Over the past week alone, I have seen several incidents where someone has been banned for inappropriate language or sexual references etc. I understand the need to facilitate a family friendly server that will in theory attract more people/donations. Do I agree with it? Well it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things. There are many mature people who would like to converse with friends and include some inappropriate humor or discussions. I see myself as a very mature person when I need to be. And personally I am not offended or appalled by inappropriate discussions, but there definitely is a line that shouldn't be crossed when talking in /g, and it takes common sense to have an idea of where that line is. That line is also very different to other people based on their opinions.
This is why all these bans have caused so much discussion and hostility. No one is right or wrong, but some may be more informed or more experienced. Anyway those conditions also do not really matter in the grand scheme of things because this is a minecraft server after all and it's supposed to cater to a family-friendly playerbase. These reasons make setting a precedent for these types of bans to be difficult.
For these reasons, I think group chats would be a beneficial addition to decrease these types of bans, and they will also eliminate any more excuses that potential rule breakers have when trying to appeal their inappropriate language offense.
How would they work? Well someone would have to create a group chat, and invite their friends to it. We'd have to make a rule that states that chats are not moderated, and one cannot be punished for something they say in a group chat because by joining the chat, one acknowledges the fact that regular /g chat rules do not apply. Of course there can be exceptions, but those cases can be handled with common sense (something that I trust the staff has, and something that I have witnessed the staff have in most cases)
Overall, this was a general idea that could solve the problems that seem to be recently arising. Again, there woud be no rule changes to /g. I think that implementation of group chats would eliminate the high number controversial bans, and start to create a precedent in bans. This would in turn make the rules easier to interpret.
