Guidance for Socialites

Socialites were Habitica contributors who helped answer questions in the Tavern and the Habitica Help: Ask a Question guild. The following article details tips and tricks that had been suggested over the years for Socialites to help answer questions in Habitica's chats.
== Mission ==
Our goal is to answer questions fully and concisely for new and old players alike.
== How to Start ==
Start small by giving answers to questions you're sure about. If you're not certain about how to help someone, you can read the wiki carefully and give a summary of what you find. It's often helpful to also post links to relevant wiki pages so that the player can learn extra details if they'd like to. However, avoid giving abrupt "RTFM" ("Read the Freaking Manual") responses; be aware that new players might not know about the wiki, or might feel overwhelmed by all the information in it, so be sensitive to their needs for gentle assistance.
Join the Aspiring Socialites guild. This is a place for Socialites to share resources, clarify answers to complicated questions, ask questions directly related to being a Socialite, and spread cheer. In addition, the guild has a monthly challenge that offers a great way to develop skills and resources for Socialite activity. However, when you have questions of your own about how to use Habitica, please do not ask them in the Aspiring Socialites guild because that is not its purpose - ask them as any other player would in the Tavern or Habitica Help: Ask a Question guild so that the questions and answers can help other players.
== Tips and Tricks ==
* When players ask about features that don't exist, say something like "We don't have that feature, but the good news is that you can request it through Help > Request a Feature on the Habitica website or About > Request a Feature in the mobile app." Avoid saying "Unfortunately, we don't have that feature." Using "unfortunately" makes it seem like there's a problem with Habitica for not having that feature and that there is an expectation that it needs to be fixed by the developers.
* When advising players to report bugs, if it's a website problem direct them to Help > Report a Bug. If the bug occurs on a mobile app, direct them to About > Report a Bug in the app's menu.
* When someone has posted something inappropriate, do not moderate (that is for the Staff to do). Instead, notify staff about the post by using the post's "report" button. If you wish you can state "I'm not a moderator, but just so you know, it looks like your post might violate the [Community Guidelines](https://habitica.com/static/community-guidelines)." Don't phrase a comment as a direct command (for example, don't say "Please don't swear. You should remove your message.") -- that's referred to as "back-seat modding" in the Community Guidelines and is itself a violation of them.
* Use Markdown to format links. This looks neater and avoids an issue on the Android App, where bare links are not clickable.
* Use the Chrome Chat Extension to monitor both the Tavern and Habitica Help: Ask a Question guild at the same time. (Click the name in the extension for a fast reply.)
* Keep common responses to questions in a format that you can easily copy and paste from. This makes responses quick and pre-formatted with links for easy reading.
* If you see someone posting in the Tavern or any guilds about tools they have built to integrate with Habitica, suggest to them that they copy their post to the Aspiring Comrades guild -- it's a guild for developers who have built 3rd party tools using the Habitica API. Note that this is not instead of posting to the Tavern or other guilds -- they're allowed to do that too (as long as they don't spam multiple irrelevant guilds, of course).
* If a player asks for help through PM, and the question isn't about a private matter, it is advised that you reply and explain PMs aren't for support and that you will answer their question in the Habitica Help: Ask a Question guild or another chat. Some suggested wording: "PMs are not for support, but if you post your question in the Habitica Help: Ask a Question guild, I will answer it there." Or: "In case others are wondering about your question, I've answered it in [name of guild], so that everyone can benefit from the information!"
== Children in Habitica ==
As described in Children Using Habitica, Habitica staff have a legal obligation to block any account for a child under 13 as soon as they become aware of the account, unless they have written permission from the child's parent or guardian.
When a Socialite sees an adult player posting about their child using Habitica, they can advise the adult player about the legal restriction related to children younger than 13. Habitica's staff have suggested that these words be used:
::Hi <NAME>! Just as a heads up, due to restrictions imposed by the Child Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), Habitica cannot allow children to use this website without their parent or legal guardian's permission. You will need to email Habitica's staff at admin@habitica.com with your child's @Username and User ID (from Settings > API on the website or Settings > Authentication on the mobile apps), and include a statement that A.) you are their parent or legal guardian, and B.) you give your full permission for them to use Habitica. If you have any questions or concerns about Habitica, you can include those in the email as well!
When a Socialite sees a player state that they are under 13, the Socialite should immediately report the child's message and not interact with the child further in any way. This includes not posting the above message to the child. This applies even if you think the person may be joking when they give an age under 13.
If a Socialite merely suspects that a player is underage (e.g., if they tell you what school grade they are in), they should take no action related to that. They should not inquire directly or indirectly about the child's age, nor should they explain to them that they need to be over 13 -- this is to protect their privacy and to prevent them from feeling that they should claim to be older than they are. They should not post the above message to the child. Socialites should assume that the child is 13 or older unless there is proof otherwise. However, if they are violating the Community Guidelines with spamming or any other undesirable behavior, it is still appropriate to report their messages as you would for any player.
== Surveys ==
From time to time, users may wish to survey other Habiticans regarding their gameplay or other topics. Before they can be posted, all surveys about any topic must be approved by Habitica's Staff at . This applies both to surveys in Challenges and to those hosted on other websites that are linked to from anywhere within Habitica.
Once approved, surveys will appear in the Aspiring Socialites guild's description of when and to whom they can be advertised in Habitica. Any surveys not approved should be reported.
== Contacting Staff Urgently ==
Usually, when you see a problematic post, all you need to do is report it. This alerts the staff and allows them to respond. Two reports will hide a post, so most guidelines-infringing content is usually quickly hidden even if a staff member is not able to look at it immediately.
If you need to contact the staff about something you are not able to report, or to give them more context (e.g. translations, a summary of the situation, etc.), then you can send an email to admin@habitica.com. There is usually no reason to need to contact the Staff urgently, but should the need arise, an email with "Urgent" in the subject line would be the best way to proceed.
== When and When Not to Report a Post ==
Private messages and posts in the Tavern, Guild, and Parties have a "report" button on them so that any violations of the Community Guidelines or Terms of Service can be reported to the Staff.
When you report a post or message, an alert is sent to every staff member and any of them who are able to will put their own tasks on hold so that they can investigate the report. This absolutely should be used for violations—if you see bullying, profanity, insults, or other clearly inappropriate material, please report it so the staff can take care of it. The staff wants to keep the public spaces clean and comfortable for everyone, and they often don't know about problems until a community member flags them in.
However, it is not necessary to summon the staff for a non-urgent matter. The staff have stated that they sweep through the Tavern occasionally and delete extraneous posts, excessive chatting, party ads, etc. You don't need to send out an all-points bulletin for a newbie who says "hi" twice, and if you do, the staff will probably ignore it until their next sweep anyway.
Here are some examples of unnecessary reports (this is not a comprehensive list!):
* Someone giving a wrong answer to a question, unless it seems malicious or possibly harmful.
* A single nonsense post.
* A double post.
* A player who you believe is probably a child but has not given a specific age, which is the only piece of information staff can act upon.
* A player who has posted to the Tavern to say that they want to quit smoking or drinking. The Guidelines don't allow casual mention of those substances in the Tavern because it can be triggering to players trying to give them up, but declaring yourself part of that community is fine. However do report any mention of adult topics and illegal substances, even if that person is quitting.
* A post in a Habitica guild is off-topic
* Minor spam. The Community Guidelines do include an instruction to not spam but that's only something you need to report if someone has posted the same message many times on purpose (not just two or three times), or posted a large amount of nonsense text that ruins your scrolling experience, or posted the same off-topic post to two or more Guilds. It doesn't mean you can report something you personally feel is a low-value contribution to the conversation; that is not appropriate.
If you've reported a post and no staff showed up to hide or respond to it, it means there's no staff currently available. Please don't report the same message again--doing so is often dishonest at best. Staff will catch up on any reports they missed when they are available.
When you report a post, you'll see there's an optional comment form. You don't need to use that to describe the rule being broken unless it's not obvious. If you're reporting a long post that has a curse word tucked into it, it's useful to say "profanity in third paragraph" to help the staff find it, or if you want to clarify that this one post is actually part of an argument in progress, that's useful information. But you don't need to cite the Community Guidelines in the comment section when it's clear from the context which rule is being broken. You also don't need to defend your actions; for example, there's no need to include a softening disclaimer like "I'm so sorry to report something this person worked really hard on, I don't want them to be in trouble but it's important to keep this a safe space".
Finally, please be aware that reporting messages does not count toward Socialite tiers. There is absolutely no credit given for reports; in fact, abusing the report system may be held against you when considering your eligibility for promotion. You will not reap any benefit from "doing rounds" checking on guilds that you are not a part of, to root out minor violations that were not reported by members at the time.
=== Requests or Offers for Gems or Subscriptions ===
Asking for Gems or a Subscription is a violation of the Community Guidelines so please report any such posts that you see. (The only exception is that if someone has stated that they want to give a gift and that they want someone to reply to ask for the gift, then it's okay for anyone to reply to that request.)
Offering to give people Gems or Subscriptions is allowed and does not need to be reported. The only exception is the situation described below in the "Party Recruitment Gifts" section.
==== Party Recruitment Gifts ====
The moderation team doesn't want people to use either Gems or Subscriptions or Group Plans as an incentive for joining their party. This is mostly for their own protection because there'd be nothing stopping someone from joining, getting the Gem gift or the Subscription Gems or Group Plan special Mount, and then immediately leaving.
If you see any party recruitment posts that offer Gems, Subscriptions, or a Group Plan, please report them. Don't worry about getting anyone in trouble! The staff should handle this gently since it's a case of generousity that's at worst misplaced.
Of course if someone forms a party and then later finds that they get on with their party members so well that they want to give Gems or Subscriptions, that's totally fine - at that point it's a normal friendship interaction.
It's also fine if the party leader buys a Group Plan after the party has realised that they'd benefit from the shared task management features that Group Plans provide. Often, but not always, this would be for a group of real-world friends or a family, because those are the types of people who might have shared tasks.
The advice in this section applies to party recruitment posts in any location, including but not limited to the Party Wanted, Party Wanted International, and Habitica Party Roster Guilds.
== Useful Links ==
* Memorable Bugs
* Habitica Help: Ask a Question guild - A good place to answer questions!
* Direct players to Help > Report a Bug when they ask about bugs on the website. For iOS and Android app bugs direct players to Support or About > Report a Bug. Each of these links will generate an email to Habitica with certain information about your account, where you can detail the bug you're experiencing.
* Aspiring Socialites Guild - Join this to learn new information for Socialites as it becomes available.
* FAQ
* Party Wanted Guild - Direct party-hunters here.
* Wiki main page - Contains tips for getting started; good to reference for new players.
* Features Across Clients - Comparisons between the website and the official mobile apps.
* Mobile App for Android: Habitica - Information on how to do things via the Android app.
* Mobile App for iOS: Habitica - Information on how to do things via the iOS app.
* Socialites Markdown List for Non-English Guilds - List of non-English guilds in markdown format.
== Current Known Bugs & Issue Advice ==
Check out the Troubleshooting category for pages that contain advice on long-term bugs, as well as pages dedicated to troubleshooting guidance.
For things not displaying correctly, data issues, and syncing issues:
* For the Android app, follow the steps on the Android app page.
* For the iOS app, follow the steps on the iOS app page.
* For the website, if refreshing the page or closing/reopening the browser does not work, try:
** going to the Clear Browser Data page,
** clicking the red "Clear Data" button, and
** logging in again.
== Auto-Muted Users ==
Public chat spaces in Habitica have a swearword blocker that does not allow posting messages containing profanity. Refer to the Chat Restrictions section in the Tavern page for more information.
Public and private chat spaces have a slur blocker that prevents a player posting a slur (an extremely offensive insult) and that automatically removes the player's public chat permissions.
The automatic removal of chat permissions sometimes causes a player to lose their chat permissions unfairly (e.g., if they were posting in a language other than English and one of the words in that language happens to be the same as an English slur). Staff are notified as soon as someone is automatically muted and they should always reverse the muting as rapidly as they can when it is unjust.
== Contributor Tier Process ==
If a player has been posting helpful, relevant, and accurate advice for some time, they may be awarded with a Tier and the Socialite title. If they continue to provide consistently positive and helpful assistance over time, they may be granted further Tiers.
There is no nomination process for Socialite Tiers. The staff assess helpful posts to determine when a player has earned a Tier. Tiers are not based purely on numbers of posts; staff discuss candidates and evaluate the quality of their answers in context. Socialite Tiers are not awarded on a set schedule, but instead a Tier is given to a specific player when the staff feel that the player has earned it.
Socialite Tiers are usually only awarded for assistance provided in the Tavern and the Habitica Help: Ask a Question guild because it is harder for the staff to notice ongoing assistance in other areas. However, under special circumstances, a Socialite Tier might be awarded for other assistance at the discretion of the staff.
fr:Guide des Socialites
pt-br:Orientações para Socialites
zh:社交名流
Category:Contributing
Category:Social
Category:Troubleshooting
Category:Pages with files missing alt tags