SuF's Actual Global Mod Application Because FireZ Said So

Which section are you applying for and why?

Global because I've been global twice.
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How much time per day are you willing to commit towards moderating Sythe.org?

More than zero and less than 24 hours.
​

What skills do you have which set you apart from someone else and describe your contributions to the Sythe.org community.

Sythe is going through a massive transitional period right now. The spam forum (used as a measure of community activity) has been booming the last few weeks. Large amounts of old members have rejoined through a very controversial and not well planned process. A good portion of the staff, including senior staff members, left suddenly due to various not well spelled out reasons. There is now a Tech Core team that is trying to use technology to revitalize the site and we are not getting along with the other groups whose goal is the same. The staff were planning a large forum restructure to try and bring new activity to the site. In all the site is going through some pretty big and important stuff right now.

Over the years I've fought relentlessly for a lot of the changes that have been put into place recently. Most of the changes that are happening are rushed and aren't well planned. They are being made by people who have had new ideas and are just implementing them without giving them all the thought that they deserve. The staff are trying to revamp a lot of these changes, such as rolling out a new pardon system, but with so much of their experienced staff members gone I feel that it will be difficult for them to do so effectively. A similar story is found with the forum restructure that Roary has been talking about for what seems like years now. Slow and steady progress is of course completely fine but it seems like progress is not being made.

One of Richard's changes to the staff system was to change the way that activity is measured. Previously the only activity that mattered was work that could be measured very easily, spam reports, ban reports, ban evader reports, locking dispute threads, locking pardon threads, or infracting people. This system essentially killed the type of moderation and moderators that benefit the community and actively try to improve it. When activity such as answering Live Help requests does not get counted people stop doing it because they will be demoted regardless of the hours of work that they put in. As @Punjabi3 pointed out some of the most important activities like doing research for a pardon also was not counted as activity. Posting in feedback threads acknowledging the communities input on important matters was not counted as activity. Responding to any of the threads that have popped up about the recent drama would not be counted as activity. Really what I am saying is that the system captured only an extremely narrow definition of what would have counted as activity.

I bring this up because when I was last global I was demoted for not being active. I acknowledge the fact that I did not meet the mod score requirements for activity so my demotion was in one sense warranted. However I still disagree with it as I was far more active than other members of the staff team at that point but I did not do the things that counted as activity, partly because I don't partake in the market at all, partly because I'm lazy and don't like doing spam reports, partly because @Roary did them all every time I tried to, and, yes, partly because I thought the system was dumb and refused to partake in it.

Very long story shorter, one of the main reasons that I would like to return to the staff team at this point is because I stand a much better chance at having my activity fairly judged. I feel like my contributions may actually be valued more than they used to be. When I spent months and hours upon hours herding cats to make our market redesign happen I wasn't congratulated or told I did well, I was just told I was exempt from the mod logs for that month because I did some other stuff. I did not feel like my contributions were valued and it made me bitter and resentful of the mod log system. Now that it is gone I have hope that the unique contributions I will bring to the staff team will actually be valued.

What I've talked about so far is just why I've decided that I want to be back on the staff team at this moment but I'd like to talk more about why I want to be staff in general. I've been on Sythe for nearly 10 years now and I lurked for a bit before that so I've been at least reading Sythe for more than half my life. I have met people here and I've talked to people here in a way that I generally have not talked to people. This site allows me to fully express myself and do things that I find enjoyable. I enjoy using Sythe as a way to try to figure out how to communicate with people. I'm really bad at communication, especially written communication so having a site that I care about where I can write about things that I feel matter and that I enjoy writing about and know very well makes it easy to (PM me if you actually read this) get practice writing. I also enjoy helping people. I was a member of the UE and wrote guides and answered people's questions. I spearheaded the effort to write the Sythe.org FAQ which combined these pursuits. I also enjoy figuring out tough problems and coming up to solutions to problems. I enjoy learning how to manage people and my experience with working on a team at Sythe as well as with a diverse community of people at Sythe has really helped me in my current job in which I have to do a lot of communication and collaboration with people from around the world. I really enjoy project management tasks and figuring out what has to be done to make all the people that have to come together to make something happen.

Being on the Sythe staff allowed me to get a chance to be a leader in doing a lot of this work. When I am not on staff I am able to suggest things and give feedback on things but a lot of the time nothing happens. When nothing happens it really annoys me since I know that we could do better to get things done. It really saddens me when I see something that I would be able to help fix but I am not given the chance to try to fix it. With the current situations and changes going on at Sythe we need to make some pretty big changes and we need to bring the community back into the fold. I want to be able to help with this as it will be the biggest undertaking in Sythe's history and I want to be a part of that. I want to be able to help make stuff happen and I don't think I can do that if I am not on the staff team.

I could go into a huge amount of detail about the things that I have gotten done at Sythe but I do not believe that is really the best way to do this. Firstly, I am one of the most active members of the community side of Sythe and am one of the oldest as well. This puts me in a unique position of knowing the history of Sythe and the changes in Sythe which gives me a good idea what we need to do to try and fix our current problems. I have been on staff before and I once rage quit because of @Syed being unfairly banned and I was once demoted because of activity as I've noted above. Both times I was on staff I progressed to global and I believe I was highly respected for the job I did while there.

The staff is currently doing a lot of work to try and get Sythe active again. A lot of what I've said above is something I could just repeat here but I won't. I have a long history in the suggestions forum and in the feedback forum with ideas that the community loves and ideas that the community hates. I've been influential in getting things changed such as getting pardons added in the first place, updating many of our rules to make them more fair, updating (PM me if you actually read this #2) the structure of the market (75% approved at the time and I assume even more approve now), and more. The staff currently does not discuss suggestions in public, although I've suggested that before to much praise, so the only way for my input would be to be on the staff team. I truly believe that I am uniquely skilled for these tasks and that the staff would be better off with me helping.

I am also fairly good at conflict mediation. I have never talked about this publicly because it is rather sensitive but I know that numerous current staff members will know exactly what incident I am talking about. Our community is currently going through a lot of changes and conflict and I believe that I could assist the staff team in working through these conflicts to produce a happier and stronger community once the current situations die down.

I have been one of the strongest voices for shorter and more just punishments for our users. @Sythe has finally come around to my thinking that our previous hard line stance was killing the site. For us to truly adopt a less harsh attitude I believe we need someone like me to advocate for this new position, in public and in private.

I am not afraid to tell people in positions of power that they are being stupid. I'm just going to list some:
Get off your high horse.
PMing @FireZ to undelete some feedback thread I made
Community Development Team Suggestions & Feedback
"We needed to slim down staff anyways" - Big Rich 2k16
With all of the fast paced changes that are happening at Sythe we need people who are willing to stand up to the man and tell them that they are being fucking retarded. A lot of the staff recently quit which is standing up to power but not in a very strong way. We need people on the staff that will not just suck dick and will fight for our users and our community.

I rage quit in 2009 after Syed got banned by the staff. He had been banned for some stupid bullshit and then unbanned. Then the staff wanted to reban him for "trolling" because we were into that sort of thing back then, apparently. It was bullshit because he was already banned and unbanned for what he did. Banning him again would just amount to double jeopardy and I wasn't having it. Everyone on the staff was very for his ban save for a handful. I was vehemently against it and one other person half heartedly agreed with me.

Now I'm bringing Finn into this because for all of his faults he was a very large net positive for the site. I know it's a meme to hate on Finn but it he did a lot of good. Finn was acting like a mediator between my angry rants and the rest of the staff that were all aboard the ban-wagon and they still ultimately decided to reban him and I resigned because I was young and mad but thank god I did.

Not being on the staff makes you realize how fucked the whole staff system is all the time and how elitist they can be and how the staff and the community sees the same thing in completely different lights. Not being on staff taught me how much of everything that happens is just politics and stirring up shit is the only way to actually get anything done. Not being on staff taught me that trying to actually change something is extremely hard and it's basically pointless to try to actually strive to get something that you want done and instead you should just go hard in one direction and get people mad. When people get mad they get passionate and care so much more than otherwise. Not being on staff taught me that sometimes the best way to get something done is stir up enough shit that @Sythe or Finn or some other person that can just change shit at the snap of their fingers get's swayed enough by the bullshit that they snap and just fucking do something without doing this bullshit of herding cats, aka staff, to make them all agree.

So no one actually believes me even when I link them proof but I'll say again. The pardon system we have is because of Deacon and I pestering enough until Sythe and Finn snapped and just fucking added it. It was literally the exact same situation as the DNT except for one very important thing, we had Finn. He came up with the pardon system with Richard and they didn't muck around with getting consensus or getting input. They just fucking did it and it wasn't shit. Why? Because Finn was actually really fucking good at what he did and actually knew how to lead, regardless of his fucked up narcissistic side.

This whole DNT shit could have been handled so easily by any admin if they just fucking did something about it. It seems like no one on the staff actually understands how decisions get made or how (PM me if you actually read this #3) to get their way. It's like none of you understand that politics is a fucking thing and you need to play the game, no matter how shitty it is, in order to get your way. Designing by committee is really fucking annoying and it takes forever and sometimes you just need decisive action and Sythe took it and the staff instead of changing course with him and making decisive plays themselves to improve it they just rage quit or bitched about it.

I also tell truth to power:

@Sythe, the admin rotator is a stupid idea. You need admins that aren't just active but are also good leaders. The staff can't just be a group of people led by whoever happens to be admin this week. There needs to be a hierarchy of decision making and those who make admin need to be empowered to actually make changes. Took at this TCT / CDT bullshit. Everyone agrees it's bullshit. Multiple admins see its bullshit. Multiple admins agree to a solution to it. Yet none of them are taking action. The admin rotator just cuts the balls off of the point of being an admin. They should be the best of the best not as measured by activity but by intelligence, leadership, confidence, communication and a whole host of things. One amazing admin that logs in every 3 days and posts in a few key threads is vastly better for the site than 3 mediocre admins that post hundreds of times a day.

Lastly I've got the trust and support of many current staff members, former staff members, community mainstays and randos I've never heard of. For the position and role I want to play on the staff I do not know of a more qualified person except for Sin666 or Finn.​

Do you have any current or past experience in moderating any forums? If yes, where?

Yes. Sythe.org (sectional, global) & Spyike.org (global, admin).
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Have you ever been banned in the past? If so, when and what for?

Yes. SRB because I thought I might have been hacked. I was not.​

A kangaroo walks through your door right now wearing a fedora. What does it say and why is it here?

Nothing because it'll be shot dead before it makes it through the door. `Murica.​

I hope this satisfies people who want to see effort put in or something. I tried not to fill this with bullshit and I think I did fairly well. I hope I can count on everyone's support and a speedy process so that I can start helping #makesythegreatagain.

Thanks so much for your time,

SuF

 

support

 

Didnt read anything but the title but i support

 

sure, just throw it on the rotater I guess.

 

Hey @Felix1222100. I just want to thank you personally for your support. I really appreciate it.

 

I understand. Thanks so much for the support @Loyal To The Game.

 

hey no problem man, honestly missed you as a global hope you come back mate

 

I'm not sure if this counts as a support but thank you for replying @Tyler.

 

Well I'm glad. I don't actually remember you but I sure will try from now on!

 

Have you never seen ratatouille?

 

Denied

 

I have once but I really did not pay attention all that much to be honest. It was awhile ago too and I just don't remember movies and stuff.

 

Well I really hope not and I wish I could count on your support @Wonderland.

 

support

 

support

 

Hey @BeeVer, thank you so much for the support.

 

Hey TCT faggot, thanks for the support.

 

just ask for a poll to be put up since you're an ex global you cuck

 

I mean I have asked randomly and nothing has happened so I thought I'd try the spam the spam forum approach but thanks for your comment.

 

Hey @FireZ if you did tell this kid to post this. Thanks.
Told those kiddos they should make apps public. Posting shizz publically is a better approach. So good on ya.

Anyways whoevers dealing with the CDT / tc/pr shit show can we have the joint forum already.

And if you're all for getting forum restructure done. I'll support. Even if you think im a laptop or something... also the part about you wanting stuff done and it doesn't get done or listen to, you gotta keep trying... keep making it apparent...no matter what fat head needs to get talked down at...


"The only way for my input (to work) would be if im on the staff team"

Wonder who else had that mentality else where.