[Lt. Star]

I'm coming out of my grave to try and make a useful post for everyone in the community that maybe can help people deal with issues they encounter. Over my time I've seen people burnout from staffing, feel so pressured to do anything that their mental health collapses, myself included. Unchecked and this will bring people so far down that they end up disliking the community and they may not want to return to it. 

Some people feel like they need to be on everyday to staff the server, and that is not true, not in the slightest. That I think this is the first problem with burnout in staff which leads to other issues down the road. For your own sake, take a break for at least day or two if your playing everyday. Especially in these times where everyone is locked in there homes and the toxic people poke there heads in. There are enough staff here where people can afford to spend some time doing something else yet people push themselves. If you never take a break from staffing I guarantee you'll experience at some point a dislike for staffing the server where it becomes a chore and not for fun. There are many other games out there to play, go relax with those for a bit in between gmod, or find something to do off the computer even, get away from the internet for a time, take a walk down your street, do something outside in the fresh air. Gmod ain't going anywhere any time soon, it'll be there when you want to return and no one should fault you for taking a break, in fact it should be encouraged by everyone. 

Another idea for staffing is to make yourself a schedule for when you can play and stick to it. A set schedule with few hours can make the game a lot more enjoyable and puts less stress on you. If the on call staff role in discord is going to pressure you into playing when you don't want to, have it removed. It is not required to have when your staff. Staff should have as little stress as possible so they can do what they need to both for the server and for themselves. Stress while your on the server can't always be helped when trolls decide to join the game, but if you make the stress of deciding when to play less than you'll be able to handle those situations better therefor increasing the chance that you'll stay around the server longer. 

The next point is with the people themselves and the drama that is in this community. Its bad, even if some people are blind to it right now. Other people are a huge issue why this community loses staff and its for no good reason. If you dislike someone just avoid them. Its simple enough to do. Don't try and make there time horrible, don't go stabbing them in the back just cause you feel like you can. Don't start arguments just to cause drama. If you can't try and work things out with that person just leave them alone and go do your own thing. It's better for you and better for the person you don't want to talk to and it even better for people who aren't involved. Drama spills onto others very easily if they see it all the time and makes them wonder why there here. This is merely a game on the internet, there are many more things for people to be so concerned about than who likes and doesn't like on the internet. 

Along similar lines, don't pressure people into doing something they don't want to. Its fine to joke around but if you see that the person really doesn't want to or they tell you to stop, stop. Don't stress them out cause they may just leave. This place could be fairly drama free if people just tried to make it so, so why are we not doing that? If everyone is nice than a lot of issues would disappear. 

Now another issue I know a lot of people have, boredom of the server and its issues. Things are broken, everyone knows that. Those things haven't gotten fixed. Again everyone knows, but it makes it very boring to play the same old thing for hours a week. So this is kind of a repeat of what was said above, take breaks. Pressuring Admins and even Dink to get things done isn't helping anyone. The admins can do very little when it comes to the things that are broken and its not there fault. But people failed to notice that and look where that has gotten us. The 2 main servers have 2 active admins between them. We should be so fortunate to even have them still. They too have lives so relax and don't pressure them. They may have the higher rank, but there still human. So let's reduce the stress on them and ourselves and make this place better together and try to keep the staff that we have and make this place better for the staff who have yet to come. In doing so we can make Dinks last much longer.

[Agent Barton]

I agree with all of the above. Very well organised thought processes from a great dude.

Just something to add in for staff & donors - there is no shame in asking for help. Whether it's with on server stuff or general stuff. If you're in game and can't handle whatever is going on then message for someone else to come on and you bail out.

I'm also more than happy to always be a listening ear if someone just needs to talk.

Stay safe folks, physically and mentally.

[RussEfarmer]

Something I think everyone needs to know is that as staff, you are NOT an employee. You are a volunteer. While you may be PERSONALLY obligated to help people on the server, you are never obligated in any other way to hop on to a server you don't want to be on right now. I don't know where people get the impression that "If you don't do your job and aren't super active, you shouldn't be staff and shouldn't get the next rank of staff ever", but it's wrong. I've known people that only come on once or twice a week and have gotten moderator rank, and known people on literally constantly that have never gotten above trusted. You never HAVE to be on the server (to a limited degree), so if you don't want to get on, don't, for your own sake.

You're not obligated to get on the server JUST BECAUSE you are staff. If you're feeling like you HAVE to get on the server instead of feeling like you WANT TO get on the server, something needs to change, because if you keep going like that, you are going to CRASH AND BURN HARD.

[Zoreo]

If you don't know what other games to play, I personally recommend the Portal games and Postal 2