The following is a mirror of my personal blog.

---

Minecraft is a fun game to play stress free, right? Stress free shouldn't involve a light, non-offensive banter of calling your friend an "idiot" leading to your account ban. Both of you were okay with that, who is Microsoft to decide that you broke a boundary there? Do you really need to be tied to their chains?

Speaking of chains: out of all the ~74 documented Minecraft: Java Edition servers that I have joined since 2024, roughly ~18 of them left Chat Reports on. I guess nobody learnt from Gaslight?

That sounds like a small number, but realistically, maybe ~30 more also had them on on top of that. And there's no real way to know which ones were out of genuine unknowing, and which ones were deliberate decisions, without going out of my way and interviewing every server owner for all of those said servers. Which I don't want to bother the owners' time for.

Let's talk a little more about what this actually implies though, and ignore the ownership part, which is something we can control very little of in the first place anyway.

Disclaimer

It should be noted that this post is not forcing you to disable them, many people will have opinions, and if those opinions are controversial, that's okay! Some opinions, in nature, will go any one stubborn way that people want. However, it should be noted how opinionated the topic is, especially historically.

Gaslight was a serious exploit around 1.19.x days, which allowed you to 'report' users and make it seem like you were saying something completely different. While the new version is patched to a degree, a new version came out a little before the release of 26.2 that proved that Gaslight, very much, is still a problem to an extent.

Not to mention that nothing is really stopping somebody from falsely reporting you outside of the game, as proven by the recent ban wave performed by hackers in the past week or two (more on that later), but since nobody should force your opinion any one way, it's really your choice.

You may lose a minority of players, however whether you want to accommodate that 1% of users that care a lot about their account integrity and basic rights, and/or the people who potentially have, or could get banned for the way they (jokingly) speak to their friends, that is up to you. You don't have to, however that extra 1% might be worth it to you.

Make your own decisions. You play the game how you like :)

The system has been abused, both inside and outside the game

With that out of the way, let's talk about the main thing: this isn't about modding.

Using examples: ROBLOX

Many games, from Minecraft to ROBLOX have easily abusable systems and mechanisms that can fuck you as soon as a sharp eyed hacker gets a hold of it. ROBLOX experienced an exploit where filling out an EU specific form to request a takedown of whatever content you like, resulted in free false bans to whoever you wanted. While I could not find or remember the source I have for this, much less can be sure if it's credible, I do have another incident to back me up.

Let's talk about them.

Crosswoods is the name of an infamous scandal game on ROBLOX, where after a fake loading screen, you would be kicked out of the game, and almost immediately be faced with an account deletion message. It is one of the most obvious cases of ROBLOX's incompetence, as even though the game was worked around, it highlighted the issues with ROBLOX's chat system. The game also returned many more ways and times, as expected.

Crosswoods worked in a way, that it bypassed ROBLOX's chat filters and forced the user to say an abhorrent message (imagine; "I hate everyone" but in a much more extreme way) and purposefully reported them. This means, if you joined the game, the game would make you say whatever twisted thing the creator wanted, not to ruin your reputation, but just to cheaply get your account banned.

Even if it's not been "widely abused" inside the game, it has flaws

Something even as simple as an API can be abusive. Give people the ability to send chat messages through a script, and an evil script can be made to ban people. Very obvious stuff, right?

Keeping chat reporting 'on' isn't really going to protect you in the end. It's an entrypoint, sure, but if you keep it on thinking it might make you safer, it might seem fine on the inside as it's not been 'widely abused', as some people might make it out to be. However, that doesn't stop the fact it is very flawed, and a flaw can be abused by the right people.

In a public server setting (the one you usually see chat reports on the most), there will be many people. While you and your friend chat, and you call your friend a negative word, your friend knows you're being silky and won't take it to heart. You call him an 'idiot', maybe a little airheaded... It's all good fun.

But the server owner doesn't know that, neither do the players, nor the man reading the report. All it would take to get you banned is for one person to just highlight that "lol idiot" message, and send in a report to get you your free 3 day ban.

It's always on for Realms (and even more strictly regulated there)

Even in a perfect environment, this is still a problem, and is never truly "solved". You can agree to not report each other, sure. That "solves" the system. Except no it doesn't, because you're playing on your friend's Minecraft Realm, and you got automatically banned by Realms itself, not by your friend! Fun, right?

Not even in your own private realm, can you say "fuck", even if you wanted to. While Mojang themselves confirm that you can somewhat "swear", the same logic does not appear to apply to realms, for some reason.

Realms is an automatically moderated shitshow. It's not 100% clear how Realms handles chat reporting, however it's very likely it's overly moderated and every message is moderated. This is supported by the fact that players have been banned just for swearing in their own private realm, without being reported. Even if your friends don't report you, Mojang happily will.

It is to the point, that even the creator of No Chat Reports says that you should avoid realms if you can. So much for "Do nothing wrong, and nothing bad will happen"...

The system has temporarily banned players for a word as light as "idiot"

Actually, this whole thing does not even end at swearing! You said you took a 'shit nugget' from a Piglin? Sure, ban on a realm. However, what won't save you from a ban even on Super Smart SMP that isn't on a realm? A word even lighter, like "idiot".

I have observed that after curiously reporting a player on another SMP a long while back for calling somebody else an "idiot", they were genuinely banned for 72 hours (about 3 days).

If you want to be the guinnea pig and confirm this yourself, come on the ride of death with me at no charge. All you need to do, is get two accounts, perhaps string together something simple (like "You're an idiot!"), report your account and see what happens. Maybe Mojang will gaslight me and for funsies make it not work, maybe you might get a permanent ban for trying this.

Be careful when doing this! Don't use your friends as a bullet sponges.

The players and owners have no input in this (if you don't take action)

If this was your family's server with your 7 year old, maybe this would be okay. However, you have to keep in mind that Microsoft does all the action for you, without any of your input. You don't get to override this, especially on realms

If you think your child should only get taken off the game for an hour, Microsoft might disagree and say they're getting off it for the week. Think only a day is enough? Guess what bud, your account is gone forever.

You do also have to keep in mind there is way more than kids that play Minecraft, there is a sizable and undeniable demographic of teenagers and grown adults that play as well. This change essentially gates a whole demographic of grown adults from Realms, just because of the colorful flavor of English they prefer.

And this might also potentially also mess with the very unfamiliar adults, who don't have a clue that the dedicated server scene exists. Sure, you can say they get can get a server and have full control, but you have to remember: they see realms, they think it's the easiest entry point, they get banned from Realms for thinking they can swear. Weird, right?

Okay, then why is this bad?

It might not seem obvious, but the fact that there is an adult demographic to Minecraft implies that this change will hinder adults. It might not be entirely clear why, which is why we're going to explain right now, why that is all bad.

So, why exactly is this bad?

It takes control away from servers

You know Hypixel, right? The biggest premium, english-centric server where you produce a lot of sweat over Bedwars? Hypixel uses their own moderation guidelines, and take a very different approach to Moderation, compared to Microsoft. Of course, the obvious one is that you're not widely banned from all of Multiplayer, but that's beside the point.

Well, they have an automated system that automatically blocks you from saying inappropriate phrases. It's not an immediate ban for doing so (Hypixel 1, Microsoft 0), instead the message just doesn't go through, and you're told the message is inappropriate. Very cool, it's like a nice little warning.

Not only that, but swearing is, well, allowed. If it bothers you, you just turn on a filter for it, and you're done. Realms doesn't really give you that privilege, and while any Chat Reports Enabled server just might, it should highlight the fact that Hypixel knows adults play their game, where Microsoft doesn't. You can't say something outrageous and sexual for the sake of the teens, but you can swear just like everybody else. The kiddies can just turn the filter on and be done, there you go.

If Hypixel, being on a version after 1.19 (they are currently on 1.8 for reference) decided to leave them on, you might not get that privilege. Microsoft handles the reports, Hypixel does nothing, people experience Minecraft-wide bans over it. Any swearing, assuming Microsoft will ban you over it (because Minecraft is a "kids" game, right?), not allowed anymore.

It overrides whatever moderation policies you have in place

This does not extend to just how you execute moderation, it also extends where.

If you know about the world about reclaiming slurs, you probably know that a lot of private friend groups may allow you to say those slurs, if you are the said minority group that has been repressed. While the rules of reclaiming depend on who you ask, the idea should paint a picture: Friends consensually saying words they should be allowed to say, with no hard feelings.

This post is not going to get into the morality of this, nor make a stance on that debate, however it should make it clear that this thing happens, and it doesn't offend the people in that circle. It's like a certain word you know in the rap scene, right? The right people can say it, maybe they say it in their Minecraft server.

Except no, they cannot, because Kanye decides that he's gonna troll and 'test' the report system on you. And now you're all getting banned for a week.

Even if this was was something as simple as just a fun server between your friends, this logic can still happen! Let's say you are all against slurs, but you all like to swear at each other. Microsoft cannot tell, and cannot care if calling your friend Tom a 'shithead' is in a offensive, or a playful context. So either way, you get the ban too.

In an 18+ environment, you can't talk about things adults normally talk about

Let's say that there is a Minecraft server out there, run by a bunch of older adults in their 30s. John, the owner of the server, wants to discuss the child they're about to have with his wife Jenna.

In a normal and John moderated environment, it happens as well as you expect. John bans a player using a slur and hate speech, because John wants all players on his server to not use slurs. John also mutes players who yap about politics, because his server is a wholesome place, not a debate room.

John does his duties as an administrator and moderator, the server talks about the things John wants to name his upcoming kid, things are well.

However, in a Microsoft moderated environment, it's likely that Microsoft might deem the topic of Pregnancy, "too much". Microsoft, after automatically moderating the chat, decides to ban John for 48 hours for talking about Pregnancy. But all parties in the server consented to talking about it, nobody was uncomfortable. Bullshit, right?

And to be clear, this can't just happen on Realms. Let's say John rents out a server from PebbleHost (not sponsored) instead. While the chat isn't being 24/7 looked at, there is nothing stopping Dave from being a little asshat and reporting John manually. And Dave, being a human being, can lie about his involvement in this and get away with it. Because humanity can do what it wants, even if it's not Capitalism.

Covering some points

This might sound very minor, and might seem 'deserved' for this kind of language and behavior, but the reality is that how people speak will always be out of your control, and there is no reason to really restrict that basic human right. Yet, a bunch of moderators reading your reports cannot read the context like you can, therefore the system sucks and should be handled by the server staff, not Microsoft.

Even if it was a backup system that worked in-case servers themselves were slacking off with their moderation, there is no clean way to implement this without the poor moderation being in the favor. Would you rather a server full of swears, or a server where everybody is too scared to speak?

Though, there is also some points and common responses to this, that I feel should also be addressed. So let's also do that quickly.

1. Is it because we break rules?

A common thing some people might innocently say towards a thing like this, is "If you have nothing to hide, you should have nothing to fear. Doesn't that mean you just want this to happen, because it'll let you break rules and say hateful things?"

Well... No, not really. The sad truth is that a lot of moderation systems are either abused to a scale, or underdone. While one place might have moderation that is entirely run by AI that flags a lot of stuff as false positives, they might leave the false positives in place because of prejudices of the staff (such as a political lean). Yet on the other end of the scale, maybe the most vile stuff will be let through because of the lack of, or laziness of the staff.

Does that mean there should be another moderation system on the lacking server? Well, yes... But applying a system by a third party, that bans you from everything is not ideal. There will be people who will deserve it, yes, but does Joe joining to document the stuff to send it to the appropriate authorities deserve it? To be banned from a game he plays, just because he had to be there to gather evidence? Because the people he was working with, said he can?

2. Is it because we say bad things?

Another fair, but pretty flawed argument can be made that somebody who advocates for something on this scale, is that we "just want the system gone to say slurs and hateful things". And sure, I can see a point being made for people who might be in for this movement, just because they want to shout slurs at people.

However, you also have to remember that these people will still be subjected to the moderation of the people who run these servers. So just because they can, doesn't mean they should. A good moderation team will still permanently ban a user for that, if it's strictly against the rules. If you think it's not the same, do you perhaps have a small and lacking moderation team, or do you, yourself, have an ulterior motive behind that?

Additionally, banning people from a game over a minor infraction is, well, dumb. If I join a family friendly server and say 'Fuck', should I really be banned worldwide, even from servers that let me say 'Fuck'?

3. What's the worst that can happen with them on, anyway?

Let's explore what would happen if you did leave them on, for the people who think there's no harm in leaving them on. This is also for those curious people, who might want to understand more clearly how these things happen.

There are many possible ways that this system could screw people over. There are the examples we've included before: unfair global bans (even for infractions allowed on more mature servers), unfair constant unnecessary moderation, overly sensitive moderation, etc.

However, let's talk about a few more. Let's say you got banned, your friend used Gaslight to fake a chat report, and Microsoft bought it (because as mentioned in the videos I linked near the beginning, they seemingly don't check at all). What now?

Well, you can try to appeal it. However, there is no telling if it will actually get lifting. Maybe Microsoft will believe that the ban was unfair, and lift it. Or maybe, somebody will read the report, think "what kind of horrid human being is this?" and upgrade your ban from temporary to permanent, and Microsoft refuses to offer you a refund when you chase further response.

A permanent, game ban, from every server you play, forever. No refund, no further clarifications on what you did, nothing. All because somebody you thought you could trust faked a chat report, making it look like you said "yes" to something horrible, such as "Do you like to cheat on this server?". That might sound very tame, but there is so much worse somebody can write if they put their brain together.

This is one of many scenarios, of course, and arguably the worst case. For example, you might end up just having to take week long breaks in between, because you naturally like to playfully insult your friends with no bad intent. Maybe a hacker got you banned and you have never used the chat in years. Maybe you get permanently banned for playing on a server that happily allows the kind of behavior that Microsoft thinks is unacceptable.

Or maybe you talk about pirating the next big game, and you get banned for that, too. There's many reasons you could get banned, and in the worst case scenario, you could get a permanent, unappealable and unrefundable ban on your favorite game, because you called your friend an idiot for fun.

What exactly are you supposed to do?

4. Do you need to install a mod to do this? (For Players)

There are naturally, going to be a lot of players that really do not want to install mods. Be it a purist (even on a game like Minecraft, which has a million essential optimization mods, especially for bad devices) or just distrusting, there is an important question: "Do I need to install a mod to turn off chat reports? Can't I do it without a mod?"

Well... The answers to those questions is "It depends", and "No". You can read more about this a little later (where I'll talk about it a little more), but the short answer is that Microsoft purposefully did not let you turn them off without either going halfway, or modding it out.

Basically, for servers, either users have to opt-in to being unreportable by installing a mod, or you need to install a mod/plugin to turn it off for everyone. One solves the problem, but requires you to mod on the server.

If you are hosting a world yourself from the client though (i.e: Essential Mod, LAN), you will have to mod, and there's no getting around it.

If you are using a Realm, you cannot do it either way, and should consider switching to a host. You may need to do some research on how to carry over your world.

5. You need to turn them off for Bedrock crossplay anyway

Even then, there is no real point to have them on. Geyser, a popular plugin for Minecraft: Java Edition servers allows Bedrock players to play with their Java friends.

Why is that important? Because Java edition's reporting system is incompatible with Bedrock. Which means, Bedrock players cannot be reported anyway. So if a malicious person really wanted, they can just say the slurs they want through Bedrock. So, any malicious player can in practice request a Bedrock application instead of Java, and say the horrendous things they want and have reduced risk of ban from the game. And since you're on Java, you can't report this player, because their account might as well be a cracked one.

So the question becomes much different: Would you rather disable reports for all players to save the effort and headache? Or would you rather take away Bedrock players to stick to the reporting system introduced by Microsoft?

Feel free to take as long as you want to think about it. We won't judge :)

Turning them off yourself

Remember when I said that you have no choice in this? Well, there's a catch; if you're not playing a Realm, you do. As Minecraft is a flexible game and built on a modding scene years old, people have developed mods to fix this!

You can turn off a magic setting in your server.properties to turn it off "halfway", but if you don't use a special magic mod to take you the rest of the way, the problem is still present. Players can still be reported if they don't mod, which means you can still get a game ban.

Now if you are clever, you will set up your server afterwards to disable Chat Reporting. Just one plugin (or Mod, if you use Fabric/Forge) is enough to make it not work for everyone, which might introduce some very minor side effects (a warning for Vanilla players, which appears on join for 5 seconds and doesn't cause any problems), however even that can usually be circumvented if you play with the config enough.

And if you don't want to do that, you'll just install the plugin and mod, set it up haphazardly (enough that it works) and leave it at that. There you go, no complaints, you keep a 1% of players.

If you're still unsure how this works... Let me tell you quickly how to do that, with some quick steps. If the steps confuse you, you may need to check with your host's support or a tutorial on how to do this with a more friendly visual (i.e: Video).

Plugin-based (Bukkit & forks)

Remember to check what kind of server you're running! If you want to check if your server is Plugin-based, just give yourself OP (even for just a minute) and check if /plugins works. Note that if you have a permissions plugin, you may also need to give yourself permission to use /plugins. If your server uses plugins, follow the steps below.

1. Download FreedomChat for your Minecraft version. If you don't use Folia, download the Paper version! (if it's not available for your version, wait for an update!)
2. Install it to your /plugins/ folder
3. Start your server and check if it worked! (Try reporting a player, or check for the grey bar on Vanilla)
4. (Optional) Set send-prevents-chat-reports-to-client to true, so No Chat Report's "Chat Reports Disabled" indicator works for Clients
5. (Optional) Restart your server one more time

Mod-based (Forge & Fabric)

If you have a /mods/ folder on your server, and you are sure the mods work (such as a Sit mod), then you likely use Forge or Fabric. You may want to ask a modder (or an experienced server runner) what type your server is if you don't know. Most good servers use Fabric.

1. Download No Chat Reports for your Minecraft version & loader.
2. Install it to your /mods/ folder on the server and your modpack (or optionally on the client, if you're Vanilla)
3. Start your server and check if it worked! (Try reporting a player, or check for the grey bar on Vanilla)

Should I also install it on the client?

Hello, fellow paranoids! Let's talk in detail about whether or not you should also install it on the client.

For LAN hosters

As I said before, if you plan to do a LAN server (i.e: e4mc, Essential Mod, World Host, etc), it has to be on the client for the world to not have chat reports. Whether you want to do this, is up to you.

If you want them to be off and you host this way, then follow the steps above in the "Mod-based" portion, for your modloader. If you use Essential, you most likely use Fabric, but don't be afraid to check! Fabric users will know if you have a Mods button, and a mod-menu jar in your /mods/ folder. Forge users will have a mods button, even without that jar in the mods folder.

Note that if you don't go this route, everybody will be affected by chat reports, even if they install the mod and you don't. The person who is hosting the world (most likely You) has to install the mod.

For server runners

If you run a server, and have installed either the Mod or the Plugin, and you double checked the mod is working, then it's your players' choice if they install the mod. Since the server does, your players don't have to do a thing.

It is still good courtesy to include it in your modpacks if you can, because on servers that only do it halfway, your players will still be protected. However, this is not necessary, and is purely optional. So really, its your choice if you want to push it on the players or not. There is no harm on having it on both ends, so feel free to throw it in your modpack. It doesn't matter if your players have the mod, they can still join, with or without it.