Hello fellas. . . Now before I get into this.... I'm not going to lynch or judge or slander or all of that. I'm not going to call the mods stinkin guttersnipes or claim that whatever posse that's around spreading such claims are a bunch of communist toxic rebels that are trying to invade and destroy this server. Really though, an observation: What I could have replied to on the numerous discussions, I failed to do so in time. The censorship is strong. Well, censorship which is understandable, but a bit paranoid. Without providing direct quotes, anyone reading can see that there are two distinct conflicting things going on with this server. There are people who have been so jaded by shit situations that they spring to reaction and instead of using other means of communication, think they can change things or let the past be a good viable bit of evidence to satisfy and justify their means. And there are people who hold good faith by the server, seek to improve it, and in anticipation of bad situations, do what they can to defend its reputation or promote it for others (In this case a potent example would be the forums that the moderators shut down because of bad critique of the moderation team and playerbase, etc.) Old players, new players. I shouldn't get too deep into cliques or people's changing perceptions of the server, but as basic as I can see it, people are scratching their heads as to why there are moderators who are so incompetent yet the server is still up, or that the playerbase is so unreasonably hostile that having to deal with threads is a stressful endeavor to take on. And for a statement or commentary, really, this entire server is in an unavoidable situation of being static and stagnant at it's core. It's good to have a balance of change and static rules to an environment. But the kind of core principles of this server, for the longest time I have been here, have been hypocritical at best, based off the mix of moderation team AND playerbase, all coupled under the server owner, with a special characteristic of his own in place. A lot of other, older players have been jaded by different things, tuned out, disrespected, picked on, picking on others, etc. etc. And the moderators have had their own methods, or have even participated, in such behavior, and has helped nurture it. Things are changing for the better though, that gangly group of toxic kids left and we'll all fine right? Not necessarily. Because for those who are moderators, staff, and assistances, or server lovers who are scratching their heads at why there's claims or lynch mobs that pop up, the history of this server, and the environment that has been fostered, seems to have been forgotten. I could try to get you to believe that the environment includes a lot of paranoia, especially between the moderators and people who feel left out or picked on, and believe whatever you will, this certainly has existed in the past. Why is the past important? It's just old events that people can drop and move on, however the past is good for predicting the future, and based off of behaviors in the past, this server is stuck in a cycle that is promoted by the moderator and player community. Paranoia, hurt feelings, careless joking, more cursing and hurt feelings... What is wrong with this server is not necessarily tied to what is happening right now, not the fact that it is online and running properly, or that people still have fun experiences with it. It's that the amount of bad attitudes is too thick. Toss the word toxic around in your mouth if you can. Let it sit there for a while. Interpret this as toxic if you'd like..... But players have moments when they're angered by each other. This escalates with groups of people, cliques, it's unavoidable, but the moderators also have had this in the past (not suggesting they are having these problems now, but more than likely because they are human they have them.... hell some of them are old players as well). Generally issues pop up, and they are dealt with, either by the players or by the moderators. That's how these things work. But earlier in the past there have been extremely biased, horrible moderators, who would support certain players and punish others. The favored players who stay around longer eventually get this certain sense of attitude where their opinions mean more than someone who's asking for critique over an idea, that they are entitled to support from their friends if another player has a problem with them, etc. *Sigh* This is a better explanation, like with kids. Moma is the moderator, and two brothers are the players. If mother has a favorite, then the favorite brother gets spoiled. What the hell does this mean TAP? Why does this matter? These things happen. Well, they do, but the way the moderators have handled things, the system they use, the lack of transparency, makes it easier for old behaviors akin of previous moderators to pop up. Some of the moderation team have been around since the very beginning and have been here through all the bad behavior, yet readily defend their reputation and position. And people who are in position, and people who are new to the server wonder why others have trouble with the way things are handled. I can only assume that, like me, some people are afraid to follow the system of reports that the server has for changing things, since the moderators already can drastically change things for their own means with the system they have had provided, without letting the playerbase know specific reasoning. There have been multiple times moderators have absolutely ignored responses from players, ignored inquiries, and appeals. People have been banned, and by the server admin himself permanently for the basis of negative attitudes against the server, and because they pissed off the big man. So I ask that things change, with the moderation team leading by example, and the playerbase following, or leading themselves, to have a respectful environment. Moderators shouldn't be getting into public arguments with people, requesting that they only report in private, lock the threads, and make no future mentions of the topic but let it sink into obscurity. They should be official, and it's hard to be official when opinions are used, and moderators take it upon themselves to dive headfirst into threads giving their own two-cents and arguing with people and trying to come off as more intellectually sound or on top. If the moderators are sassing people, then people can get away with sassing people, and then we follow the same patterns we've had since the beginning. Don't fix things by feeding the bad behavior. Fix things by enabling good behavior and rewarding it. Foster a better, more respectful environment. *P.S.* Just a food for thought as it came to mind... at any moment the server owner could just shut down this server if he so pleased. Just think on that, and then think on how we all interact with each other on here.
I'll start by saying that yes, the staff as a whole could be doing better on a number of things. If you haven't noticed, a whole lot of new staff have been brought on, promoted, or granted new responsibilities, and (I can speak for myself at least) have voiced a lot of valid points or granted some form of insight to the moderators. However, keep in mind that up until about two-three weeks ago, we had _maybe_ six people staff for a server with much larger numbers than that. We try to do what we can, but we are people who have lives and other obligations, so our thoughts cannot all be on Antares 100% of the time, unfortunately. Regarding transparency, yes, there are some things we have to censor, and there are some things that we can't really share. However, for the most part, we can talk about a lot actually. We try to reach out to the players to be as easily accessible as possible. Most of us have posted our steam/skype names on here on numerous occasions, and there are only 2-3 non-staff that frequent the IRC. We can say why any player was banned, yet no one ever asks why. We don't want to make a big public announcement about every ban because all it will do is cause problems. We ask players to make private appeals for the sake of the player's confidentiality, for organization, and to help us have a chance to discuss things with the player before something is made into a "public lynching". We hardly make an active effort to hide things. No one ever seems to try to figure out more about situations before forming opinions. Regarding favorites in the playerbase, they.. Don't really exist at all? I'd like to see evidence of that if it exists, however. The staff could be doing better, and we are trying, but I guess I'm really just saying we need a bit of help. Report things that break the rules, make suggestion threads, talk to us personally about something; we are all pretty eager to talk to players, and are trying to figure things out ourselves regarding what's best for the playerbase. Before we do anything that affects the entire server, we have to be sure it will be received well, which is fairly difficult for a handful of people. Instead, what usually happens is we hear absolutely nothing about a certain issue until it explodes into some kind of lynch-mob-esque thread. If you're upset with the stagnancy of the server, try to make an event of some form. I know several of the staff have been wanting to, but a lot of us have just not found the time to do it (And until today, my starbound client hasn't been working for awhile). I know Twitch in particular is eager to help with events, and he's a nice guy, so just talk to him if you have something you'd like help with.
This is something that we the staff thoroughly believe in. While maintaining a good nature within the community as a whole, it would be blatantly hypocritical to act like complete asses, ourselves. Under normal circumstances, this does not ever change. We highly encourage any issues with any community member, moderator or not, to be handled in a private manner, to prevent any potential venom from the matter absorbing into the community as a whole, and creating needless drama. However, I also understand that in recent circumstances, there have been opinions urging to be expressed publicly in dire concern. This is okay. If the choice is made to bring about your community-related concerns to discuss in a public setting, then you're free to do so at your own expense. Everybody here is an individual, and therefore they have their own opinions on various matters. As long as these matters can be discussed in a civil manner, there is no reason why we would not allow this. If these opinions were to become venomous, immature, assaulting, or anything of the sort, then it no longer becomes a civil chat -- and it needs to be dealt with as need be. Despite being staff members, we are fellow members of the community -- here to enjoy ourselves in the roleplay that we've all worked hard to create together. When we bring our opinions to a discussion of matters that affect the server content and roleplay-wise, we speak as individuals, adding our two-cents as anybody else would. However, in a topic where the staff is directly addressed, take for example this one, we are speaking officially as staff members, as the topic in question has requested that we do so. To simply put it -- nobody should sass anybody. Staff, regular member, or otherwise. This is actually a very nice point. Promoting positive behaviour and keeping interactions between everybody friendly, I feel like that is the best way to get along. On the other hand, while we don't ever try to "feed" negativity or bad behaviour, we do sometimes need to address the issue directly if it is equally as directing towards us. However, this can be done in a civil manner, if everybody on either side can make an effort. See Bill and Ted gif above for further reference. :>
From my point of view, having been here through the "troubled times", I agree that things should be made more public. It would very much help the community as a whole, and would help to promote faith in the staff as a body, as players would be able to see almost everything that goes on. However... No matter how hard you try, no matter how well you sift through the players, there will always be someone with a generally negative opinion about the matter being discussed. I'll use bans as examples. If a player is banned, sometimes its obvious, but sometimes it isnt exactly clear why. Mods could post a thread explaining the ban; why he/she was banned, the length, past aggressiveness, etc. And this is a good idea. The thread will most likely start off fine, with civil responses, a few questions, that sort of thing. But once a player shows up who was either the banned players friend/strongly felt the staff shouldn't have banned said person, and they post something even mildly, -mildly- hateful/spiteful/toxic about the reasons/mods, it only starts to escalate. People will respond usually before the mods can intervene and respond with the facts, and it all blows up from there. I is not the goodest with the words, but I think you all understand what point I'm getting at here. In addition, theres this: The staff are people. Simple as that. They have lives, they have friends, they are human. They are not all-powerful beings who know everything and feel as if they are above the mere peasants. Think of it like this: Your friend gets promoted to mod. Woohoo! Now, do you treat him any differently? Do you think of him any differently? No, you don't. He's still your friend, still the same person. Ya know? With this ^, the staff are all really friendly. Go ahead and talk to them. Just like talking to a normal person. Also, Now, while I do believe that you guys do your best to throw bias out the window and to make sure it doesnt interact with your decisions, I also believe that no matter how hard you try, there is always an underlying, subconcious...state of mind? that you have when interacting in these decisions. Now, I'm not talking about the true on bias that some of the previous mods showed. This is deeper, more familiar and un-aware. For example, if you were dealing with a ban case regarding, say, a respected member whos been here since the beginning, and a new member who just recently joined, say, in the last month or so, I am willing to bet that you would be hesitant to act as harshly against the old player as the new. The details of each situation would change this, of course, but I think you understand my point. These were just some of my thoughts, do with them what you will. disclaimer: I'm not calling anyone out wit this thread, not trying to "start shit", nothing like that. Just some observations I tried to come up with from as far outside my personal perspective I could get. Au revoir, mes petite pomme de terres.
http://community.playstarboundrp.com/threads/say-your-words-at-rezima.8946/#post-100514 *eyebrow waggle*
