[BIIG_SAD]

Ingame Name: BIIG_SAD | Steam ID: STEAM_0:0:154149659 | Time Played: 14111 min or about 235 hours

When First Joined: last year in the fall | Availability (Approx. times you play, and time zone): everyday until about 3 ish to 5 ish am EST.

Rank Desired: Tmod | Current Rank: Trusted

What can you do to help the community?: 
I can help the community by staffing at the later hours when many of the staff are unavailable because sleeping is a thing.  I am now trained in the arts of spotting ghosting and cheating, and understand the commands menu. Additionally, I understand how to utilize the relay to aid in these endeavors.
Why do you want to help the community?: 
This place is super awesome. Simply put, I want to keep this place up and running since my previous community kinda died off due to lack of people staying. As a trusted who plays with the late-o-clock crew, it is apparent to me that we need more staff coverage during the later hours. All of my recent pings excepting two of them fell to nobody, because no one was awake to be pinged.
Have you previously been banned? (Link relevant posts): 
git gud scrub - aki (joke)
go to sleep - chelllllllllllllllllman (also a joke ban)

Have you previously applied for staff? (Link relevant posts): 
approved!
d-d-d-denied!

Do you have a way to record video or take screenshots?
currently I record every map played using OBS. This includes other servers that I play on, including the TTT and murder.

How did you find us?: I found y'all a while back, and returned when I reinstalled gmod. Stayed since.

Other: 


lets address some concerns.

• In terms of burning out, I do not feel burnt out. my absence for a bit was due to dying light two coming out and me trying to 100% it. Also some stuff came up in life and I had to take care of it. I am fully back now.
  
• terse style. I will admit I am quicker to start telling people to stop micspamming/harassing, but this is in response to previous results where it went bad when I was slow to stop it. I am open on critiques and advice on how to better address it.
  
• recent abuse threads as you can see their resolutions, you can see that they all have been filed as I was innocent. this is also the reason I record 100% of my gameplay in PH, divided by map. This is to ensure that I either make correct decisions, or can make ammends if I do something in error, such as issuing a false gag. I am just a human, and in certain times, making a mistake is just that. Human.
  
• "biig sad spends all his time in TTT!"  while it is true that I play TTT, I will respond to a ping first if I see it. At least for now, PH is my primary priority in Dinks.
  

In general, I just want to make this place better. If I am promoted, I will have to learn some things about being a Tmod. If you don't think so, please tell me what I can do to make myself into a position where I am ready. 

I don't want this position for slapping power. I want this position so that at 4 or 5 am EST, when most of the team is asleep, we can continue to ensure a good time to the night crew, who deserve a fair game just like the day crew.

[August]

First off, I'm giving this a +1.

BIIG_SAD and usually have the pleasure of being on at the same time, usually late at night with the worst of the worst to deal with. Not only can he hold is own, but he is consistently fair to everyone. if I jump in while he's already there, he's great at communicating what's going on so there's no confusion. Yes, he's had many abuse threads against him in the short time he's been trusted, but not a single strike. Just people who want to be awful that BIIG put in their place. 

My only gripe is an issue that I sometimes face as well. Like me, sometimes you jump the gun a bit on punishments, mostly gagging/muting someone a bit quickly when it's better to go a bit easier and give someone a chance. I'd argue though that you're better than me when it comes to that, so this gripe is minimal at best and I certainly wouldn't knock you down for it on a t-mod app.

All it all based on everything I've observed, I think BIIG is 100% ready for the next step up to blue.

[Wrom]

+1 Biig_Sad is a very friendly and nice person hes on late at night and deals with some pretty rough stuff but he does a really good job at it and deserves a promotion to T-mod Good luck my dude

[Wilfry]

I have seen improvement these months that lets me know that you are ready.  You staff one of the most toxic hours of the day and have been doing good at it.  I do think that you should not jump the gun on things too quickly but I know you can improve on this in no time.  Just don't let the late night trolls get to you

+1 Big Sad for Blue team

[Salty]

Glad to see you're applying for Test Mod man!

EDITS HAVE BEEN MADE TO THIS: WILL BE IN RED

Let's get right into this:

Your Greatest Strength: You know when you overstepped and acknowledge it; plus you're willing to learn from others. I know a LOT of people who find it impossible to do that, so being able to be self-aware and understand when you messed up and choose to GROW from it is a fantastic quality to have in a leader. I've never really seen you staff firsthand because I am not on at the ungodly night hours, but I have seen your evidence clips (which I have watched a couple, not all of them obviously but a few.) and your approach is what I would consider mostly appropriate (more on this later on). You also handle any sort of poorly constructed abuse thread very well; rather than just arguing with them on the thread, you thoroughly explain your reasoning for your decisions, and you even apologized to a player when you unintentionally overstepped boundaries.


Your greatest weakness: This is something I also obtained from evidence videos. Of course, Prop Hunt staff regulations/rules are much different from what I am used to on TTT but I sometimes feel as if you jump the gun a little quickly, which can result in you unintentionally overstepping the realm of staffing and powermodding. This is just a very nitpicky thing to keep in mind, so take this critique with a grain of a salt. The late night trolls are an entirely different animal, I understand that from when I've played TTT late at night and from the footage you've shown. It takes a lot of willpower to NOT give them the angry reaction but my best advice to you is to always try and be OBJECTIVELY thinking when you're staffing; that usually tends to be the most effective, as when they realize you aren't going to give them any reaction they eventually get bored and leave (sometimes).


As for my vote,

I have switched my vote from a +1 to a NEUTRAL stance. 


You had asked Owen a way to get better, and since I feel more comfortable being completely honest rather than not being sure if what I would be saying is too nitpicky or not, here's my major suggestion for you, Mr. SAD:

I would like you to take some time to understand/research classroom management skills. You might think I'm absolutely ridiculous with this idea, but staffing/moderating a Garry's Mod server efficiently at a FUNDAMENTAL level is identical to running a classroom well; of course, there are definitely different things to take in consideration with each of them, but ultimately the goal is to run the server without trying to imitate the wild west by quick-drawing on gags and such. I don't want to sound rude, but from what I've seen on an outside perspective and from what I've seen on videos, you have earned a more negative reputation amongst those who play because of the quick draw issue. In other words, because you're being too quick with issuing out authority, there is a resentment towards you from some players. 

This point is coming from someone who has played and dealt with staff who have done this same issue; it just kills the entire vibe of the server whenever someone quickdraw gags everyone. I get sometimes it needs to happen and the night hours are incredibly toxic; however, I think some restraint on your behalf will go a long way in terms of both improving your reputation amongst the non-staff players AND the staff team. I've also seen respect GAINED for people who used to have this issue and they worked on it and got rid of it, and now the community in TTT doesn't go like "okay, time to get off" whenever that person gets on.

I do not think you're bad at staffing, please do not misinterpret what I'm saying as a personal attack; you're always thorough and supply very solid evidence when you make requests. I think you have a lot of potential to be a really great asset for the PH team. This is just something that needs to be improved on before you get promoted in my opinion; otherwise, you might unintentionally cause the Mods/Admins a major headache if you were to start quickdraw banning individuals. 


Thanks for your time. Best of luck on your App.

[chelllman]

I've thought about what I'm going to say for quite a while.  I want this to be as impersonal and constructive as possible.

I am concerned with how you interact with trolls on the server and by extension the forums.
Before I get into that, I want to state that some of this is probably because (as Wilfry said), you staff later in the evening than most.  I go to bed early on weekdays, Ryzif used to work nights, etc.  You haven't been able to get as much hands-on training as someone like Wilfry has.

1. Strictness
I consider myself to be pretty strict, but I believe you take being strict too far.  I've come to this conclusion by watching the footage from your ban requests, abuse threads, and the times that we've staffed together.  The most important piece of advice I got when I was starting to staff was actually from Nuru; she told me that one of the most important ways to "control" a lobby is to recognize when to steer troll conversations to something else organically and when to put my foot down.  If you always act like a hammer, then everything begins to look like a nail.  If you come down too hard and on the smallest things, then that leads to the trolls fighting back much more often.

2. Dealing with Trolls
Being too strict can lead to fights, but when these happen it's important that we work to defuse the situation.  On 4/11, I had to ask you to not incite a troll.  The trolls want you to interact with them.  What Ryzif taught me to do when I was trusted is to either 1. ignore the comments they make because most trolls get bored super quickly, 2. tell them where they can make an abuse thread, or 3. proceed with appropriate gags/mutes should what they say cross a line.  Simply questioning a gag/mute doesn't automatically jump to staff disrespect.  I use my gag/mute commands all the time, but I rarely ever have to do anything for staff disrespect because of how I manage the trolls.

3. Jumping the Gun
This is my biggest issue which ties into #1 and #2, and was mentioned by the others above.  I think this is more serious than the others though.
I'm worried that with how strict you are, you'll move onto the ban portion of protocols well before other staff would.  Ryzif and I have both had to remind you about the proper protocol for the slurs/racism portion of the guidelines because you've skipped the warnings multiple times before. 
Yesterday, I dealt with a ban request by chaos.  In that ban request, you kicked someone for cheating and mentioned that they were hacking to other staff.  However, I believe that player was just ghosting based on all of the videos presented and even if they were hacking, there definitely was not enough evidence to support a hacking ban at that time.  I sent you a message on discord breaking things down in more detail.  Staff are not infallible and can make mistakes.  When it comes to evidence gathering, more > less.  I like to play devil's advocate with myself when I'm collecting evidence, trying to argue on the person's behalf to get them unbanned.  If I can still make a compelling argument for an unban, I haven't collected enough.



My vote is -1/+0.  Everything above can be addressed, and I might change my vote if I have enough confidence that you won't jump the gun with bans.

[BIIG_SAD]

Chellman. First off, thank you for giving criticism. Let me address your talking points.

In general, I am working on being less strict. Most of my videos in my abuse threads and ban requests have me being strict.  This is true. What is not seen is the countless hours of footage where I am just chilling. That being said, you are correct in assessing that I am probably too strict. I will work with you or another staff on this one. 

Secondly, I try to not incite trolls usually. on 4/11, I did a bad and incited on on purpose. I am not sure why, but I recognized then right after I did it and now that it was a mistake. It s not something I want to do again.

lastly, jumping the gun (particular instance). I will admit that I made an oopsie. I did not follow procedure, and I created a SNAFU. To explain my thought process, the dude was calling people's location while alive as a hunter, and complaining that they were cheating. He was calling location and prop type, and claimed he knew the location through walls. It did not occur to me that this could be ghosting. I also did not bother to check for ghosting. The TL:DR is that I made a mistake. plain and simple. Am I dumb for making it? yes. Will I do it again? I will do my damn best to not. The mistake was dumb.

To address jumping the gun in general, I recognize that banning someone is a much higher bar than kick. banning involves temporary to permanent removal. As such, it is a much higher bar than kick, where kicking  allows people back. again, I am sure that I can and will learn when banning is and is not appropriate from you, Koshka, Ryzif, and the rest of the staff team.

TLDR, I made some mistakes as a result stemming from your points one and two. the best and most mature way to deal with this is to just find time and staff with you guys so I can learn and copy from y'all. 

Once again, thank you for the constructive criticism. giving criticism is often thankless because it is something people do not want, but something they need.
You have made several good points, and I will take everything you said forwards. Perhaps, I may not improve substantially in the next days or so, but the improvement will occur as I take time to incorporate everything you covered.

thanks,

[chelllman]

snip

To address jumping the gun in general, I recognize that banning someone is a much higher bar than kick. banning involves temporary to permanent removal. As such, it is a much higher bar than kick, where kicking  allows people back. again, I am sure that I can and will learn when banning is and is not appropriate from you, Koshka, Ryzif, and the rest of the staff team.

snip

This line of thinking somewhat concerns me, but I could be interpreting what you mean incorrectly.  It's true that Trusted do not have the power to ban, but the kick is absolutely meant to be used in lieu when higher staff are not able to get on to ban someone.  The evidence Trusted must collect to kick someone for something like ghosting, hacking, racism, etc. when the protocol calls for a ban still requires the same amount of evidence as if you were able to ban them.  Can you explain what you meant by this?

I already contacted you via DMs and will try to work with you Sunday night.  I don't want you to feel like I'm hammering you for making mistakes because everyone makes mistakes. What's important is that you learn from these mistakes.  I'm just bringing these up since they occurred within a week of your application opening.  You are definitely open to working with me and other staff which is the most important thing I'm looking for.

[BIIG_SAD]

snip

To address jumping the gun in general, I recognize that banning someone is a much higher bar than kick. banning involves temporary to permanent removal. As such, it is a much higher bar than kick, where kicking  allows people back. again, I am sure that I can and will learn when banning is and is not appropriate from you, Koshka, Ryzif, and the rest of the staff team.

snip

This line of thinking somewhat concerns me, but I could be interpreting what you mean incorrectly.  It's true that Trusted do not have the power to ban, but the kick is absolutely meant to be used in lieu when higher staff are not able to get on to ban someone.  The evidence Trusted must collect to kick someone for something like ghosting, hacking, racism, etc. when the protocol calls for a ban still requires the same amount of evidence as if you were able to ban them.  Can you explain what you meant by this?

I already contacted you via DMs and will try to work with you Sunday night.  I don't want you to feel like I'm hammering you for making mistakes because everyone makes mistakes. What's important is that you learn from these mistakes.  I'm just bringing these up since they occurred within a week of your application opening.  You are definitely open to working with me and other staff which is the most important thing I'm looking for.

two things I meant here.


1. I mis-worded what I meant. A kick holds literal less evidence than a ban (i.e. perma ban) because it approaches sooner than a ban. it also requires less evidence in that it itself is usually part of the evidence group that holds a ban. (I.e. data set of kick always within data set of ban1, and data set of a ban1 always within dataset of banPerma, for example). kicking someone is way different than banning them forever is what my 7am brain was trying to say and failing.
2. That being said, as I mentioned at a different part, I did a bad and improperly used the kick command. I recognize this is/was a mistake

[KillOwensKill]

Biig Sad, we had fewer interactions the past weeks, not only cause i have been taking a time from PH (not only cause i got tired of, but also i started giving robotics lessons to kids in a school).

But Chell not only brought good questions about your behavior that was always a concern to me as well as a normal player, and to quote you like he did  

"To address jumping the gun in general, I recognize that banning someone is a much higher bar than kick. banning involves temporary to permanent removal. As such, it is a much higher bar than kick, where kicking  allows people back. again, I am sure that I can and will learn when banning is and is not appropriate from you, Koshka, Ryzif, and the rest of the staff team."

Between this and our interactions, it gives a little Red Flag that you do still need a bit more time.

Even tho i could give a -1, ill be Neutral on this, because deep inside i do feel you should get a chance like everyone did.

Best of luck to you