[Caius]

Well, first of all. Without knowing anything about your mud I can only talk in general terms. My experience is that to have rules that directly contradict what's possible under your code is a common source of grief. For example, you say that the mud has "limited PK". How is this handled? Is PK only possible in certain zones? Is it only possible between people that are members of a faction? In other words, is the rule only enforced by the staff, or is it also enforced by the code? If players -can- do it, they -will-. So having the rules and the code go hand in hand is critically important.

On "godloaded" characters. Such accusations are pretty common on many muds. Do you have explicit Staff rules governing this? Are the players aware of your Staff's rules of conduct? If the players know that such "cheating" has consequences for said Staff Member they are probably less likely to be concerned with this.

On inter-faction insults on the newbie help channel. Like any communication medium you will probably want to do some form of moderation. If talking to the offenders doesn't help, then revoke their channel priviliges for a period. "Smacking" is rarely a good solution, because, as you said, it tends to have less and less effect, and it promotes an Us vs Them mentality (Player vs Staff).

I hope you find some ways of improving your situation.