Writeups

What are writeups and why do we do them

Writeups are notes put against a participant for a number of different reasons, they allow us to keep a record of anything notable about that person and if necessary take actions. While these are commonly used in battles and skirmishes to record rules or safety issues they can also be used in other situations to record an interaction. Typical reasons for writeups are:

• The person came to one of the ref locations to report an issue that was not immediately resolved or where followup may be required e.g. they came to make a complaint (noting you should advise they email PD with complaints but a record that they contacted the ref team can help link up information in some cases)
• The person needed to be corrected about the rules or a safety issue e.g. during a tournament, skirmish or battle
• You need to record something about the person and there is not a more appropriate place to record it

How to do a writeup

The overall aim with the writeup is to record as factually as possible exactly what the situation is plus provide enough detail for PD to followup to get more information and to make a decision on what if any actions to take. Key points to consider:

• Make sure you correctly identify the person the writeup is about e.g. if you are writing something down to put on the system later it is recommended you try to get two forms of ID such as a name and PID. If you cannot then make sure you state this in case there is any question on who the person was
• Be clear where you are stating something factual or something you personally observed versus an opinion or something reported to you, both can useful to give context to the situation but be clear which is which
• If you are passing this to someone else to put on the system please also provide your name and PID in case PD need to contact you for more information
• Include any relevant context or mitigating information e.g. the player was new to Anvil or they took being corrected on the rules well
• Put writeups against player record rather than the character record and mark them as a Ref Note, if there are two people involved either put a note against both or against the instigator, if you do not have an ID they put it against Graeme Jamieson (PID - 927)
• Do not record writeups for feedback against groups or nations or for positive feedback, neither are likely to result in any actions taken but report any extreme cases the Head Refs
• Also notify the shift leader or Head Refs that you have entered these on the system, especially if you think there may need to be action taken

What happens with writeups

All new writeups are reviewed after each event so that any follow up or actions can be taken whilst it is fresh in everyone's heads. There are several outcomes that can occur and the most common are listed below:

• Further investigation - you may be contacted after the event to provide some more detail
• No action - for note only. While no direct action will be taken this might be taken into consideration for any future issues
• Feedback to the participant - if required PD will contact the person with any feedback
• Sanctions - for more serious issues Sanctions may be applied in line with PD's Conduct policy

Examples

These are some examples of a good write up

• Saturday Battle E1 2026, reported by Jane Doe (PID 1234) - On receiving reports of heavy blows coming from a group of combatants i observed then for a period of time. I observed John Smith (PID 4321) land several heavy blows and asked them to step to the side whereupon i explained the blows appeared to be excessive. John also appeared to be slightly overwrought, possibly from the intensity of the combat, after taking a few seconds to calm down John responded well to correction and apologised to the person they had landed heavy blows on
• Saturday 15:00 John Smith (PID 4321) came to the Ref tent to report an incident where someone had stolen something from their IC tent without permission between the times of 13:00-14:00 that day, they related suspicions that person Z had stolen the item but did not see this directly, they confirmed that they had searched the tent thoroughly to check the item had not been misplaced

These writeups have less useful information in them

• A player came to the ref tent to report the player of one of the generals in X nation had stolen their item
• E1 battle, a ref (name unknown) told me that group X had been dealing heavy blows