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Concern for the Health of Staff

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The Smollest Smol
🦊 FM of Neshaten
Greetings.

With Kyle having posted his Medical Hiatus thread, combined with information I have collected from various sources, I am concerned for the staff of Star Army, and by extension the site itself.

I understand that @Wes has a familial emergency on his hands because of the recent Hurricane Florence. He is understandably busy and I do not find anything to promote the thought of otherwise at this time. That being said, I have noticed a significant... Lack of activity from a lot of the staff anyways - one appears to have gone "missing in action", with no real explanation; I know almost nothing about another, who, from my experience, hasn't really... Done much "staff stuff". Another staff member is leaving the site because of medical/health reasons.

...This, as far as I can tell, means that the entirety of the group of individuals meant to help guide SARP, the people who are supposed to be there to help the members of SARP, are entirely out of commission. I hold no ill will against anybody on this website for this situation. What I am concerned, about, however, is the risk of the community falling apart without this direction. Even if one of the staff members was able to recover/return to a mental and physical state wherein to """run""" the community, SARP as it currently is is too large for a single person to manage. Trying to do so would cause so much stress to that person that they'd deteriorate mentally and even physically.



...Okay, so that's my opinion. How do I think that these things should be "fixed"?

The answer is to re-evaluate the existing members of staff as they are, how valid they are in their current positions, and whether or not they should simply be members. Maybe some of the very active members who know the site well should become staff? Regardless of whether the community needs new staff at this time or not, there should be some sort of consistent evaluation, in my opinion, of the people identified as being part of the staff.

What defines a good staff member? That's up to the community. Personally, I think that someone who does get their hands dirty, who does push themselves to be a better contributor to their community, and who does know what to do when things go poorly to solve the problem and preventing it from returning, makes for an overall excellent member of administrative staff.

Reminder: I do not have any ill will against anybody in this community. I do not want people to be hurt here, whenever I can help with that. What I do want is a healthy and happy community, with healthy and happy staff to guide us.

Thank you for taking your time to read this message.
 
Good post.

I will say that I feel as though emphasis on the definition of a good staff member is necessary. "I think that someone who does get their hands dirty, who does push themselves to be a better contributor to their community, and who does know what to do when things go poorly to solve the problem and preventing it from returning, makes for an overall excellent member of administrative staff."

The last thing that should be happening is a group of staff which refuse to take action where it doesn't affect them. I agree strongly with this sentiment in that a staff member needs to be highly capable of solving a problem when they see one, rather than turning a blind eye. Furthermore, a staff member needs to be okay with gritty, troubling scenarios because that's exactly what staff are meant to repair. You're not going to be much use in a position like this if you run away crying whenever someone does something distasteful or whenever you witness something shocking. I'm not accusing anyone of either of these, I'm just throwing in my two cents.
 
Well, I would hope that some staff would be willing to take initiative should there be a vacuum/lack of leadership in another role, if only to ensure that some form of leadership is put in place through proper channels. Kind of what Arbs is trying to get done right now. It's about balance, I suppose. There's stepping on peoples' toes and there's standing by and doing nothing. There's got to be an in-between.
 
For the record, I'm doing OK here and I'm always looking for people who I can rely on to help keep Star Army going strong. Feel free to PM me with any recommendations you have.

It's true that I'm about to have my first kid so my availability may go a little haywire around thanksgiving due to her arrival, so backup admins are something I am looking at. As for Nashoba, he's just super busy with his drop-shipping job. I've also offered Kai (the Origin dude) a staff position and he's accepted.
 
This thread was started before I was active again on the site and this did get me to figure out how to get back on it, so thanks, Arbs.

I'm here and have a lot of experience with being a mod and some with being staff, now, and you can continue (or re-start) counting on me. Thanks for caring about the site as much as possible! It really shows.
 
For the record, I'm doing OK here and I'm always looking for people who I can rely on to help keep Star Army going strong. Feel free to PM me with any recommendations you have.

It's true that I'm about to have my first kid so my availability may go a little haywire around thanksgiving due to her arrival, so backup admins are something I am looking at. As for Nashoba, he's just super busy with his drop-shipping job. I've also offered Kai (the Origin dude) a staff position and he's accepted.
From experience, you might get slapped with a few months of insanity. Might want to prepare for that.
 
Another important public service anouncement given the topic. Never. NEVER shake a baby. This talk reminded me of it. I actually grew up visiting my sister in an institution meant for kids with disabilities, and there were kids who were shaken and had to deal with it for the rest of their lives. It's better to step away from a crying baby for a minute or two to collect yourself than to shake.
 
I really don't think Legix or Wes or their waifus will shake their babies, but it's good to hear, I guess? Make sure others don't do it? Just putting this out there that they'll make great parents, though, and none of these new parents would do that imo.

I find with crying, the best thing to do is put on the most neutral or happy face and just reassuring and gentle pats (or whatever your specific child is comforted best by, there will be SOMETHING) and patience. I worked primarily with 3-5 year old children, not babies, but I was put in the babiest room of the best center I worked at later in my career for a semester and I guess getting to make that eye contact and begin communicating through that when you meet them and through your relationship is important. They don't teach you that, but you can help babies learn things through eye contact with time. Things like where you are going to go with your body and then where you need them to go with their bodies can be taught through the eyes during a long relationship with young children. Not neonates, though, Legix has me on that!!!! Haaha I don't even know what holding a neonate would feel like and gosh it seems so soon for you, Wes! I really believe it will be an awesome experience for her! Talking to real life parents a lot has led me to hear, "When they're born, your life is no longer your own-it's also theirs." That is really powerful to me and I hope to you and your wife, as well!

Okay monologue over >.<
 
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I would like to add to my statement: Mental health is also a concern for staff members. You don't need to have a condition or disability such as autism, Alzheimer's, or a concussion to have an unwell mental state. Sometimes, you aren't even aware of your unwell mental status. But it's still a hazard to your health and the health of the people around you!
 
Seems like we figured out what we needed to figure out. I am going to close this thread as Arbs' point is pretty clear. Thanks, Arbs.
 
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