I think that we should have a form of Staff called Staff in training so people who want to become Staff can learn what it is like. They will only be able to mute or ban people with permission from another Staff member. I will take full responsibility for the program.
The current way we have currently is perfect(ish). If a player feels that they know the rules well enough to officially enforce them, they can apply for moderatorship and answer questions based off of what Staff handle on a daily basis* *may not be daily
First, Ill be the odd ball out : I do see a small bit reasoning hidden in here; I was a camp counselor who had CIT's (counselors in training) working under me.. and its a good stepping block for someone who's hesitant of the weight of responsibility, or wants to build confidence/ a name for themselves, and it never hurts to have an extra set of hands around. Unfortunatly, I don't think it's a great idea for our community because there's no way to provide the one-on-one mentor-ship and supervision that would be required for this type of program..... As others have said, what you are describing is what I imagine your first few days of training as a mod would be like. I also feel that a position like this would give too many players an over inflated sense of (importance?) without the associated effort and responsibility. I think the best bet for players who aren't yet ready to apply for mod would just to be active in the chats; be helpful, respectful, informative, and gently remind others of the rules when needed. Build your own reputation, people will notice, and they will remember.
For as long as i've been here... no Forum staff have been suggested - and a few mods basically 'are' forum mods, as you never see them in game... But as for titles or specifics, there hasn't been forum staff nor trial mods. ---- on most of the successful servers i've seen, you actually have multiple admin handling the staff under them, basically taking shifts you then have a lot of players under them, that you'd normally call 'mod' that handle the bans and you also have forum mods whose specific workmanship is to read over the chat or threads under those mods, they have helpers that can report players to them to be determined for bans ... and they can also mute players and put them on a watch list... ---- on emc we don't need 'helpers' to report individuals, you just need to use /report but having players able to fully help mods, should never be out of the question, cause there may always come a place and time where more help is needed.
With all due respect; I really don't like being negative (also because I know how nasty a negative comment can sound when you came up with something which you think is a great idea). Having said that; this is a bad idea. If you want training then simply follow their lead. Pay attention when people start correcting others and pay even more attention when a staff member shows up to warn or corrects someone. And pay extra attention when a staff member shows up and doesn't interfere in any way. The first step, in my opinion, is to get to learn the current situation; when they step in and when they don't. Simple reason: staff members aren't there for themselves, they are here to help us. And it doesn't help us when a "trainee" needs to ask permission first before they can step in. Because during that time the offender can still continue the unwanted behavior, which in some cases can only escalate even further. My honest opinion? You don't need moderator privileges to help the server out. It doesn't work all the time, and you have to be very careful if you do this (because you always risk making things worse), but even without privileges you can still help keep the peace. For example by friendly telling someone that they're breaking the rules and why that isn't appreciated. Sometimes it even helps if you explain to them that their actions work counter productive. Honest; some people simply don't realize that if they (continue to) spam that others will only add them to their ignore list, thus lessening their chances of getting people to visit their shop. Merely explaining this to a spammer can sometimes (but not always!) be enough to convince them to stop. Want training? Then I'd start here.
