Guide to proper reporting

As Tbelle's RP Guide mentioned, there is an anti-rp crowd out there. These creatures are like household cockroaches in that there is a specific way to kill them. GMs are the most effective weapons in your arsenal.

This method can be applied to any case of harassment, not just anti-roleplayers. Just remember: Warn, Ignore, Ticket, Wait, Talk, Boom. Simple.

Important Things to Remember
Before we begin the list, there are a few things you need to remember when dealing with the Anti-Roleplayer.

Remain calm: Some Anti-Roleplayers are scheming. They will attempt to push you to the boiling point, at which they hope you will spout racism, homophobia, swearing, etc. DO NOT DO THIS OR IT WILL BE YOU ON THE OTHER END!

Everything He/She Says is Wrong: "LOL NO JUSTICE 4 RPER" is just one of the things you'll hear from the AR's mouth. He has three things he hopes to accomplish by doing this:
 * Simply ruining your day: No further explanation needed.
 * Discouraging you from RPing: The AR does not want to ruin the RP you have now, he wants to ruin your RP abilities all together. He will say anything, from "RPers wear stupid hats" to something along the lines of "RPers support terrorism" If you can believe those lies from the AR's mouth, he can probably sell you his phlegm for a million dollars too.
 * Saving Their Account: After telling them that you've reported them, they'll say ANYTHING to save themselves. They know they're screwed once that ticket is answered. Be ready for taunts. Be ready to be called anything. He'll do ANYTHING. He knows his griefing days are over, one way or another.

Apologies are Fake: "OMG IM SRY PLZ DONT REPORT!!!!1!1!" is likely something you'll hear from the Anti-Roleplayer. Now, it's wrong to hold a grudge BUT: This apology is completely fake. You can't let him off the hook, you have to report them anyway. If not they'll just grief somebody else. Real Life Criminals don't get off the hook by saying "OMG SRY" so why should they?

Reporting
Reporting someone isn't just as simple as opening a ticket and punching in "This guy's harassing me." It's gotta be done properly. Trust me. I've reported quite a few ARs and Botters, never heard a word from them since.

Step 1: The Warning You must first warn the AR that they are violating the roleplaying policy found at http://www.blizzard.com/support/wowgm/?id=agm01725p and if they continue, they will be reported. This is usually replied to with a taunt, or something else. Remember the things said earlier in this article.

Step 2: /ignore This only works if the harassment is verbal in nature. The offender can still jump around in front of you, /dance naked, etc. Still doing this is harassment. Since you warned him earlier, and /ignored him, and he's still doing it. You now have grounds to report.

Step 3: the ticket Okay, so he hasn't stopped. Well, now it's time to make good on your earlier threat. Click the Question Mark Button beside the options button at the bottom of your screen, then click "open a ticket" then "Behavior/Harassment" and choose one of those two, depending on the situation. Be sure to include... Then close it by clicking the "save" button (or the one on the left.)
 * The name of the AR
 * The Place where it Happened
 * What Exactly Happened (in detail. Be sure to also state that you warned the person, then /ignored them, and they still persisted.)
 * When it happened (it should say on that sun/moon clock thingy at the top right hand corner of your screen by the minimap.)
 * A list of people who witnessed it. (But first you should ask the witnesses if they'll stick around. It may take some convincing... or not, if they were also the targets of the AR's harassment.)

Step 4: The Wait Now all you have to do is sit back and wait for the GM to respond. In this time, if the AR knows you've put him on /ignore, he might try to make alts to either taunt you or apologize. If he does this to taunt or otherwise harass you, add it to the ticket.

Step 5: the GM The GM will send you a tell (or the AR on an alt with a pathetic attempt to impersonate one) saying he received your ticket. When talking with the GM remember these things...
 * Be Polite: this is the GM. Like a police officer, he is your friend. He may be more willing to help someone who is polite.
 * Remind them of the Roleplaying Policy: GMs may need to be reminded of the RP policy, so be sure to remind them.

By now, the AR has either been removed or has had an e-mail warning sent to his mail. Some people will learn, some people won't. It's up to them. If an AR wants to shake the devil's hand, fine.

Troubleshooting
As with everything in life, this article is far from perfect. Likely you will need advice on dealing with ARs.

"He's still here! He shoulda been banned!" Calm down now. It is possible that one of three things have happened...
 * He got his warning and took it seriously. He now knows not to fight roleplayers on their home turf (or not to fight them at all.)
 * He may have gotten his suspension, and in those three days learned his lesson.
 * He is on Final Warning (due to past offenses) and now, for some reason, is forced to remain on an RP server with his lips sewn shut. He may have learned his lesson, or he may just be a ticking time bomb, filled with so much hate towards RPers that one day he'll just explode, only hurting himself.

"He's still doing it!" Sometimes it takes a bit. Have faith in justice. If the GMs don't get him, something else will. Whatever goes around comes back foaming at the mouth. If not, you can go have a little chat with his guild leader, and remind him that having an Anti-Roleplayer on an RP server is very bad for their image. But don't try to sound threatening.

"I went and told his Guild Leader but he laughed at me." Then it's obvious what needs to be done. You need to expose this griefer guild for what it is by any means nessecary. A handful of ARs are nothing compared to the entire server's RPer populace. If the guild leader is an AR, so is the whole guild.

"I'm not big on the whole reporting thing... I prefer other means." Well, I don't recommend such things, but okay. However, reporting is the easiest, safest, and most effective means to remove a griefer. However there if you really don't like reporting you can do all sorts of things that are both enjoyable and allowed: Pretend they are mad, that they are interspersing their native tongue into the conversation. You can even act as though they are possessed by a ghost or demon. perhaps attempting to banish it.

Conclusion
Reporting is very easy. Having read this, you will know how to properly dispose of any Anti-Roleplayer that comes your way. You are an RPer, you are on an RP server, you belong. They do not.

If anyone else has anything to add, by all means do so.

Added by Ladencrel on July 17, 2008

More than often, there are people who have very strong patience. These people normally do not report or ignore the Anti-Roleplayers, but never acknowledge their presence in the game world. I've told people in my guild on Moon Guard to do the same, and despite all of the ARs that have come around to ruin our roleplay, we went on with our events, despite all of the naked dancing and hurtful spouts of words that come from the keyboards of Anti-Roleplayers. It can be a little frustrating with the Anti-Roleplayers able to speak out many things about you and your friends around you, but it just takes a little practice to really tune them out.

Of course, if you're really frustrated, you can ignore and report. Always works wonders, as well.