February 2014 Staff Critique

[Aran Finn]

First things first, you guys are doing an excellent job. I've been on many boards before this one, and have even been an Admin myself, so I can think I can safely say that I've never seen a board of this size run so efficiently. The Factory is an amazing resource that seems very well run, writers have freedom of speech here that other boards lack, and though of course there is a ton of drama on this board, that's a people problem, not a staff problem. Sure Valen wasn't great and didn't really attract my interest, but not every event will be a wild success.

My one criticism is the previously mentioned passing of all the Major Factions during the last cull. I would have been a lot more brutal, to be honest. The map looks a little cluttered, and I feel that a few of the factions are either not active enough to make a real contribution to the board or are vanity projects that add very little and will never really take off. Start a forest fire, clear out some of the dead wood and let others rise from the ashes and the remaining Major Factions can fight over the scraps of fallen empires. To me, that would mark some progress and evolution. If there isn't the demand for a faction, why whip a dead horse? To be clear, I don't believe there's a staff bias towards any one faction, just that some factions aren't really worth keeping around in my opinion. Sure, a lot of hard work was put into every Major Faction, but if it doesn't work anymore, it doesn't work anymore.

My two cents.

 

[Jsc]

• Why we passed all Factions this Check-In
• Don't care. The pressure might have created a few fixes though.

• Why Valen wasn't that great and why Soliael's still a cool dude
• I enjoyed Valen for as long, and obnoxiously little, as I participated. Soliael worked his butt off and earned a round of applause.

• Why Members Keep Raging & Staff Keeps Giving In
• Democracy is nice when everyone is righteous. Experimenting never hurts either. Tef give'th and Tef take'th away. Meh.

• Who's Banned & Why
• Don't know anybody who is banned.

• Who on earth gave Ayden Member of the Month and was it the same person who capped Circe
• This isn't a thing. Bravo to both fellas.

• Why events struggle
• Because mass PvP is a god-forsaken, unformatted, machine-gun posting mess

• OP favoritism
• Cool story bro!

• The retarded hashtag meta that is #TyrannyReigns
• We get it. Staff is tired of dealing with stupid people. Well surprise! It's the Internet and 'Stupid' isn't a violation of the Terms of Service. Big woop. Suck it up Staffers. If you're unhappy with the community, then teach them. If your disgruntled, bless them. If it's about you, make it about them. Contrary to popular belief, this site isn't made great because of Staff. This site isn't awesome because Tef is generally awesome. It's made great for the collaborative vision, community, and creativity that is the writers. It's everybody. It is us.

#ThisCommunityRocks <--- Now that is a hashtag we can all get behind. Screw Tefs ego. You guys rock! Way to go team.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

Naw, #TyrannyReigns

 

[Jsc]

Fine. I'll go back to making Ceel jokes.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

<3 u Jay

 

[Jsc]

No seriously, I've still got some awesome TGC photo-manips right here. Just wait, you'll love em.

 

[Nikolas Faselli]

#ThisCommunityRocks

 

[Tefka]

I can get behind the new hash tag, I think it's time for a new one. Now, for the rumors that OP is a Staff faction.

It's all true. I buried some money on Fondor and I don't want the Atrisians to get their dirty paws on it.

Seriously though, the rumors stem from bored people on Skype who got mad because I told Staff to relax our definition of "active" when verifying check-ins so that Black Sun, the Mandalorians, and OP would pass. Can't please everyone, and you can yell "Staff Faction" until you're blue in the face, but I honestly don't care.

The problem is a Major Faction as large as OP or the Mandalorians and has the history of existing almost an entire year deserve to fail a check in but not be wiped wholly from the map. The rules we're imposing to tackle this issue just passed Staff Vote and will be announced in the coming days. There will be punishment for failing a check-in, for every faction, but that punishment will no longer be "immediately disappear". I will not answer questions about this until the new rules are announced.

I asked Staff to do their best to let all Major Factions pass the Check-In because we didn't want to announce the new rules in the middle of a check-in, and we no longer agreed that a Major Faction should be deleted from the map overnight. A years worth of work, all undone in one night.

I've got more on my plate than just one Major Faction. I've got 350 characters a day, 800 people visiting a day, 1300 posts to moderate a day, a new event to plan, a Factory, a map to maintenance, lava crunch cakes from Dominos to eat, and video games to play. And more importantly, a team of intelligent, professional Staff Members to lead.

Why would we care about one Major Faction so much that we'd risk all of that just to keep them around. Ya'll can be silly sometimes.

 

[Nikolas Faselli]

Well, I myself think, that the staff was doing the right thing with these three factions. But I think maybe a faction should lose a few planets with every check-in they don't pass. This way they won't lose all of their work, but will get a punishment or something... Just a thought that came into my mind with all that stuff going on.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

#StaffConspiracies

 

[Tefka]

Well, I myself think, that the staff was doing the right thing with these three factions. But I think maybe a faction should lose a few planets with every check-in they don't pass. This way they won't lose all of their work, but will get a punishment or something... Just a thought that came into my mind with all that stuff going on.

I yield. Here's the new rules.

http://starwarsrp.net/topic/17978-faction-deterioration-rules/

 

[Valiens Nantaris]

a team of intelligent, professional Staff Members to lead

Really? I'd like to meet them some day....

 

[Nikolas Faselli]

#DaStaffRulez

 

[Sarge Potteiger]

Really? I'd like to meet them some day....

I would too

 

[Soliath Devin Talith]

Why Valen wasn't that great and why Soliael's still a cool dude I enjoyed Valen for as long, and obnoxiously little, as I participated. Soliael worked his butt off and earned a round of applause.

 

[Darth Athora]

And Soliael too. Soliael is god-tier. Can't believe I forgot him.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

Though this isn't something that personally applies to me, it's something I've heard in confidence from quite a few people in the last couple of weeks since I've been back. Some fraction of the board population isn't comfortable talking with most of staff, because they feel they'll be pressured, bullied, or talked down to. There's also the persistent and ugly perception that the winner in any given debate is the person who has the most staffers as friends. Part of all this is, so far as I can tell, real -- and part of what I'm hearing is probably what Tef would call 'a you problem' -- but I've noticed a few cases where staffers could have tried harder to act fairly or stay out of the way in debates where they have a vested interest, or where they could have tried harder to come across as approachable. It's one thing to solve a problem efficiently, but when you do so in a way that ensures the next five problems won't come to you, efficiency is counterproductive.

 

[Atlas Kane]

I agreez. Luv u guyz. Especially Jebby <3

 

[Tefka]

Though this isn't something that personally applies to me, it's something I've heard in confidence from quite a few people in the last couple of weeks since I've been back. Some fraction of the board population isn't comfortable talking with most of staff, because they feel they'll be pressured, bullied, or talked down to. There's also the persistent and ugly perception that the winner in any given debate is the person who has the most staffers as friends. Part of all this is, so far as I can tell, real -- and part of what I'm hearing is probably what Tef would call 'a you problem' -- but I've noticed a few cases where staffers could have tried harder to act fairly or stay out of the way in debates where they have a vested interest, or where they could have tried harder to come across as approachable. It's one thing to solve a problem efficiently, but when you do so in a way that ensures the next five problems won't come to you, efficiency is counterproductive.

It's commonplace to hear that from the Skype rumor mill, but I don't have the luxury of speculating. I'm also extremely confused by your last two sentences, unless the latter is a reference back to Staff bullying members.

Which we totes do, btw. We only do the Staff critique thing as a misdirection while we secretly whip members in the dungeons.

-________-

 

[Nikolas Faselli]

#TyrannyReigns...