Having been hosting and running my own Minecraft server for just over two months now, I have developed quite a strong and growing community, one that I am extremely proud to have for that matter.

Earlier today I was just browsing the web with my server console running in the background (I usually have it running as it gives me peace of mind to keep and eye on how things are going, even when I am not logged in) when I decided to quickly take a look see at how everyone was doing, I maximize the console screen and to my shock there is what appears to be quite a heated argument between a few of my regular builders and a new guest.

As I discover by browsing up and down the console reading the chat this guest had just logged in and straight out of the gate he was causing issues. Behaving Judgmentally and condescendingly towards peoples builds and work, discussing theoretical ways he could crash a server and being just a general douche bag to others for no apparent reason.

I let this go on for about 10 or so minutes before I banned him for the reason "Learn to get along with others, or don't play online games." ordinarily that would have been the end of it, as anyone who owns or even uses a server that sees a decent amount of traffic knows that there are people who are there for no reason other than to be troublemakers and I would just continue going on about my day.

However, this time it was different, this time it made me think. All the time while this one person, this one little prepubescent shit was online he was completely distracting the other 12 or so users from their gameplay.
That is when I had somewhat of an epiphany, although it may sound like common sense to ban and kick unruly people from a server, there are plenty of server owners and admins who simply allow this sort of behavior to fly under their radar.

Banning people like the aforementioned troublemaker is something that should be done on all servers, regardless of their type. If I were to log into a server and see all of its users bickering and arguing rather than building or having a good time, I would probably exit that server and delete it from my server list without a second thought.

You see, although many people may not admit it, first impressions are the ones that stick and as a message to all fellow server admins and those of you interested in opening their own server remember this. A server that has a small community that gets along and is vibrant and happy will see far more growth and receive far greater praise than a server that has a community that consist mostly of dickheads.

Be active in your community as much as possible, patience and friendliness is key, and it can make all the difference.

Just my two cents on the topic, take care all and happy crafting!