Important Information! Please Read!

Hello Everyone!

With the new year taking a flying leap through January already, we the admins thought it would be a good idea to take a moment to re-visit some important key items so that things can continue to run smoothly here on HP! This news post will likely be long, but it is very important, so please do try to see it out to the end!

Much like cleaning out your closest a few times a year, reading and reviewing certain key pages on HP is always a good practice in order to make sure you're up-to-date on the rules and regulations of the game. Please re-familiarize yourself with these pages in particular: Rules, Change Log (any changes made to the HP site), Crediting Guide, and Need More Help? (affectionately known as the "Ghostbusters" page). Even the seasoned professional goes back to the basics and makes sure that their foundation remains sound and strong.

Explore the site and be sure to read through the detailed How Do I... and Other Info help pages. Many questions or uncertainties can be easily explained through these texts. If you still can't find the info you seek, or are having any difficulties, please send a message to a Mod or Admin , and we will be happy to assist! You can also try checking the area of the forum pertaining to your question/issue to see if someone else has asked the same thing previously.

Player Interactions

Please practice patience and grace when interacting with another player or staff member! Communicating over text in itself is a challenge for many as it doesn't mirror facial/vocal emotions to help judge the tone of the situation and you just never truly know how or what the other is feeling or experiencing on the other side of the screen. Just be kind. No one is perfect and we all make mistakes.

Protocols for Reporting

If you notice another player in-game not following the rules, or possibly toe-ing the line, please use the handy-dandy "Report" feature. There is a section on the How Do I... page specifically called Report a Rule Infraction, to help guide you. 

We really do appreciate when players use this feature because we can not always see what is going on and we are not mind readers! So, when in doubt, just click the Report link on the player, club, horse/dog, graphic auction, or message pages, fill out the details of why you are reporting it to the form, and click Report! If you're on the fence if it's even something against the rules, err on the side of caution and report it anyways, saying you're not sure. 

Anything reported this way is automatically submitted to the Mod Panel, which all mods and admins have access to and monitor. Reports are date/time stamped and get looked into/dealt with as they come in and also based on the availability of the staff and their work schedules. Nothing is auto-fixed once a report is sent through. Many issues take time to deal with by looking further into the information provided and even contacting the player who made the report to ask questions or for more information. We then go through our list of protocols and procedures on next steps to take depending on how many times this player has had this particular issue in the past 6 months, what the issue is, severity, etc. If it is a more serious issue (eg. theft, scam, bullying), typically it is discussed amonst all mods and admins ahead of dealing with it. Then, either an official warning/fine is issued using the mod panel, or a verbal warning message is drafted up and sent to the player. 

You do not need to also contact a mod or admin if you don't see your reported issue being dealt with within a day or three. Be patient...you never know what's going on behind the scenes to handle the issue, not to mention often if it's to do with crediting, stolen images or code, etc., part of the verbal warning is to allow the player to remove or correct the issue on their own within a certain given time frame, before we will do it for them, to give them a chance to correct the situation.

Again, reports are not an instantaneous thing and often do take up to a week to address depending on what the situation is. If the report you make is something "mild" but time-sensitive (eg. a graphics auction expires in 2 days and has no credits), we ask that you take a screenshot of any bids on the item, and note in your report of the auction that you have a screenshot you can provide if required. Do not try to include a url to the screenshot in your report form, it will not go through!

Notice something majorly wrong?

If shows haven't run or the site goes down, that's an "immediate notify Blitz (#2049)" situation, because we might have to get the server techs involved, which is a bit of a process all on its own! If you notice this Monday-Friday during "school hours", please notify Broken Vow (#22700) or Koni (#33) and they will be able to get ahold of Blitz or Sam! (Blitz's day job involves a school board that has HP blocked...booo!!).

For player or animal achievements not awarding when they should, take a screenshot with a timestamp of whatever is ranked on its ranking page and either report the player or animal to the mod panel under the "Report for Admin" choice, or send a message to Blitz (#2049). Even if you or your animal are no longer on a rankings list by the time the achievement is manually awarded, Blitz will take care of you!

A different kind of bug? You can view to see if it was already addressed or post a new thread in the Bug Reporting section of the Official Horse Phenomena Forums, or send Blitz (#2049) a message. 

Off-site HP Activities

Anything off-site (not on HP), such as using Discord, Facebook Messenger, etc. is just that--off-site--and not under the responsibilities of the HP Staff or HP as a whole. That means that anything that goes on between you and another player not in-game is an at-your-own-risk environment, and falls on your shoulders should something go wrong. If something goes bad and there's no in-game proof to look into then the staff and HP can not help you fix or mediate the issue. We highly recommend any transaction discussions happen on HP and not off, for your own player safety!

On that vein, please do not contact a staff member off-site for an on-site issue! (eg. messaging Blitz to whitelist your basic account). Please only contact us on HP! The only exception to this is if the site goes down or crons don't run...I (Blitz) DO want to hear about these emergency whole-site-affecting things directly to me ASAP, so please do feel free to contact me through private Discord messages or FB Messenger for those types of things. Just do it direct to me, not in a giant group chat where I might have it muted and will miss the info.

We know this post in itself is a lengthy whirlwind of information, so thank you for taking the time to read all of this!

We are here to help and encourage you!

If there is anything you need more clarity on, help figuring out, or just want to have a chit-chat - Our inboxes are open always!

Thank You!

Blitz, Koni, Broken Vow (and the HP Mods!)

Thank you guys :)

Thank you guys for keeping HP a safe and positive environment for all of us! ❤️

Thank you!

As a returning member, the refresher was very helpful. Have a great night!