[Soviethooves]

So, first thing is I want this to be a civil discussion. I'm not bashing on anyone in the staff team, but I feel the community needs to have a place where they can look at the positives and negatives of the staff team. 

This thread is for all of us, the players that keep this community alive, to give our opinions on problems in the staff team (HR, Mods, Admins, Devs, etc.).

Some topics I want you guys to discuss that I think need to be brought up are below (You are welcome to make your own arguments):

- Why is it when a staff member breaks a rule (The people that should be sterling examples and are meant uphold the rules) get a slight warning or a slap on the wrist compared to players that will sometimes get blacklists or even bans on their first accident?

- Why is HR not putting their foot down on staff members? Staff have to reach a minimum amount of hours server and forums wise I believe and so far, only about a 3rd (Maybe less) of the staff team actually meets these time requirements. Not even HR members seem to get those hours. Not to mention the lack of some even doing their job when on.

- What is going on with the Administrators? I thought the point of being an Admin and not Mod 2 was that not only are entrusted with moderating the server, but you are also given extra responsibility (This being extra specialist roles, discussing private topics, etc.). So, why am I hearing about some staff members just being allowed to keep the tags, but all they do is play other games and barely try to help in the server and the community's organization roles?

- Why are you guys so picky with choosing Moderator 1's? It's a trial position. You obviously need better staff members, and I can name a few that should be in Mod 1 to start looking into. If you want an active staff presence, stop being picky and start offering it to players that obviously deserve it.

- I understand staff can go inactive due to IRL reasons or vacation, but when are they gonna stop being the excuse for inactivity? I can understand a staff member not being able to get on due to his kids being in the hospital, or they're joining the military, but the rest? At some point, you have to decide if they need to be demoted until they come back, or get rid of them all together.


Now, like I said before, let's keep it civil. These problems seem to be growing, and now that I have seen both sides, I think it's long overdue for us to start talking about it. The community is kept alive by players and their opinions and criticisms shouldn't go unheard.

[Cole]

I must agree, the lack of staff activity recently has really had a massive impact on the server's population due to rule breakers and something definitely needs to be done about it as we can't always rely on gathering evidence and posting Player Reports.

(As Gungranny stated, no intention to target any staff member in particular just a general thing that needs to be overturned).

[Taylor]

Would like to add a prime example and hypocrisy from Nightmare regarding Octagon's punishment.

One of the reasons his punishment was so severe was because he was a teacher? So why are teacher's punishments more severe but staff's so much more lenient?

[ForceGhost]

What annoys me personally is every time a discussion like this is brought up, excuses are made and things are brushed under the carpet again and again. There's a few serious issues that no-one seems to want to deal with and I think Vaulds resignation and the points he makes in his thread are behind a lot of the points in regards to inactivity.

What I'd like to see is a system in which we can see inactivity and various administrators hours so they can be held accountable by the player base as to who is putting in the most work. Why not bring some motivational systems to encourage staff activity? (Administrator of the Month, Moderator of the Month, Most Active Staff Member etc).

What's even worst is I've seen staff members just AFK on the server. Why aren't staff members AFK kicked like regular players? How does having a staff member sit AFK on the server help any situation?

[Adam James]

I wonder, how come staff members who make a mistake regarding the rules are not banned? Why are they not punished in any form? It's usually labeled as "it was a mistake" and they get a slap on the wrist or a warning.
If a player was to break the rule, they'd get an ingame warning, a blacklist or a ban.
If a player is a teacher, according to Octagons ban, they'll be banned and blacklisted with a much harsher time because they're "role-models"
Aren't moderators, admins, etc role-models too? It's quite hypocritical, in my opinion.
Sure, once a staff member keeps breaking rules on the server, THEN they get punished, but it's still completely unfair to players.

I think admins ought to be held as accountable as a normal player would be. They're higher role-models than a teacher or contributor, and going by the current logic of "if you're a role-model and you break a rule, you'll get a harsher punishment" then admins and moderators should fall within that, they're role-models too.

[ForceGhost]

Another issue I see is how can the SA team possible enforce activity on the server when they have some of the worst activity server side?

[Taylor]

Another issue I see is how can the SA team possible enforce activity on the server when they have some of the worst activity server side?

And not being funny but why is there an average of 1 person with staff management perms for every 2.75 staff members?

Like that ratio of 1:2.75 managers:employees should not be a thing

[Doctor Internet]

What annoys me personally is every time a discussion like this is brought up, excuses are made and things are brushed under the carpet again and again. There's a few serious issues that no-one seems to want to deal with and I think Vaulds resignation and the points he makes in his thread are behind a lot of the points in regards to inactivity. Agreed. This is an issue I've brought up repeatedly (though, mostly in context of my own department). Personally, I feel as though the staff team needs to look at themselves. Vol was in the military for months, unable to get on, before he resigned. From my viewpoint, if you can't get on for months, you should leave. Even if an exception is made so that you return to your prior rank when you're able, you should leave at that point.

What I'd like to see is a system in which we can see inactivity and various administrators hours so they can be held accountable by the player base as to who is putting in the most work. Why not bring some motivational systems to encourage staff activity? (Administrator of the Month, Moderator of the Month, Most Active Staff Member etc). There has been a system put in place for monitoring a number of aspects of staff activity (hours played, threads made, posts made, PRs concluded, staff review percentage). However, I'm unsure as to how HR uses these.

What's even worst is I've seen staff members just AFK on the server. Why aren't staff members AFK kicked like regular players? How does having a staff member sit AFK on the server help any situation? Regular players don't get kicked for being AFK, unless there is less than 5 slots. If there are less than 5 slots, anyone AFK gets kicked. (if I recall, my hard-drive went poof on Friday, so I can't check.)

Another issue I see is how can the SA team possible enforce activity on the server when they have some of the worst activity server side?

And not being funny but why is there an average of 1 person with staff management perms for every 2.75 staff members?

Like that ratio of 1:2.75 managers:employees should not be a thing

2 SA-HR.
17 non SA staff members.
1:8.5, not 1:2.75.

[Taylor]

What annoys me personally is every time a discussion like this is brought up, excuses are made and things are brushed under the carpet again and again. There's a few serious issues that no-one seems to want to deal with and I think Vaulds resignation and the points he makes in his thread are behind a lot of the points in regards to inactivity. Agreed. This is an issue I've brought up repeatedly (though, mostly in context of my own department). Personally, I feel as though the staff team needs to look at themselves. Vol was in the military for months, unable to get on, before he resigned. From my viewpoint, if you can't get on for months, you should leave. Even if an exception is made so that you return to your prior rank when you're able, you should leave at that point.

What I'd like to see is a system in which we can see inactivity and various administrators hours so they can be held accountable by the player base as to who is putting in the most work. Why not bring some motivational systems to encourage staff activity? (Administrator of the Month, Moderator of the Month, Most Active Staff Member etc). There has been a system put in place for monitoring a number of aspects of staff activity (hours played, threads made, posts made, PRs concluded, staff review percentage). However, I'm unsure as to how HR uses these.

What's even worst is I've seen staff members just AFK on the server. Why aren't staff members AFK kicked like regular players? How does having a staff member sit AFK on the server help any situation? Regular players don't get kicked for being AFK, unless there is less than 5 slots. If there are less than 5 slots, anyone AFK gets kicked. (if I recall, my hard-drive went poof on Friday, so I can't check.)

Another issue I see is how can the SA team possible enforce activity on the server when they have some of the worst activity server side?

And not being funny but why is there an average of 1 person with staff management perms for every 2.75 staff members?

Like that ratio of 1:2.75 managers:employees should not be a thing

2 SA-HR.
17 non SA staff members.
1:8.5, not 1:2.75.

I was referring to only those with moderation powers, 5 admins 4 mods, Burnett and you.

And I said those with 'staff management permissions' I do believe that includes Faustie and Temar irrespective of how rarely they use them they still have them.

[Soviethooves]

As someone who has now been on both sides, I am alarmingly surprised about these problems.

During the conclusion of the chat I had with HR after I was told I would be demoted, I remember saying it was a good thing they demoted me. It proved me wrong that HR had finally decided to put their foot down on the staff and I hoped to see them treat other staff the same. Sadly, that doesn't seem to be happening.

I would like for HR to make a comment about this, as they're the people who should deal with these staff members. As HR, you can't be nice to everyone. Sometimes your foot MUST be put down and say "No." If HR did this and was a little more strict with their staff members (Who are supposed to be examples of the community and active to assist it), then maybe we wouldn't have these problems.

[Adam James]

I myself would like to hear what HR has to say, if you guys could be so kind as to comment.
@Enzyme @Overlewd

[Taylor]

As someone who has now been on both sides, I am alarmingly surprised about these problems.

During the conclusion of the chat I had with HR after I was told I would be demoted, I remember saying it was a good thing they demoted me. It proved me wrong that HR had finally decided to put their foot down on the staff and I hoped to see them treat other staff the same. Sadly, that doesn't seem to be happening.

I would like for HR to make a comment about this, as they're the people who should deal with these staff members. As HR, you can't be nice to everyone. Sometimes your foot MUST be put down and say "No." If HR did this and was a little more strict with their staff members (Who are supposed to be examples of the community and active to assist it), then maybe we wouldn't have these problems.

And not to call you out or anything but it took you multiple rule breakages to get demoted whilst it only took Octagon one.

Why are standards for teacher so much higher than admin like are you sure

[roxas]

And not to call you out or anything but it took you multiple rule breakages to get demoted whilst it only took Octagon one.

Why are standards for teacher so much higher than admin like are you sure

Which isn't quite right. There were things going on in the background. It wasn't the rule violation alone. Although I really don't get why his punishment was way higher than Wesleys'. But that's OT.

[Taylor]

And not to call you out or anything but it took you multiple rule breakages to get demoted whilst it only took Octagon one.

Why are standards for teacher so much higher than admin like are you sure

Which isn't quite right. There were things going on in the background. It wasn't the rule violation alone. Although I really don't get why his punishment was way higher than Wesleys'. But that's OT.

You've effectively back up my point by proving it to be untrue.

Maybe if the staff team had the TRANPARENCY we were all promised back in August 2015 I would've known this.

[Pat]

- Why are you guys so picky with choosing Moderator 1's? It's a trial position. You obviously need better staff members, and I can name a few that should be in Mod 1 to start looking into. If you want an active staff presence, stop being picky and start offering it to players that obviously deserve it.

I believe something on this topic was said about in the Staff Meeting Last Week