Y'all need some more mods

A lot of this I haven't really had time to read, but I just wanted to post some input from at least my personal POV seeing as I'm personally one of those "robotic" staff members who's really only around to handle reports and help anyone if it's needed.

I personally am extremely busy with life, it's sad how many times in the past 5 months I've had to post on the going away page saying that I'll be inactive for a week or so, but it's simply because life is extremely chaotic and I don't have as much time to devote to Sythe as I'd like.

That being said, personally when I have the time, I get on, complete some reports, post on some things in the staff lounge, check out disputes and pardons, and head off/go back to studying. However, I don't do this because it's my attempting to be robotic or because I don't care about the community/don't have a desire to be a part of it, it's mainly because when I log on and I see a cluster of uncompleted reports or uncompleted disputes/pardons I feel like I'm not doing my job right.

That being said, yes I probably would be more effective as a member of sythe.org if I took that time to do half reports and half general community posting/involvement, but truth be told, I enjoy handling the reports and getting them done. I think what a lot of you are failing to realize is it has NOTHING to do with modscore for some of us, if not most of us. Staff hardly get demoted or kicked off because of modscore anymore simply because if we're being an asset in some way/shape/form, then it's worth having us up there so long as we are doing something. That being said, if a staff member cannot perform mod duties, and isn't being any type of help towards the community of just being a general great person towards the community and helping out in some way, there's no reason to be on staff and people like that get demoted.

All in all, it's not about the modscore at all if you ask me, yeah it is for the first month or two on staff, but that subsides and you basically go back to being a regular member but with some extra perks/duties. Modscores literally don't mean much, we just brag about our modscores as a joke to one-another but it's honestly no reflect on activity.

For example, my modscore this past month was 2 or 3 times higher than most of the members on staff, BUT, I'd say I was one of the most inactive mods on the staff team. Guys like Zuzel, Lean, Entrr, Roary, etc. who go around and post around in random places and still have great modscores but not amazing crazy over the top scores are more of an asset to the team, but that doesn't mean we should get rid of the guys like me or FireZ who come on and do a fuckton of reports and such but don't really post around much because it's a balance that creates a better staff team.

Side note, I do love Roary's idea of give people designated community section perms and allowing them to be "lower" sectionals that basically aid in activity and upkeep of their specific forum.

 

Complacency? That's ridiculous

If I was complacent I wouldn't be seeking opinions and suggestions right now. I'm an open ear to anything. I just don't appreciate my character being attacked in the process, I'm being as receptive as I can be.

I don't think the staff team is great compared to other ones, no. But there are several factors in Sythe's decreasing activity. One of which might be me, I wont be the judge of that, but I've been left in the lurch to learn the role myself it seems. Hense why I engage in all feedback, community input, suggestions and try to be an open book. Honestly, I'm willing to listen to everything y'all have to say, but there's a difference between constructive criticism I can work with and just outrightly saying "X does a bad job" or "do this omg".

Anyone who's spoken to me or knows me Im sure would say I wasnt complacent. You pin pointed one post in this whole thread that may be interpreted the wrong way perhaps, but if you think I'm bad for the site or not a good leader then by all means take it to my feedback thread.

 

It's completely relevant to the thread and the conversation taking place. I would urge you not to exaggerate all criticisms to "personal attacks." Not everything is about you.

In case you didn't read my suggestion, in a nutshell: people want to see the staff as a whole more community active. It's important. What has been tried clearly isn't terribly effective. Enforce it more aggressively without dividing the staff team in the process.

 

I'm not saying all criticisms are personal attacks, you keep taking what I say out of context.

There've been several words/names being thrown around which make it hard for discussion to stay on topic and be helpful. That's all. I don't want arguments and finger pointing, I just want a good discussion.


How do you propose it be implemented more aggressively, then?

 

So in addition to a sectional why don't we have something like what the user education used to be. But have a person who's job is to boost activity in each subsection that we see needs it. It will get more people involved and may prove to be a boost in activity.

 

I think that's the plan/what's been presented but people seem to be against it because if someone is on Staff, they should already be super active in their sections.

Again, I think a subsection/pre-section of staff is an excellent idea, I don't see why people are hating the idea so much.

 

But don't you wish you could take part in the community sometimes instead of just handling all the disputes and such. Wouldn't it be nicer if you could get on, handle some reports, post in threads AROUND the forum, take part in some activitys on sythe, and then get off?

 

@Dave would the pre-sectionals or subsection "leaders" be selected by the community or by staff?

 

For me personally, I enjoy the report handling aspects more than going around on posting on threads. It's just how I am, I enjoy staffing/moderating the forums.

I find my role here to be helping out and doing what I can to improve the site. Different people enjoy doing different things, guys like Cas_M enjoy taking part in making events and hosting them and guys like me like to get on, do something productive, and then go back to what I was doing originally IRL.

Again, this is only in a scenario where I'm busy with IRL stuff. In a general case where I'm not busy and on the computer all day doing nothing, hell fucking yeah I'd go around and talk to people on Skype, post around on random funny/interesting threads on the forums, but for some of us time isn't exactly something we have much of so we manage it the way we best see fit.

I'm not staying I'm the ideal staff member, as I've previously stated, I'm probably one of the lesser active members of staff when it comes to posting around. I just really don't enjoy going around and posting as much as I do just talking and chatting with people on Skype and handling the moderation side of the forum when I have time. If I had the option I'd choose to be more community involved but that's not where my strengths or desires lie

 

we could possibly take names from the community and then present them to the staff for voting. The thing is, people like this wouldn't have access to the staff lounge, they'd only have access to certain perks in their specific subforum and thus would be a leader in that specific section

 

That's how user education used to be did it not? I also understand that their primary job would be to keep activity boosted that would be all. Then if we held community voting it would give all of us a say as well.

 

How does one go about raising activity? Creating threads that are certain to gain responses? I view a forum being active by the number of threads being created by different members with a decent amount of replies to each.

How does one go about making other members create threads? You can't force, pressure or direct users to create their own threads. It comes naturally to those who are genuinely looking to converse with other people, or those who are simply to trying raise participation in that specific forum.

Here are a list of forums that can increase in activity with proper direction:

Graphics

The list ends there. All the other forums consist of discussions of random topics and help/requests.

I think everyone forgets that this is a market first, and a forum second.

Dave and FireZ are perfect examples of ideal moderators of any forum. While participating in the community by posting in places other than disputes is a plus, it is totally optional.

 

Which would be completely useless without very significant staff attention and it is clear that the staff is not willing to do that.

 

The staff seem hyped about the idea to be honest. I think the staff are just as fed up as y'all. We need a compromise, just a matter of what.

 

Why would they be useless? They would be given the ability to stick threads, manage posts, etc. So they basically rub that subforum as far as events and community involvement but don't have to worry about moderating scammers and such.

What would require more of our attention?

(not meant to be a defensive post, more just confused about what you mean)

 

Roary, I hope you didn't take my comment as you being complacent. I meant in the future if we don't take a proactive approach to staying on top of things/fix the problems we have at present.

 

Could they make and enforce rules?

 

It would be like standard procedure with rule changes, post in the lower staff lounge there'd be. They'd essentially be a spokesperson for their sub-community.

As for sticky rules and so on, goes with the territory.

 

There's a lower staff lounge?

 

There is a general staff lounge for everyone. Then there's three sub-sections: an off topic area, an upper lounge (global+), and an admin lounge. Most stuff happens in the lower, the others are just for things like promotion polls, pardon polls, things pertaining to sectionals or stuff we don't think sectionals need to see, issues with sectionals and what have you.

What I thought about if the proposal I made was finalised and implemented would be to remove the staff off-topic section. Have the general lower lounge for all to access then a sectional, global and admin lounge. The community mods wouldn't need to be in the sectional lounge because they don't need to deal with reports etc. Having this lower area would mean people who've almost passed but there are slight issues with would then get a chance to be on staff and maybe prove themselves somewhat, that they can perform and so on.