I've seen firsthand what can happen when those in power (especially online) are all together. It's very unfair to average users. Not saying I think the PC admins are capable of that same level of corruption, but I don't like the possibility of it even happening at all. Who's to stop them if they did up and decide to run it as their own person playground, after all.
Personally, I feel there should be many mods, but only maybe around 3 admins, and none of them should be friends with each other outside the site. That'd be my ideal setup.
I don't think this is an unreasonable concern personally because we all know that staffers, not necessarily
our staffers, can go rogue and do some pretty shitty things. I think that trying to keep everyone from being friends isn't actually practical though. You work with people cohesively long enough and you're going to develop a relationship that goes beyond a curt nod in the hallway. It's pretty natural. That being said, I will try to dispel some of your fears.
Firstly, our admin team do get along very well, but I don't think they're as close as you think they are. To the best of my knowledge, none of the current admin team have ever met each other off of PC and even online a lot of them run in different circles. You'll sever see Laslow hanging out with the RPers like Rika, Sylphiel doesn't hang out with the competitive battlers like Castform and all that. They get along well, but thankfully, we aren't run by some suffocating clique. I'll get to a bit more in my response to FlameChrome.
Stop making points I agree with XD
But on to the matter. Its one thing when they are mods, easier to deal with, easier to fire. I have seen it many times (mostly on discord) where the admins decide to be a butt a lot and give no fucks, while the owner doesn't care about what they are doing and sees them as a friend and never does anything. Wouldnt mind if they are friends on discord and PC, but sometimes people meet irl and get too close, which sometimes ends up badly for everyone else and ruins the place. Not saying its 100% determined for this place (maybe about 10% tbh) but the chance that i would happen could actually happen.
I obviously can't say too much on the matter, but admins/staffers
have had falling outs before in the past. It's obviously a very infrequent thing, before everyone panics, but it has happened. PC is still standing. One of the advantages of having the staff structure we do, is that if someone
does go rogue then they can be pushed out and we can keep on running PC to be the same comfortable and fun place it always has been.
I think the concerns you've brought up are far from being invalid, but I want you to rest assured that the current admin team is actually one of, if not the most, diverse admin group we have and the chances of them turning into a malevolent aristocracy are extremely low.