Ch.123The Armband Conscription. (3)

As expected, the administrator began explaining.

Among the 10 people gathered, some nodded their heads with a “finally, it’s here” reaction.

The rest either showed uncomfortable expressions from the start.

Or raised their hands to ask questions.

“Wait, entrusting that to users… does that even make sense?”

“That person is right. If you appoint administrators based on rankings, what happens when someone falls out of the top 10?”

Of course, in response to these legitimate questions, the shiny-headed administrator nodded… or at least appeared to.

<<“Those are very valid questions, so let me answer… if someone falls out of the rankings, they’ll automatically be removed from their community administrator position.”>>

“Huh? Removed?”

“So the new user who enters the rankings takes over the administrator position?”

<<“Exactly right.”>>

Fortunately for us, despite the administrator’s somewhat clumsy appearance.

They answered each of our questions with detailed explanations.

The gathered users were mentally giving the administrator five stars for their attitude and decided to ask more questions.

“But why call us all the way here just to tell us this?”

“That person talks too much. Wouldn’t it be better to just send us an explanation and have us accept it?”

As soon as the administrator started acting smooth and slick, people began throwing harsh questions, but…

In response to the rankers’ reactions, the administrator shrugged their shoulders and arms.

<<“But wouldn’t that kill what you Commanders call the ‘coolness factor’?”>>

“…What did you say?”

“Wha-wha-what.”

<<“Besides, since you’ll all be working together as moderators managing the community… wouldn’t it be good to get familiar with each other’s faces?”>>

When they stated this so confidently.

Not only Betelgeuse and Menaldu who had asked questions.

But also the rankers who were watching and those who had been nodding from the beginning all showed momentary bewilderment.

Our quick-witted Betelgeuse, who had barely maintained her composure, grabbed her forehead as if it was throbbing, twisted her expression, and spoke again.

“…We could just get familiar with faces through video calls.”

<<“We initially thought that would work too, but unfortunately, some rankers are quite uncomfortable with revealing information like their ‘faces’… or they’re completely uninterested, you see?”>>

Somehow I felt like the administrator’s gaze was directed at me when they said that.

So I quietly remained silent, deciding to look at distant mountains.

And apart from that, I inwardly realized that these administrators kidnapped people just to “get familiar with faces.”

Seeing their various clumsy behaviors, I finally understood why the game had become such a mess.

And why I had quit three years ago.

==========

Anyway, after about five minutes of such miscellaneous conversation.

The shiny-headed administrator began giving us a proper explanation.

<<“First, regarding the administrative powers of community moderators, you won’t be given too many privileges.”>>

“If not many, then approximately how much are you planning to give?”

<<“The right to delete posts from the community—that is, the gallery and marketplace—block users from accessing the community… and finally, the right to lift those blocks.”>>

Most rankers, including myself, nodded in understanding at these quite reasonable powers.

But in response to the administrator’s words, Arcadia, who had been speaking politely, quietly raised her hand and spoke.

“What exactly do you mean by blocking users?”

<<“It will mostly be nickname blocking, is there a problem with that?”>>

“Wouldn’t that be ineffective if people change their gallery nicknames? There are actually many people who use so-called ‘fluid identity techniques.'”

As Arcadia said this, she subtly directed her gaze toward Betelgeuse.

Betelgeuse, the subject of that gaze, shrugged her shoulders as if to say it had nothing to do with her.

Regardless of that.

The administrator, as if pondering deeply, flickered the light on their head and remained silent for a moment.

Eventually, as the light on their head returned to normal, they gave us a simple explanation in response to the question.

<<“After discussing blocking privileges with the management team, it turns out you’ll be able to block the actual IP assigned to the community.”>>

“Oh?”

<<“The maximum blocking period is 15 days, and anything less is at the administrator’s discretion.”>>

“I see.”

“If IPs can be blocked… that should work fine.”

“It’s a shame it’s only 15 days, but that’s better than nothing.”

After receiving various other detailed explanations.

Before long, everyone ran out of questions to ask, and the inquiries became sparse.

The administrator clapped what was presumed to be their hands, drawing the attention of all rankers, including myself.

<<“Well then, since it seems you’ve all finished asking questions, I’ll now explain the precautions for your community management.”>>

“Precautions?”

“You mean management standards?”

“That gallery had management standards?”

The rankers immediately began murmuring in response.

Regardless, the administrator continued with what they wanted to say.

But the content of those continuing words was truly absurd from our perspective.

<<“These are merely precautions, but whatever you do in the gallery, our management team doesn’t intend to care.”>>

“…?”

“Huh?”

“What?”

“???”

<<“Of course, we will never tolerate crazy behavior that relies solely on administrator power.”>>

<<“If you get caught doing such things… well, you can figure out what happens then.”>>

Hearing those words, I broke the silence I had been maintaining.

I raised my hand to ask a question to the shining head.

“What exactly is the standard for this ‘crazy behavior’ you’re talking about? Before that, if you’re telling us to manage without clear guidelines, what exactly do you expect us to do?”

<<“An excellent question.”>>

The administrator who received my question rotated their light around, then nodded and continued speaking.

<<“It seems other rankers feel similarly… so I’ll explain it simply.”>>

But right after that.

<<“To put it simply, each administrator determines their own management standards ‘as they see fit.'”>>

“…?”

<<“That’s how we do it, so that’s how you should do it too.”>>

In response to the administrator boldly declaring “We don’t have any such regulations!”

Not only me who had asked the question.

But also the rankers who were uncomfortable or puzzled.

Even those who had shown positive reactions from the beginning—everyone directed incredulous looks at the administrator.

Well, everyone except Betelgeuse.

As the clan leader of the Loki Clan, a group of trolls, she must have heard the most about “blocking” from administrators.

She must have already noticed that these people worked without standards.

And regardless of whether the rankers and I were dumbfounded, the administrator precisely defined what “crazy behavior” meant.

<<“Of course, separate from that, the ‘crazy behavior’ I mentioned earlier will not be tolerated, so I’d like to explain that.”>>

“…”

<<“Of course, this is also quite broad, and it’s difficult to explain in detail as people might abuse it if we’re not careful, but…”>>

The administrator, who had been silent for a moment.

Eventually let out a deep sigh and spoke to us with words full of emotion.

<<“Under the guise of ‘unusual fetishes,’ pedophiles filming live ‘talent shows’ with Superhumans or other characters—that kind of excessive snuff film is absolutely forbidden.”>>

“Ah.”

<<“Grandfathers, grandmothers, M*dspin, all sorts of things might pop up, and whether to delete them is at your discretion, but children are absolutely off-limits.”>>

“…”

<<“If you leave that alone and the gallery becomes covered with it, very serious consequences will come to you.”>>

Somehow, from that emotionally charged appearance, the rankers and I got a slight sense of how much “erasing” work these people had been struggling with.