So, are "steam support" actual workers/moderators for steam, or are they support moderators for game devs?
Tl;Dr a "steam support" member banned me from Disco Elysium discussions for a few days with the message "please refrain from baiting users into non constructive arguments" I was discussing politics in a politics based game.
So was this a Steam worker, or was it a moderator working for the developers?
I would post the thread in question but the whole thing seems to have vanished into a memory hole.

Reason I'm asking is that I feel that developers and their moderators can have their own opinions and ban because of hurt feelings, but workers for steam should have a thicker skin and moderate in an apolitical manner.

So are they steam/valve employees or are they simply community moderators on that forum?

Thanks in advance
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Showing 1-12 of 12 comments
cSg|mc-Hotsauce Nov 24, 2019 @ 4:24pm 
It tells you at the top of the ban message which type of mod/support gave it to you.

Ex... "Ban notification from [TITLE]"

:qr:
Last edited by cSg|mc-Hotsauce; Nov 24, 2019 @ 4:26pm
Zero Nov 24, 2019 @ 4:26pm 
Steam has paid moderators and volunteer moderators. Game devs can set users as moderators for their own game hubs as well.

EDIT: The top of the message should tell you what kind of mod banned you, but you can dispute your ban in that very community message you received. If that doesn't work and you still feel the ban was unfair, you can reach out to the Steam Support.
Last edited by Zero; Nov 24, 2019 @ 4:27pm
cSg|mc-Hotsauce Nov 24, 2019 @ 4:27pm 
Either way...

1. Reply to the ban message politely.

2. Contact support using the link within the message.

:qr:
Last edited by cSg|mc-Hotsauce; Nov 24, 2019 @ 4:27pm
Satoru Nov 24, 2019 @ 4:44pm 
Steam support means the PAID moderation staff banned you

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=4045-USHJ-3810

Stop breaking the rules and the PAID MODERATION STAFF won’t ban you
Last edited by Satoru; Nov 24, 2019 @ 4:44pm
Satoru Nov 24, 2019 @ 4:46pm 
It’s also bizarrely hilarious to demand the devs be “neutral” then like in 3 posts pivot to “all communism is terrible” because wow that’s super “neutral”
David Davidson Nov 24, 2019 @ 4:51pm 
It says it was a member of "steam support"
There is no reply option for the message either, or a link to follow; maybe its because I'm using mobile (android).
I took a screenshot however, I'll link it below:

https://i.ibb.co/jzVy83d/Screenshot-20191125-003924-Dolphin.jpg

As for appealing the ban, I don't see much of a need, I don't use that forum much and if I do it's just to read other posts. The only inconvenience is the big red box every time I visit there.

However if it was a steam employee or volunteer I feel that they should be less biased, but I doubt demanding they be less biased and shouting about it is going to change anything.
cSg|mc-Hotsauce Nov 24, 2019 @ 4:54pm 
Originally posted by Schlomo Shekelshoahbergastein:
It says it was a member of "steam support"
There is no reply option for the message either, or a link to follow; maybe its because I'm using mobile (android).
I took a screenshot however, I'll link it below:

https://i.ibb.co/jzVy83d/Screenshot-20191125-003924-Dolphin.jpg

As for appealing the ban, I don't see much of a need, I don't use that forum much and if I do it's just to read other posts. The only inconvenience is the big red box every time I visit there.

However if it was a steam employee or volunteer I feel that they should be less biased, but I doubt demanding they be less biased and shouting about it is going to change anything.

Steam Support staff, not volunteer. The only reason they were there in the first place was due to your posts being reported.

Originally posted by Grand Ayatrollah:
they dont like it when you ask in the ban box for the name of the moderator who banned you so you can report him. a man can lose his mind in there. i just about started singing tito can you hear me in the most apologetic barbra streisan voice u eva did hear.

For Support Staff, no need. That is what contacting Steam support will do.

:qr:
Last edited by cSg|mc-Hotsauce; Nov 24, 2019 @ 4:55pm
David Davidson Nov 24, 2019 @ 4:56pm 
Originally posted by Satoru:
It’s also bizarrely hilarious to demand the devs be “neutral” then like in 3 posts pivot to “all communism is terrible” because wow that’s super “neutral”
I'm not paid to post or moderate, steam support are paid to moderate, or they volunteer, as such they should also know to be neutral in their job as a moderator.


then like in 3 posts pivot to “all communism is terrible” because wow that’s super “neutral”
I have no idea what you mean about this, what does communism have to do with the actions of steam staff?

What posts pivoted and where? You aren't making much sense.
cSg|mc-Hotsauce Nov 24, 2019 @ 4:57pm 
Originally posted by Grand Ayatrollah:
Originally posted by cSg|mc-Hotsauce:

For Support Staff, no need. That is what contacting Steam support will do.

:qr:

a year or 2 ago they would always say report the moderators profile. i could be behind =)

Only if you knew who it was. Contacting support does the same if you don't know who it is.

:qr:
David Davidson Nov 24, 2019 @ 5:22pm 
Originally posted by Grand Ayatrollah:
Originally posted by cSg|mc-Hotsauce:

For Support Staff, no need. That is what contacting Steam support will do.

:qr:

a year or 2 ago they would always say report the moderators profile. i could be behind =)
I don't know who it was, honestly I would prefer a transparent system saying the name of the moderator who banned me and the post which got me banned as well as a link to the community guidelines / rules stating which guideline / rule I have broken.

I was banned a couple of months ago by steam support in the Warframe discussions when players from Warframe China were flooding the forums with angry posts (a translator broke an NDA, got fired and the translation was reverted to automatic (aka Google) translate) all I did there was post a meme of Xi Jinping next to whinnie the pooh and post links to a YouTube news channel called China Uncensored (there was no graphic content or bad language in the videos) I didn't know if that was steam or not but never asked.

Years ago (maybe 5 years? when was Garrys Incident released?) I got banned from a discussion forum and a whole lot more information was given, name of the moderator and the specific post in question.

As I've already said I don't see any point in contacting support, employees in the same company are more likely to cover for each other, especially when there is little to no transparency to the recipient of a ban, as such it would be wasted time on my part to even contact support. I just wanted to know if it was a game developer moderator as I also mentioned in the thread that Disco Elysium while a good game wasn't worth 10s from every games journalism outlet (its more of a 7.5 to me, though that's my opinone) and I thought it might have been an angry developer moderator, but it was a steam mod. Not much I can do about that.

It seems that steam, just like Google/YouTube and Facebook are changing I guess.
David Davidson Nov 24, 2019 @ 6:47pm 
Originally posted by Grand Ayatrollah:
well like you said in your op. steam just selects volunteers so they are not accountable for anything they do or say. i never understood why companies do that. WE KNOW YOU HAND SELECTED THEM YOURSELVES! THEY DO REPRESENT YOUR COMPANIES INTERESTS OR YOU WOULD VOLUNTEER ANOTHER VOLUNTEER! lol



Originally posted by Schlomo Shekelshoahbergastein:
all I did there was post a meme of Xi Jinping next to whinnie the pooh and post links to a YouTube news channel called China Uncensored (there was no graphic content or bad language in the videos)

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ you cant do that. you know we just about went to war because battlefield 4 misrepresented a chinese state police uniform or something? lol.

politics is a hard no in any forum, religion too.

This whole post gave me a laugh . Thanks. :)


politics is a hard no in any forum, religion too.
When the game itself covers politics I think commentary is good, though I get the sentiment, you can't talk about politics or religion anywhere online anymore unless you are doing so the "right way" which varies from place to place though I find that most tech companies seem to have a common bias now.
There isn't much more I can say really without even getting slightly political so I'll leave things as they are. A steam employee (or volunteer) handed out the ban and I doubt there's anything that can be done about that, there's no point in wasting my time making a ticket about a moderator who didn't even bother leaving their username when banning me.
Oh well, I guess playing games is much more fun.
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Date Posted: Nov 24, 2019 @ 4:18pm
Posts: 12