Which timezone are you in? GMT-8 (PST. USA West Coast). That said, I'm on at odd hours. Which languages do you speak? English. A very little bit of German and Spanish. Have you ever been banned? (if yes, why?) No. Why do you think you should be a mod? I'm primarily interested in Rule 5 - having a civil server in chat. My daughter is getting more interested in Minecraft, and wants to watch me play or potentially join the server herself. There have been a number of times that language has been spotty for a several minutes (** swearing included), or heavily sexualized. Naturally I'd enforce all the rules to the best of my ability, but that's my primary interest. As the rules note you've got players from 5-50, though I suspect your sweet spot is largely in the 12-17 range. They're learning what is and isn't acceptable in anonymous online behavior. I know enforcing this rule in particular isn't popular, but it's a line to hold. The biggest drawback I imagine you'd have with me is ratcheting things towards that "5" end of the age range where folks have been getting used to getting away with more. Even the most minor "correction" sets some folks off, and the sense of injustice can get a bit... out of proportion. How long can you be active on the server every day? Varies wildly. Usually 3-4 hours a week. Do you have any past experience as a moderator? Ayup. From a SysOp in BBS'es in the late 80s, Usenet forums in the 90s, in-game and on forums in the 00's, and in professional technical forums these days. I've seen all the arguments of "Don't mess with me, man, the (US) constitution says free speech!" that don't apply to private servers, all the creative ways to walk right up to the edge of the rules and try to lawyer your way through "well the rules didn't explicitly say I couldn't do X" when you knew darn well that was the intent... And, as I mentioned, I'm a dad... I can't imagine any better education in developing patience and rules lawyering. I'm only minimally involved in the social in-game side of the server, so I'm outside of any pre-existing drama.
10% Support Why: - Mod Application is a bit short - Never seen you in-game - 3-4 Hours a week? Or a day? Mods need to be on all the time...
To answer your questions: As Shakespeare wrote: "... brevity is the soul of wit..." Saw you online yesterday a fair bit, but as noted I bounce around time-wise a fair bit and am not wildly involved in chat beyond usually direct /msg response to folks with questions that I'm qualified to answer. And yes, 3-4 hours per week. The server needs continuous quality mod coverage. I leave it up to the approvers whether they require continuous coverage from individual mods. I'm applying only because I've seen gaps frequently at the times when I'm on, and offer to help plug the hole. Many cheerful hands make light work... Thanks for your feedback.
No Support. Add a bit more detail to your application. Space it out a bit, which makes it easier to read. Your activity time isn't very clear, so try adding a time-table to help. Never seen you on either, and help out more on the forums. Good Luck Though.
Thanks for the feedback, folks. Apologies for perceived formatting issues or lack of detail, but I'd genuinely appreciate your feedback on Artificiality's criteria. I'll refer to the "How to Judge an Applicant" thread. "How helpful is the player?" Most of my feedback goes directly via /msg to new folks in-game getting started in the game. I recall how bewildering it was - you can see my own post here on the forums back when I was new. As this is private help, I fully understand it won't bubble up to general visibility. "How active is the player?" Well, there's the rub. I pop on now and again during my local daytime, but usually am on late (10:30pm-1am) on the days I have the opportunity. It varies, wildly. I might be on more weekends with my daughter, but only during times when there is active moderation on chat. The next three are where I think I stand out of the crowd a bit. "What is this player's background?" "Is this player mature?" "How experienced is this player?" I'll give a bit more background on my game experience. Back in 1997-2005-ish range, I was on volunteer staff for a very popular Starsiege: Tribes server and clan community. We'd have 60-ish players on in a particular server, and ran up to 3 servers at one point. General community of folks was 400-500. We ran our rules very similar to Skyblock.net, which is part of the appeal of joining this staff. My primary role was as a modder (programmer), and I did the staff/moderator thing by duty of the staff position. The adrenaline of first person shooters doesn't tend to bring out the best in people, and it was a tough role. My first response to most issues was to automate the rules where possible to make the moderators' jobs easy - basic language filters, anti-cheats, et cetera. Like in Skyblock, that left the violations that required human evaluation. Tempers often flared as these were often 20-30 minute matches, and a moderator's decision would affect the outcome of a match. We even gained a couple of hackers dedicated to finding loopholes in the server or just taking it down if they didn't like a decision or were losing a match. One proud moment I had was eventually helping a persistent hacker finally develop an appreciation for the effort involved, and turning his efforts into white-hat (helpful) hacking the server. Eventually he'd contact me first, and let me fix the issues. That sometimes brought me into conflict with the other moderators that just wanted him gone... The moderator guidance here talks about giving second chances to prospective moderators - it's also important to be a guiding influence on the players.
Thanks for reading and considering. The "different age group" is a big piece of why I'm not terribly vocal in-game or in the forums... I'm just coming from a different place. Heck, I'll call it a Good Thing that I'm not looking to fill a social void in my life with folks 30 years my junior. That said, if any of you are starting to consider college majors, how to write a resume', or financial planning with first jobs... Or better yet, if there are other lurkers in my age group trying to figure out how to safely get your kids online... I'm your man!
