What.. Isn't she just perfect Candidate for the spot? She's mature, polite and is already a Moderator for those that care about experience. At worst she could ban U icon and censore word: Counterspell. Now, either she accepts the spot or we use Puzzle's cunning plan(tm) on her.
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The Sage is occupied with the unspoken
and acts without effort.
Teaching without verbosity,
producing without possessing,
creating without regard to result,
claiming nothing,
the Sage has nothing to lose.
Guys, I'm not sure if I should string you all up for suggesting such a thing or hug you.
My moderating experience is not sufficient for the task; I was only named for Legacy last September, with NO experience elsewhere, and got Casual and given to M_E to help him with the massive CC&G forum shortly afterwards.
Plus, I'm the exact opposite of charismatic.:D AND I hate Islands.
On the serious side, I have no clue who should be named as admin...I'm fairly sure that I wouldn't be the right choice, as my temper has a tendency to run away from me at times, plus the fact that I REALLY don't care about the clique issues. What I mean by that is that it doesn't matter who your friends are, you should be treated the same under the rules.
Ideal traits for a new admin are fairness, an ability to keep a cool head under pressure, and decent organizational skills...plus the ability to placate people. There are several people on staff right now who could do this, if you would give them a chance.
And yes, no incantatrix for you. Or anyone. That class makes puppies cry. Mostly because they are the former Big Bads who have been Baleful Polymorphed into said puppies. By you. Because you're an incantatrix.
Quote from Yukora »
This is Deraxas we're talking about.
Remember, the girl that just killed an aspect of herself before literally consuming her?
Yeah, I don't see her handling a pissing match in any way other than a duel.
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Yes mistress...
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There are only so many epic, psuedonatural barbarian/blackguard half-dragon akutenshai vampire balor paragons they can throw at you, right?
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I suppose it's true. Though the logistics implied in a human/Great Wyrm Prismatic Dragon pairing makes me shudder.
...Something tells me that even should all arcane casters in the world unite, that the Grease spell would NOT be sufficient.
What I mean by that is that it doesn't matter who your friends are, you should be treated the same under the rules.
You present this mentality as though it is a fault, or is unbecoming in an Admin. This is *exactly* the type of mentality that an Admin needs to have. You actually seem like a decent candidate to me, having read your posts in this thread. However, if you doubt that you will do the job well, you shouldn't take it, because the authority and responsiblity involved require alot of self-confidence.
I would disagree that an Admin needs to be able to placate people. Placating people is condescending. An Admin needs to be able to relate to people, and empathize with them, and truly listen. An Admin also needs to be able to present the ideas of the staff in a mature, respectful, intelligent fashion. I guess the point that I'm trying to make is that a good Admin will never have to placate anyone, because they will be able to head off controversial situations with efficiency. It's possible that this is just semantics, though.
@Danny: Your contention that Nai should be an Admin, particularly considering how much trouble he's already caused as a Mod, makes it difficult to put any confidence into your opinions, even when you're suggesting something that makes some sense(referring to AoK here).
Having not been here for ANY of this dramaz that you all are talking about, I have no idea what the admins have been up to, or if they are good at it.
However, I do want to say that I would fully support a third admin. Why? One reason: consensus.
With only two people, if they each take a different side on an issue, you have an impasse. With a third person, it'd turn into a 2-1 vote, which means that things get done, and you don't have a pair of admins butting heads, which is never a good thing.
My only question is this: all forums have a root admin, and yet I've never seen one here at MTGS. Who is it, and where are they?
Cyan, I'd like to discuss that with you for a moment. Would you mind taking that discussion to my mod desk or IM?
Something I've noticed, which I find very interesting, is that I've seen a lot of nominations for admin, but no one has particularly stepped up for the job. I think all the recent drama has made people scared to be in a position of power, because one wrong step makes people say, "OOH! They're not fit for the job! Fire them!"
I don't know if Hannes would want to be a moderator. He's an owner, a techie, but I'm not sure how much he wants to be in the day-to-day activities.
Having spoken to Hannes daily during all of the nonsense with Belgareth and for a short time afterwards, I know that, at that point at least, he had no interest in being involved in this aspect of the site.
And it's not true that 'one wrong step' has people crying out for the dismissal of an Admin. It took months of abuse on the part of Belgareth before it became enough of an issue that people really wanted to get rid of him. Even in the case now, most people aren't calling for anyone to be fired. It's true that I think that Lesurgo isn't qualified for the Administrator job, but I also know that, if I'm correct, time will bear this out anyway, which is why I haven't made a big deal out of it. Because honestly, that part isn't the big deal. The big deal is not getting rid of someone who can't do the job, so much as it is getting into place someone that can. The two aren't mutually exclusive.
I didn't mean people doing it now. But I can easily see someone being promoted to admin, making a mistake, and having people crave their blood. The higher the power, the higher the responsibility, and the more people get angry when you mess up, I'm afraid.
Then we have our third admin. Just get him to be more active, and problem solved.
Hannes is the ownner one of the techs for the site. he does chip in on what some stuff he wants done but 99% of the moderator Policys are handled by the admins. Also Hannes spends the time he is only doing surver updates/backups, checking for ideas, and discussing MAJOR issues(like forums not working from new updates or system crashes on a frequent basis).
If anything, people are MORE lenient when someone is new. No one gets flack right after they take the job. People start to get upset when a person has had the position for 6 months/1 year/whatever and are still making irresponsible decisions. When people seem to not learn from something that should clearly be a learning process, that is what makes people insecure.
I would disagree that an Admin needs to be able to placate people. Placating people is condescending. An Admin needs to be able to relate to people, and empathize with them, and truly listen. An Admin also needs to be able to present the ideas of the staff in a mature, respectful, intelligent fashion. I guess the point that I'm trying to make is that a good Admin will never have to placate anyone, because they will be able to head off controversial situations with efficiency. It's possible that this is just semantics, though.
I think this is a general trait that needs to be shared by the staff at large and not just an administrator. Considering the increased workload you get from mod to admin, it's safe to say that you need to build a foundation somewhere, especially while you're in "in with the grunts."
I think a major problem that has occurred as of late is that everyone has been too busy trying to out shout one another. Sometimes the shouting isn't really damning, but shouting in general is really annoying when a discussion is more suitable for resolving a conflict. I think the issues as of late definately need more discussion and less tossing insults, headhunting, and spy v. spy arguements.
I have more to say, but most of it has already been said elsewhere so it doesn't need to be repeated (at least not in here). I think if this thread can maintain itself (as it has over the last 2 pages), I think a lot of problems that are currently queued can at least be brought to some level of resolution.
You're right, Cyan, but I think the problem would be that the admin would have previously been a moderator/Global, and therefore would have at least some idea of what they're doing.
@Kijin: I agree. But you're touching on the hardest part of the job of an Admin now, which is managing your own Staff. The problem is that, when people become Staff, they assume that they will be treated with more leniency than everyone else. But this is exactly opposite of what should occur. As Staff, a person should be held to a *higher* standard than the average user, not a lesser one. Everyone realizes this, but when they become Moderators, too many people just don't practice it, and they perform dubious actions, banking on the fact that nothing is likely to happen to them. This goes doubly if the person is popular. But as an Administrator, your responsibility is to the site as a whole. You cannot worry about being popular, only about being respected. To take a recent example. If the Admins truly thought that Craven was not doing his job well, then they were definetely within their right to release him. Of course, we as users disagree that he should have been let go, and an Admin certainly has to take that into consideration, which doesn't seem to be the case here. Craven was not merely popular, he was remarkably good at the job he did. I honestly don't think that one user would have called for his removal. But more than that, what is disagreed with is HOW he was let go. As I said initially, you have to be able to manage the people under you as much so as managing the people of your community.
I think that a major problem here is that much of the Staff does not deserve to be Staff to begin with. Whether it is a general lack of maturity, or repeated instances of dubious judgment, people are just dissatisfied. And now, that dissatisfaction has reached the level of the Administration, where it cannot go unnoticed. Please note that I'm not going to go into detail regarding whom I am qualifying here, as it is not important, and not likely to accomplish anything. I am just using that statement, which I honestly think is undeniable, to make my primary point.
I will say that it seems that Kijin, at least, has grown in his time as a Moderator. I remember that, after you got promoted, I stopped reading Extended entirely because I thought that you treated everyone with an opinion opposite of yours like dirt, and nothing was done about this, despite large effort on my part(and the part of others). But now, you are the largest voice of reason on the part of the Staff, as far as this conversation is concerned, at least. I'm impressed at the improvement that I have witnessed you make.
@Nai: Honestly, someone that is good at being an Admin was most likely good at being a Mod anyway. It really is not as much of a learning process as it is just understanding how to work with people. Some trial and error is involved, for certain, but the experience of being an Admin is so different than that of being a Mod that being a Mod really does very little towards the responsibility of being an Admin. All that being a Mod first does is gives you a better understanding of procedure, but honestly, any user that pays attention will have this understanding anyway. A Moderator is responsible for managing one group of people. An Administrator is responsible for managing everybody. If anything, when you become an Admin, you unlearn some of what you learned as a Mod. As a Moderator, you sometimes have to escalate issues, which you cannot do as an Admin. You also, typically, don't moderate a large amount of groups. You have to quickly realize what works for your group, and what doesn't. As an Admin, you have to throw that out the window, and learn to help everyone instead.(For example, when you moderate a forum like strategy forums, you learn to address people based upon concrete, factual information, often backed up with test results/references/etc. But when you moderator a forum like Speak Your Mind, it is more of an effort of appealing to the emotional side of people, by making them realize that you understand what they're going through, and will do your best to help them. Both jobs take sincerity, but a vastly different type of sincerity).
Something I've noticed, which I find very interesting, is that I've seen a lot of nominations for admin, but no one has particularly stepped up for the job.
Here's reason number one why:
Quote from Cyan »
I think that a major problem here is that much of the Staff does not deserve to be Staff to begin with.
With this thread turning into nothing but reasons why no one's good enough, why would most users want to put themselves up for any nomination?
Well, I can understand what you're saying, but what confuses me is that people usually are lining up for a position of power. I guess it's just frightening how much responsibility is with this one?
Honestly, the people that I mean with that statement are not ones being considered anyway, nor are they anyone that listens to anything that I(or anyone) have to say.
Though it is certainly disappointing that not one current Staff member has the apparent confidence to put themselves forward for the job. And those that undoubtedly do have it apparently aren't interested.
@Kashmyr: Nice generalization. Had you actually read the entire thread, you would realize that I personally have named/agreed with the naming of 3-4 people on the Staff now, as well as 2 that are no longer part of it, that would be capable of performing admirably. Honestly, I understand that you just want to take every conceivable opportunity to take a shot at me, but you should realize by now that it is not working. If it makes you feel better, more power to you I guess, but I would say that it is only making you look foolish.
I think that a major problem here is that much of the Staff does not deserve to be Staff to begin with. Whether it is a general lack of maturity, or repeated instances of dubious judgment, people are just dissatisfied. And now, that dissatisfaction has reached the level of the Administration, where it cannot go unnoticed. Please note that I'm not going to go into detail regarding whom I am qualifying here, as it is not important, and not likely to accomplish anything. I am just using that statement, which I honestly think is undeniable, to make my primary point.
I agree to a certain point. I do not think that the current staff is necessarily poor, it is better than it was not too long ago and has improved in a number of ways. But I think our difficulties is naming someone on the staff that would make a good administrator comes from the method for moderator selection that has been used for awhile now. Many moderators appointed recently are active in only one forum, with that forum being the forum they became moderator of. While this in and of itself is not a bad thing, in the long run it leaves you with far fewer options for the higher-level management roles of global and admin. In addition, from what I have observed, it leads to more turnaround in staff as people who are tied to only one forum are more likely to leave the site entirely if they lose interest in that one forum.
And Cyan, as for it taking months to bring down Belgareth, part of this is he had Qwerty and friends to run around and stop any dissent. If anything that is what most alarms me about the recent developments. Regardless, though, it is nowhere near the level it was then.
EDIT:
Quote from Cyan »
Though it is certainly disappointing that not one current Staff member has the apparent confidence to put themselves forward for the job. And those that undoubtedly do have it apparently aren't interested.
We have no way of knowing this. It seems to me that discussing this first in private with the current administrators would be better than bringing it here first. I would be patient before making those assertions, time will tell.
I'd be interested, personally, but I don't think anyone would want to see me on the job. There was that one problem in the mafia forum.
I think the issue is the lack of time on the part of most people. I know a lot of us have jobs, or are in college. Even have families in some cases, I think. Not many can put as much time into admin as the job requires.
Indeed. I did not mean to imply that this situation is as bad as it was back then, only that the same conversations that are occurring now also occurred then, before anything was resolved. And it doesn't feel like the Staff or even the community has learned alot in that time. We've been promised 'three admins' since Belgareth was still in charge, but the period of time that we actually had 3 admins was preciously short. I should also clarify, obviously I don't think that the entire Staff is poor. On the whole, I think that the Staff does a good job. But there seems, to me, to be a huge polarity to it. There are some staff that do a great job, and then some that, in my mind, submit a very lackluster performance. There doesn't seem to be any kind of scale to it, and it seems like the people that do well have always done well(Kijin being the exception), and those that I find their performance disappointing, I always have. No one seems to be actually getting better at the job, which leads me to believe that no one is moderating the moderators themselves, and this is simply unacceptable.
@Nai: My issues with your past performance aside,I think that you have at least exhibited the capability to admit to and learn from your mistakes, and could be a good Admin at some point, even if I don't necessarily think you would be now.
I can understand your position on my past performance. I'm just of the opinion that people should follow the rules. If a post has been infracted by another mod for the same thing you're about to do, you probably shouldn't do it. One of the only reasons I didn't reverse the Puzzle infraction was due to the fact that there was no true reconciliation. He thought he did absolutely nothing wrong. Yes, my joke was in bad taste, but even on April Fools, the rules still stand, regardless of what the prank is.
Well, I think it applies elsewhere, and in this discussion. This discussion is becoming one of 'what are the admin's duties, and how what are the qualifications', and one of the things that needs to be talked about is how to treat past problems. One of the things you said is you don't think any current staff would do the job, and the question is why, and is that a good reason to deny them the job? Have they don't something wrong enough to not be good enough? Then you have to rethink the same thing for the users. Just a blemish on the record isn't enough. You need the REASONS for the blemish; WHY they did such. Otherwise, there's no point.
I'm not going to make a point by point assessment of why I think that given people aren't qualified..I can't see any good coming of that. Also, as I've said and is well known, most of the staff on here isn't going to listen to anything I have to say anyway, so why would I waste my time?
To answer what seems to be your question, yes, everyone makes mistakes. But how you handle that mistake, whether or not you learn from it, etc, is the real determining factor.
Now that I think about it, the problem with such a position is that, if you allow people to volunteer for it, they're taking the entirely wrong perspective on it. This position, while it's prestigious, is not intended to be a "reward" or something that one ought to feel "entitled" to. If anything, the person who I think really deserves the position is the person who doesn't want it, because they're entirely motivated by extrapersonal reasons. This is the justification I use for eliminating about 3/4 of the mod squad from consideration for a nomination for admin. While I think many of them are qualified and good at their job (nodding to Nai), I don't think they're necessarily admin material, because the fact that they actively pursue the job is a sign enough that there's no reason for them to be admin.
Hence why I think Goblinboy is probably the most qualified person for the job. Not only is he a former admin, he's also entirely disinterested in the whole thing, which to me represents his commitment to the site above his commitment to his ego. While I think people like Nai make excellent mods, they're not whom I would consider admin material.
Quote from Nai »
I can understand your position on my past performance. I'm just of the opinion that people should follow the rules. If a post has been infracted by another mod for the same thing you're about to do, you probably shouldn't do it. One of the only reasons I didn't reverse the Puzzle infraction was due to the fact that there was no true reconciliation. He thought he did absolutely nothing wrong. Yes, my joke was in bad taste, but even on April Fools, the rules still stand, regardless of what the prank is.
This, however, is another problem. The admin's are the superior authority on the rules, and as such, I think they need to be willing to overrule a mod's decision. One of the advantages of the mod system (and, regrettably, one of its problems) is its hierarchical system. If all the mods just agreed with each other, then nothing would happen to make the system better because the status quo would be the only system all could agree on. This is in part why I resigned as mod - I can't stand the whole idea that the mods are just extensions of the admins, and vica versa.
And in any event, Puzzle "repenting" or not ought not influence your decision at all. You're job has nothing to do with how people feel about their actions, it's about making the community better, and for that reason, I think you're not focusing on what's really important.
Quote from Cyan »
No one seems to be actually getting better at the job, which leads me to believe that no one is moderating the moderators themselves, and this is simply unacceptable.
This is an astute observation, and it ties into my idea that the mod squad, especially the admins, have moved away from improving the mod squad and toward damage control. As I posted in the thread "Many Staff Changes!",
Quote from Xyre »
I just want to say that Craven's PM makes me think that the Admins are adapting a position of "damage control" rather than "problem solving" with regards to problematic mods. For example, when I was removed as mod (first time through), I wasn't given a heads-up as to my lack of activity; I was just removed. I think that if the mods simply gave me an idea of how badly I was modding at the time, I'd have still been modding at the time I resigned (the second time through).
My question to the admins is: what's with this policy?
I never received an answer, which bothers me. I really think that the admins are trying to make the mod squad better by firing and hiring people under the impression that they'll eventually find qualified people for the jobs. However, this massive turnover and lack of accountability makes me really suspicious of the policies adapted at this time. The fact that Craven, of all people, hasn't gotten a response to his PM is really frustrating.
I hate to say it, but more and more, it seems to me like the mod squad is trying to delay the inevitable, rather than adapt and solve problems; they're trying less to make the site better, and more to make sure it doesn't get worse, and in the process, the amount of waste they're leaving behind, both in members (such as Craven and myself) and goodwill toward the community.
At this point, I believe the mod squad is (with exceptions) unfortunately incompetent, and so I submit a long overdue vote of no confidence in the mod squad. SOMETHING needs to change, gentlemen.
Edit: And why the hell aren't we getting ANSWERS? Craven hasn't gotten a response, I haven't gotten a response... are you guys really just waiting for this to blow over?!
I disagree that the position should go to someone that doesn't want it. That doesn't really make alot of sense. What matters is *why* they want it. If they want it to look cool, obviously that is unacceptable. If they want it because they feel they could do the job better than anyone else, and particularly if they feel it is not being done adequately now, than they have a huge advantage, because their desire towards the job is based in benevolence.
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Agreed.
*Votes Avatar of Kokusho for new Admin*
What.. Isn't she just perfect Candidate for the spot? She's mature, polite and is already a Moderator for those that care about experience. At worst she could ban U icon and censore word: Counterspell. Now, either she accepts the spot or we use Puzzle's cunning plan(tm) on her.
and acts without effort.
Teaching without verbosity,
producing without possessing,
creating without regard to result,
claiming nothing,
the Sage has nothing to lose.
My moderating experience is not sufficient for the task; I was only named for Legacy last September, with NO experience elsewhere, and got Casual and given to M_E to help him with the massive CC&G forum shortly afterwards.
Plus, I'm the exact opposite of charismatic.:D AND I hate Islands.
On the serious side, I have no clue who should be named as admin...I'm fairly sure that I wouldn't be the right choice, as my temper has a tendency to run away from me at times, plus the fact that I REALLY don't care about the clique issues. What I mean by that is that it doesn't matter who your friends are, you should be treated the same under the rules.
Ideal traits for a new admin are fairness, an ability to keep a cool head under pressure, and decent organizational skills...plus the ability to placate people. There are several people on staff right now who could do this, if you would give them a chance.
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You present this mentality as though it is a fault, or is unbecoming in an Admin. This is *exactly* the type of mentality that an Admin needs to have. You actually seem like a decent candidate to me, having read your posts in this thread. However, if you doubt that you will do the job well, you shouldn't take it, because the authority and responsiblity involved require alot of self-confidence.
I would disagree that an Admin needs to be able to placate people. Placating people is condescending. An Admin needs to be able to relate to people, and empathize with them, and truly listen. An Admin also needs to be able to present the ideas of the staff in a mature, respectful, intelligent fashion. I guess the point that I'm trying to make is that a good Admin will never have to placate anyone, because they will be able to head off controversial situations with efficiency. It's possible that this is just semantics, though.
@Danny: Your contention that Nai should be an Admin, particularly considering how much trouble he's already caused as a Mod, makes it difficult to put any confidence into your opinions, even when you're suggesting something that makes some sense(referring to AoK here).
However, I do want to say that I would fully support a third admin. Why? One reason: consensus.
With only two people, if they each take a different side on an issue, you have an impasse. With a third person, it'd turn into a 2-1 vote, which means that things get done, and you don't have a pair of admins butting heads, which is never a good thing.
My only question is this: all forums have a root admin, and yet I've never seen one here at MTGS. Who is it, and where are they?
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If you did this, tell me and I'll credit you!
Something I've noticed, which I find very interesting, is that I've seen a lot of nominations for admin, but no one has particularly stepped up for the job. I think all the recent drama has made people scared to be in a position of power, because one wrong step makes people say, "OOH! They're not fit for the job! Fire them!"
I don't know if Hannes would want to be a moderator. He's an owner, a techie, but I'm not sure how much he wants to be in the day-to-day activities.
My helpdesk should you need me.
And it's not true that 'one wrong step' has people crying out for the dismissal of an Admin. It took months of abuse on the part of Belgareth before it became enough of an issue that people really wanted to get rid of him. Even in the case now, most people aren't calling for anyone to be fired. It's true that I think that Lesurgo isn't qualified for the Administrator job, but I also know that, if I'm correct, time will bear this out anyway, which is why I haven't made a big deal out of it. Because honestly, that part isn't the big deal. The big deal is not getting rid of someone who can't do the job, so much as it is getting into place someone that can. The two aren't mutually exclusive.
My helpdesk should you need me.
Hannes is the ownner one of the techs for the site. he does chip in on what some stuff he wants done but 99% of the moderator Policys are handled by the admins. Also Hannes spends the time he is only doing surver updates/backups, checking for ideas, and discussing MAJOR issues(like forums not working from new updates or system crashes on a frequent basis).
He also likes kittens....
I think this is a general trait that needs to be shared by the staff at large and not just an administrator. Considering the increased workload you get from mod to admin, it's safe to say that you need to build a foundation somewhere, especially while you're in "in with the grunts."
I think a major problem that has occurred as of late is that everyone has been too busy trying to out shout one another. Sometimes the shouting isn't really damning, but shouting in general is really annoying when a discussion is more suitable for resolving a conflict. I think the issues as of late definately need more discussion and less tossing insults, headhunting, and spy v. spy arguements.
I have more to say, but most of it has already been said elsewhere so it doesn't need to be repeated (at least not in here). I think if this thread can maintain itself (as it has over the last 2 pages), I think a lot of problems that are currently queued can at least be brought to some level of resolution.
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I think that a major problem here is that much of the Staff does not deserve to be Staff to begin with. Whether it is a general lack of maturity, or repeated instances of dubious judgment, people are just dissatisfied. And now, that dissatisfaction has reached the level of the Administration, where it cannot go unnoticed. Please note that I'm not going to go into detail regarding whom I am qualifying here, as it is not important, and not likely to accomplish anything. I am just using that statement, which I honestly think is undeniable, to make my primary point.
I will say that it seems that Kijin, at least, has grown in his time as a Moderator. I remember that, after you got promoted, I stopped reading Extended entirely because I thought that you treated everyone with an opinion opposite of yours like dirt, and nothing was done about this, despite large effort on my part(and the part of others). But now, you are the largest voice of reason on the part of the Staff, as far as this conversation is concerned, at least. I'm impressed at the improvement that I have witnessed you make.
@Nai: Honestly, someone that is good at being an Admin was most likely good at being a Mod anyway. It really is not as much of a learning process as it is just understanding how to work with people. Some trial and error is involved, for certain, but the experience of being an Admin is so different than that of being a Mod that being a Mod really does very little towards the responsibility of being an Admin. All that being a Mod first does is gives you a better understanding of procedure, but honestly, any user that pays attention will have this understanding anyway. A Moderator is responsible for managing one group of people. An Administrator is responsible for managing everybody. If anything, when you become an Admin, you unlearn some of what you learned as a Mod. As a Moderator, you sometimes have to escalate issues, which you cannot do as an Admin. You also, typically, don't moderate a large amount of groups. You have to quickly realize what works for your group, and what doesn't. As an Admin, you have to throw that out the window, and learn to help everyone instead.(For example, when you moderate a forum like strategy forums, you learn to address people based upon concrete, factual information, often backed up with test results/references/etc. But when you moderator a forum like Speak Your Mind, it is more of an effort of appealing to the emotional side of people, by making them realize that you understand what they're going through, and will do your best to help them. Both jobs take sincerity, but a vastly different type of sincerity).
Here's reason number one why:
With this thread turning into nothing but reasons why no one's good enough, why would most users want to put themselves up for any nomination?
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My helpdesk should you need me.
Though it is certainly disappointing that not one current Staff member has the apparent confidence to put themselves forward for the job. And those that undoubtedly do have it apparently aren't interested.
@Kashmyr: Nice generalization. Had you actually read the entire thread, you would realize that I personally have named/agreed with the naming of 3-4 people on the Staff now, as well as 2 that are no longer part of it, that would be capable of performing admirably. Honestly, I understand that you just want to take every conceivable opportunity to take a shot at me, but you should realize by now that it is not working. If it makes you feel better, more power to you I guess, but I would say that it is only making you look foolish.
I agree to a certain point. I do not think that the current staff is necessarily poor, it is better than it was not too long ago and has improved in a number of ways. But I think our difficulties is naming someone on the staff that would make a good administrator comes from the method for moderator selection that has been used for awhile now. Many moderators appointed recently are active in only one forum, with that forum being the forum they became moderator of. While this in and of itself is not a bad thing, in the long run it leaves you with far fewer options for the higher-level management roles of global and admin. In addition, from what I have observed, it leads to more turnaround in staff as people who are tied to only one forum are more likely to leave the site entirely if they lose interest in that one forum.
And Cyan, as for it taking months to bring down Belgareth, part of this is he had Qwerty and friends to run around and stop any dissent. If anything that is what most alarms me about the recent developments. Regardless, though, it is nowhere near the level it was then.
EDIT:
We have no way of knowing this. It seems to me that discussing this first in private with the current administrators would be better than bringing it here first. I would be patient before making those assertions, time will tell.
I think the issue is the lack of time on the part of most people. I know a lot of us have jobs, or are in college. Even have families in some cases, I think. Not many can put as much time into admin as the job requires.
My helpdesk should you need me.
@Nai: My issues with your past performance aside,I think that you have at least exhibited the capability to admit to and learn from your mistakes, and could be a good Admin at some point, even if I don't necessarily think you would be now.
My helpdesk should you need me.
My helpdesk should you need me.
To answer what seems to be your question, yes, everyone makes mistakes. But how you handle that mistake, whether or not you learn from it, etc, is the real determining factor.
Hence why I think Goblinboy is probably the most qualified person for the job. Not only is he a former admin, he's also entirely disinterested in the whole thing, which to me represents his commitment to the site above his commitment to his ego. While I think people like Nai make excellent mods, they're not whom I would consider admin material.
This, however, is another problem. The admin's are the superior authority on the rules, and as such, I think they need to be willing to overrule a mod's decision. One of the advantages of the mod system (and, regrettably, one of its problems) is its hierarchical system. If all the mods just agreed with each other, then nothing would happen to make the system better because the status quo would be the only system all could agree on. This is in part why I resigned as mod - I can't stand the whole idea that the mods are just extensions of the admins, and vica versa.
And in any event, Puzzle "repenting" or not ought not influence your decision at all. You're job has nothing to do with how people feel about their actions, it's about making the community better, and for that reason, I think you're not focusing on what's really important.
This is an astute observation, and it ties into my idea that the mod squad, especially the admins, have moved away from improving the mod squad and toward damage control. As I posted in the thread "Many Staff Changes!",
I never received an answer, which bothers me. I really think that the admins are trying to make the mod squad better by firing and hiring people under the impression that they'll eventually find qualified people for the jobs. However, this massive turnover and lack of accountability makes me really suspicious of the policies adapted at this time. The fact that Craven, of all people, hasn't gotten a response to his PM is really frustrating.
I hate to say it, but more and more, it seems to me like the mod squad is trying to delay the inevitable, rather than adapt and solve problems; they're trying less to make the site better, and more to make sure it doesn't get worse, and in the process, the amount of waste they're leaving behind, both in members (such as Craven and myself) and goodwill toward the community.
At this point, I believe the mod squad is (with exceptions) unfortunately incompetent, and so I submit a long overdue vote of no confidence in the mod squad. SOMETHING needs to change, gentlemen.
Edit: And why the hell aren't we getting ANSWERS? Craven hasn't gotten a response, I haven't gotten a response... are you guys really just waiting for this to blow over?!
Experiments Series: #5 (Courtly Intrigue Mafia) | #4 (Drunken Tracker) | #3 (Big Red Button) - coming soon | #2 (Pope Mafia) | #1 (Iso's Inflammable Mafia)
Mini Games: MTGS Mafia Redux II (Invitational, Evil Mirror Universe) | Unreal City
Old Games (bad): The Greenwood Affair | Blood Moon Mafia