Headmin Rulings

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This is a compilation of headmin rulings on various policy questions asked by players. This page does not replace the rules and whenever possible the rules should be referred to instead of this page. The rulings listed here can be referenced in ban appeals and admin complaints.

Please note: Some of these questions are for very niche/specific situations. Some of them cannot be applied the same way to every situation.

General Rulings

Policy	Ruling	Date	Headmin
Roundstart suicide	Don't do it as an important role, and if it happens too often, you can be banned.	May 04, 2015	KorPhaeron
Deleting security records as a nonantag	Don't do it every round. Don't use a sec/head position to do it. Don't use it to metagrudge.	Aug 23, 2017	Ausops
Deathmatch if round-end is bugged	If the round fails to restart, but the end round text plays, then everyone is free to act as per solo antagonists unless otherwise told by an admin.	Aug 26, 2017	MrStonedOne
Mass identity duplication	Changing many people into one person via genetics/other methods as a nonantagonist. It can happen every once in a while, just don't do it every single round.	Oct 12, 2017	Armhulenn
Lynching for erotica on comms	Lynching for reading smut and spamming, especially on comms, is always okay. It also makes the reader nonhuman in silicon eyes.	Aug 16, 2017	PKPenguin321
Validity when killing pets	If you perform an action which has zero benefit to you other than making others upset (like killing Ian) I will ban you if you adminhelp when someone kills you.	Dec 30, 2017	KorPhaeron
Cutting down christmas trees/general asshole behavior for no reason	If you perform an action which has zero benefit to you other than making others upset (like chopping down the Christmas trees while they’re enabled) I will ban you if you adminhelp when someone kills you.	Dec 26, 2018	Nervere
Naming Policy - Updated	Click here for the policy. Generally enforced at admin discretion.	Oct 25, 2020	Coconutwarrior97
Overthrowing security/mutinies	Any situation where you can overthrow the security force in, they'll probably already be banned. It's okay if you have sufficient IC reason.	Jul 22, 2017	KorPhaeron
Forcing team antags to betray their team	Can't do it.	Jul 06, 2017	Ausops
Buying terrible shuttles as captain	Allowed, but the crew is also allowed to mutiny/lynch the captain. Addendum: Buying (bad shuttles) when the crew is saving up for a more expensive shuttle or has agreed to make a BYOS could be cause for mutiny. Clarification: Inciting a lynch mob and defending yourself lethally is self-antagging. Non-lethal self defense is generally fine, in the same vein as resisting a valid arrest.	Jul 03, 2017	KorPhaeron / PKPenguin321, addendum by Dragomagol, clarification by MrMelbert / Timberpoes
Playing under the influence	Being drunk is not an excuse for grief/other banworthy things.	Jun 25, 2017	Ausops / PKPenguin321
Fake Revolutions	Faking a revolution always causes grief, without fail. If someone is pretending to be a revolutionary, feel free to murder them. If I find someone faking a revolution as a non-antag, they can prepare to catch a rule 1 ban for being a griefing shitter.	Feb 04, 2019	Nervere
Antag Rolling	If you're antag rolling consistently, AKA only seeing if you get antag or not, then leaving the round in one way or another when you don't, you are breaking the rules.	Jul 13, 2019	Hulkamania
Early Launching	This is already enforced, unless there's no one around, or they haven't noticed. We encourage you to ahelp it if you see it, because yes, it's extremely in bad faith to early launch because unga my antag roll faster.	Aug 25, 2019	Wubli
Using any language other than English in-game	Using non-english to communicate sentences or obscure information is not allowed, admins are invited to use their discretion for minor usage of non-english words/phrases, especially where its usage causes confusion amongst other players.	Nov 11, 2021	NamelessFairy
Prisoner Policies	Prisoners are not antagonists. Attempting to break out is something they can do, but should not be an every round thing. When breaking out they are free to disable or restrain security but should not murder them. However, if security responds with lethal force, such as lethal shotgun rounds, they can murder in the spirit of preserving their own life. If a prisoner is caught after an attempted breakout, they've opened themselves up to any form of forced experimentation	Apr 04, 2020	Coconutwarrior97
Supermatter suicide	Suicide into an SM that is not set up, or that results in a delam is bannable. If you suicide into it, and it continues operations as normal without harmful side effects there is no issue.	Jun 24, 2020	Coconutwarrior97
Macros	Do not use them to gain an IC advantage over other players. Other macros are allowed (i.e. killing yourself in Orion Trail), but are context-dependent.	Oct 18, 2020	Coconutwarrior97
Using 10-codes	The use of short-hand codes for communication in any department, specifically 10-10 codes, are not allowed. Our servers are English only which makes this style of codified speak subversive and makes the applicable channels too unfriendly to new or fair-weather players.	Oct 23, 2020	Domitius
Dismantling the tram on Tram Station	You can't dismantle the tram for arbitrary reasons or for safety reasons; you need to have a serious reason or goal behind it.	Oct 09, 2021	NamelessFairy
The "MMI test" for changelings	Killing someone, removing their brain, and placing it in an MMI for the explicit purpose of determining whether or not someone is a changeling is considered an exploit.	Dec 05, 2021	Dragomagol
Calling the Emergency Shuttle without a good reason	If someone is calling or ordering the AI to call the shuttle without reason (or if the reason is something flimsy like "I don't like this map"), that is against the rules	Jan 01, 2022	Dragomagol
Floor pills	If you intentionally mislabel a harmful chemical, mutation or similar as something positive, and someone takes them thinking they are as described, then you will be held responsible for the outcome. Borderline cases should be left to admin discretion.	Feb 21, 2022	Dragomagol

IC/OOC Rulings

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Policy	Ruling	Date	Headmin
Referencing the gamemode ICly	It's OOC in IC if you say something similar to "It's revs" but it's okay if you say "There is a revolution." Basically make it sound like you're not referencing the fact that you're in a round.	Jul 12, 2017	PKPenguin321
Pile on ick ock	Pile on ick ock is defined as a bunch of people teasing someone for IC in OOCing. It's okay until it crosses the line into being spam. Admins can mute OOC/individual players if it gets to that point.	Sep 24, 2017	Ausops
IC reactions to OOC in IC	It's okay as long as you're not crossing the line into OOC in IC.	Sep 30, 2017	Ausops
Streaming	Streaming is allowed on a registration-based system. Read the rules here for more information.	Feb 15, 2022	RaveRadbury

Antagonist Rulings

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Policy	Ruling	Date	Headmin
Vampire Policy	Vampires are not antagonists just by being a vampire.	Oct 27, 2017	KorPhaeron
Are miners using the gluttony syringe antags?	Yes, they can act as a morph.	Nov 13, 2016	KorPhaeron
Trying to get converted to team antags	It's bannable, don't do it.	Aug 01, 2017	PKPenguin321
Conflict between team antagonists	If two people are on the same team and have an argument, it must follow escalation rules/rule 1. It cannot be detrimental to your team.	Aug 15, 2017	PKPenguin321 / Ausops
Solo antagonists and metagrudging	Solo antagonists can metagrudge as long as they are not rolling for it specifically to do so, and killing someone who killed you in a previous life as a ghost role antag is bad.	Sep 01, 2017	Ausops
Are spiders bound to the mother?	Unless there's a message saying you are, the answer is no.	Sep 11, 2017	Armhulenn
Wand of Polymorph and Antag Status	Polymorphing yourself, or being willingly polymorphed, does not grant antag status. You are only an antagonist if you are unwillingly polymorphed. (This is a topic that has come up many times but never actually be codified)	Sep 17, 2019	MortoSasye
Curse of Madness	Meant to be taken as fluff, not a command.	May 31, 2020	Coconutwarrior97
Obsessed Antag Status	Obsessed are not full antags and should generally stick to their objectives.	Aug 28, 2020	Coconutwarrior97
Abductors and Mindcontrolling	Abductor brainwashing cannot be used for murderbone.	Jan 11, 2021	Coconutwarrior97
Dynamic: Solo Antags willingly joining Team Antags	Solo antagonists are restricted from willingly joining Team Antags	Jan 11, 2021	Coconutwarrior97
How antagonistically can Abductors act?	You can mess with the crew in many ways and create havoc, but are not allowed to just grab your baton and murderbone, or do things like sabotage the Supermatter crystal.	Oct 16, 2021	Dragomagol
Lowpop Murderbone	We welcome admins to note lowpop murderbone at their discretion. Repeated notes may result in bans.	Nov 21, 2021	RaveRadbury
Thieves Policy	Like abductors, obsessed, and brainwashed victims, thieves are not full antagonists and therefore rule 4 does not apply to them. Security should treat thieves as they would any other crew member who is maliciously stealing items. Likewise, thieves should not be using murder as a first resort to get items, and should escalate regularly.	February 12, 2022	Dragomagol

Admin-Related Rulings

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Policy	Ruling	Date	Headmin
Adminshopping	Admin shopping is defined as going to different admins until you get a favorable ruling. It's highly frowned upon, don't do it.	Sep 27, 2017	Feemjmeem / Agreed with by other headmins
Admin intervention without anyone ahelping	It's allowed.		Ausops
Killing nonhostile admin spawned entities	Against the rules, don't do it.	Sep 25, 2017	PKPenguin321
Using OOC to promote yourself for headmin elections	One or two lines of text is fine, spamming is not.	Sep 04, 2017	PKPenguin321

Escalation Rulings

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Policy	Ruling	Date	Headmin
IC Torture	Don't complain if you get retaliated against for it.	Oct 15, 2017	KorPhaeron
Map-Spawned Ghost Roles	Such as roles spawned from ruins, including ash walkers, free golems, ancient station crew, etc. Escalation is massively relaxed with them. They must follow their roleplay guidelines found in the flavour text.	Aug 14, 2017	KorPhaeron / PKPenguin321
Are miners turned into a lesser ash drake allowed to defend themselves?	Yes, however, they are not antags by default.	Nov 13, 2016	KorPhaeron
Talking mimes	Talking mimes are subject to punishment by the crew, excluding gibbing/spacing of their corpse.	Sep 23, 2018	Arianya
Demotion metaprotections	You can't do anything to resist a valid demotion that you couldn't do to resist a valid arrest.	May 07, 2021	Jimmius
Speciesism Escalation	As per MSO's ruling. A player expressing speciesism is valid for (initially non-lethal) escalation. It is perfectly IC to want to beat up some speciesist asshole. However, if you use speciesism to initiate conflict you can still be punished at an administrative level for winning those fights under the guise of self-defence. Admins should enforce this with the goal of preventing players from being speciesist so that they can "valid" those who respond to it with violence.	Feb 03, 2022	NamelessFairy

Security Rulings

Policy	Ruling	Date	Headmin
Organizing mass grief as security or a head	Do not organize mass grief when you are in control of the security force. For context: The original question was when it was okay to remove cat ears or tails. Click the link to read the full ruling on that subject.	Oct 18, 2017	KorPhaeron
Bribes as security	You can assist antags with sufficient IC reasoning, but you can't do antagonist things yourself.	Jun 25, 2017	Ausops
Planting/forging evidence as security	No official ruling was given. If you do it and it causes someone to get wrongfully punished, it's on you.		BeeSting12
Fortifying security roundstart	Barriers roundstart are not allowed, flashers are allowed, giving out guns/armor roundstart is allowed.	Sep 02, 2014	HornyGranny
Gulagging should not be equivalent to a regular brig sentence.	We have agreed that gulagging is fine as it is, and anything you can complain about is probably an issue with them as a security player rather than something we can act on. You are free to ahelp if you think the punishment is harsher than it should be, but it's difficult to pinpoint whether or not it's fair without an actual case, which should probably be handled by admins in-game instead of policy.	Aug 25, 2019	Wubli
Who do security standards apply to?	Security standards can be applied to anyone acting as security, not just roundstart security officers.	Mar 5, 2022	Dragomagol

Silicon and Drone Related Rulings

AI/Cyborg Rulings

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Policy	Ruling	Date	Headmin
Do wizards mindswapped into a silicon have to follow laws?	Yes, they do. If you have laws then you must follow them unless you have a law zero. (When in doubt, adminhelp it.)	Jul 19, 2014	Ikarrus
Do silicons count as a being under drone laws?	Yes, treat them as any other crew member.	Sep 19, 2014	QuartzCrystal
Can you order force-borged cyborgs to pick a certain module?	Yes.	Oct 08, 2014	Scaredy / An0n3
Detonating cyborgs with little reason/alternatives	Don't do it.	Dec 11, 2014	Ikarrus
Security Cyborg Policies	Just a few random questions related to security cyborgs. If a cyborg is acting as security/releasing prisoners then this is probably relevant as well. Link to answers.	Nov 26, 2014	Pandarsenic
Silicons and harm in situations where you can't tell if they're being harmed or not.	Use common sense to decide if harm is going on.	Jan 22, 2015
AIs asking for law changes	An Asimov silicon cannot ask their laws to be changed.	Jun 06, 2015	HotelBravoLima
Are augmented humans still human?	Yes, they are. There's a helpful chart in silicon policy to help explain this, reference that and adminhelp if there's still a question.	Mar 24, 2015	Scones
Drones and atmospherics	Improving atmos is okay. Cutting pipes/turning off plasma is not okay. Fighting the symptoms of plasma in the distro is fine though.	Sep 21, 2015	Shadowlight213
Spacing brains, MMIs, and intellicards	You can always do it as an antagonist, you should have a very good reason as a nonantagonist.	Sep 09, 2015	Dorsidwarf / Ausops
Cyborgs alerting the crew they're about to be emagged	You can tell the crew you are about to be emagged, but once you have traitor laws, you must follow them.	Aug, 2015
AIs shutting security down because of law one (discussion)	This is already covered in silicon policy. Here's the discussion thread on it.	Jan, 2016
Is mindswap considered harm?	No, but if an Asimov silicon has mindswap and is ordered not to use it by a human, it can't use it. This is kind of an edge case.	Nov 15, 2015	Jordie0608
Holoparasites and Asimov	Holoparasites aren't human- a cyborg can attack the holoparasite but not the human. If the parasite recalls and the human is in critical, the borg must give him medical attention.	Oct 08, 2015	KorPhaeron and Shadowlight213
Is slipping human harm?	Only if the object they're holding falls on them and causes brute damage.	Oct 06, 2015	Ausops
Silicons and Fight Clubs	It's considered self harm if they're willingly fighting. Silicons shouldn't interfere if it's self harm. If they're being forced to fight, it's human harm and silicons should intervene.	Mar 27, 2016	Thunder12345 / Agreed with by headmins
Roboticists making unslaved borgs for no reason	Link to relevant thread. The discussion derailed into code discussion but the ruling is that roboticists cannot make unslaved borgs for no reason.	Feb/Mar, 2016
Asimov and gang dominators	This can probably be applied to other nonharmful antagonist objectives. If a human orders you not to destroy it, don't destroy it. Other than that, Asimov does not forbid you from destroying it.	Feb 27, 2016	Ausops
Asimov and Corpses	Corpses aren't human. You can't space them for no reason though.	Aug 31, 2016	Shaps / Lzimann
Do caks remember past lives?	Yes. Not really silicon policy but it's related to MMIs/borging.	Jan 13, 2017	KorPhaeron
Calling silicons rogue for little/no reason	Against the rules, don't do it.	Dec 22, 2016	TehSteveo / KorPhaeron
AI suiciding to prevent subversion	Context: If an AI knows it will be subverted and cause human harm, can it suicide? Example, clock cultists breaking into core, desword traitor in upload about to subvert, etc. It's allowed. He says it should be bannable not to, but you won't get banned for not doing so, it's up to the player. You're free to depower yourself as an AI to put the subverter/traitor on a timer but you shouldn't use the OOC verb to suicide.	Oct 27, 2016 - Sep 20, 2020	KorPhaeron
Asking to be deconstructed and then outing person who emagged you as an emagged borg	Don't do it.	Jun 06, 2017	PKPenguin321
Silicons and Prisoners	If a nonharmful prisoner asks to be released, it can be released. If a harmful one asks to be released, don't release him unless security is harming him. In all cases release prisoners being harmed by security. (assuming all prisoners are human and you are asimov)	May 11, 2017	PKPenguin321
Letting people in to upload laws	If the person has a right to be there, such as captain/RD, then you must let them in unless they've harmed people in the past or have announced intentions to upload harmful laws.	Apr 14, 2017	Armhulenn
Laws ordering silicons to kill themselves	Whether silicons have to follow it depends on wording of law. You must have a good reason as a nonantagonist and you're free to do it as an antagonist.	Jul 26, 2017	Ausops
Silicons using leet speak	Silicons are not allowed to leet speak (e.g. l33t sp34k), but typing in a 'glitchy' manner is allowed on roleplay grounds	Apr 17, 2019	Hulkamania
Is chaplain with dark blessing human?	Chaplain with a dark blade is human. It's a fancy arm add on. We don't make people silicon for having augments, even full ones.	Aug 21, 2019	Hulkamania
Purging AIs for no reason	Purging should be used in cases where you are making new lawsets, are doing something as an antagonist, etc, and should not be a get out of jail free card on needing to make a lawset. We are officially recognizing purging as a means for players to achieve this effect as metagaming.	Apr 6, 2022	Mothblocks

Drone Rulings

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Mostly defunct, as drones have since been removed, reworked, and re-introduced into the codebase.

Policy	Ruling	Date	Headmin
Drone Policy Guidelines	Guide to drone policy.	May 20, 2015	Stickymayhem
Are drones valid?	Only if they do something to annoy you. Mass killing drones for no reason is not okay.	Sep 14, 2017	KorPhaeron
Drones and permabrig	You can go in to fix damage. You might still get dronebanned if you let people out, it will likely be handled case-by-case.	Oct 17, 2016
Drones and Powersinks	Drones cannot destroy powersinks under the same logic of them not being able to defuse bombs or stop plasma floods.	Aug 31, 2017	Ausops

Law Interpretation Rulings

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Policy	Ruling	Date	Headmin
Law interpretation and do not state this law clauses	There is room for interpretation in some cases. Be consistent in your interpretation of the laws.	Aug 22, 2017	Ausops
Do AIs need a definition of Syndicate agent?	No, they know by default what a Syndicate agent is. This also applies to other antagonists.	Jun 23, 2014	Hornygranny
Do purged silicons have to act like a crewmember?	Purged silicons are subject to rule one and standard escalation.	Dec 22, 2014	Stickymayhem
Discussion on paladin lawset: Part 2, the electric boogaloo	Most relevant post is by HotelBravoLima, which applies to law interpretation in general. "Even doing something consistent with an interpretation of laws isn't good if you're being an OOC dick about it to such an extreme, that's the policy."	May 02, 2015	HotelBravoLima
Tyrant module discussion	Just general discussion on the tyrant lawset.
AI's law zero	The law zero that a traitor AI gets means that it is an antagonist and it can ignore all other laws.	Oct 27, 2015	KorPhaeron
Are AI laws applied retroactively?	No. You'll have to read this thread to understand it, the question doesn't really provide enough context.	Apr 04, 2016	Hornygranny
If a borg linked to a rogue AI is emagged then does the emagged laws or AI law zero take priority?	Very niche case and is probably impossible since emags should sever the connection to the AI. Starmute made a good post on AI law priority if you are confused.
Potential Law One Violations	"Prioritizing "potential future law violations" is a fucking terrible idea, since it makes silicons able to handwave basically any law two request with "yeah but if i let you in there you might potentially attack somebody inside, law 1 violation!!!""	Jun 06, 2017	PKPenguin321
Make "Do not state this law" a valid silicon policy law	No, for the variety of reasons that have been said in this thread.	Aug 25, 2019	Wubli

MRP Rulings

Policy	Ruling	Date	Headmin
Murderboning Specifics on MRP Servers	Some roles can do it, some cant, and there are grey areas.	Mar 18, 2020	Coconutwarrior97
Promotions of prisoners to security	If you have a decent enough reason for it such as needing people to fight a blob sure, otherwise no.	Sep 20, 2020	Coconutwarrior97
"Gun Cargo" on MRP	Needs a good IC reason, can't just be because "We're bored". Good faith gimmicks are still allowed, but you can't murder sec for trying to take your guns away.	May 16, 2021	Coconutwarrior97
Security use of Contraband	Sec should make best efforts to store contraband quickly, and only use it when appropriate situations arise. Wielding traitor gear during arrests threatens a sec officer's meta protections.	Oct 24, 2021	RaveRadbury
Powergaming on MRP	MRP players are expected to prioritize the story of the shift over tactical advantages. MRP admins are encouraged to engage sec, antags, and other crew that are going overboard with gear that doesn't fit the current circumstances (especially gear outside the scope of their job (as opposed to job products like plants and slime extracts)) and discuss the importance of pacing and sportsmanship.	Nov 11, 2021	RaveRadbury

Archived Rulings

For Headmin Rulings that are no longer relevant, either due to being overruled or not applicable via code changes.

Policy	Ruling	Date	Headmin
Naming Policy	Click here for the policy. Generally enforced at admin discretion.	Aug 02, 2017 - Dec 18, 2018	Ausops
Weapons of Mass Destruction to counter antagonists	An example of this is suicide bombing a wizard or BoH bombing the cult base. If use of the weapon does not win the round for your side immediately after, then it is grief and will be treated as such by admins.	Aug 23, 2017	Armhulenn
Drones building autocloners	Fine unless done to interfere with other players.	Sep 08, 2017	Ausops
Hunting the nuclear operative shuttle	Do not attack the nuclear operative shuttle unless you follow an operative there or are led there by the pinpointer. Ruling struck down due to changes to the nuclear operative shuttle.	Sep 16, 2018 - Apr 01, 2020	Arianya
Suiciding at round start as a Wizard to end the round	Any instances of wizards killing themselves roundstart will be met with a permanent jobban from the role. This no longer ends the round due to dynamic.	Oct 27, 2018	Nervere
Naming Policy - Updated	Click here for the policy. Generally enforced at admin discretion.	Dec 18, 2018 - Oct 25, 2020	Nervere
Using any language other than English in-game	While we warmly welcome and eagerly invite players from all around the world to participate in the /tg/ community, we require everyone to communicate exclusively in English when playing on our servers. This restriction applies to both IC and OOC methods of communication.	Mar 25, 2020 - Nov 11, 2021	Phuzzylodgik
Blood Contracts	Shouldn't be used by non-antags to kill at random. Removed from the game.	Sep 20, 2020	Coconutwarrior97
Arresting nonantagonists on station vs team antagonist game modes	By station vs team antagonist game modes, the author of the thread meant nuke ops, blob, wizard, malf, etc. Security is still allowed to arrest nonantagonists for crimes on these game modes. That's part of their job. This thread was based on the assumption that nuke ops, blob, etc confirm that there is no other antagonists. This was true at the time, but is no longer true after Dynamic.	Jul 30, 2014	Ikkarus
Streaming	We've talked it over and we've decided that we will be disallowing streaming in its entirety from our server. It creates too many administrative headaches and potential for abuse to be allowed, while providing little benefit in return. If we add special restrictions and rules to streaming we'd need admins to check in and make sure those restrictions are being followed (such as a delay) when they're already busy trying to administrate on the server in the first place. The exception to all of this is that during certain special events such as the charity toolbox event or the balls we may lift this restriction.	Apr 21, 2019	Hulkamania
Make Shoe-less Clowns Valid	Shoeless clowns have been specifically encouraged via code changes to allow them to wear appropriate clothing for dress up shenanigans. No longer do they have a negative moodlet for being without their shoes. A clown is supposed to dress up to their hearts content, limiting that by making them valid without the shoes is rather punishing. This was more relevant at the time, when shoeless clowns were assumed valid, but that assumption is long gone, and taking off your shoes as clown even gives a positive moodlet now.	Aug 21, 2019	Hulkamania
Families Betrayal/Grief	If you choose to betray your family, the actual betrayal can only happen once you've joined another family. This avoids the issue of having team antags killing each other and justifying it as betrayal. Families are expected to operate similarly to revs in regards to the more widespread damage they cause, so blowing up the SM for no reason is likely not going to be alright because it could kill some of your own family members or interfere with their work, if however you bomb a rival family's headquarters that is probably alright. With PR #68480, the families gamemode has been removed.	Mar 18, 2020 - Jul 17, 2022	Coconutwarrior97