Forcing of the Master Banlist Ideas
Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2012 12:32 pm
Note: This has nothing to do with Torr's auth system idea, this has nothing to do with developing or adding anything into ST/Zandro - this is something that already currently exists in the current released software and is purely an administrative matter.
Let's start off by making it clear what the point of this topic is. In it's current state, the Skulltag/Zandronum master server unfairly imposes its' master bans on all servers, regardless of how actual server admins feel about them. Allow to me to clarify exactly what the two current behaviors of the master server are regarding master bans that makes it unfair: One is that if a server has sv_enforcemasterbanlist set to false, the master will not broadcast that server to the public listing. This means that it is impossible for a server to broadcast on the master listing without enforcing every single master ban. The second is that the master banlist overrides a server's whitelist. This means that it is impossible for a server to exempt a master ban on their own server while enforcing the master banlist (broadcasting). The combination of these two settings make it impossible for anyone on the master banlist to play in a broadcasted server. That's a good thing, right? Well yes and no. Yes it's a good thing because it keeps community annoyances out of most servers that most players wouldn't want them in. No it's not a good thing because it takes away a civil liberty from server admins that they should be allowed to have by forcing an overbearing authority over their server(s). In essence, server admins should have the right to completely manage their own banlists however they want, and the Zandronum staff should absolutely not have authority over private banlists if the server admin doesn't want them too. Their servers are their property, and they're spending their own time and money to host servers for this community. For that reason alone they should be allowed to completely manage their own banlists however they want - including master server bans.
So let's rebound - why is this a good thing? It gives server admins total control over their own server by giving them unrestricted access over their own banlists, something they do not currently have. Say player A is currently riding out a masterban, and admin of the server set "server A" feels that player A has done their time and wants to allow them to play on their servers again. However because of the way the master is currently setup, the admin of server A doesn't have that freedom to exempt player A from his servers. If this change was passed, the admin of server A would be given the option to exempt player A from his servers banlist and player A would be allowed to play on server A. Note that if passed, this would *only* affect servers that wish to un-enforce masterbans or exempt a specific master ban. I don't want people getting the wrong idea by thinking that this would somehow automatically allow masterbanned players to return to the entire Skulltag community. Most servers would most likely remain unchanged and fully enforcing the master banlist. This just gives the servers that wish to un-enforce/exempt the option to do so if they wish. This has nothing to do with circumventing authority of the Zandro staff, what this has to do is with giving server admins the power to completely and totally abide by their own rules and jurisdiction. Should they be allowed or denied that opportunity? That's what this discussion is about.
The solution? Literally a single variable in the master server's configuration. All the host of the master has to do is change the setting to allow servers to un-enforce/whitelist and reboot the master. Done. With that one-line move, he just gave server admins full, unrestricted access over their own servers.
This has been discussed before, with many members of the Skulltag/Zandro staff and players of the community. Developers and moderators alike agree with this position, here are a few samples:
What does the community think? Should private server hosts have the right to exempt master bans from their own servers if they so desire? Speak your minds and make your voice heard!
Let's start off by making it clear what the point of this topic is. In it's current state, the Skulltag/Zandronum master server unfairly imposes its' master bans on all servers, regardless of how actual server admins feel about them. Allow to me to clarify exactly what the two current behaviors of the master server are regarding master bans that makes it unfair: One is that if a server has sv_enforcemasterbanlist set to false, the master will not broadcast that server to the public listing. This means that it is impossible for a server to broadcast on the master listing without enforcing every single master ban. The second is that the master banlist overrides a server's whitelist. This means that it is impossible for a server to exempt a master ban on their own server while enforcing the master banlist (broadcasting). The combination of these two settings make it impossible for anyone on the master banlist to play in a broadcasted server. That's a good thing, right? Well yes and no. Yes it's a good thing because it keeps community annoyances out of most servers that most players wouldn't want them in. No it's not a good thing because it takes away a civil liberty from server admins that they should be allowed to have by forcing an overbearing authority over their server(s). In essence, server admins should have the right to completely manage their own banlists however they want, and the Zandronum staff should absolutely not have authority over private banlists if the server admin doesn't want them too. Their servers are their property, and they're spending their own time and money to host servers for this community. For that reason alone they should be allowed to completely manage their own banlists however they want - including master server bans.
So let's rebound - why is this a good thing? It gives server admins total control over their own server by giving them unrestricted access over their own banlists, something they do not currently have. Say player A is currently riding out a masterban, and admin of the server set "server A" feels that player A has done their time and wants to allow them to play on their servers again. However because of the way the master is currently setup, the admin of server A doesn't have that freedom to exempt player A from his servers. If this change was passed, the admin of server A would be given the option to exempt player A from his servers banlist and player A would be allowed to play on server A. Note that if passed, this would *only* affect servers that wish to un-enforce masterbans or exempt a specific master ban. I don't want people getting the wrong idea by thinking that this would somehow automatically allow masterbanned players to return to the entire Skulltag community. Most servers would most likely remain unchanged and fully enforcing the master banlist. This just gives the servers that wish to un-enforce/exempt the option to do so if they wish. This has nothing to do with circumventing authority of the Zandro staff, what this has to do is with giving server admins the power to completely and totally abide by their own rules and jurisdiction. Should they be allowed or denied that opportunity? That's what this discussion is about.
The solution? Literally a single variable in the master server's configuration. All the host of the master has to do is change the setting to allow servers to un-enforce/whitelist and reboot the master. Done. With that one-line move, he just gave server admins full, unrestricted access over their own servers.
This has been discussed before, with many members of the Skulltag/Zandro staff and players of the community. Developers and moderators alike agree with this position, here are a few samples:
Torr Samaho wrote:The master server can be configured to also show servers that don't enforce the master ban list (it just has to be restarted with a different command line option). I explicitly implemented this possibility because I don't like the idea of enforcing the ban list either.
VortexCortex wrote:I think server operators should always have the choice of which set of rules to follow, including their own rules.
Cyber, the former lead administrator of Skulltag, had already taken this all into consideration in the past and actually even gave the OK to have the master changed to allow this. However thanks to inactivity and miscommunication between staff, it never ended up getting changed and it was eventually forgotten about. Now it's being revived again, hopefully to enact real change this time.[05:02:27] [Legion] I personally think that the regular player should have a bit more to say about who can play and who cannot
[05:23:10] [Legion] alex does spend his own money
[05:23:19] [Legion] I think it should be fully up to him
What does the community think? Should private server hosts have the right to exempt master bans from their own servers if they so desire? Speak your minds and make your voice heard!
Spoiler: Those who support (Open)
Spoiler: Those who oppose (Open)
