Staff Audit and Critique: Round 2

[Cookie Monster]

Post your thoughts and criticism of staff here. Express your opinion on each staff member as you see fit. Perhaps include ways we can improve and what we should continue doing, etc. Make note of any improvements or setbacks that have been made.

Administrators: Cthulhu, Lord Vetinari, X-SOLDIER, Christian Bale

Super Moderators: Don Draper, El Diablo Gato, Lord Rufus Crabmiser, Elena Fisher, Serah's Cat, Sonic the Hedgehog

Site Staff: Cloud_S, Dark and Divine, Glitterberri, KuraudoStrife, pESCAbAdA, Pixel, Shademp

Moderators: Ryushikaze, DNA, Adri

Let it rip.

 

[Joker]

Before anyone posts anything, I want to say that I really, really want the staff to respond to people's opinions here. Otherwise it's like talking to a brick wall.

 

[Super Mario]

I've done this shit before and expressed myself (as have other men and women of this forum) so in hopes that improvement and stability will occur with staff's actions and future decisions. Sadly, it looks like we're back to square one again after this debacle with the suicidal stalker. Fuck all of this, I'm going to destrillians and leaving this fucking machinations to its own devices.

 

[Madame Mayor]

I honestly think my feelings I said before still stand and I'm not sure what else to add. I don't really feel like much has changed other than I suppose Ryu has been really great and sticking to his word on making members feel more comfortable with him.

 

[Celes Chere]

I think it's kinda sad that some of the mods said they forgot about things that needed to be improved. Other than that, same feels as always.

 

[Hisako]

In all seriousness, who the heck is pESCAbAdA?

 

[Octo]

Right, well I don't have much to say that is different than my last critique response.

I do think there is a problem with implementing new rules, like after the last shitstorm I thought a new rule was going to be in place about not revealing deleted posts and stuff about images but I can't find anything in the rules about that now. I know a lot of people at the time were of the opinion that 'oh its just common sense' but to be honest I would have thought by now its obvious that we cannot rely on common sense to run a forum (or a society for that matter ). I don't see a problem with learning from mistakes and making a note of stuff for future reference.

Other than that, I do think the mods here do a good job and to be honest I don't think I've ever been on a forum where the mods were so receptive to the opinions of the user base. I know its not a perfect system by any means but the mods are only human and I know I wouldn't have the patience to deal with the shit that occurs here sometimes.

EDIT: to be honest I use the phrase 'to be honest' too much...honestly!

 

[Gym Leader Devil]

I'm gonna echo Brooke in order to begin on a positive note. Ryu, you been doing a helluva job at being more personable and relatable lately. And you've pulled that off without having to let your essential personality change, so you're still the dude we all know, we just know and relate to you better. Good show dude.

Moar goodness, Tenny I recall lots of folks comenting that they didn't see you do much of anything last time we had reviews. I made sure to point out that you do things in more of a low key way, behind the scenes stuff by PMing those involved in drama and so on. But just lately you're doing a good job at being more visibly involved in forum issues, just like you said you would. Once again, good show.

Tres, Mog, Daniel: my opinions on all of you are exactly the same as before. That is to say, you're largely awesome people and mods who know how to handle a situation calmly, are entirely capable of ceasing to be nice when called for, and you make damn sure you look before you leap.

Yop: Similar to the above paragraph, you're level headed and decent about soothing shit down. Making sure everyone has a place to come have a good time, etc, same as last time we did an audit. Your comment in the Disappointed With Mods thrad left a lot to be desired though dude.

X: I miss ya being around more bro. That is all I have to add to what I said last round.

Aaron: To start off, I believe you when you say you have good intentions for the things you do, and I can see your logic on many points. But, speaking plainly here, did you learn anything from the last time we did this song and dance? You still come off as defensive when a situation arises that needs handling. There is still a definite sense that many commented on in the other thread, a sense of you feeling like infracting everyone involved and expecting them to stfu is the way to deal with shit. And you seem to have held them to entirely different standards, with Yoshi it was all "well she didn't get infracted last time so we shouldn't go too far this time." I could be entirely wrong here, and everyone feel free to tell me if I am, but by that logic it would follow to me that Kripey and the others would get a "you haven't been warned about this much/recently/ever, so no infraction today just a warning." Again, I could be totally off on this one. All around though, you don't seem to have taken the concerns of the board to heart last time.

Everyone else, I don't have much to say specifically about you atm, you do good work. But you still get a mention, cause this goes for every single one of you folks. Remember the promises made during earlier dramas. Try to be transparent with your dealings with us. Remember to contact everyone who makes a report and follow up on things. If there are 0 infractions for the next six months after this, don't let the lull blank your memories of it this time.

And ending on a positive note, thanks guys for putting in the time to help keep TLS running. Even with the problems we've had here and there, I can imagine how much nastier things could get without you.

 

[looneymoon]

deep sigh aaron you're a cool guy and all but honestly the way you handle things just irritates everyone and at this point i'd rather just not see you as a mod.

i still don't really understand how that happened in the first place weren't you a tech admin???

 

[Madame Mayor]

deep sigh aaron you're a cool guy and all but honestly the way you handle things just irritates everyone and at this point i'd rather just not see you as a mod.

i still don't really understand how that happened in the first place weren't you a tech admin???

I guess I can say that when I said I don't have anything to add I meant everything I said negatively is also still true. Aaron seemed to be doing better for a little while and yet this latest situation showed him making decisions that multiple other staff members disagreed with... again. Which tells me it's not just the member base who disagrees with his modding methods, it's staff too.

 

[CK]

cba typing up a big huge message like last time so i'll keep it short.

You're all shit.

 

[Flintlock]

I don't really have strong opinions about many of the staff here - I'm still too new for that - but I do have some thoughts. Just remember that they should be taken with an appropriately sized pinch of salt.

I think there are too many members of staff. Going through the list, I didn't know that Serah's Cat, Adri and DNA were moderators, and I don't recall seeing much of most of the site staff, including Cloud_S (last active two weeks ago), Glitterberri (four weeks ago), KuraudoStrife (over two years ago) or pESCAbAdA (three months ago). I have no idea how much any of them work on the main site, though, and I guess visiting the forum isn't compulsory, but perhaps it should be in all but exceptional cases. Continuously inactive members of staff should lose their positions, in my opinion, especially if they don't give a good reason. Making the staff team should be a privilege, and having inactive staff makes it look like they don't care.

The "S-E Affiliated Admins" are another group of mysterious people to me - what do they do? As for the others, like the admins and super mods, I've seen them around but haven't really noticed them doing very much staffy stuff. That's not a criticism at all, as maybe there isn't much to be done, or maybe they just do it in the background. Again, I don't know. But it does feel like there are a few too many of them.

Does it matter? I think the current drama is highlighting one reason why it does. There have been promises to do certain things (like deal with reports promptly and transparently), and those promises haven't been kept, from what I've heard. With so many staff, some think "it doesn't concern me", others think "I don't know the full story", others think "someone else will deal with it", some just aren't around when it all happens, and in the end, things don't get done. With a more streamlined hierarchy - for example, a place of this size could get by just fine with one guy in overall charge, two other admins, two super mods and a handful of forum-specific mods and site staff as requirements dictate - everyone would have a clear grasp of exactly where their responsibilities lie, and they would be expected to carry them out, as there is no-one else to do it. It also presents a much clearer picture for new members: I've been here for three months and I don't really know who does what. So if I ever feel like there is a problem, I don't know who to contact.

The only time I've really interacted with any of the staff on here in a formal way has been when I suggested some sort of limit or improvement on the current arrangement for changing usernames, which I think is very confusing. I got different comments and ideas back from different staff (as well as regular members), who seemed to understand the need to make things a bit clearer, but couldn't agree on how. In the end, nothing got done, so I'm still getting confused on a daily basis and having to spend time looking through the username changing thread just to try and keep track of things. If there were just two admins, they could have a quick discussion through IM, agree on something, and then go about implementing it. That could involve discussion with the other staff or the community as a whole, but it should be in the form of "this is what we want to do, what do you think" rather than "we could do something, but we don't know what, and we probably won't do anything". Sometimes democracy should make way for dictatorship.

I have positive comments for a few people. I think it's absolutely fine that there is one guy who just works on the technical side of things, like Yop. As well as being one of the people I've got on with the best since joining, he does seem to get things done... eventually Ryu always seems to be on IRC - he's often been the first person to reply to any queries I have mentioned there, and I've been impressed with his judgement. Pixel and Shademp have been the two members of site staff to most visibly put time and effort in to producing content which will enrich TLS, so hats off to them as well.

That's it.

 

[Tifabelle]

Sometimes democracy should make way for dictatorship.

No. There shouldn't be a dictator. There should be a group of people who can act as leaders of the community. Meaning, people that can get shit done. But never one person who has all the say in what happens.

 

[Flintlock]

No. There shouldn't be a dictator. There should be a group of people who can act as leaders of the community. Meaning, people that can get shit done. But never one person who has all the say in what happens.

What I was trying to explain just before that line you quoted was pretty much exactly what you described. I just called it dictatorship because, at the end of the day, Yop + X other admins have the power to implement whatever they want. There doesn't need to be a vote for policy, nor should there be votes for staff (not that there appear to have ever been).

The most effective leadership I've seen on any forum is just one guy who runs it his way. Of course, he's open to ideas, and he's a very reasonable, hands-off sort of guy most of the time, but he does what he thinks is right and everyone respects him for it. Nobody is forced to be on his forum, but they choose to be.

Case in point: everything that has happened on TLS over the last two days. Just about every member has pitched in with their opinion, whether or not they have any connection to what is going on. Some staff member - as high up the chain as needs be - should just come in and say "you're banned, you're deserving of an apology, and you're not doing your job as staff". Wouldn't that be easier for everyone?

 

[Cat Rage Room]

No. There shouldn't be a dictator. There should be a group of people who can act as leaders of the community. Meaning, people that can get shit done. But never one person who has all the say in what happens.

To step in here, I think he meant more of a lines that sometimes there has to be just one line of authority saying "No this is what's going to happen" instead of an eternal commune of a bunch of people pulling in separate directions in vague agreement. That happens a lot here, and as a result, sometimes nothing gets done, ever.

I can't count how many times the military side of me just wants to press the figurative button on a lot of issues that come up here and just be done with it and see what happens. Not saying I'm the only one with a solution a lot of the time, but I do think this place could do a lot more if we as staff individually had a 'take charge and at least do something' attitude.

It's sort of like that age old advice for dating (at least for dudes from a dude perspective). Ladies respond better to a guy who has the balls to do something, even when he fucks up, rather than a guy who just fumbles around aimlessly scared of doing something wrong.

But hey just wanted to toss that out there.

 

[Octo]

Yep, every time something happens everyone has their say and argue the toss and then people forget or get bored and by the time anyone figures out what the hell to do the sun has come up, we've all turned to stone and the hobbits have escaped!

 

[Joker]

And yet if no one voices their opinion, there is no guidepost for the great and fearless leader to steer by.

 

[Cat Rage Room]

And yet if no one voices their opinion, there is no guidepost for the great and fearless leader to steer by.

Yeah, but people voicing their opinion isn't mutually exclusive to what I'm (or Flintlock) is saying. The dropbox is always going to be there, but in the end its up to said great and fearless leader to heed it or not.

I'm not saying we need to adopt that to a tee here, but damn yeah, I can agree that this place can do for some more decisive consolidation on how we deal with things. We're so used to things taking 5+ pages of discussion and debate to solve a problem we literally can't wrap our heads around an easier way.

 

[Joker]

Mmmmm fair point. It does seem somewhat needlessly bureaucratic.

At the same time, though, it's worth mentioning that there is a decided lack of follow-through on things that make that kind of system impossible. >:

 

[Madame Mayor]

Mmmmm fair point. It does seem somewhat needlessly bureaucratic.

At the same time, though, it's worth mentioning that there is a decided lack of follow-through on things that make that kind of system impossible. >:

What Mog has been saying can work, but only if the people who are given this extra power over everyone (even other mods) are people who the member base trusts to make the right decisions.

 

[Cat Rage Room]

Mmmmm fair point. It does seem somewhat needlessly bureaucratic.

At the same time, though, it's worth mentioning that there is a decided lack of follow-through on things that make that kind of system impossible. >:

Agreed. Here's my issues in a nutshell.

-Too many cooks in the kitchen. First I think the number of Staff we have should be justified, site staff and forum staff. Do we need that many people? And if we could use that many people, why not dedicate them to certain roles? And if you don't have time to lead the site, give up your post.

I'm out to sea a lot for example, so I wouldn't ask to be Admin. I love Mako to death, but the dude is barely around and he's an Admin. He was great, and is great as long as he's here, but I mean, at least give an easily accessible explanation why you're barely around. I try to tell everyone when I deploy. Everyone else just sorta vanishes. Which leads to my next point.

-A lack of focus for the site. This site turned from FF Compilation site, and when the Comp. died down, instead of adjusting our focus, even a little bit, the site just collectively stopped giving a shit. I give props to Shademp for even attempting to care and follow through his visions for the main site. As far as everyone else, what gives? What do you want to see this site actually be?

-Not enough followthrough. We know this. So why do we keep doing it? It seems hypocritical to say we care about the community when we as Staff, and members too, yeah, abandon ideas as quickly as we pick them up. Caring about the community means more than being involved in the bad shit and the drama. It also means elevating it off the ground and being involved in its constant growth. It means work.

 

[Dawnbreaker]

I confess I've been away so if my opinions are skewed as a result, sorry.

Mog, I must admit I had you pegged all wrong. I honestly thought you weren't worth modding, and for a while, I think my thoughts were justified. I don't know what it was but you totally pulled yourself up and proved to be one of the best mods on this site. You geuninely want to understand a situation before you form an opinion on it, you work hard and you want the site to suceed. That's impressive.

Tres, I've always had tremendous respect for you, and that hasn't changed at all. You are well-liked and for good reason. You're fair, respectful and insightful. You don't even seem like a mod in a way, because there is no feeling of a difference between and you and me and I like that. You don't feel like you're above me.

Ryu, sometimes I'm not sure what to say about you. I always thought of you as smart and silly, but there is this side to you that I find distasteful. It feels like you think you're better than us. Maybe I'm wrong here, but that's what I get from you. You do seem to have an ugly history going on (which I don't understand, sorry, I wasn't around) but you have seemed to have worked on this, so maybe it's just a phase we all go through.

Yop, well, you're almost the god here, and nine times out of ten I think you're spot on. Then you fumble and I've no idea why. It's strange really, since you seem so into what this site needs and how it should be managed that maybe sometimes you get tired of it. I don't know, but I still like you a lot.

Aaron, for god sake, please relax. You seem like you're gonna tear yourself apart at times. You are truly one of the best sort of people to be managing almost anything: you're intelligent, dedicated and focused. But you're so dedicated and focused that I think you feel you must control everything. You don't. Stop trying to do the other mods's jobs for them. If they're too lazy to sit and take notice, fuck 'em. You do your best; let the rest deal with their own lazyness.

Mako, you're a great guy and all but Mog's points are very valid....honestly I'd forgotten you were here and that's a bad sign for an Admin. When you're around, you're usually pretty good, but that's so infrequent these days that that's disheartening. Same for X. I know you guys have other issues and all, life and all, but if you're that busy couldn't you assign more help? It's frustrating that the only really active Admins are Yop and poor Aaron.

Tenny, what can I say about you...except that if were gonna nominate a new Admin, you'd be my first pick. You are the epitome of what a good mod should be: you're helpful, active, knowledgdable and amicable. I honestly have no complaint about you so I'll leave it at that.

As for the Site Staff let me just say this: they are SITE staff, so why do you care if they're active on a forum? Worry if they're not active on the site, and if not, feel free to complain. Not every person is so inclined to be active on a forum, and if they're not, but do their job otherwise I don't think they should be faulted.

Road, a pretty decent S-Mod, I think you're pretty good. I think you would better if you were a bit more in the know about things or more active but still you're doing alright, as far as I'm concerned. Force, I feel you're pretty much more of the same. You are fairly active, but I think you could do with a bit more. Otherwise you're pretty cool.

Um, I'm sure I'm suppose to know who Serah's Cat is, but I really don't. Sorry. I know I've seen them around but how active are they in mod life? This is when being a member-like mod is taken too far! xD Also same with DNA...but maybe that's because I don't know much about their field, so, someone else can comment on that.

I thought Adri was a S-Mod...I don't see her as being particularly active either, but then again I don't follow the RP so possibly she's very active. I don't feel very confident commenting on that, unless she is an S-Mod of which case...huh? Shouldn't she be involved in this stuff too?

Okay, that's a lot from me and I've missed some but hey, this poast is fucking long enough already....

 

[Flintlock]

I know this thread has only seen a day of inactivity, but I'm already getting the feeling that it isn't going anywhere.

It's not a big deal from a personal perspective - I don't have any problems with any of the staff and it's not like I'm going to run away from the forum or anything - but it would be ironic if everybody agrees that nobody gets anything done, but nobody does anything to change it.

 

[Dana Scully]

I think it's been so inactive because for the most part people's feelings regarding individual mods haven't changed since the last audit. At least that's how I feel, with the exception of Ryu, who I think has done very well and I'd be all for him getting his mod powerz back.

I think people are more disappointed with mod response as a whole, not anyone individually? Like better response times and communications from all the mods as a whole.

 

[Fangu]

Warning: I'm super tired so my Engurishu might be lamo.

I find it hard to comment. I can't come up with anyone I'd like to share some constructive criticism with, the only person I can think of is Aaron, and the little I had to say I've already said in the "Mod response" thread. I do believe Aaron and Yop should stick to being techies first and foremost. Yop, you're super handy when it storms, and I value your opinion a lot (you know this!) but we need you to focus on all the other tech crap first and foremost

The rest: Very good posting. Especially Tres, Mog and Road. Mog, some of the stuff you say as an individual shows that we're two totally different personalities but when you put your mod hat on, you're the sanest and most honest straight forward person, not afraid of putting in your 2 cents. So yeah, if I was to pull out some people I think are doing a really good job, it's you guys.

The rest of you I can't really remember having voiced your opinion much. But my short term memory is crap. (Btw who is Mako?)

+1 that Ryu should be a mod again. He's usually very available (and also super helpful on IRC, idk how many words he's explained to me, he's my personal Oxford ), and an available person who can take care of spam bots and stuff fast is always good to have. There have been a lot of times lately where Ryu's said "I would fix it if I could". Let the dude fix things.

And yes, there might be too many mods and admins here, I agree. However, there is a "Forum leaders" link on the index site. (Is it there by default to new members now though, since Yop removed some of the plugins?) If you want to PM an admin and a mod, you can do it from there. I don't know who I would contact if I wanted to PM someone in addition to reporting. I'd probably add all of you

Actually I can only think of people I'd like to add to the team.

Yes. That was most useful.


Q:How does it work when stuff is reported and there is a need to gather the troops? Do you guys contact each other via email? We used to do it that way on the forum I was moderating, because that forum barely needed moderation - so when something was up, the admin would email us telling us to come in.