First of all, as far as enforcing rules goes, staff is above average compared to other servers I've been to. Even though this is obviously the main job of staff, they also represent the community of EMC. In my opinion, the way they represent the community is far below average. If I had recently joined EMC there is no way I would still be a part of the community. The length I've been here is basically the only reason I've stuck around. At least weekly I read a disappointing post/comment by a staff member. You have staff that will be openly rude when others get comments removed for having the same attitude. And you get sarcastic responses or false promises if you ask staff a question or have an issue. I have only been here a year, which isn't as long as many people have been, but over the year the staff have become more and more disappointing, especially senior staff. I know that age doesn't matter when it comes to hiring staff for EMC and a lot of younger members are mature enough to handle it. However, I do not feel like the teenagers that are our senior staff are mature enough to handle it. This has been made obvious on multiple occasions. If you try to talk to senior staff you will either be ignored or get a sarcastic/snarky reply. I'm not sure why those that choose staff feel like this is what our community wants/needs. No matter how many times this is brought up nothing is done. There will be comments saying "PM me and we'll discuss the issues you're having" for the public to see, but those PMs show zero interest in any issues the community might have. I'm just wondering when and if something will change. /end rant
I didn't mention a specific rude comment, so I'm not sure what you're talking about. This isn't about a specific situation. It's about the opinion I've developed over the last year.
Well when my account went rabid Matheus was sure quick on the temp ban. He wasn't rude when I repealed that very day.
If you want to look under the outpost claiming forum, there's lots of replies by senior staff that I wouldn't call professional. To be fair, staff do have a lot on their plate to deal with on EMC, but sadly some parts of your rant (not all of it) do hold true sometimes.
I do believe staff on emc are doing a really good job. I have been to many servers where they don't even have staff, I think we're very lucky to have them. Obviously no one is perfect and makes mistakes just like the staff team, they're not perfect, and I think krysyy knows this. I think there could be the odd imporvemt. I'd say that's how the staff team will get better - by identifing mistakes and taking suggestion to change them for the better. I can't say I've had an experience like this, where staff have been sarcastic, or some of the other things you've stated. But, in general I would say they are doing a good job at representing EMC and are genially funny people. By saying this I'm not criticising anything you have said, I just thought I'd have my little say, as I've got nothing else to do.
The thing I dislike about these threads like these are that they offer no solution. Everyone shares stories about the one time a staff member was having a bad day and didn't answer with as much enthusiasm as they should have. What?? Imagine that. Having an off day and coming home to a thread that's filled with pages bashing you about a single event. No one says what the staff might have been going through. No one offers a time when said staff member did an exceptional job. These threads are just.. eugh. /)_(\
You know, I have to say I agree, but it seems that whenever you say something that people don't agree with you get bashed on, so I'm not going to express my full opinion.
If we have no staff, we have no staff problems. Has nobody thought about this? #TotallyNoRepercussions
There are some good and bad staff I can agree on just like there is good cops and bad cops. I think sometimes a few bad ones can give the rest a bad names and we often distrust them after one of them screws up. I used to have tons of problems with some of them. What I do is start a PM with them to resolve things privately as that seems to be the best method of overcoming issues with anyone. If that doesn't work (like if they just don't care about what you have to say), then start a conversation with a Community Manager or vent to a senior staff. As much as I am friends with you Kaptrix, I really don't like the idea of threads about these issues because of what someone else mentioned, they are no solutions given in them. Its sort of just like ,'I don't like these people for these reasons, debate.' There really isn't a point other than to have an argument with someone else over it. If I made half of my debates with Krysyy Private Convos into public threads, they would fill the forums up indefinitely. But I like to keep things private as it doesn't necessarily include anyone else but an idea to be talked about one on one. - And thats how results are best made.
If you want to know why I meandered away is because of the staff. (Every single time) --- The first off-put is having a demeanor that he/she is better than regular players...and having perks non-related to staff roles. Used to, the 'stage' server was for testing and occasional builds ... Then it was focused on use for the build team... Now it's a "get away" for any staff to hang out while going in mumble to be in their own private channel. Ability to walk on a residence - If he/she can't even look in your chests to see if you stole something, there's no reason for a moderator to walk onto/teleport into your private projects (I've had this happen with atleast 8) Teleporting to you freely - I have been in the wild/waste multiple times and had a staff just randomly teleport to me. It's creepy enough having someone watch you, when you like to be alone - But another when you have to watch where you go because you're being stalked without a probable cause for concern. The majority of senior staff and above didn't know a single thing about world edit and voxel (some still don't) yet were promoted - Even though, one of the main 'jobs' of being senior staff was to world edit residences/sidewalks for individuals On top of this, I have seen certain staff world edit in blocks/materials onto his/her residences that are not otherwise allowed into emc (ie. summon command for armour stands with arms If it's a build for your personal residence, you should abide by using material everyone else has to Which was actually one of the same statements that got me demoted from bug team... Which is a statement that gets me lectured everytime for bringing it up... If you don't know something, please don't fake it or act like you do - There have been so many staff b.s. to my face on facts I know not to be true...Everyone likes to look impressing for knowing things, but it's better to not say anything if you don't know something, than to make up something. --- Staff talk about drama/complain just as much as regular players; yet talking back/making remarks? you better watch out Some current staff have said absolutely deplorable things to other members/about other members in chat or in mumble ... Yet somehow ended up becoming staff or having other staff/members back up his/her statements that what he/she 'said' wasn't true. --- If you need a staff member, it's hard to come by/or hard to find someone... If there's a thread that's even in the slightest 'against their belief' you'll see him/her magically appear, comment in a thread, and usually lock it. --- I also dislike the fact that every single developer besides Aikar, actually never developed for Bukkit before - and if I mention a bug report/code improvement/code suggestion to any of them ... They have no clue what i'm talking about... Honestly, it's been over three years, there have been plenty of Bukkit/Spigot developers (Not meaning me) ...yet everytime it's been the individuals who have to learn everything from scratch who are asked? It's not a matter of needing them to be staff (What I was told in the past) ...the majority have never 'been' staff... It's a matter of you needing individuals who already know quite a lot about developing so you get the job done quickly and efficiently... My Solution: Break the friend zone and break the green club... I have heard almost everyone complain that "Once you become mod, the majority aren't even staff, they're just individuals who obtain a green name and have perks" ... okay, then prove you're not just part of a club. Why did you apply for staff? Did you apply so you could have free perks, or did you apply to help the community? There have been so many individuals on smp2 and smp6 ask for help, yet no staff was around... Should being staff be about just banning individuals, or about trying to help the community? I believe you should also be denied access to stage, if you're not part of the build team (Build team leader, where are you?) nor a developer. What ever happened to YouTube videos? If you're not making videos, should you really be in a YouTube team? Same goes with contributor and other roles... If you're in it for the title and not the actual 'job description' ...why keep the role? If none of the developers know anything about a question related to Bukkit/Spigot ...that's normal... but if you're too lazy to fix something that can be game-breaking or exploitable because you don't feel like it... I don't believe you're fit to be a developer. If you aren't contributing to the community anymore (you don't even play) ...You shouldn't even be staff anymore (There's still a few...) If you're only staff to host events - You should be given a different role (not mod, not senior staff, not even admin... but an event manager of sorts) -on top of that... I feel new games should be made; For the past year I've only seen the same events be recycled over and over on the front page ... with the same staff ... and the Games/Events server isn't even released -A lot of the players go over to minigames servers as well as this server, so he/she can play things to occupy time ... then come back to here to slow-down a bit... -Most however, have been drifting more towards the other servers and less towards here ... Peace time, being alone on your residence is fun and all, but events and talking is what draws the individuals back... If you are not investigating someone and need to be invisible, don't be invisible... It just seems and looks creepy... and when you respond to posts (seeming to be away, but not) it 'is' creepy. Don't give people a reason to think you're going to ban them on the fly ... There have been many times in mumble where I go to a channel and people are cursing/joking freely ... as soon as staff join the channel (some are fine) others start acting dictatorial ... as long as someone isn't outwardly dissing an individual or constantly spamming, there's no reason to intervene .... It's better to have a fun and lively community than a controlled, uneasy community Things get repetitive, don't get lazy... I have reported individuals in the past for having inappropriate names - Then I get told off in mumble not-to because he/she was getting them too often. If you don't want to do it, let someone else do it - but if someone's name is inappropriate, it's inappropriate (There's name-changes now, too, so there's no reason for him/her to be unable to change them) ...I'm tired of typing, so that's all I'll say ... Edit: Just realized everyone likes to complain more than compliment ...We all went to this thread instead of a thread about happy ponies riding on rainbows... I hate saying things that seem detrimental - However, if you want to fix problems, you need to know problems ... No one said anything comes easy.
Maybe it's because these issues are too often being made public when they should be dealt with privately. A PM will always produce more results then a blast in public view. But you have to chase it down. If they don't reply keep pushing and still nothing then it needs to be taken higher. If it's not worth the effort to try to resolve it then it can't really be that much of an issue. And please don't think this is a 'bash you cuz your wrong' comment. I neither agree or disagree with you. I've had my own experiences and I like to keep them private. I've also had many dealing with you in the past and you've always come across and a nice friendly person. I'm sure you've also had your moments when you're in a bad mood about something or just hate things and it may come across to others as some of the things you're talking about now. Same can be said for mods and SS. They will have their moments as well. Long story short, we are all trying to be a better community here and IMO threads like this will only add more to the splits and create 'sides' when we should be trying to get better as a whole and make positive critics and less of these. Just how I feel. I mean no disrespect to any previous comments.
I am one who has had personal issues before including a temp ban that was given at me just for hatred towards me. I remember the days before Zion was staff and he and I always talked about our issues with the staff. I suggest the staff do better as it could even be costing us players.
I could never take any problems 'higher'...The only things ever said, every time I tried, were: That's not my job Things are fine as-is I trust <name> ; They wouldn't do that Someone brings up the issues in a thread to have the problems known; he/she knowingly lies and says they didn't know about the issues (or tries to cover up 'said' issues)(even though they told us prior they wrote down notes) Then tell individuals, that if he/she 'does' have issues to take it to a PM ... In turn threatening him/her in a PM to not cause public drama or that they'd be Banned ... Causing an un-ease in the community because no-one can stay quiet about issues... (Staff and players alike) ...more threads being made, more rants being posted, more staff disliking what is said, more threads being closed... ...in turn having an endless cycle of laziness, silent hatred, and discontent towards each other and fixing problems... If you can make a player uneasy enough to not want to play, I think you're doing something wrong... If the players say a few things/does a few things (not breaking the rules) yet you act vindictive - Then a staff position isn't right for you. ----- Not all staff are like this... Not all players are like this... Not all players have the guts to express their opinions freely without feeling there's always repercussions ...but if you have something to express that is related to the community, it should be public knowledge, and not keep being kept quiet and having to lie to pretend it never happened. ----- However* unless the concerns are mass 'concerning' (aka if the issue is only between a few individuals) it should really be kept between the few individuals instead of having everyone be brought into the issues, causing discord. ps: I don't hate any staff, I just dislike actions done (or lack having done) towards individuals.
I remember the first question that the staff application had was how often do you play on EMC? Yet at every promotion there seems to be a holiday spreed of the new appointed members. (This comes to look like "I made it lets take a break now") EDIT: accidently pressed post button. I reckon new staff should moderate forums for a few months before being considered for ingame staff. This would show how dedicated they will really be. "I believe you should also be denied access to stage, if you're not part of the build team (Build team leader, where are you?) nor a developer. What ever happened to YouTube videos? If you're not making videos, should you really be in a YouTube team? Same goes with contributor and other roles... If you're in it for the title and not the actual 'job description' ...why keep the role?" I Agree, don't forget to mention the yoyo effect that some staff seem to get, between getting staff, stepping down, then being staff again. How committed can one be if they can be staff when they choose to. "Don't give people a reason to think you're going to ban them on the fly ... There have been many times in mumble where I go to a channel and people are cursing/joking freely ... as soon as staff join the channel (some are fine) others start acting dictatorial" This and the fact that staff had started listening into channels they weren't in made me break away from the mumble scene and go to private TeamSpeak. PS: I noticed that sometimes in my late nights here in my time zone there is no staff online when random players are abusing chat. Yet all we can do is just report and hope a staff see it when they login later on.
Well I don't know what to tell you. I've had my issues here and did what I recommended and have never been given anything short of help or resolve. As for this being a community problem .. this is not a community problem this is individuals with problems and should not be made public. It only adds fuel to the fire and will never accomplish anything.
You can't please everyone all the time. Especially when you're in an authoritative position. I am all for open and honest discussions among the community, but it just feels to me that threads of these nature just serve to "bash" or gang-up on staff members. No one is perfect, I'm sure there are valid complaints. However, overall I feel like our staff does a great job and that they try their best to be fair and impartial.
Good suggestion. (*claps sarcastically*) If you want to make a suggestion, don't just tell the staff to do better. Suggest to them how to do better. Again, what Dufne said... you've offered no solution, just recalled one event that didn't go your way. [6/18/2016 edit] Naw, it's Mustanglover, and this suggestion is so incredibly dumb and unhelpful; this post is staying
