Mute
A mute is a form of admonition given out by in-game Player moderators, in-game Jagex moderators, and Customer Support to those who are guilty of breaching the hardest-weighted Rules of Conduct.
Criticism
There has been some criticism against Jagex's use of mutes. The main criticism is that Player Moderators can mute a player to a period of up to 48 hours at their own discretion. This results in players receiving a mute without sufficient examination of the evidence. There are cases where a player is muted and upon examining the evidence, there is nothing resembling the offence. This commonly occurs with 'Offensive Language' mutes. Upon appealing the offences, many of these players find the appeal to be denied, even though there is no solid evidence against them. Even if the player wins the appeal, the decision is usually long after the mute, meaning the player has suffered through the wrongful conviction (legally 'Miscarriage of justice') without receiving any compensation or even receive the name of the player moderator who wrongly convicts them.
Before the offence system update in May 2009, players with perfect or near perfect records who received minor mutes were not even given the chance to appeal the mute. The appeal would be deferred until a more serious offence was committed. There are still occasions where muted players are not able to appeal their mute, by having the committed offence not listed so the appeal option can not be done.
These criticisms support the assertion that there is a serious growing trend of player moderators who abuse power in the game and mute players with the slightest provocation. Also, the instant nature of the mute and a prolonged and flawed appeals system increases the severity of the situation, going against the judicial philosophy of 'innocent until proven guilty.'
There is also strong criticism towards Jagex in terms of wrongful mutes in general, since even if there is no evidence of you breaking a rule, the chances of being unmuted are still very slim. It is unknown whether the reason for this is stubbornness on Jagex's part or if the appeal review is an automated system.
Support for Mutes
Mutes are a way of stopping any more damage from being done by the rule-breaker. In some cases, these rule-breakers may not have been aware that they were breaking the rules, so a mute actually may save that player from being reported possibly hundreds of times and getting blackmarks for each reported breaching of the rules. Mutes given out by player moderators can last up to 48 hours, just long enough for Jagex to investigate the situation or longer if Jagex deems that it is necessary to do. Many permanent mutes have been reported to be given up after a period of one year. Muted players are also barred from posting on the Runescape Official Forums.
In-game repercussions
A muted player will not be able to talk in-game (except through quick-chat) or on the forums, however, they can still play the game as usual and trade with other players. Muted players usually communicate with others by using emotes, Quick Chat or external forms of communication. If a player is on his or her last chance, and they commit an offence, they will be permanently muted or possibly permanently banned. Also, if a player is muted for website advertising or real-world item trading, the player may become banned by Jagex right away. Mutes may be appealed if the player is past the green zone.
Quick Chat
Since 21 May 2008, muted players are able to communicate with others in the game, to some extent, by using the Quick Chat system, so being confused with macroers does not happen anymore (note: Modern macroers commonly use quick chat responses similar to the way a chat bot does, so muted players are again mistaken for bots frequently.). However, there is no option on Quick Chat to inform other players that they are muted. However there is an option that says "I can only use Quick Chat."
It is currently not possible to mute players completely; some muted players keep repeating a random Quick Chat line with F11, annoying the others. Reporting this is not useful, since the players can't be muted any further.
Mute Abuse
A hidden update was added to the game, where players that said the name of a prolifically advertised gold-selling site in one or two lines would be automatically muted for 48 hours upon log out. This was later removed due to players tricking others into saying it to get them muted.
As of September 18, 2012 the auto-mute returned, and advertising bots get auto-muted for some minutes. After getting muted several times they play a choking animation and get banned.