User-Staff Committee

We are more than willing to work with the staff. we hope that one day very soon we will have staff on the team but we believe that starting out, nonstaff was the best course.

the staff already have a great chance to help out the site, and you wanted users to be more involved, correct sythe? well, why we cant do much, we are going to involve users in more ways and promote community matters so users take part and contribute more.

this is just the beginning, but as we progress things will be changing according to community response. we're the first group like this, so we have to set the example, we have nothing else to follow, so our start is bound to be filled with errors, but we will work to correct those =).

 

I think the staff will be skeptical about this, why? Because Its a tender situation of which you offer, you've randomly appeared with this comittee which'll involve the staff to no end, your acting like a medium for staff-user relations, then surely asking the staff before you released this publicly would have been better?

After all, this won't work if the staff do not co-operate.

 

Asking the asking the staff permission would give them a false sense of control over us. If the staff do not cooperative, they are hurting themselves and the community. I hope that we can prove to the staff quickly that we are a legitimate organization that doesn't mean any harm and can forget any hostilities and move on to get things done.

 

I cannot comprehend the attitude you are brandishing towards the staff. Although this is a very intuitive idea that would indeed be an integral part of the community, it requires mutual cooperation and synergy, which is gravely lacking.

If you continue to antagonize the staff, which you are doing, then it defeats the purpose of the committee. Why should we look to you to lead if you continue this behavior? Do you think you will get anything done by inciting altercations with the staff? Will the community accept you as a leader and respect your opinions and ideas?

 

The staff started the hostilities, not me. I took it to another level. I'm the guy of guy that if you push me down, I'l pull a gun and shove it in your face. I will gladly work with them and treat them with respect, but only if they do the same for me.

 

The name was just something that Deacon and I thought up. Our ideal situation was that we would represent the users in a sense and we would work with the staff to solve any issues. We didn't want to include staff, at least from the beginning, is that we are a group picked by the users, to help the users. Currently, there is a large burden on the staff to make changes happen, such as with suggestions. One of the U.S.C's goals is to reduce that burden on the staff, and if a staff member wanted to be apart of the U.S.C, then it would mean they wanted to help the community. As a staff member, they have a vast amount more ability already to do so. Due to these things, Deacon and I decided to, at least at first, not allow staff members onto the team.

The U.S.C. is a way to empower the users, as the staff are picked by the staff. That is a extremely sensible system for selecting new staff members, but it leaves the users with absolutely no power when it comes to anything that happens in their community. The members can try to get their voices heard, but the community here is quite large, and thus on top of their moderating duties, trying to get the big picture about what the users want can be very hard. There is also an extremely clear thought process difference between the staff and the users that became extremely apparent to me when I resigned, which is yet another reason why having staff members on the team doesn't make sense. With members working on understanding what most of the community is thinking, and wants, the staff can get a clear idea from these people about everything the community is thinking.

I want the staff to be involved with this committee. Right now, even how it is going to be run isn't clear yet, but soon these things will be worked out. If the staff wants to be involved, as was our plan all along, we will work that out. Deacon and I did what we could ourselves, but couldn't do everything. Things are still up in the air. The start of this could have been handled much better, by both sides, but the past is the past and I want to move on and do what we set out to do.

 

Perhaps it should just be called "TCA - The committee of awesomeness?"
Or another yet to be determined name? Because Sythe has a point.

 

Indeed, but as SuF said, there's plenty of reasons to call it the User-Staff Committee, and not accept nominations for staff members yet. We only have the front end of the U.S.C. started, once the starting team is tallied and we have more members, we plan on letting everyone decide as a committee should, instead of SuF and myself coming up with everything.

Personally, I'm going to put forth that we should accept staff members and if everyone agrees, then we'll do so. I also have an idea that we would have an additional team of nothing but staff members, and we'd split the committee up to have non-staff and staff teams. This would allow collaboration between the two teams, and more of a kinship. Ultimately, creating a better understanding for the staff of what users want, and for the users on what the staff is limited on doing.

Our end goal is to make it so the users feel heard, but they know the limitations without feeling neglected or worthless.

 

The U.S.C. team has been selected by the members! You can view the results of the poll here:

http://www.sythe.org/showthread.php?t=923105

Thanks to all who have participated! We promise we will do our best to turn the way things have been going around, and we won't let you down .

 

Any chance you could list what the goals of the Committee are?
I'm still coming to terms with what you are trying to achieve and maybe a list of goals will help this.

sorry just gotta ask, But doesn't this already occur hence why they already staff or are you going to keep other certain staff members out? because i don't think some would take to kindly to that.

 

Our goals are currently being discussed on the private forums. I believe the ultimate goal of the U.S.C. is in the mission statement, however. We basically wish to bring the staff and the users together so more is done, users aren't ignored, and everyone gets along and gets contributing. A big goal, a rough start, but ultimately what we want.

As for my point on having them separated and stuff, that was just me thinking aloud. It will be thoroughly discussed with the team, and then we'll be presenting it on the forums for users to discuss . It probably won't be exactly like I said because I'm only one member, and we have 7 very different opinions on the team now . We are discussing whether or not staff should be allowed on the team right now, and weighing the pros/cons of it.

Once we thoroughly discuss it, we'll ask everyone else what they think, so users can decide if we should let the staff join the U.S.C. We want to show exactly what we're going to be doing first, so then the staff and the users alike understand our purpose better.

 

Nominee's Name: Ryan

Why do you think this person will make a good U.S.C member: =[ I'll be honest, I work at the University of the Sunshine Coast, which just happens to be USC.

Thats perfect for ryan.... Nominate!

 

The USC has been chosen so I don't think any more voting is necessary, is it?

 

Nominations and voting are over. The team has already been chosen. Anyway, Ryan doesn't want to be a part of our team.

 

We are discussing a complete list of our goals, they will be posted once discussion is finished.

We may accept staff onto the team or let an administrator to view our private forums, but we want to complete our discussion on key issues, such as goals, and finish organizing before we do so.

 

I made this for the group, its rather large due to the gradients and should be used by members without much in their signature.

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Here it is without the gradient

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I like it True Gears, but the phrase at the bottom fades too much at the bottom of each letter, I would make that slightly lighter.
Nice work!

 

Fixed it. I noticed it too, but I figured it was just me. Apparently not

 

Updated my post!