Best Posts in Thread: Staff Application: Helper -> Moderator

On to staff suggestions:


A. Throw away this appeal ban policy. A ban is a ban, and honestly, all this appeal ban policy does is that the people who are good writers get away with everything. Worrying about the playerbase is one thing, but instead of loosing policies on those who should leave, why not entice those who should join?

B. File a formal apology and thanks to all previous staff, old and MN generation alike. Honestly, there has been no real effort to express gratitude for their work. Old Meepcraft staff worked for hours and months on end, only to be kicked out by a new owner, perm banned, and come back on the owner free server but with new policies, and a lack of recognition. The ranks they had been promised and earned in their long tenure as staff members were revoked, and few were reinstated. They made the server popular, and their work kept our playerbase at a solid 1k per day. Advertise all you want, and you can get every Minecraft player in the world to come on the server, but the good solid staff team that was are so far the only ones to successfully keep that many on the server. They essentially made this the “largest towny server in the world”. The MN staff, who I worked with myself. Many were hated, disliked, insulted, and overall treated poorly. People think of that reign of CG and his staff that carried out his dirty deeds, but honestly, they were a loyal bunch of guys. The ones who stayed did a lot of work without recognition, and did what they felt was the right thing throughout the hate. When Cruelty essentially stole the server from Fuzzlr, many of those loyal hard workers were against it, yet when the new system implemented, they were dumped, and given no thank you for their hard work. They used to thank staff who went out on a good note with a Supreme rank, and I’ll be damned if staff who stood up to CG then were dumped, or staff who worked hard under terrible management to be dumped as well ended on less than a “good note”. My pleas for giving them Supremes, Elites, or at least some sort of rank or in game reward, have been denied. Even a request for one heartfelt forum thread thanking them for their work was denied as well. It starts with that one forum thread, those monthly gifts, or just making some kind of effort towards it, but we’re not thanking them enough. My father served in Vietnam only to be spit on in his home coming parade by peace activists. I’m not against peace, but I take lack of recognition for hard work and dedication personally. Make an effort.

C. Reinstate three old staff members, can be decided on by a community poll, or by a staff meeting. Honestly, the old staffers are under voiced, yet their opinion is usually the majority’s. Those who care, and those who are willing to undertake on the difficult task of rebuilding should be let in, to represent their old fellow old staffers, and to use their experience to show us how THEY made the server stable.

D. Allow lack of mic for being a staff requirement. Honestly, one does not have to talk all the time. Often times, what I’ll do late at night when I don’t’ want to wake my parents is type responses to spoken words in teamspeak. Everyone’s ok with it, and we get the insta communication we all wish for when teamspeak is involved.

E. An Admin’s position on a new staff position should be no higher than a Moderator’s. Helpers are exempt, but the rest is plain and simple in one word: corruption. Every guy earns his way to the top. In this system, I don’t believe of slip bys just because you know an Admin very well. Recent promotions were made that were overridden simply because an Admin supported it, and everyone else quickly changed their opinion to follow suit.

F. Encourage current staff members to have their own opinion. Honestly, too many staff members just sit in calls and agree with admins. Too few are out there to say what they really need to say. To be honest, when I sat in that Officer/Supermod position, we don’t promote suck ups. Speaking with your actions is a whole lot louder than with your words. If every staff member agrees with everyone, there will never be any debate, never any consideration of pro’s and cons.


Weaknesses: I’ve got quite a few. Sorry to keep this up, but let’s begin.

A. Over-involvement. . Maybe it’s just because I’m used to a high staff position, but I will follow through with cases until it’s out of my jurisdiction, at times where it seems like I’m treading on peoples toes. Staff members have indirectly addressed my inability to deal with a lack of involvement, and I apologize for it, and hope to work with it.

B. Strong opinions. Honestly, when I feel strongly about something, I can be stubborn about it, to the point of annoyance. An example of this is when a player with the ign with the F-word was banned, yet a player with the ign containing the N-word was let loose.

C. Nosiness. Often, I know more than I should, and honestly, I enjoy it. It helps me with staff work, and gives me a better awareness than I should

D. Hopefully I’m beyond this, and I hope that I’m the only one who can admit it, but I done sucked up. I went into my staff position as a Helper with innocent aspirations, but through the hard work, I agreed with things I really didn’t feel were right. I admit it here, and hope the community can forgive me for it.

E. I can take mess ups or losses too seriously, sometimes to the point where it’s not easy for me to let them go.


Additional information before conclusion: Many of you may be wondering: Why am I even filling out this application? Were you not mod before? The answer is yes. And the reason for my different position here today is because of a demotion. I was demoted for inappropriate language in local chat, and it was well deserved. I hope that I can work my way past that mistake, and shadow my mistakes with jobs well done.

Conclusion: Yes, calm down, it’s almost over. Overall, I just wanted to get through that I’ve made mistakes, but I really care about this job. I’ve got the experience, I’ve done it all, and I have many bright new ideas to bring to the table, along with a multitude of experience both irl and in game. I’ve got weaknesses to admit, but suggestions to be looked at. Overall, I hope I can make a real impact here on this server. I bid farewell to you all, and thank you to those who read through the full application. I think the following phrases from one of the world's greatest (whom I believe is still alive) ends this better than any of my words can.

“You can spend minutes, hours, days, weeks, or even months over-analyzing a situation; trying to put the pieces together, justifying what could’ve, would’ve happened… or you can just leave the pieces on the floor and move the f*** on.” – Tupac Shakur

 

IGN: The_Squirrelman

Skype: The_Squirrelman

Teamspeak: The_Squirrelman

Age: 16

In game hours (weekday): Per Day: 2 – 13; For all five days: 20 – 40 hours

In game hours (weekend): Per Day: 5 – 13; For both days: 12 – 24 hours

Introduction: Hey, you may all know me in game as The_Squirrelman, but irl, and for those who know me in person, I’m Edward, and I’m a 16 year old sophmore / rising junior in high school. I live in the Bay Area, near San Francisco, and I played for JV on my school’s basketball team, and I played Varsity on my school’s water polo team these past sports seasons. I’m a half black – half asian American born student, and I currently hold the Events Coordinator Student council position at my school, and have held President, Captain of Sports teams, and a few other minor positions at my school. I’ve been working at camps – part time jobs since I was eleven, and I enjoy spending that money on games I play, like Minecraft. I thoroughly enjoy watching NBA basketball. Other games I play are NBA Jam, NBA 2k13, Call of Duty World at War – BO2, Battlefield 3, and League of Legends. That’s enough about me, let’s move on to the important part of the intro. I’ve been playing on this server for about four to five months now, and I’ve witnessed a lot in my time here. I served my way up from Helper to Officer, and for a very brief moment, Overseer, until the rank was changed. I’ve seen the server and it’s staff inside out, and I’m here to show you why I should rejoin them.

Why:

Experience: I started my staff tenure right about the end of the first major revolution. When the staff positions became open, opportunities arose, and I thought of joining. I’d seen the ones before myself, the ones I felt did real good for the server. Fluffbearrct, _MrJones, theEditson, LR_Davius, and Sarahdisme are just a few to name. Their work was really for the good of the server, and I filled out my first application with the intention of living up to their names. I was recruited by the infamous Cmonster, interviewed by Cmonster and popemall25, and promoted by Fuzzlr himself. In a time where there were twenty one other helpers with a total of thirty seven staff members, I averaged 30 – 50 modreqs a day, and soon had three hundred by the end of the week. I was incredibly familiar with commands and community problems, so I knew how to address those situations. In the time I spent as helper, I began to realize that the way staff was being recruited was in a terrible fashion, with anyone being promoted left and right, and instant promotions being made here and there. I felt that on the road towards moderator, I had to make the staff members aware of the bad apples, and proceeded to create the first MN Staff Evaluation format as a Helper. It was revised a few times, but if you’d like to look at it, feel free to look at the uploaded document below. I worked with Scott11B showing him my documents, my reasons for my evaluation, and asking him for advice. I thank him one hundredfold for the great amounts of time spent helping me, coaching me, and overall bringing me to where I am. I was recommended by jmchugh2014 as a promotion to Mod, and was promoted about a week after my promotion to helper. I proceeded to continue writing my staff evals, created the first notes format that was used by quite a few staff members, and continued up the modreq chain, until I was at about 650. I was recommended for promotion on the second week to Officer, and was instated with fellow staff member CaptaineAli. I began in my work to catch several dupers, cheaters, and hackers. I held down forums, and lead in forum posts, dealing with page after page of Reports, Supports, and Refund requests. I created an Official Guidebook to all the roles of staff, and coached many New Helpers and Moderators in their responsibilities, what we expected of them, and many of those I coached are staff members above me you see today. I created the interview process used at MN, and I’m not sure anymore, but I believe the interview format I wrote is still used in some ways today. I helped Scott11b write out an official rulebook, and wrote a few other guides that many told me were quite useful. When staff was divided into several teams, I helped organized who went where, and helped moderators and helpers alike develop specialties that some in the current staff still carry today. In this new system, I was accepted into the staff by the Admins. I took up my job, and tried to take it to the highest level I could. A few hours before my two week mark as a staff member ended on the new server, I hit 1000 modreqs, a number I’m told that’s very hard to achieve. I’m still going, I think I’ll hit 2000 shortly. In total, I’ve dealt with close to everything. 900 modreqs on MN, staff management, document writing, forum work, staff application work, coaching of staff members, involvement with community, financial aspects of the server, and overall working with many of the staff members here today.

*Disclaimer on uploaded files: They are pdf's, and are the two documents I was allowed to release. I will not release my interview format due to giving interviewees an unfair advantage, and some of my old guides have been lost to the crash of the old forums.

Attitudes towards staff work: I have always been a hard worker. The list of long accomplishments was always there because of my initiative. Working part time jobs, balancing schoolwork, along with student council positions and sports responsibilities, I know how to manage time. In three months of staff work, I’ve always been able to get jobs done, while having free time to mess around. I’m not one to blow off something saying that I’ll do it later, or we can deal with it later, I usually like to resolve issues upfront, and get things done. My goal in staff work is to implement and create a balance of what’s right and what the community wants. I’m always willing to listen to new ideas, but I’m there to be the firm hand that is needed when closing cases in staff work. I am very willing to work with new staff members, and I’m always open to criticism. As some of you may know, I take this as a job, and I take it pretty seriously, so my standards should never be in question. I honestly think that the most satisfying thing about being staff is when you get that “Thank you” for resolving a case or completing a modreq. Too many staff members in the past and present are concerned about their position more than the server. In my opinion, we do our work to impress the people, not our superiors. In total, I believe in a time managing dedicated staff member who’s community involvement and staff work standards are boundless.

Perspectives and new ideas: I always have something to bring to the table. Be it a reasoned explanation arguing against a ban, a new idea backed by it’s pros and cons, and a promotion recommendation or demotion, I’ve got a lot of material on me. A few ideas:


A. Ultimate Shop ./hat ideas: Make the fire item, laval item, or water item a ./hat! It can be expensive, and there’s no illegality of it. After all, if someone really feels the need to place it, it can be instantly put out with a left click, or picked up by a bucket.

B. Ultimate Shop pack-a-punch idea: Ever too lazy to use a grinder, but want that perfect god enchant? Go to the ultimate shop, and for a certain price, right click the sign with item in hand to receive your pack a punched god item!

C. Ultimate Command: ./thaw. Ever building in a snow biome, but just don’t want to get rid of that snow? ./thaw does it quicker than ever?

D. Ultimate Command: ./ignore. Honestly, that guy in ./shout who you just cannot stand, or that one dude who spams you incessantly for donations. Get rid of his ./msgs, his local chats, his town chats, nation chats, shout chats, and everything you possibly don’t want to see him in!

E. Ultimate Command: ./spawner specifics. It’s more than known that Elites were stripped of old spawner rights to make Ultimates seem better. My perfect setup?

a. Elite: ./spawner zombie, skeleton, spider, cave spider

b. Supreme: ./spawner above, enderman, pig, chicken, cow

c. Ultimate: ./spawner above, sheep, wolf, ocelot, blaze

F. All command: ./lb. Honestly, what room for abuse is there in lb? Reports would be much more efficient in that way. Instead of waiting for a mod who might be afk to get your modreq, why not do it yourself, save the proof, and post it on forums? My only con to this is that criminals may understand it more and find ways around it.

G. Supreme+ command: /drain. Want to build your town, but is that pesky pool getting in your way? Building an undergound base, but there are too many leaks to keep track of? ./drain will take it away! However, there must be a limit on the radius, too large in the middle of an ocean can cause lag. Also must make it so you can only do on your own plot.

H. Exclusive+ command: ./waterwalk. I don’t know if this is still there, but on a server I use to admin on, they had that plugin. Essentially, when you walked over water, it gave you the ./mc effect, making water travel a ton faster.

I. All perk: Find a way to let people teleport with their horses. Self explanatory.

J. All perk: Decreasing plot tax, and fixing the 20 plot claim issue. This server is supposed to allow players to build and run a town community, why not make it easier? Also, the above issue has been posted in a thread by fluffbearrct, and for the moment, has been neglected. Hopefully I can assist in getting this fixed.