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Staffing

Hey Star Army!

I'm scouting out potential new staff members and I want to get your feedback. Who do you think would make a good staff member or moderator, and why?

Qualities I'm looking for is they're unflappably positive and respectful under pressure, they know SARP like the back of their hand, and they're able to work with everyone else in SARP (people skills are huge). Responsibilities include helping GMs create RP and helping members resolve their conflicts swiftly.

-Wes
 
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well, being moderately active seems like a good place to start, staff that are never on helps no one.

i'd say they should also be relatively quick on responding on the site to staff matters in the best way they can, obviously not all issues can be resolved without your input wes but as im sure everyone is aware certain lack of response recently has uh, caused a fair few issues.

also, even though the staff member would have close to final say on matters I think working with people involved would help to resolve issues better, communication is vital in any aspect of life just ask any retail stores lol.

Also just address your choice of words for the last line, i don't think we should just be evaluating the potenial new staff for this, the current members also need to be looked at, again refering to the recent events as all the proof needed.
 
In an online community, a staff member/administrator/moderator is supposed to assist the owner(s) of the community in question with "running" the community: Enforcing rules (in an unbiased manner), removing outright troublemakers (trolls, spambots, etc.), and similar issues. A staff member needs to be able to handle and resolve conflicts through communication rather than pointing to the rules, however - knowing what is happening is more than half of the battle. The staff team in a community is intended to uphold the ideals and standards set by the owner(s) while said owner(s) are unavailable for one or many reasons.

In some cases a staff member may also be some degree of technical support, handling website/chatroom/server uptime and changing mechanics (like how formatting works, if possible) as necessary. That, I believe, applies less to SARP however.

In short: staff members need to be a part of the community to take care of it, and they need to be able to act professional while being at least somewhat independently to make decisions without resorting to a higher power (the owner(s)). In SARP, this primarily means that the staff needs to communicate and talk to the community, when a decision is made, and when a question is asked. They don't need to be "24/7" staff members, but no issues should be left unresolved for several days if at all possible.
 
I'm going to say some stuff people are going to find controversial, or try to call as me throwing shade at them or otherwise find reason to call foul with. But I'm not trying to insinuate, accuse, or implicate, I'm just going to say what I see and how I think it can be fixed.

First to start of, SARP does not in my opinion have enough qualified people to run in what most of the player base would consider to be a ideal fashion. We have a lot of good people, but not enough people with a rounded enough talent set to manage the responsibilities of proper staff. That doesn't mean we have none, just not enough to manage a site as big as SARP.

The people we have on staff right now are all good people, and they actually do good job as staff, in different areas. The problem that the site is facing and has been for a while is not "a lack of staff" or a "staff is always absent" it's that the site has no problem solver. Things happen and there just isn't a person who is both skilled at solving problems and willing to be on people's bad side if need be to solve them that is in a position to do anything about it.

We don't need to remove staff right now, we just need to get someone on staff who can be told "There is a problem" and be counted on to fix it. Even if they're not lighting quick, as long as it's in reasonable time, members will be satisfied because they will be confident that even though that person isn't there at that moment, once they hear about the issue they will act.

In short whoever becomes the new staff needs to be someone that the site has a -respectful- fear for. Not because the person is out of control, but because everyone knows, that if they act out and break rules, that person -will- do something about it.

The rest of the staff are good at other things like keeping Wes informed, promoting, helping keep watch on how the setting develops, welcoming new people and all that stuff. We just need an enforcer that can be counted on, cause there are lots of people, who know they can get away with things if they go public and get some people following, or if they do things while certain staff are away, cause the saff are afraid to dig up old dirt and to get on people's bad side. (And nothing is wrong with teh staff for that, we just need someone to offset it.)
 
@Syaoran personally, I agree with almost everything you say.
...Almost.

The one thing I disagree with is that the current staff is "all good people"; a staff member who actively censors members and attempts to use other members to help them censor issues is not fit for staff - in fact, that is rather underhanded, and causes more problems than it would even hope to resolve.

I do agree that a "problem solver" is needed. Having someone capable of taking action would help massively. We actually did have a problem solver in the form of @Ethereal for a while, but the mounting problems over time resulted in them finally cracking under pressure.
 
@Arbitrated I wont get too much into that because it gets into touchy stuff and lots of opinions. But I will say this, censoring is not by default the work of someone bad. Intentions matter. And while yes satff isn't blameless, some individuals do a lot of rude and obnoxious things just because they're not against the rules, and they should be censored. Whether or not it was the right way to handle it or not is one thing. But I don't believe the intentions were anything turely devious or deplorable. I think simply staff doesn't know how to handle people who skate the line just enough to avoid any real punishment. (Cause no matter if you agree with it or not, attempting to circumvent a punishment (in this case thread lock) is wrong. If you think the staff was wrong you take it up with other staff and get them to handle it, you don't make a new thread doing the same thing)

Post Edit: I don't want this to get confused, I am not saying that censoring is automatically right, nor am I saying censoring was the best approach in this case. I'm just saying that I don't believe there was intent to do do anything actually handed. As well as point out that while people are getting mad at the staffer, they're ignoring that individuals are doing -equally- as bad things because they're 'speaking up for the group' or "the staffer did something first"

Cracking under pressure and making mistakes doesn't make someone 'not a good person' it just means they're not perfect, but no one is. A good person is measured by their intentions and capacity and willingness to learn from their previous mistakes.
 
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@Wes I want to preface this post by saying that I'm very very afraid of being censored, banned, or otherwise silenced for speaking my mind, as is much of the community; It's a real worry for me and I don't want to see SARP become a culture of fear rather than of hope. Currently, we live in a culture of fear on SARP.

Fear of speaking out, speaking our minds lest we be silenced and banned, our posts deleted so that no one can see our words. It's like living under the iron curtain in a sense. However instead of neighbor turning against neighbor like has so often happened in similar situations in the past, many have banded together. Over 15 people not even counting myself, many of whom chose to remain anonymous to avoid being harmed for their choice to speak up, have decided to make their voices heard.

This petition is proof that people are dissatisfied with the current staffing arangement. People have been driven from SARP because of what's going on, we are losing members because of some members of staff. Censorship is making people afraid to write here, afraid to criticize leadership or suggest change. This is WRONG.

Even if I am banned, and my posts deleted, it will not change that many in this community desire change.
 
Alex Hart said:
Over 15 people not even counting myself, many of whom chose to remain anonymous to avoid being harmed for their choice to speak up, have decided to make their voices heard.
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The only thing anybody upset right now has demonstrated is that they won't be happy unless they get what they want every time they speak with Staff. Y'all are constantly breaking the rules and code of conduct that you agreed to while getting outraged when the publicly-available disciplinary policies are used to quash your toxic behavior.
 
After reading this thread a few times I've decided to give Jack Pine and Syaoran each a shot at some sort of staff position, starting on a trial basis and going into permanent depending on how they do. We'll figure out the details soonish.
 
That seems to be the best approach. Start them with an internship so to speak.
 
The only thing anybody upset right now has demonstrated is that they won't be happy unless they get what they want every time they speak with Staff. Y'all are constantly breaking the rules and code of conduct that you agreed to while getting outraged when the publicly-available disciplinary policies are used to quash your toxic behavior.
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It is partially my fault for allowing you to have that view on the people who have signed this petition. But I beg of you not to presume that just because I have done wrong, every one of these people have broken the rules in order to speak their mind. Many of them have spoken anonymously both because they are scared action will be taken against them, but also because they were scared of unfair judgements coming from people like you.

Shun me for the unethical and questionable actions I have taken. But don't excuse this petition as a rebellion. It took a lot of time and energy to get fifteen Star Army roleplayers, many of which are highly loyal and respectable in this community, to speak up.
 
Just gonna point this out, shouldn't we be giving them both the banners and subsequent abailities that come with them so that they can actually perform staff duties? A lot of what I've requested in the past is just thread moving or locking since i cant even do that for my own faction.

Its not really a big deal though, because there is staff who can do it for me, so thats my reasoning for suggesting to give them those abilities. Otherwise how can you judge their effectiveness if they can't complete requests.
 
Have you had a chance to consider the petition @Alex Hart linked in this post, @Wes? I don't mean to be rude/condescending/etc. or anything like that, but in my humble opinion the voices of twenty community members (which, to the best of my knowledge, is a significant number of the active roleplayers on Star Army, perhaps even a majority) isn't something that should be ignored or cast aside without so much as a glance - and some of the petition's signees have started debating whether or not to leave Star Army for another roleplaying site given the lack of a response addressing their concerns.
 
I wonder if you guys actually realize the repercussions of your petition. If Ame was removed from staff who would replace them? We were understaffed in teh first place. And there are not enough qualified people on the site. What you should be asking for is a shifting of responsibilities. (Not per say that I totally agree with it) If Ame is removed even if me and Jack pass and become full fledged staff, we will still be under staffed and problems will still service. Where as your complaints about Ame have to deal with conflict resolution, but me and Jack seem to be getting instated primarily for that purpose, to be the enforces. So why don't you guys sit back and let things play out a litlte and see if you even have the issue anymore in the future since there will be more people handling the issues and it doesn't all fall on Ame, instead of making rash decisions without thinking of the consequences.
 
I don't think this is a very good time to bring this back up considering things where starting to settle a bit. If people leave they leave, As cold as that sounds its just a matter of time. As soon as the thought enters their heads that they will leave/quit/stop they will do it tomorrow or a month from now or even later and look for, Wait for, Or make excuses for that to happen.

I don't want to see anyone leave, Never do. But I don't care for people who will put their foot down and demand something or else they'll leave instead of taking the time to wait and see or find a different route to achieve their goals other than that...

*Edit for clarity cause im already getting DMs about this...*:
Im getting a lot of DMs about this the past week and even the past couple of days. I for one care about personal privacy so I wont share my DMs on the subject (Ive had mine and others shared to me without wanting/needing to know about the subject, Including my own from people who couldn't put two and two together and see my name is the same here and on the discord so don't say it doesn't happen...). And like always ill say the same thing here because my previous statement had a little more edge than I intended; That like always im neutral in all this kind of thing. Im neither for/Against Ame. For/against asteria. For/against the cliques, Or anything that ever happens so please don't message me here or on discord assuming you have a brother in arms to lynch Ame or protect her.

I sit on the fence and say what I say. Im not saying it out of bias for either side of it but as a neutral third party...
 
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Charm has a point. It's really not right to thorw out ultimatums like "If you don't do this then I'll leave." At the point someone starts doing that, then really they should just leave. Community sites are about working together, not about getting your way. Despite what people think, things like this are not a democracy. The majority does not always get their way. Usually what happens is a compromise.
 
It's important that we keep in mind that it is more than likely that a large portion of the people who signed that petition are no longer roleplaying on Star Army, including individuals within a large cohort of roleplayers who left the site earlier this year. So while Frost makes the baseless claim that "twenty community members" signed this petition, it is more likely that the number is artificially inflated. If I'm counting this correctly, there are only 11 non-anonymous signatures on that petition, and of those 11, only 5 of those signatures (Lijosu, FrostJaeger, Alex Hart, Dovahnok, The-atheist-devil) are clearly identifiable as presently active members of this community.

To say the least, I would much prefer it if decisions to remove certain members of staff were influenced only by active members of the Star Army community, rather than members who left the site a long time ago.
 
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I should hope that the number isn't artificially inflated, as I asked specifically that anyone who signed sign no more than once. In addition to this, many people signed anonymously because they feared consequences for speaking up.

It's no baseless claim, and to say that is frankly insulting to anyone who signed it, and seems to be a statement intended to discredit the whole petition as an artificially inflated and therefore invalid statistic, thereby minimizing the opinions of those who did sign it.
 
I wonder if you guys actually realize the repercussions of your petition. If Ame was removed from staff who would replace them? We were understaffed in teh first place. And there are not enough qualified people on the site. What you should be asking for is a shifting of responsibilities. (Not per say that I totally agree with it) If Ame is removed even if me and Jack pass and become full fledged staff, we will still be under staffed and problems will still service. Where as your complaints about Ame have to deal with conflict resolution, but me and Jack seem to be getting instated primarily for that purpose, to be the enforces. So why don't you guys sit back and let things play out a litlte and see if you even have the issue anymore in the future since there will be more people handling the issues and it doesn't all fall on Ame, instead of making rash decisions without thinking of the consequences.
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In my opinion, Ame has been given too many chances and failed at all of them. For me this is reaching the point that I feel as though it would be best to demote her and put other people in her place.

You mention that if Ame would be removed, then we would be understaffed. But that's the thing. Ame has been overworked for a long time and it's not effective to just let people, especially in important positions, to overwork themselves. So while it could be as easy as just decreasing the work load on her, it's probably actually in her best interest, even if she would not like to admit it. Furthermore, there's no telling if all the reasons people are unhappy with her can be resolved by simply improving her conditions while keeping her in a staff position. There is a certain stubbornness where she's involved and I don't think I'm the only one who's noticed. Especially note how I say stubbornness, not solidity.

I commend you for bringing this up, though. Its a consequence thats been tugging at the back of my mind that I hadn't addressed yet. To me, simply preventing her from doing much more harm was more important than ensuring the community gets what it needs, which I can see now is careless.

I don't think this is a very good time to bring this back up considering things where starting to settle a bit. If people leave they leave, As cold as that sounds its just a matter of time. As soon as the thought enters their heads that they will leave/quit/stop they will do it tomorrow or a month from now or even later and look for, Wait for, Or make excuses for that to happen.

I don't want to see anyone leave, Never do. But I don't care for people who will put their foot down and demand something or else they'll leave instead of taking the time to wait and see or find a different route to achieve their goals other than that...

*Edit for clarity cause im already getting DMs about this...*:
Im getting a lot of DMs about this the past week and even the past couple of days. I for one care about personal privacy so I wont share my DMs on the subject (Ive had mine and others shared to me without wanting/needing to know about the subject, Including my own from people who couldn't put two and two together and see my name is the same here and on the discord so don't say it doesn't happen...). And like always ill say the same thing here because my previous statement had a little more edge than I intended; That like always im neutral in all this kind of thing. Im neither for/Against Ame. For/against asteria. For/against the cliques, Or anything that ever happens so please don't message me here or on discord assuming you have a brother in arms to lynch Ame or protect her.

I sit on the fence and say what I say. Im not saying it out of bias for either side of it but as a neutral third party...
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This is a logical fallacy. First, Ill point out that many of these people arent saying "IM LEAVING IF I DONT SEE CHANGE!!", theyre instead saying "Im done putting up with this. I cant stand it anymore so Im not going to." Its two very different things. One is a threat and the other is taking care of yourself. If SA is such a negative experience for some that they feel the need not to take part in it, then I think that speaks for itself.

Next, I just want to say that I mean well. I don't mean to point to you and say "HAH!! I got you!". Im just trying to gently steer this debate in the right direction. The fallacy is as follows: "If I do something people don't enjoy, then it is their responsibility to disassociate with me." It's a difficult one to spot. Because at face value, there's nothing wrong with this statement. But when you start to think about the deeper mechanics behind this, it becomes obvious. It is true that if people don't feel as though they enjoy or feel healthy doing something. They should stop. But the statement also implies that if I act rudely and people isolate me as a result, I'm not responsible for that. And if I am, I have no incentive to change because it's their responsibility to leave me. This isn't what should be happening. I should be striving to be the best individual I can be for a number of reasons.

This isn't really any different. If we find ourselves saying "I don't want anything to do with people who are going to stomp their foot down and leave if they don't get what they want.", then we will inevitably find that people we quite enjoyed roleplaying with aren't having fun anymore and leaving as a result. There's a certain line not to be crossed where what others want is ridiculous and too far. But this is a community, and a club. So the interests of its members are key. Otherwise there is no community.

Charm has a point. It's really not right to thorw out ultimatums like "If you don't do this then I'll leave." At the point someone starts doing that, then really they should just leave. Community sites are about working together, not about getting your way. Despite what people think, things like this are not a democracy. The majority does not always get their way. Usually what happens is a compromise.
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I agree. But doing nothing is not a compromise. And most of the people who have signed the petition aren't having temper tantrums and exclaiming that they're leaving as a threat. I most definitely DO NOT condone those who do. But if someone doesn't feel well roleplaying in SA, and doesn't feel as though it will get better for them any time soon, I would urge them to leave. Because that's just self care. The problem is if nothing happens, then people won't stop leaving. To put it bluntly, it's not like we have an infinite supply of roleplayers that will just happen to enjoy exactly what all of 2-4 people in charge want it to be. There needs to be flexibility and there needs to be compromise.

It's important that we keep in mind that it is more than likely that a large portion of the people who signed that petition are no longer roleplaying on Star Army, including individuals within a large cohort of roleplayers who left the site earlier this year. So while Frost makes the baseless claim that "twenty community members" signed this petition, it is more likely that the number is artificially inflated. If I'm counting this correctly, there are only 11 non-anonymous signatures on that petition, and of those 11, only 5 of those signatures (Lijosu, FrostJaeger, Alex Hart, Dovahnok, The-atheist-devil) are clearly identifiable as presently active members of this community.

To say the least, I would much prefer it if decisions to remove certain members of staff were influenced only by active members of the Star Army community, rather than members who left the site a long time ago.
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This is a good point. But it kind of waves away the fact that of those 5 signatures, all 5 of them would be willing to confidentally hold another petition exclusively for active members. I don't mean to speak for others, but I'm PRETTY SURE that's the case. Any of those 4 other people can come and correct me now if any of them wouldn't.

I'm also fairly certain that the same goal of signatures could be reached if it is the case. But as Alex has stated. It probably isn't. In any case, just because you don't see them on the forums doesn't mean they don't call the site home, or even roleplay in plots you arent familiar with.
 
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