Staff Shuffle!

[Legobricks]

A lot of people joining onto and dropping off of the staff in the past weeks, months, whatever. In my time here I've never observed this so much, so I imagine it's something worth asking about. What are the reasons for these movements (if they're personal or I'm not allowed to ask then nevermind)? Is anyone on temporary leave or are they all indefinite?

Stuff like that, if there's anything more to say then please do, though I'm not out for anything overly specific; it would just be nice to have a greater sense of what's going on without the need for digging through the blogs and VMs of individuals. Perhaps you (ie. administration) could use the forum announcement function to notify members of staff changes, reasons or not.

 

[Ho-Oh]

Apart from Christos and Manipulation, everyone who isn't on staff now (but was in the last few weeks), is on a DLOA (demoted leave of absence for those who don't know). It just happened that a lot of the staff have things come up in their personal lives around this time. Lately, a lot of other staff have been taking DLOAs and came back, too.

Though notification of this stuff is best kept in a seperate forum, where we let each other know if we're going to be inactive. Most of the time, the DLOAs are only for about a two week period or so.

As for other staff members in the last few months, if they're not on the staff now, then they're not staff anymore. Sorry, it's kind of hard to disclose much here.

 

[Nick]

it would just be nice to have a greater sense of what's going on without the need for digging through the blogs and VMs of individuals. Perhaps you (ie. administration) could use the forum announcement function to notify members of staff changes, reasons or not.

I like this idea. Even though I only rarely visit, that's something Serebii does that really let's the community know what's going on. Whether details are revealed or not. Like you said, it really is a lot easier to go to a single thread than have to go digging through their individual accounts and bugging them about why they're not staff anymore. Seems appropriate to keep the community up to date on what's going on. Maybe not a forum announcement, though. Just a thread located somewhere in the official forums regarding staff changes, without specifics. This doesn't usually happen, but when it does it can get really confusing to know who to go to. Asking questions if someone's gone for good from the staff, or just taking a break seems like more of an unnecessary worry than all that when you can just check a thread.

 

[Bay]

I like this idea. Even though I only rarely visit, that's something Serebii does that really let's the community know what's going on. Whether details are revealed or not. Like you said, it really is a lot easier to go to a single thread than have to go digging through their individual accounts and bugging them about why they're not staff anymore. Seems appropriate to keep the community up to date on what's going on. Maybe not a forum announcement, though. Just a thread located somewhere in the official forums regarding staff changes, without specifics. This doesn't usually happen, but when it does it can get really confusing to know who to go to. Asking questions if someone's gone for good from the staff, or just taking a break seems like more of an unnecessary worry than all that when you can just check a thread.

Hm, I think Community Announcements might be a good place to put staff changing announcements. Many members go to that section whenever an announcement like PC events and new features are mentioned. Even though I'm beginning to be good at finding out who's new in staff and who's out, it would be nice to have a thread with that information to find out what's going on staff wise faster.

 

[Cello]

I like this idea. Even though I only rarely visit, that's something Serebii does that really let's the community know what's going on. Whether details are revealed or not. Like you said, it really is a lot easier to go to a single thread than have to go digging through their individual accounts and bugging them about why they're not staff anymore. Seems appropriate to keep the community up to date on what's going on. Maybe not a forum announcement, though. Just a thread located somewhere in the official forums regarding staff changes, without specifics. This doesn't usually happen, but when it does it can get really confusing to know who to go to. Asking questions if someone's gone for good from the staff, or just taking a break seems like more of an unnecessary worry than all that when you can just check a thread.

Serebii was actually the first thing that came to mind when I saw this idea too, and I have to agree that it's definitely a good idea. It's very informative and helpful to the forum users, despite having a link to the forum moderation/administration team posted at the bottom of the forum.

I feel like a lot of users may be unaware of that, though.

Also, what the... you're not a part of the team anymore either? D:

 

[Guy]

Also, what the... you're not a part of the team anymore either? D:

Just another reason why I like this idea. Patchisou Yutohru is one of those on a DLoA, along with Went and Astinus if anyone else was wondering.

This is something I can see fitting well into the Community Announcements. Just as Serebii handles their changes in staff; a member of the higher staff (or a designated higher up) updates the thread whenever a staff member may be on leave for an extended amount of time, in which case they may take a DLoA or they have either been demoted / resigned. At least for those who do visit the section, or notice it has been updated from the main page can check it out and be easily aware of why certain staff members may not be on the team anymore without all the "stalking" :]

 

[Cello]

Patchisou Yutohru is one of those on a DLoA, along with Went and Astinus if anyone else was wondering.

What the what? This is kind of upsetting, I really like the staff here despite having only spoken to a handful of'em.

Oh well, I guess it's just the way things go.

No matter, I definitely hope the idea comes into action, because I was honestly only aware of Manipulation, Christos and Klippy's leave up until this thread. I'm so out of the loop.

 

[Taemin]

Staff LoA's / DLoA's have always been pretty private, and it's not something we've ever thought important enough to share with the entire forum.. Although, I do agree, I think it would be nice to let other users know what's going with us. Maybe not specific details, but at least an activity status.

 

[Ivysaur]

You know, I always wondered why staff changes were never mentioned outside of the Celebrations forum (and just promotions are mentioned there) XD Simply having a sticky any HS could update whenever there were a change on the staff would be really useful.

The reasons, on the other hand... well, that's up to every one. For instance, Gavin/Abnegation posted a blog entry announcing a temporary absence. I, on the other hand, wanted to keep my reasons private so I didn't. And demotions are just between the higher staff and the particular staff member involved. But just knowing what's going on with each one would be really useful for everybody.

 

[Timbjerr]

It would be nice to have a sticky'd announcement thread just to differentiate between who's actually been demoted and who's just on a DLoA, so that particularly ambitious members/lower moderators don't take Nick and Went's current status as a sign that one of the mods is about to get promoted and their spot will go a regular member, and then people will start kissing ass left and right. XD

whatever personal reasons behind the DLoA aren't necessary...just a quick note saying that, "Yes, Went and nick are still S-mods and Gav and Astinus are still mods" will suffice. XD

 

[Ninja Caterpie]

whatever personal reasons behind the DLoA aren't necessary...just a quick note saying that, "Yes, Went and nick are still S-mods and Gav and Astinus are still mods" will suffice. XD

This, pretty much. Telling the difference between DLoAs and resignation/full demotions is a bit hard otherwise.

 

[Chibi-chan]

Yeah, the difference between the two would be nice to know. Or staff could just put it in their blog.
I doubt many people knew I was on DLOA before I quit, seeing I didn't bother to tell anyone.
Maybe a thread could be made in Announcements where only staff could post in it and just simply state, 'Hey, I'm on DLOA' or admins could say 'X has been demoted'. There isn't a reason members shouldn't know...it makes things seems sketchy.

 

[Cello]

Yeah, the difference between the two would be nice to know. Or staff could just put it in their blog.

I suppose, but is the blog section accessible to those who lack tier 2+ donation status?

 

[Chibi-chan]

I suppose, but is the blog section accessible to those who lack tier 2+ donation status?

All staff members have access to blogs. Thing is, if they don't have 5000 posts or haven't donated, they'd have to mention their DLOA /before/ they actually are DLOA'd

 

[Spinor]

I don't know. I'd prefer it if staff demotions weren't even announced in the thread, because it seems just a tad bit embarrassing, but that's just me. .__. I'm sorry if I offend anyone through this, but yeah...

People are going to know you aren't staff anyways because of the username color. It's either announce something on a thread like that or reply to ~20 VMs asking the same thing.

And I agree with the thread. Just for the slight convenience of both staff and members.

 

[Kenshin5]

Am I the only one that seems to be on the fence with this one?

I don't know. I'd prefer it if staff demotions weren't even announced in the thread, because it seems just a tad bit embarrassing, but that's just me. .__. I'm sorry if I offend anyone through this, but yeah...

If they where to designate between Leaves of Absence and Resigning/Demotions. They could just put Resigned/Demoted. That way it doesn't clearly say they were demoted, because after all they could have quit their job. If people wanted clarification they could go to the said former staff member that either quit or was demoted and ask them their self(pending they feel like disclosing the reason of course). I am not to high on them saying clear out this person was demoted. I think stuff like that should be kept behind closed doors.

 

[Nick]

Am I the only one that seems to be on the fence with this one?

I don't know. I'd prefer it if staff demotions weren't even announced in the thread, because it seems just a tad bit embarrassing, but that's just me. .__. I'm sorry if I offend anyone through this, but yeah...

"<username> is on a DLoA until <date>."
"<username> is no longer on the staff."

It doesn't have to be so straight forward. Doesn't have to be "<username> was <removed/resigned/suspended> from the staff <because...> <until...>."

Besides, it doesn't really take a genius to figure out staff member + no staff color = not a staff member. Most people assume someone's no longer on the staff as it is if they aren't in their color anymore and it really doesn't take that long to notice, like AdvancedK47 said. Obviously the reason that they're no longer on the staff is not going to be released to anyone. It's not even really released to moderators, or whatever rank the member was a part of. A moderator won't know why another moderator was removed, an s-mod won't know why another s-mod is removed, etc. because it's taken to a forum higher than their own and discussed there (unless you're an SA, where it's discussed infront of you).

 

[bobandbill]

Yeah, I think the announcements on this is a neat idea - it works well on sppf as mentioned after all, and they don't mention 'why' someone is promoted/moved/on leave/demoted, it just informs the forum the basics which is all anybody really needs to know. Useful too so that members don't go PMing/VMing who they think is a mod when they are on leave for instance, I suppose.

 

[Cello]

All staff members have access to blogs. Thing is, if they don't have 5000 posts or haven't donated, they'd have to mention their DLOA /before/ they actually are DLOA'd

You misunderstood me. This is meant to be visible to all users, for those curious on knowing the staff status.

 

[Chibi-chan]

Well, you know someone is officially ex-staff because they'll have the 'ex-staff' emblem.
If...this stays consistent.

@Cello: I'm pretty sure everyone can see blogs o.o