A Call for Network Simplification.
by
gobernment
May 2, 2016 at 9:05 PM UTC
Avicus has continued to have a very strong pact for Minecraft, and is under the most waves of changes ever seen for the network in its current state: policies, protections, ranks, promotions, demotions, and more. However, these changes have not adapted properly to the network and have ultimately caused a very messy structure that many people have not advised.
Let's start with policies. Policies, the senior team's favorite word (which is not exactly a bad thing, but is in the wrong mindset as of now.) Policies, being a problem in itself, has caused more problems than it's helped: We see a lot of policies for slight things, or ones that are either unnecessary or can be cut down into just one manual for staff rather than 4 separate documents, and then cutting it into divisions and then more structure. With how it is now, some senior moderators ultimately have not even been able to memorize these policies, causing stronger problems by being part of the root of inconsistent decisions, and overall, confusion. Policies are meant to serve as a corrective behavior, and define an action as to what such a purpose would be necessary to have and be. Well, we also have along with this constant policy revamps for a server that peaks at 40 players (as of 5/2/16 after school in majority for 5:21PM EST), and on weekends up to 80-100. These policies aren't necessary, they're our demise.
We don't need policies for common-sense and commonplace daily things. We don't need that much direction in how mods rule, because they are restricted to no judgement (which, in some cases, judgement can be good). Everything is in the senior staff's hands, and without any outside support, it can ultimately be that the seniors can make the wrong decision with that policy, and ending up having another mistake out of control of the other members of staff. We get apologies constantly, but within the last week alone multiple things have gone wrong, in which the senior moderators have been informed of it and the official response is "we can try not to do that anymore, I'll talk to the others about it".
We have to abolish most of these policies, and just have one simple page and appendixes where mods can look up to something that they need. This should be easier to just condense things rather than expand and complicate the network.
Let's go on to ranks. We're a super small server. We don't need so many ranks for the network, and in which case everytime we introduce a new rank, the community is not keen on it and it just causes more spaghetti in the infastructure of the server. We need only but a few ranks: Administrators, Senior Moderators, Moderators, Junior Moderators, Map Developers, Developers, and the Tournament Committee. Currently, we have a ton of spinoffs such as the Assembly, committees of media and advertisement, junior map developers, head map developers, branch ranks, managers, and much more.
A lot of those can prove redundant, as for one the assembly should be on behalf of the whole staff team and not select special users, and the others are easily assignable to departments or just individual tasks that don't need a ton of people. The only one that is arguable is Translators, but that's already organized by crowdin and slack, in which a rank is not necessary as they have no perms different than a regular user, and they are not in immediate demand for contact. Actually, our tournament scene is very small, we don't host them often, but we had up to 4 ranks for that. We could just condense that, or make them be managed on behalf of the staff team as a whole and encourage unity.
For one example, the manager rank. That got thrown under the bus by everyone, got removed, then readded within 2 days, still causing confusion and frustration within the community. There have been statements to repurpose the rank, but the rank is nothing to purpose that a senior moderator or admin can't do.
I'll add more later, my wrists hurt after doing draft after draft. Hopefully it gets heard.
Another thing that would really help is having a goal.
Right now, Avicus is blindly adding copious amounts of crap (yes, crap) to the server in terms of ranks, policies and other stuff. We need a goal.
Do we want to be the server with the best gameplay? Or have the best community?
If we can establish one, simple goal, then work at it until we achieve it, we can continue to grow the network from there. It's all about taking steps to the prize.
You can argue that we need to simplify due to Avicus' server size, but that is what separates us from other servers. I have never seen a server that has more structure than Avicus. I don't like to play on other servers because I feel like they aren't built like Avicus is.
You can argue that we need to simplify due to Avicus' server size, but that is what separates us from other servers. I have never seen a server that has more structure than Avicus. I don't like to play on other servers because I feel like they aren't built like Avicus is.
I'm talking more internally in terms of server structure. Occasionally, these internal issues (which should not be in the communities' eyes such as drama) are carried out for the wrong people to see. Staff problems should keep their problems private, and other servers (who are super large like Mineplex) have obviously more built to them.
Usually, it becomes more confusing. We just need to be better internally.
I agree with all of this, but have you noticed you keep making this threads?
Nothing will stick, as the higher ranking staff members can't make up their mind. These topics are great, but changing policies will keep confusion there.
Also, I haven't seen a translator do anything yet, is it just me or am I just blind?
I agree with all of this, but have you noticed you keep making this threads?
Nothing will stick, as the higher ranking staff members can't make up their mind. These topics are great, but changing policies will keep confusion there.
Also, I haven't seen a translator do anything yet, is it just me or am I just blind?
Pretty sure translators will do stuff in Atlas behind the scenes, but in the public eye- no, they won't be sticking out.
They gotta reach an equilibrium mayne. The problem with avicus is not that there's so much policies, but that they is all introduced all at once and that's not flexible enough. Everything that's written down should be written down so that it can be changed later, not into stone. You should start out with a framework with an end goal in mind and cut/edit/add as needed, according to different staff cultures and ideas. It's not so much that things need to be democratised, no, but things should be relatively easy for any staff member to suggest a change and actually get it put thru. That's the real problem really, I think there's a quite a bit of incompetency in adapting the server as it's changing. Ppl assume that super strong guidelines will automatically improve staff and server quality. Again, not entirely wrong, but ppl is taking it way to much to heart and overcompensating. In summary, what they really need is a strong, robust staff that's easily adaptable and can be trusted to make decision on their own. They should also be able to be trusted to make reasonable ideas and contribute to the growth of the server, in addition to just pure moderation. There's a reason why there's different government employees doing management and those that actually carry things out.
I'm talking more internally in terms of server structure. Occasionally, these internal issues (which should not be in the communities' eyes such as drama) are carried out for the wrong people to see. Staff problems should keep their problems private, and other servers (who are super large like Mineplex) have obviously more built to them.
Usually, it becomes more confusing. We just need to be better internally.
Staff problems should keep their problems private Yes!! Someone other than me actually said this! The community doesn't need to know every single problem that the staff has.
Yes!!! Everything people have said on this post is 100% true, now let's actually do something about it, instead of just reading it, agreeing and ignoring it, please? No? k ;c
@Frozen- Yes, working toward a goal would be awesome, it seems like half the staff is trying to improve game play and community isn't all that important, then the other half is trying to improve the community and game play isn't all that important. If the staff can agree on one thing to try to get a system that works and can help with one of those, then they can move on to the other and focus on that. I personally think community is more important, it's what makes me stay here, if the community was terrible and the game play was like it is now, I would have left a long time ago and not really looked back. Making friends and talking with people is more important then the game play, if you're having fun with friends, then the game play shouldn't be much of an issue.
Staff problems should keep their problems private Yes!! Someone other than me actually said this! The community doesn't need to know every single problem that the staff has.
Wouldn't that like be breaking the code of conduct for staff?
They gotta reach an equilibrium mayne. The problem with avicus is not that there's so much policies, but that they is all introduced all at once and that's not flexible enough. Everything that's written down should be written down so that it can be changed later, not into stone. You should start out with a framework with an end goal in mind and cut/edit/add as needed, according to different staff cultures and ideas. It's not so much that things need to be democratised, no, but things should be relatively easy for any staff member to suggest a change and actually get it put thru. That's the real problem really, I think there's a quite a bit of incompetency in adapting the server as it's changing. Ppl assume that super strong guidelines will automatically improve staff and server quality. Again, not entirely wrong, but ppl is taking it way to much to heart and overcompensating. In summary, what they really need is a strong, robust staff that's easily adaptable and can be trusted to make decision on their own. They should also be able to be trusted to make reasonable ideas and contribute to the growth of the server, in addition to just pure moderation. There's a reason why there's different government employees doing management and those that actually carry things out.
Exactly. When I left I gave jozz an incomplete version of what I wanted the policies to be. Its main focus was on a 'code of conduct' which pretty much outlined the attributes you needed and as long as you adhered to them and had common sense, you would thrive in the team.
Pathos, big ambitions, image of intense activity - that is why it happens. Maybe senior staff sees a great future of this server somewhere, but, I think, it is only a light in the end of the tunnel. They have no motivation to improve the server. They get some profit and that's all. Yes, yes, Atlas update, great Atlas. But how much time has passed since last big update? Mmm? #rip
Pathos, big ambitions, image of intense activity - that is why it happens. Maybe senior staff sees a great future of this server somewhere, but, I think, it is only a light in the end of the tunnel. They have no motivation to improve the server. They get some profit and that's all. Yes, yes, Atlas update, great Atlas. But how much time has passed since last big update? Mmm? #rip
No motivation to improve the server..? You definitely do not see everything that happens, and we are and will be trying our best to improve the Network.
Profit..? This is completely and utterly voluntary, so I don't see what profit is evident except the contentness of seeing improvement.
No motivation to improve the server..? You definitely do not see everything that happens, and we are and will be trying our best to improve the Network.
Profit..? This is completely and utterly voluntary, so I don't see what profit is evident except the contentness of seeing improvement.
I see lags and bugs, i see 14 players online, i see only DTM active, i see no changes last year. It is not good. When i joined McZone, it was much better with same games and subservers. Maybe you work hard "behind the scene", but it seems to me, your job is being dissipated :/ Of course, if i'm right, only owner and devs get profit, maybe admins too. And you are working for "seeing improvement".
Thank you for your view on this, definitely will be taken into consideration, Para.
I'm not sure what you're motivation here is, but how about providing some of your own criticism or ideas instead of defaulting to 'ye, we'll look into it'
Same with you Arigenn. Praising master cow, yet probably not doing anything to solve the issues
I'm not sure what you're motivation here is, but how about providing some of your own criticism or ideas instead of defaulting to 'ye, we'll look into it'
Same with you Arigenn. Praising master cow, yet probably not doing anything to solve the issues
* I agree with the idea of simplification, mainly due to the fact of the shrink in player-base size.
No need to oversimplicate, but I have expressed previously that we need to take a step back right now, and review what we've done and focus on what we need to improve on, listen to community opinion, and think more critically on decisions we make.
I believe in recent times, we have been rushing into things that should not have been rushed into, and just fixing the rushed decisions alone would fix numerous issues that are staff-based.
If we begin to take the community opinion more seriously, and ideas from several staff-members into opinion, as well as deducing problems effectively, and simplifying some issues; we could greatly decrease a lot of the issues that are consistently occurring.
Just a matter of motivation and concern, but we will be discussing more about this soon with the team.
* I agree with the idea of simplification, mainly due to the fact of the shrink in player-base size.
No need to oversimplicate, but I have expressed previously that we need to take a step back right now, and review what we've done and focus on what we need to improve on, listen to community opinion, and think more critically on decisions we make.
I believe in recent times, we have been rushing into things that should not have been rushed into, and just fixing the rushed decisions alone would fix numerous issues that are staff-based.
If we begin to take the community opinion more seriously, and ideas from several staff-members into opinion, as well as deducing problems effectively, and simplifying some issues; we could greatly decrease a lot of the issues that are consistently occurring.
Just a matter of motivation and concern, but we will be discussing more about this soon with the team.
>need to take a step back right now and review what we've done This has got to me the biggest cop-out I've ever heard. For a start, you're obviously unaware of the issues so what exactly are you reviewing? That and why on earth would you step back from attempts and resolving things? Just discuss issues and implement fixes
>and focus on what we need to improve on, listen to community opinion, If this involves surveys. Someone is getting their neck wringed
EDIT: I removed a comment I made about some of the words you used. Check a thesaurus or something before using big words. Its what I do!
>need to take a step back right now and review what we've done This has got to me the biggest cop-out I've ever heard. For a start, you're obviously unaware of the issues so what exactly are you reviewing? That and why on earth would you step back from attempts and resolving things? Just discuss issues and implement fixes
>and focus on what we need to improve on, listen to community opinion, If this involves surveys. Someone is getting their neck wringed
EDIT: I removed a comment I made about some of the words you used. Check a thesaurus or something before using big words. Its what I do!
If it's a survey this post will self-destruct in 5 minutes
> The step-back was not meant to be literal like you took it. Meant as in taking a step back to cool off, think before decisions, as in reviewing the decisions we make and may possibly make, etc. Referring to the decisions we have made, as the one's to look back on and discuss (not the unknown because we obviously don't know..)
I've said it before and I'll say it again, we really don't need a 20 page staff policy, some rules are broken since no one really wants to read all of that, so it's not very effective.
This thread basically covers points that people have already been talking about.
It is already well known that the community isn't happy with avicus' policies and ranks at the moment.
As "awesome" as this thread is, it's just rehashing points that have already been talked about. The sad thing is, after all this talk nothing has been done about it.
Let's take something that has been discussed before as an example. The staff spotlight.
We don't need the Admin and Manager team to focus on the staff spotlight. Instead of making that a priority, make reviewing polices and ranks a priority.
Listen to the community.
No-one asked for the staff spotlight to be prioritised, yet you make it an official Mangerial task!
Now, when the whole community says "fix your overcomplicated polices and remove your worthless ranks" nothing gets done about it.
Get your priorities straight and work on tasks that are actually important.
What I'm confused about is staff conduct. I've realized certain moderators show horrible impressions to new players. I always experience certain moderators (not calling out who) who rage in teamspeak, ignore problems, and are just there for a mod rank.
A couple of days ago, there were about 9 staff members on, all in a scrim. While many people reported a certain player, no one took the responsibility to hand out a consequence. I'm sorry, but how is this right? On staff applications, I remember a question asking about what you would do in this situation. Yet, I don't see a staff member reflect his/her duties.
Another situation that is absolutely absurd is about a week ago, there were 3 people commenting racial slurs. As I recall, some statements were "All Muslims were rapists and terrorists", ISIS will prevail"." We should kill all the Muslims". Yet, when a moderator comes on (not calling out who) and sees this in front of him, I almost made a report on him because I was pissed off. He has the wits to say "Cool your jets" and then leaves. It's quite funny how the staff team works.
Policies need to be revised and set down once and for all. In my opinion, there needs to be a community voice. Opinions from players should be heard. It gets tiring to hear a staff member repeat "this will be taken into consideration" and "this survey is to help us know what we should do".
Off with my rant. Also, if this is sloppy. I apologize. I spent about 8 hours straight on studies, so I'm super tired.
What I'm confused about is staff conduct. I've realized certain moderators show horrible impressions to new players. I always experience certain moderators (not calling out who) who rage in teamspeak, ignore problems, and are just there for a mod rank.
A couple of days ago, there were about 9 staff members on, all in a scrim. While many people reported a certain player, no one took the responsibility to hand out a consequence. I'm sorry, but how is this right? On staff applications, I remember a question asking about what you would do in this situation. Yet, I don't see a staff member reflect his/her duties.
Another situation that is absolutely absurd is about a week ago, there were 3 people commenting racial slurs. As I recall, some statements were "All Muslims were rapists and terrorists", ISIS will prevail"." We should kill all the Muslims". Yet, when a moderator comes on (not calling out who) and sees this in front of him, I almost made a report on him because I was pissed off. He has the wits to say "Cool your jets" and then leaves. It's quite funny how the staff team works.
Policies need to be revised and set down once and for all. In my opinion, there needs to be a community voice. Opinions from players should be heard. It gets tiring to hear a staff member repeat "this will be taken into consideration" and "this survey is to help us know what we should do".
Off with my rant. Also, if this is sloppy. I apologize. I spent about 8 hours straight on studies, so I'm super tired.
Totally agree. Maybe you can report bad staff members to Kylo.
Totally agree. Maybe you can report bad staff members to Kylo.
You're supposed to report them to the seniors. Only report to Kylo if it's an unruly admin, but that doesn't seem to be the case anymore (the senior staff team probably would the admin out). If anything we need a policy for, it'd be a system of removing admins
You're supposed to report them to the seniors. Only report to Kylo if it's an unruly admin, but that doesn't seem to be the case anymore (the senior staff team probably would the admin out). If anything we need a policy for, it'd be a system of removing admins
You're supposed to report them to the seniors. Only report to Kylo if it's an unruly admin, but that doesn't seem to be the case anymore (the senior staff team probably would the admin out). If anything we need a policy for, it'd be a system of removing admins
Actually there is a policy if you cared to read the 20 page staff policy.
I don't have the new policy though and if I can forget about a sentence in 20 pages then others could also.
Part of the problem. Can you tell me what it says?
POLICY 5.2 - Administrator Demotions
Administrator demotions are handled by the senior moderator team. An administrator may only be demoted if there is an unanimous vote within the server staff team. No other user or group may impeach an administrator. An administrator or senior moderator should be given 3 days before demotion to wrap up projects, prepare posts, clear up things, assist with others in transition, and contribute final works before gone. They are alerted before their demotion, and after the third day, gone.
Groups that are formed to assemble and impeach a senior moderator or administrator should be given no mind and ignored, as shutting them down causes unnecessary drama. If there are valid complaints, it should be processed through the owner.
I don't have the new policy though and if I can forget about a sentence in 20 pages then others could also.
Part of the problem. Can you tell me what it says?
I was just kidding, you can see if you look at my previous post I completely agree with you. :)
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