Rejected A New Way to Help

Ladies and Gentlemen of STTT
​

Have you ever been on the forums and gotten more answers from a regular member here due to staff being very busy and not noticing your question? Well, that's why I am here. I want to propose a new position for these helpful individuals. This new position would include the following: ​

1. A designated forum rank(not in game) ​
2. Responsibility to aid new or misunderstood members. ​
3. IP and post edit check. ​
4. Responsibility to request the appropriate level of staff when an event on the forums requires. This can also include contacting staff to request server staffing. ​
5. Responsibility to uphold and transmit the community standards and rules on behalf of the community.​

This new rank would not include an in game rank or powers; if that were the case, then possibly equip it with the powers of the original advisor.

Players could rely on these members to be honest and upfront regarding forums issues. These members could use a Mentor section of the forums to note things for Admins+ to look into.

I believe this new rank could be useful for the forums and provide aid to everyone on the forums. The name of this rank, you ask? It would be a Mentor.

Please consider this new position. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me either on this thread, forum PM or Steam.

Thank you and have a great weekend! ​

 

This new rank would probably also be useful in-game for some people who probably are new to the server since the staff are mostly busy doing reports and such.
(i.e. explain to them the proper rules and such because most people don't really read the MOTD when they are loading in, most of them tab out, etc..)

The rank sounds more like a Helper than of a Mentor tho

But this is going to need more people going through applications, because since this is a new rank and if it will be applied, surely many people would be applying for it.

I like the idea!

Since the forums are the way for new members to interact with the whole community, they need proper guidance and assistance to get them started.

+1

 

Well, my thought concerning gaining the position would go through a separate process through like a "head mentor." This would be the person the decides who will be eligible for the position initially; with consent from the higher up staff, of course. Eventually, other Mentors would be able to select new people or replacements. My thought was no more than about 5 of them.

 

We don't need a separate chain of staff with rankings, and it just sounds unnecessary. Also, I want to understand why you would need a title to help and mentor new inexperienced members of our community, wouldn't you do it for the community because you enjoy it?

And if you think having this "title" would make new players take your consideration in more, I have to disagree.

 

It's not really a new chain of staff. It's a select few that can be trusted with the position.

As far as the second part goes, you have no clue how many times an unruly community member just brushes off what I have said, only to hear the same thing from a staff member and take it in.

This position also creates a disconnect between those who discipline and those that simply aide. If you're aware of the military, it's kind of like a first sergeant. They're like a separate member that gives the person any necessary resources they may need and does not take any sides. They're usually easier to approach, because they aren't the ones who decide a punishment method.

Players would be more likely to come to someone with that sort of duty. Especially when they're in a bad situation.

 

I like this idea, but I have a problem with the shoutbox ban authority. I think that should only be for admins and higher. Other than that I would back up this suggestion. +1

 

+1

 

Our community shouldn't be afraid of our staff members, and if needed they can go to another staff member if they feel the one who is dealing with the situation is doing so incorrectly.

You are suggesting a hierarchy with the "Head mentor" proposition.

 

@Blake that's kind of a naive statement. Players would much rather go straight to lead admins or Highwon before mods most of the time. It's because either they don't understand the chain of command or they are afraid they won't get the help the need.

The part you must have missed about that "Head Mentor" position was that they choose other mentors, but they still have to get the consent of the higher ups on who gets it. It's not a position that promotes and demotes people. It's the original Mentor that looks for potential counterparts so there's no need for an application to a separate position so the admins+ can focus on other, more important tasks.

 

It's not naive at all, because I would rather address their unnecessary fear. And, shouldn't we rather address the player base to not be afraid of our moderators instead of creating a separate title just for that? In no circumstance should our members be afraid to ask us questions, it's what we do. If there's an issue with the way a moderator is handling a situation then contact their administrator.

If this were to get implemented I would suggest there be no "head mentor" position whatsoever. Instead, our team of staff can suggest and our administrators can approve only.

But my thoughts on this is that I find this very unnecessary, and not needed.

 

To my understanding, what Mango is suggesting here is a way for retired admins, mods, or just helpful individuals who know the rules to assist the community when they can't or don't want to put in hours on the servers. I know several people, not just @MangoTango here, who would be fit for this position.

It's not so much as community members being scared of the staff members, it's that a lot of the time regulars know the rules enough to answer the questions of newer members and enjoy doing it. Regulars that do this consistently and efficiently would be given this title.

(Shoutbox ban power is a little bit iffy, not something I have sided with or against yet)

+1 from me.

 

@Blake I'm sure plenty of police officers have said the same thing. As well as supervisors and NCOs the military. The fact of the matter is that you're not going to know until after the fact. A position like that would be able to address the issue with minimal complications.

This position is more of a middle man for anyone in the community.

What @Mr. Rogers said is correct.

 

They can help, and I do agree that MangoTango helps out a lot on the forums. But, I don't agree that it's necessary to implement a title, because the reward should be in helping the community. And, if it's for a players ignorance because he/she doesn't believe you're right, then allow a moderator or administrator to correct the situation.

Like I said before, I do not want our community to fear us. Also, I do not fear my local authorities, and in fact trust of them highly. But, if I were to ever disagree I would go to their higher ups (administrators in this situation.). We do not need a middle man.

 

@Blake you would create less work if you just had a few people monitoring the forums that help out. Yes, I like to help people, but not everyone knows of my past experience. That way, the staff can fry bigger fish.

Also, quite often I can mitigate problem situations better than staff. Sometimes, I can provide more knowledge than some of the staff. Sometimes, I can give another perspective.

And I'm not the only one who is good at that. I'm just using myself as an example.

Trust me, it was much easier for me to handle situations as an advisor than as someone with a rank that anyone with 30 bucks can get.

 

I respect your opinion here Blake, I don't think it is absolutely necessary to have this either. This is more of a "Nice to have" situation. However, I was just thinking as you had mentioned:

Joe asks a question in the shout box about where to apply for moderator. Smith, an ex administrator who is active on the forums answers his question as sufficiently as possible. Joe does not trust Smith's answer 100% as he notices he is not a staff member. So he asks the same question again, only to be repeated the same exact answer 10 minutes later by Bob, a Moderator

While there is not anything necessarily wrong with this, the question could have been resolved a lot easier if Smith had a title. Titles promote trusted authority.

A fast answer to a player is always a good thing.

 

I find the forums to be well regulated by our team of staff, and I find this unnecessary because we shouldn't feel less obligated to answer questions if we had "mentors" or "helpers".

Then suggest that to the staff member, and you shouldn't need a title for them to understand.

 

I have come in contact with players countless times as a Moderator that do not agree with me, which is why we have our Administrators to correct. And, implementing a "helper" title would conclude similar situations. Why is why I find it unnecessary.

 

Then why do we need mods when we have admins? Let's just cut those out and add more admins.

The reason this title would be here is so that the main server staff can pay attention to what's important to them. Like, right now as I'm writing this, there's a forum report which I know I could give the appropriate response to, explain the player's situation, and mitigate the report. However, thanks to my current title, I can't do that. So, I PM'd him to help out. Or earlier when I was answering shout box questions do the staff could focus on more important things. Which players who like to help the community should really not have to do, but want to. However, in that case, if there's someone there that can handle the situation as well or better than a mod, but can't commit the server hours why not let them do it? Other than the fact that situations like that "shouldn't" happen. It's a way to keep the forums clean, because how often do we see the other rank with the similar situation actually on the forums?

 

That is a naive statement, our administrators are more experienced and more knowledgeable than the moderators in most cases.

A moderator will respond soon or is most likely investigating the report at the moment. Like I said, it's unnecessary, because it's our job to do that. We shouldn't feel less obliged.

Then suggest a separate position for forum moderating only, but in my opinion, it's still not needed. Because our forums is well regulated at the moment.

 

+6,+9