Mods and Admin having a "Time Period"

[MajorLeeHurts]

I dont know what I can say without offending someone LOL so I will just use this as an example of a good place to start successfully recruiting potential moderators if you honestly feel you need a bigger pool of qualified applicants.

viewtopic.php?f=71&t=182333

Here we have a mod recruitment thread.

This thread is full of spam by moderators.
This thread is locked even tho recruitment is open untill the 8th of this month.
This thread has 1371 views and 44 replies.


This topic is in ANNOUNCEMENTS not general , not the temple or anywhere where chatter and spam should live.

Not only are the mods not modding themselves but the conversation is off topic, convoluted and polluted. How would any new forum-er find any info or comfort in interacting in this environment.


A locked thread ... not very welcoming and not being bumped for exposure to potential applicants.

The amount of views imply interest . The lack of replies shows that someone initially interested was deterred rather than inticed to participate.

Weren't you once a mod? Surely you must know how things work. The Announcement section is a locked forum. If someone creates a thread in General for example and it gets promoted to an announcement then it will appear locked when viewing through announcements forum but it is unlocked in every other section. Thought any Mod would know that.

Also you say it is full of spam by moderators.... what about the 7 non moderators that have been posting in there?

Come on people give some logical thought before whining.

Werent you a mod once ? what happened there C-boy

lol Hostilities already , so much for keeping it impersonal. This isnt about me or you get over yourself and stop being so condescending.

I didnt ask the question PSI did. I honestly wonder why on earth start this debate again and to what end !

Rule of thumb ... Dont ask the question unless your ready for the answer.

and I still dont think this conversation is ready to be heard by the mod/admin team so it will be picked apart into little compartments and facts and irrelevant points will be argued by the same old people to no avail. creating even a deeper rift between user and Admin/Mod team.


Thank you for your answer deni , but I didnt ask a question. I merely made an observation of a perspective.

[Clarkey]

Werent you a mod once ? what happened there C-boy

Difference is with your question right there you are making it personal about why i'm not a mod anymore. Whereas i was pointing out any Mod should know that the Announcement forum is permanently locked and threads are accessible through other sections. I never once questioned what happened to you as a mod.

[MajorLeeHurts]

It has been months at least since we last created a topic in the announcements section. we generally pick a handy section and create it there, then change it to global. Not rarely that section is the administrator forum.
Regular (non-admin) users simply do not have any permissions for that section (not even "no access"), if we recall correctly.

Not likely that forum users read topics through section headings more often the view new posts link is used.

[Zeratul]

then those users will have to live with their difficulties, since it is not possible to change how such topics are displayed, and the announcements section wont be unlocked...

[Juliette]

The amount of views imply interest . The lack of replies shows that someone initially interested was deterred rather than inticed to participate.

*chuckles* Clearly you don't know how many crawlers are perusing these boards, blowing up the view count beyond reasonable numbers.



This (RoKeT's/his Gepetto's) is just another thread which started out relatively decent, but through the personal slandering and lack of self-control another idea has become nothing but a nasty memory. Such a tewwible, tewwible shame.

[Empy]

and I still dont think this conversation is ready to be heard by the mod/admin team so it will be picked apart into little compartments and facts and irrelevant points will be argued by the same old people to no avail. creating even a deeper rift between user and Admin/Mod team.

Well giving up before you even try certainly isn't going to work...

[MajorLeeHurts]

and I still dont think this conversation is ready to be heard by the mod/admin team so it will be picked apart into little compartments and facts and irrelevant points will be argued by the same old people to no avail. creating even a deeper rift between user and Admin/Mod team.

Well giving up before you even try certainly isn't going to work...

Who said I was giving up ...

But this declining conversation is exactly why I wouldnt have brought it to this section for debate with the mods because clearly you dont see.

[Empy]

and I still dont think this conversation is ready to be heard by the mod/admin team so it will be picked apart into little compartments and facts and irrelevant points will be argued by the same old people to no avail. creating even a deeper rift between user and Admin/Mod team.

Well giving up before you even try certainly isn't going to work...

Who said I was giving up ...

But this declining conversation is exactly why I wouldnt have brought it to this section for debate with the mods because clearly you dont see.

I think you might be surprised...

[Noobert]

MajorLeeHurts, it is not possible for you to give up as you have not even begun to try.

[MajorLeeHurts]

MajorLeeHurts, it is not possible for you to give up as you have not even begun to try.

LOL why me ...

This seems like a pretty simple task.

Make the policy , implement...

[jedi~tank]

Leave the admins change the mods on rotation

[MajorLeeHurts]

There have been some GREAT ideas posted in the "other" thread that I took the liberty to drag into this one ( forgive me ) Some of the work has already been done by our distinguished elders.

Lets keep moving forward. If there is indeed interest within the mod/admin team I would implore you to not block or drop the ball here.

I would also ask of the users that we not loose faith and stand strong in the face of emotional reactions from the current admin/mod team. It is a common feeling that this is a waste of time. But we are all invested in this forum and agree things need to be changed. I do not believe for one second that our cumulative strengths can not over come the naysayers.

It's easy to fix the problems but it's going to require will.

Bring FULL transparency with the decisions and the PROCESSES that are engaged in on the forum. These processes need to be made public along with the criteria for making decisions.

Currently there is none because there are no processes. Things just happen on an ad libed basis.

Put in some tenure periods for admins, so that you can only be an Admin for 1 year. That would stop nepotism that is currently engaged in. (Currently 1 Admin and THREE of the Global Mods are all in the same alliance - there are only four global mods at the moment.) Then take the replacement Admins from the Super Mods BUT have them on a rotation of 18months.

Have the ombudsman actually have power. Currently the Admin are the highest authority. If the ombudsman does not agree with their decision, they do not have to change it, despite what the Ombudsman says. This is not representation of the people, rather representation of the authority.

Fully standarise all accesses to the forums. Do not engage in special permissions for individuals. If you are one colour then everyone of that colour should also be able to see things. Currently there are at least two cases of special permissions that I know of. Standardise all the permissions. There is very little reason for giving one permissions over another of the same group.

There's a few other things but the above would be enough for now but would require will. And I don't think there is the will do see it fixed truly.

Jason asked me to write the first position descriptions for the Recruitment, Selection and Retention Criteria
for the Moderator Staff.

These have been archived and are no longer within sight of the Forum Community.

I have no issue with new standards replacing old but no others have been published.

The current forum administration staff clearly prefer to make decisions behind closed doors.

This has fostered a culture of do what I say or risk being sacked as a moderator....

The previous ad hoc practices of appointing and removing moderators has been a long standing source of disgruntlement within the Forum and Game Community.

So the Forum Administrators have established the following guiding principles to recruit and retain all future moderators.

Guiding Principles: Activity, Diversity and Respect

Activity
Moderators need to be active to stay in tune with the nuisances of the game. If a moderator is not available to carry out their duties for a set period of time, they are to notify the game administrators and specify when they expect to be able to resume their duties.
Absences of over 30 days must be approved or risk automatic removal. As a matter of courtesy, mods should post in the mod section when they will be offline for more than 3 days.

Diversity
Moderators will be chosen from the widest possible cross section of teams/groups/empires so as to adequately represent the SGW Community within this Forum.

Respect
Moderators are the leaders of these forums and are therefore expected to communicate and relate with other players in a respectful manner. This extends to posts and messages on this forum and within the game concerning forum matters.

Recruiting Process
To provide open disclosure in regards to the Recruitment Process, the Administrators will call for Expressions of interest to become a forum moderator quarterly within the main forum.
A review panel consisting of at least the 2 of the 3 Administrators will form a quorum and confidentially assess each candidate's application, based on its merit against the 3 guiding principles. All potential moderators will be accepted on a 30 day trial basis, after which time a formal review of their performance by the quorum of Administrators will be undertaken to decide whether they are suitable to be appointed as a Moderator.

Performance Reviews
Confidential Performance Reviews of all moderators will be conducted quarterly by the quorum of Administrators using the Guiding Principles.
A timely review will also be conducted if Administrators receive more than 3 serious complaints against a specific moderator within a 30 day period.


Signed Robe, ~Lore~ and Buck
Updated GameTime: Oct25 - 08:25

Well. Problems with admins is accountability... jason doesn't care. Ombudsman is powerless so who do they answer to? What makes them better than us that they should be beyond reproach? Nothing. Ideally Jason should run the forums himself... he has no alliegence and actually should be/is beyond reproach being for all intents and purposes God of the game.

I know how to sort the forums out.

Remove all Global mods and admins.
Re-elect Admins from three categories in different ways. Let Admins choose GM's.

First Cat: Veteran. This is someone who is a veteran forum user and has the account date to prove it (it can't be faked or debated). Veteran forum users know the community, know the forum history and if elected will be popular with the users who use the forums. This should be the user admin who deals with complaints and the forum users.

Second Cat: The Guide. Second admin should be elected from the last three admins by the former forum team (excluding admins). This should be the only way for an admin to be reelected. This admin should deal with teaching the other admins and should have absolutely no power in deciding forum team members fate.

Third Cat: Should be voted in by the forum team, old admins and users from the forum team. This should be the admin reponsible for internal affairs and hiring new mods/dealing with mod v mod disputes. Should be done publically. Users vote = vale of 50%. Admins vote = value of 25% and forum team value of 25%. This means prevents calculated voting from the forum team.

After the admins have been put in place then they should be allowed to bring a GM team of their choosing to the board. I would personally say 2 GM's per admin as an ideal number, otherwise one per admin and have 2 or so chosen by the others.

Leave blue mods in place and don't forget to rinse and repeat once a year!

[Noobert]

LOL why me ...

This seems like a pretty simple task.

Make the policy , implement...

Why you? You are posting about it, so suggest it. Less 'why' more action.

[Cole]

I would also ask of the users that we not loose faith and stand strong in the face of emotional reactions from the current admin/mod team.

Currently, it's not the admin/mod team that annoy me the most in this forum tbh, because unlike you seem to think, they have listened to suggestions and posted their arguments in the suggestions threads, whether it's in favor or not in favor...it's the few users who think they are some sort of populares tribunes during the late part of the Roman Republic (aggressive speeches against the "aristocracy/establishment" [mods] with many promises to the "masses" [users]). But we don't see them posting suggestion threads (or in the current ones) with their ideas in this section...

[MajorLeeHurts]

LOL why me ...

This seems like a pretty simple task.

Make the policy , implement...

Why you? You are posting about it, so suggest it. Less 'why' more action.

LOL I didnt make this suggestion thread. I did make a suggestion as did many others. Now that it is here even tho I do not believe it belongs here. I would suggest YOU discuss this in the mod forum as to how you would implement the requested changes to the service structure.

Please do let us know how YOU plan to address and rectify this current problem now that it has been brought to YOU ALL.