[Dinkleberg >:(]

Hey guys,

So I know we are sort of in limbo right now as far as upper staff goes, and most of you are probably aware at this point that Traitor has resigned from his role of Admin. I wanted to update you guys on a couple things, as well as address a concern I have as far as the way the server is administrated.

First, I will address the Admin application of Kasumi/Tori. While I do believe you are still the best candidate for the position, there are a couple reasons I am deciding not to give you this position just yet. First of all, having one admin is really not a great situation, and I think we need more than one person deciding on staff applications. Instead, I am now requiring that all moderators respond to all staff apps, and I will make a decision based off mainly their comments, but also the rest of the community input on the app. I think we will keep this as the system until I see two admin applicants that I could promote simultaneously.

The second reason I am denying your admin application Tori is because the key complaint on your application was that you are quick to punish before warning. This is not something that I want to single Tori out for, because I see SO much of this from so many staff members that it seems out of control. This is really not the way I want to see my servers run, and I want all staff but especially the leaders of the server to demonstrate more of a "chill" attitude. If someone is using foul language or has a word in their name that you might think is inappropriate, just give them a warning or honestly just leave them be if no one is offended by it. The reason staff are there is for the people who will not stop and are persistent and obvious trolls. I want to see the staff as a whole take it easy on the punishments, and only use powers to enforce rules when absolutely necessary. I do not want to see staff be quick to punish and use commands. In consideration for future admins, this will be one of the main things I consider. I want the server to be fun for everyone, and I don't want new players on the server to be afraid to use their mics in fear of breaking rules and being muted or gagged.

I know it's a very full and busy server and things do often get out of hand, but I can't say that there's a single staff member who isn't guilty of prematurely punishing or being too harsh. Try to make it a fun experience for everyone, and realize that not everyone who breaks the rules is trolling or doing it intentionally. 

Tori, please don't feel singled out by this post. You're a great staff member, a huge asset to the server, and I still consider you as the best qualified person for the position. Work on demonstrating an attitude of warning as much as possible before punishing and demonstrating this to other staff as well, and I think this is a position attainable for you in the near future.

[HalfDemonLink]

Thanks for taking the time to address us like this I really appreciate that you took the time to write this out and give us all a general idea of how you'd like the server to feel.

[TheUltraFish]

Thank you for response. Should we approach unban requests the same way we approach staff applications? The reason I ask is because without an admin, there is no one who can answer them at this time.

Thanks again.

[Dinkleberg >:(]

Thank you for response. Should we approach unban requests the same way we approach staff applications? The reason I ask is because without an admin, there is no one who can answer them at this time.

Thanks again.

Yeah I would say handle them the same way.

[Dummy Thicc Noodle Lady]

Thank you.

[|RAT| xMiiku]

I appreciate the feed back and will focus on improving. Thank you

[Mother Nuru.]

Super appreciative that you addressed us as we've been in a weird limbo of confusion.
With this I just wanna ask where you think we all can lax up the most and improve, and what rules need to be more defined so we and the player base know what is and isn't okay/etc. I think that would be great for all of us so we can stop being seen as the "strict" server.

[§6SEMBER_UNO]

Thank you for posting this. It gives me a better idea of the direction that your trying to take with the server. A more lax environment to play in would be great if only the trolls would cooperate.

Two things I think are best discussed here that can use a bit of clarification from the man himself.

#1. I personally feel that for something to be official it needs to be posted on the forums, there iare sometimes disagreements between staff regarding certain rules. One example of this would be the 50% visibility rule. Some staff members say that its something that will be implemented, others never heard of it. The person who suggested it is no longer on the server causing further confusion. Another example would be the "dont spam crates" rule, which I fully understand but it should have a documented reasoning on the forums. Anyway these unspoken rules need to be documented or nixed. If something is up for debate or suggested it should be posted here not passed by word of mouth.

#2. Advertising in names. This is something that I have recently seen a huge crackdown on among staff. We can use clarification if having dot GG YT Twitch etc in your name is really coincided to be advertisement. I don't think i need to go into too much more detail but Im sure the staff would enjoy not having to tell people to change their names because of a dot com at the end.

Glad your back Dink

[Dinkleberg >:(]

Super appreciative that you addressed us as we've been in a weird limbo of confusion.
With this I just wanna ask where you think we all can lax up the most and improve, and what rules need to be more defined so we and the player base know what is and isn't okay/etc. I think that would be great for all of us so we can stop being seen as the "strict" server.

Nuru, the main things I would say need to be "loosened up on" are language and "staff respect". I was on one time when I think I heard someone say "nigga", no hard "r", and this was someone who had been playing on the server for at least a couple hours. The guy was gagged instantly and told to stop using racial slurs. Personally, I wouldn't even have a rule for this if I could get away with it, but people come in and spam the word constantly to the point where I have no choice but to make rules against it. Basically, that guy should have gotten warned 1-2 times before being gagged, especially since he said it one time. This is totally different from someone sitting there spamming the word or using it every other word in a sentence. The guy was gagged for a round and ended up disconnecting if I remember correctly.

Another issue I have is that people are getting kicked and banned left and right for staff disrespect. I realize some people are trolls and cause issues nonstop and need to be handled by staff, but a lot of issues with "Staff disrespect" are stemming from people being prematurely gagged or muted or something along those lines. The thing you have to know about being in a position of any power whatsoever is that people are going to disagree with you. You're going to make decisions that people are unhappy with. But we aren't here to be these players' superiors. We are here to ensure the server is fun for everyone. Try to work with troublemakers, even if they say things that you don't necessarily agree with. I actually remember a previous staff member of TTT who on his first time playing on the server uttered "Dinklebergs' a pussy" after I gagged him or muted him or something. Personally I didn't care, he can think I'm a pussy all he wants. I feel as if this happened nowadays he would be kicked or maybe even banned and would have never came back again. Try to be a little less prideful and realize that some people don't react to being 'punished' or corrected as well as others do.

Thank you for posting this. It gives me a better idea of the direction that your trying to take with the server. A more lax environment to play in would be great if only the trolls would cooperate.

Two things I think are best discussed here that can use a bit of clarification from the man himself.

#1. I personally feel that for something to be official it needs to be posted on the forums, there iare sometimes disagreements between staff regarding certain rules. One example of this would be the 50% visibility rule. Some staff members say that its something that will be implemented, others never heard of it. The person who suggested it is no longer on the server causing further confusion. Another example would be the "dont spam crates" rule, which I fully understand but it should have a documented reasoning on the forums. Anyway these unspoken rules need to be documented or nixed. If something is up for debate or suggested it should be posted here not passed by word of mouth.

#2. Advertising in names. This is something that I have recently seen a huge crackdown on among staff. We can use clarification if having dot GG YT Twitch etc in your name is really coincided to be advertisement. I don't think i need to go into too much more detail but Im sure the staff would enjoy not having to tell people to change their names because of a dot com at the end.

Glad your back Dink

I'll get straight to the point:
#1: The 50% visibility rule is too difficult to enforce, therefore not a rule. If a spot is illegal, it's illegal. Otherwise they are allowed to hide where they are. Also the "don't spam crates" rule also doesn't exist. I changed the minimum item rarity broadcast to rare, let me know if too many unboxes are still popping up in chat, and I can further tweak this setting (this is why that setting exists in the first place).

#2: This is something that I don't care about. If it is JUST their name, I say leave it be. However, if they begin advertising their moat server or twitch stream or whatever is in their name via chat or voice saying "come to this thing in my name", then I think staff should step in and gag/mute accordingly. And maybe if you notice someone frequenting the server with a moat name or something like that you could talk to them about it and maybe suggest that they change it but I don't think forcing name changes is a good way to keep players around.

If anyone has any further questions/concerns regarding staff conduct please bring them up here and I'll address them. Thanks to everyone who has posted so far.

[Gabe]

If anyone has any further questions/concerns regarding staff conduct please bring them up here and I'll address them. Thanks to everyone who has posted so far.

Yes hello, I have one small thing to add regarding this. I know this is very miniscule compared to everything else but if my memory does not fail me, I was on ph one time and I was instantly muted by a staff member for providing someone a link to a thread that they were having trouble finding on our forums.

I get the rule of "no advertising" and being told by that person "no links at all" afterwards, but does it really count if it's our own forums we're talking about? In my personal opinion it really doesn't as if anything it's advertising ourselves and doesn't harm anyone in a bad way.

I don't mean to start any drama with this or anything, just thought it could use some clarification for the future.