Staff Applications should not be public

Having reviewed a number of recent helper applications it is evident that the current process of making both the application and members posts on the matter public is flawed for the following reasons.

I AM NOT SUGGESTING TO ABILITY TO COMMENT IS REMOVED

1. It is exposing somebody who is volunteering to unnecessary and all to often unjustified criticism.
2. The criticism is not always constructive
3. It is obvious some of the negative comments are of a personal nature rather than about the job. In game, staff would act on this.
4. Some of the comments are of a troll nature that if happened in game would also result in staff action yet this doesn't happen on the forum
5. For the above reasons, the current process is a deterrent to people applying for staff
6. The negativity and troll nature of some the responses give a terrible impression to new users
7. The publication of the negative responses are not conducive to a happy community and could easily result in hostile/negative actions and reactions in game
8. In the physical world I never heard of a staff application being made public and the criticisms would definitely not be allowed for fear of litigation

Solution

Firstly I would like to state that I do see the need for community feed back on any staff application, however this does not need to be public just like staff complaints aren't.

Notice of the persons application should be publicised and community comments invited however the responses should also be kept private. This may result in other information coming to staffs attention that might not happen if the information was public for fear of the poster being called a snitch or out embarrassment arising from what may of happened.

I suggest that the content of the application is also kept private. This should result in better information on the application. Some of the information is very personal in particular weaknesses, who wants to publicise this ?

For any application that subsequently gets refused, the applicant should be informed privately as to why and so give them the opportunity to address the weakness going forward. Hopefully this will result in improvements that will enable them to become staff at a later date.

I would hope that the suggested amendments would help foster a more friendly community environment and result in more people putting themselves forward to be staff.

The server is seeking volunteers to help. People who are volunteering, weather they are potential staff members or not, should be given better protection than the current process provides. I can see people leaving altogether over some of the responses and others getting very hurt, all because they have offered to help. That's wrong.

 

this wont solve anything. just saying. under 1 month time there is gonna be a suggestion to revert this Should it get accepted.

 

Yes it will, lol. This will solve basically everything.

+1, having comments be private but viewable by staff would be a great idea.

 

huge -1,

this isn't going to solve anything, all it's going to do is cause a lot more unnecessary spam in-game.

 

-1
Staff just need to actually start being really strict on applications, and restrict the applications to voting and talking to the applicant if needed.

 

-1

 

-1 ew

 

Huge +1
I see that way too often, the first few comments can set the tone for the whole page. Also, I think that players often judge the application based on what others say, rather than what they actually think and know about the person.

 

-1
this wont fix anything.

 

Pfft u think we don't delete any comments.

Other than that, it is good to see the comments of others. Staff can handle the unecessary bashing. -1

 

-1 some people are very nice on app and like klitcher said, they can handle the mean ones

 

lol -1. Even if we can't talk I wanna see how badly screwed we are with the people they accept.

 

Being staff also leads you to unnecessary criticism. Our rule has always been, if you can't take it, then you're not suitable to represent the server. Customer Service always has it's rude customers.

This is the internet, one should not expect much.

If the content of the message violates a rule, the staff will act on it, regardless where the infraction took place. One should not be banning people just because they are mean to someone else - Nobody here is here to babysit kids and make them play nice.

^ Show an example, I doubt this.

Staff are leaving, and people are being deterred on joining because how the staff is fundamentally set up. Put bluntly, it's too much work that has been expected of this staff, and very little gain on their side. Any staff worth their salt already knows the application section is useless for getting great staff, because that takes time and watching your players, and whispering in their ear.

So does a great portion of threads in general on this forums, this issue is not exclusive to applications. Again, it would be silly to enforce rules based on feelings, and how nice or mean someone is.

Have to admit, this sounds like something from 1984. A happy community is dependent on a smooth running gaming system. And we're forgetting this simple fact: Gamers of any game are literally the worst, they complain about the stupidest crap like you personally did it to just them.

In the physical world, employees also get paid usually.

Nobody has left because some kid was mean on their application, and if they did, then it's good they were not accepted, because they clearly are not suitable to be staff. The staff here should not be babysitting and making sure everyone is nice, they should be running a server.


....

The fundamental flaw with the entire staff system is the workload, the lack of respect, and the amount of sheer fighting it takes to get good things done. For example, the chat filter which has reduced bans majorly, it took me nearly a year of suggesting it 50 times for it to get done. This most recent staff eruption is simply because the admins, with all due respect, tried to implement something the supermods were against, and they had the inherent right to be against because they do the majority of the work. When they came back and outlined their idea, they were mostly ignored, one got demoted because he was frustrated, for a good reason.

 

+1. Community's opinion doesn't alter the end result of who gets accepted. If someone makes a suggestion to revert it, let them. Whatever is done can always be undone in the virtual world.

 

Agreed. I realize this would be difficult, but we should try to enforce people to give constructive criticism.
-1

 

We tried that. It ended up being one of the worst things I have ever seen. The truth is, if one cannot take people being rude, they need to disconnect from the internet like right now. Don't even stop to look back, get off.

 

If you can't take the heat don't be a staff member. And just think if they where not public and someone gets staff. Like Adam_op or like someone not to mature. The amount of a chat bomb that will cause will be insane. Also making them private will only delay the critism it will come ig and forums as almost everyone gets ont of hand at times. Huge -1

 

If I have the right to know, what was that something?

 

The staff system has tried playing with the concept of teams. So in essence, each helper is under some mods, and each mod is under 1 supermod, whose responsibility is to keep their team in line, and kept up to standards.

However, this concept has never once worked, ever. It's literally the worst idea ever, it's that bad. What it actually does is create these little cliches, and competition. What you begin to see is the helpers on the same team group together, and often this causes conflict with other teams, and other helpers, the same has historically applied to mods as well.

The answer is the staff is 1 team. All mods should be making sure all helpers are doing what they are supposed to. And all supermods should be making sure mods + helpers are doing what they should.

 

I get what you're saying, and in a perfect world, this wouldn't be a problem. Last night I reported someone trolling on an app. Staff took care of it within 5 minutes. So I really don't think trolls are the problem. As for the criticism, Deinen made a good statement. If they can't take the criticism, they aren't fit to be staff. Sure some people are a little harsh, and I think it's something Meep may have to work on. But for now, having the staff apps public is a good way that the community can have a look at the possibilities and give some advice while they're at it.

-1