy of the Corporation, thus someone who is highly dangerous and will likely end up in perma brig. Basics of Law and SOP As previously mentioned, Sec have not one, not two, but three guidelines that govern their actions and authority. That is Space Law, Security SOP, and Legal SOP. Space law, describes the laws and conditions for various laws to have been broken on the station as well as the time and consideration aspects that come with said charge. Each part of Space Law is assigned a 3 part number such as 103 which is the code for Drug Possession. This is an extremely important number for a lot of reasons as it tells you a lot about the charge itself. The first number is a one, denoting the severity of the crime where 1 is the lowest and 5 is the absolute highest. The next two numbers denotes the Classification of that crime, as such all 03 related offenses are drug offenses where the only difference is severity. Space Law comes with a very good Quick Reference that shows this concept very well. Top of the table shows the level of the crime while the side of the table relates to the TYPE of crime, this is important to understand for a concept known as Crime Stacking which is a no-go. A person cannot be charged for something that shares the same CATEGORY of charge, regardless of the changes in SEVERITY. For example, you cannot charge someone with Petty Theft, Robbery, Theft, and Grand Theft (as they are all the same category since they share the last two numbers) at the same time, but you can charge someone for Indecent exposure, Abuse of Confiscated Equipment, and Theft (as they don't share the last two numbers). To understand more about Space Law, you NEED to read it at some point prior to playing Security as it's both impossible and impractical for me to outline all the details within it. Security SOP, like all departmental SOPs, describes the standards by which a person in a specific job is expected to respond to a change in the Alert Level of the station. These are also reflected to a degree in the "General SOP" area. It's important for you to read and understand these concepts as they are essentially the protocol you're expected to uphold based on the current alert level. This means that on code RED you are authorized to randomly search people but on code GREEN you can't even arrest someone without first speaking to them. You NEED to understand the difference in what you can and cannot do. Legal SOP is a bit special in that it described the methods and procedures for appropriately tossing someone in jail for short term, permanently, or executing them in a lawful manner. Security can, has been, and will be held responsible for illegal executions. Just because you have the power to do so doesn't mean you can kill people whenever and wherever you like. Even if someone is slotted for execution, they're due a proper execution via proper means such as the electric chair, lethal injection, or some other means. Read and understand Legal SOP as it pertains to your situation. Unlike most SOP, this one is the most strictly followed due to the gravity of what it deals with. Deviation from Legal SOP is generally seen as a one-way ticket to demotion, jail, or your own execution. How to Arrest / Brig As mentioned above, your methodology for arresting someone will largely depend on the current alert level and the nature of why they're being arrested. In this section we're going to break this down into a simplified checklist that will hopefully give you a guideline as to how to address a situation in the best manner possible. 1. Identify the wanted person. 2. If time permits, check why they are wanted. See above for how to do that via the Sec HUD. 3. Radio for backup/call out the location of the arrest. It's more important to do this then to rush into the arrest due to the fact that if you fail and they get the upper hand, you've got no backup coming. It's worth taking a moment to do this for your own safety. Even something as simple as "BACKUP MEDBAY" in sec comms is effective. 4. If time and situation permits, make initial contact with the person via speaking. If the person is running away, resisting, fighting back, or has killed people already you may wish to take a more aggressive approach to them. 5. If they are compliant, every attempt possible should be made to take them to security without handcuffs on unless the alert level or situation requires it. If you had to stun the person, you should be applying your handcuffs as soon as they are stunned. Proceed to then left control + left click drag them towards processing. 6. Buckle them to a chair and open their inventory. Based on the current threat and their charges, you should conduct a reasonably through search of their person to include: headset (traitors especially), PDAs (Traitors especially), pockets, bags, jackets, boxes within bags, eyewear, masks, etc. 7. Take note of any contraband items OR items that were used in a crime. Despite items such as tools being legal, if they were used in a crime such as Breaking and Entering, they are to be confiscated in the same manner as contraband. 8. Take them to their appropriate cell. We will not discuss Perma brig protocol as it is well discussed in Legal SOP. Proceed to then take the cuffed subject and buckle them to the bed and exit the room. 9. On the walls outside of the cell you will find a black screen, left click on it to open the cell computer. The first thing you enter is the TIME you plan to brig them for based on Space Law and modifiers or Magistrate direction. 10. Proceed to Activate the cell, this will prompt you for the subject's Name and what they are wanted for. If you did it correctly, they're status should automatically be shifted to "Prisoner". 11. Re-enter the cell and recover your handcuffs. If the subject is violent, consider stunning them, removing the cuffs, stunning them again, recover the cuffs, and quickly exit while they are still stunned. 12. Update the records by hand via a Security Records Terminal IF they're missing a record. FAQ / Advanced Concepts I and other mentors / Sec-Mains will try to provide answers to FAQs as we get them. Some of the biggest I will go ahead and address if I can: Q: How do I silence my boots? A: Use tape on your jackboots, you don't even have to take them off. This will immediately silence them and make it so that badguys stop knowing where you are before you even see them. Q: Can other members of the crew help Security? A: Only on specific occasions such as massive threats to the station such as Blobs, Nukies, Wizards, etc. Things such as Vampires, Traitors, and Changelings should be left to Security to Hunt. If you see someone being attacked or You are being attacked, you are always in the right for defending yourself/others you are witnessing being attacked with the amount of force necessary to FLEE. You should NOT attempt to kill the antagonist if it can be helped as that is NOT your job. Q: Can Security use confiscated items? A: The only item they are allowed to use per Space Law is the Syndicate Encryption Key to help listen for and identify other traitors. All other traitor items/gear is contraband, even to Sec. Q: Can the IAA / Magistrate Order Sec around? A: No, not really. The IAA especially have no control over security and are there as advisory roles at best. They're there to make sure they remain neutral to the entire case and approach it from the direction of fairness to SOP and Space Law, not whatever would be in the best interest of Sec, NT, or the subject involved. The Magistrate has the power and ability to overrule even the captain in matters of Space Law but ONLY space law. The magistrate CANNOT order security officers to do anything other then arrest and brig people, they cannot order the warden to open the armory nor could they order the HOS to break the law. Q: When does the armory open up? A: The armory is open, per SOP, during times when Security requires lethal solutions to their problems. Such times include: Wizards, Blobs, Xenomorphs, Empowered Vampires, Syndicate Nukies, Aggressive Traitors, etc. Q: What's the Ion Rifle for? A: The Ion rifle does component damage rather then burn/toxin/brute/suffocation damage, thus it is only good against borgs and synthetic targets. When it hits, it bursts and will disable electronics around that zone approximately 1 tile. This means that it will disable headsets, internal synthetic organs, robotic limbs, cameras, etc - So please be careful! Q: What weapons are good for what? A: Understanding your threat is important for this question. Due to their composition, blobs are inherently weak to burn damage however they have a special thing called Reflective blobs which can Bounce laser / energy based weaponry back at the source, thus using something like shotguns that are Projectile based damage are a lot SAFER option despite being a bit weaker against them. Additionally, flashbangs are extremely effective against blobs and will destroy multiple tiles of blobs if they're weakened, just an additional tip. Projectile based weaponry are also preferred against E-Sword users, such as nukies and traitors. The reasoning is that an e-sword has a 100% chance to reflect energy based weapons back to the source in the direction that they are facing but only have about a 70% chance to deflect projectiles. Thus, it's a safer alternative when you can't sneak up on your target. Against all other station threats laser weapons have a lot more advantages on top of their ability to be recharged.

This is blatantly false. You have access to the reason your application was rejected. There's no excuse to be posting misinformation in this case. Notes do not magically become irrelevant after a set amount of time. Admins use their own judgement as to how long ago a note doesn't become a big factor. Plenty of admins have had a lot of notes and bans in their past and made it in.

update on sprites. this idea is getting coded, lored and sprited, so any ideas and suggestions are appreciated.

I highly encourage this if there is any problem or concern - but first of all it might be best to just chuck us a message. Often these things can be cleared up with just a quick, straightforward chat. This is especially easier if it's done when everything is fresh in memory. I'm really not interested however in showing someone all their notes for their curiosity so they can be nitpicked over. This is especially the case with notes that are incredibly subjective. Is player X "a bit too aggressive" in OOC? Were they not grieifing, but actually trolling? Does it really matter if they only hit the clown 22 times with a toolbox, rather than the 24 the note claims? We really have better things to do than have players argue all that with us. That's not however to say you can't dispute warnings, or discuss them with admins, to clarify situations or have the note rectified...but we're really not interesting in digging over things from potentially 6 years ago. I'm happy to discuss notes, bans, or just general concerns...or other video games etc...with anyone who PMs me - whether from the server or not. I can't guarantee we'll show you your notes, or show all of them, etc, but I can say I'll hear you out and try to address your concerns. I may be busy, IRL etc can be a bitch, but I'll at least try to direct you to someone who does have time to address your concerns. This will not ever happen, at all. We will not reveal sensitive information that players have trusted us with, nor will we make it known how we investigate or detect metagaming, ban evasion, etc. This is not worth discussing, because it won't happen. This is not the "end of the world", of course, but stopping ban evasion, metagaming, etc, is much more important than what is ultimately a few nitpicks over 0.1% of notes for 0.1% of players. PM an admin of your choice! Even our trialmins by now have a few dozen bans under their belt. If you have any problems with how they discuss it with you, or just want further clarification, feel free to drop me or another headmin a PM. I don't particularly mind if you come to me first either. Hell, we even have some lists around of what languages people know if you think it'd be clearer and more comfortable with another language than english - pm me or another admin to try to find someone of your language. We really don't like a peanut gallery chipping in or people getting a small snippet of it, and running wild with it. Also, ESPECIALLY if it's a recent ban, feelings may still be running a bit hot - it might be best to wait a day or two. There's a sweet spot between "too long ago to remember well" and "too recently to be objective". Yes...and no. Bwoinks and notes over accidents happen - if you welderbomb or release plasma or the singularity by accident, you might still get a note about it. This is more so we can note that you now know what not to do, and that if it repeats the next round (and another, and another...) then it's likely not an accident. This can be a very intimidating game to newcomers. How is a newbie to know that a toy lasertag gun is a toy when they just see red beams and white on their screen, or that a single hit with a hatchet isn't really that lethal? People shouldn't be afraid to be wrong sometimes, but they should learn from it (and not call the admins powertripping nazi-fags when pm'd about it.). We really do take into account the amount of time that has passed and how new you are at the time. If you ICd in OOCd and welderbombed and beat an SSD in your first 20ish hours of playing we really do not give a shit a few hundred hours of gameplay later.....assuming you have stopped. I'd like players to be able to do that for their own bans for sure. Not for other peoples however, as this I believe would lead to people being treated poorly. Warnings here really aren't anywhere near as "official" as Steam or the like, they very in severity heavily. It could be a "hey could you tone that down" to "seriously do not ever do that ever again". There really seems to be a lot of assumptions here that are incorrect, whether from misinformation, or bad-faith assumptions about the admins and how we operate. No admin app is denied simply "because of notes". Discussions are held about all candidates. For anyone to be banned rather than warned because of their notes, it's rarely one single note. There are plenty of cases of people with 10-20+ notes. If it is one single note, it's because of something directly relating to what you were just recently warned about, or it's a realllly bad offense. If you start to think of the admins in less of an "us vs them" mentality when it comes to players (of which admins also are), and more people who spend a lot of time PMing people to explain to them why you can't hit an SSD with a toolbox, that you're not to use racial abuse, ERP with Ian (yes, multiple times), etc, as well as trying to get a good RP atmosphere without a validhunting murderboning culture, then it will make a lot more sense why we do the things we do and the way we do. Yes, we make mistakes obviously, the appeals and admin complaints list many, many, of the mistakes over the years. We're human - if we're having a bad day we might be a bit harsher or grumpy or abrupt. But all in all, what bans come down to is - do we think this behavior will continue, and do we think this person makes the server a better place.

Personally I don't need to see the inner workings of the team, I don't need to see every single thing said. I don't need to know all the dark secrets. For people such as myself with memory issues, being able to take a quick peak at any notes that I may have keeps me from forgetting something I may have done or almost done. In my experience more open systems like this work wonders. The systems i've personally worked with in the past allowed players to see Bans, Blacklists and warnings, and their time of issuing, when they expire and the reason they we're issued, a players ID and the Id of the punishment itself ontop of who issued it., and it was all public information accessible by a tab, from this tab you could check the record of any player at any time even if you we're just curious or genuinely wanted to refresh your own memory. It all allowed people to be kept in the loop, and allow community oversight, without the need to show the internal workings.

Akira - Rattles His Bones Chiko - Deranged Murder Chicken

No, if it wasn't an accusation it simply put, is not an accusation. It was unintentionally misleading, perhaps, but it was never an accusation. It was interpreted as one but that doesn't change what it is. You can also misinterpret factual evidence and data, that doesn't change what a fact is or the data itself, it means the interpretation was flawed or the fact was presented erroneously (Which I have admitted to) it does not suddenly change what the fact was to fit that flawed interpretation. And none of this addresses my point, it serves to prove it even more. Everything said was reduced and boiled down to one single snippet, one "Sound bite" of my post that was easy to jump on. The exact same thing that Necaladun was just talking out against. One admitted error in my post and nothing else I said is addressed or referred to or evidently seems to even matter and you want to tell me that "You don't have to spend minutes carefully crafting a post"? Apparently I do need to, because in one fuck up in said post, and nothing else I have to say is going to be addressed and it's additionally gotten me called a liar, when a lie was never the intent. So yes. I apparently do need to be particularly precise and careful with my wording, since my wording is going to be picked apart and subject to semantics, instead of the point itself, even now that it's been clarified. This is again, exactly the point people have when they say they feel like they're walking on eggshells when dealing with administration. You have not acknowledged the point itself, you have instead fixated on a single error that was already addressed, dodged the issue that was being raised and doubled down on focus on me and how I failed to portray my argument properly (Which is already acknowledged and even apologized for at this point.) Instead of addressing the concern, you have chided me for making a mistake. So the mistake in presenting the argument negates the argument altogether, which is itself, a fallacy. Do you really not see why that kind of behavior makes people nervous to bring up any issues or anything that might be even vaguely controversial, let alone to make sure their notes are accurate? If this were a situation occuring in-game and going onto my notes, I would have no way of knowing the remark was misinterpreted, I would be unable to correct it and future admins would be working off erroneous information. This is what people mean, this is an example in motion of that entire argument.

Again. It was never intended to be a verbatim quote of an actual incident. It was an exaggeration used to illustrate a point of view people have on not being able to see their notes and to be mildly funny. I am sorry if my attempt at humor has backfired that horribly, it wasn't intended to BE an actual example. But that reaction in and of itself, from multiple admins is a reason why so many people feel they're walking on eggshells. I made one comment that I DIDN'T carefully spend minutes crafting and that got misconstrued and it was immediately jumped upon and, in this case, got me called a liar. Is it really that hard to believe after that kind of reaction people get concerned what gets put into their notes and would like a chance to correct it?

Why is it a problem if a player has access to positive notes, or to notes about things that aren't outright an issue but could evolve into one? Surely, some people will complain about their notes. I can see the concern over "more bureaucracy" having some merit, at least. But what Solessa said stands, even more so now. Knowing *what* wrong you've done, or even *if* you're doing something wrong, could be useful to adjust your playstyle or behaviour. Not everyone who breaks a rule is a shitter who wants to make things awful for everyone. I also don't understand at all the point behind banning discussion on past, expired bans. I really would like to see some sort of reasoning for it. What is the thought process behind this? Why is it an issue to discuss what actions can result in a ban? I understand not discussing current bans, if only because it can lead to pointless arguments, salt and other nasty stuff, but as long as it's in a civilized manner I fail to see an issue with discussing past bans.

Notes are an internal tool used to track various things that need to persist across players, not just warnings and bans, such as good things ("this player did a good job in this event; consider picking them for RP heavy event roles in the future") or iffy things that might not be an issue but should be thought about in the future ("this player seems to quit early a lot. Look into further if you also notice this pattern"). It would be very limiting to make them be public, since we would be facing a note appeal any time anything negative appeared. This increases bureaucracy for no good reason at all and changes the way notes would be used. Any time a note becomes consequential, you'll know about it anyways, and can dispute it then. For example, an admin might cite previous occurrences of an issue in banning someone. It's not really that big of a deal. If you're not a player who's had repeated problems with following the rules, your notes are going to be extremely boring at best. You don't need to be worried about an invisible "downward spiral", because you will know it's happening due to repeated warnings from admins. We are not here to discipline you or turn you into a better person or parent you. We're just here to try to make sure people are following the rules, and if we don't tell you what rules you're breaking, then what's the point? To have a "gotcha!" moment as we surprise ban you forever? Almost everyone gets a 2nd chance after a ban here, anyways. If you believe an admin has warned you in mistake, we've got plenty of examples of admin complaints where an incorrect warning has been rescinded (and the corresponding note also revised/removed). I would be in favor of an optional private admin complaints forum. Not everyone is comfortable complaining about staff publicly. I'm not sure which admin said this to you, but if you have logs of this, please file an admin complaint. It's my personal experience that admins generally try to explain what rule you broke, especially if you're new. If this sort of thing is happening, it's a reason to file an admin complaint and let that admin know they aren't being detailed enough, not a reason to change the notes system.

I am all for this. I've let this know a few times before but I think that transparency is required. Especially in these times. I know this won't happen anytime soon. Also due to the promises made to previous admins and current ones about the notes being a secret. Maybe something to work towards? A private old notes record and a new public one? Where the old one will become read only and the new one public and the one where new admins write to.

The heart of the matter, to me, is that it doesn't help the player for them to be kept secret, it only helps the admins. If you make it so that the player can read their own notes whenever they want then they have a complete record of times where they did something that they should not have. It also removes some ambiguity from when people like myself have had applications declined due to note history but then when I inquired I wasn't told what the problem was, only that it existed. Being judged publicly based on private information is a problem. It would also be nice, assuming what the admin I spoke to a while ago said, that if some admins leave positive notes to be able to see things that impressed admins about how people played.