I have asked two questions: "why?" "what purpose would removing staff members serve?" I'm curious which of these you thought was unfair.
What purpose does keeping inactive team members serve though? I understand your perspective as it isn't effecting or hurting chances of other people being promoted and such and it truly isn't effecting the moderation aspects of the server, but what is the positive of having someone on the team that has showed countless times they don't want to put in 100% motivation? It kind of goes back to the entire application process and the fact there is only 1 current applicant now for quite some time now as it's a very distrought process. There were players far more active than some of the "inactive staff" and could provide a decent amount of time to the server who were fit for the helper position and could provide in-game help for a few hours a day. No matter the case, long periods of inactivity have usually ended in demotion, or a staff report into a resign/demotion. I remember countless staff who have gone inactive for months or even a year before a demotion happened for their long periods of inactivity and not fulfilling their position. As I said in my 2 statements above, I agree with your siding of this topic and I also agree with the other siding. These people have lives, jobs, school, etc. but it's not difficult to come onto forums and make a comment, post, status update, or pop a message in the discord every once in a while to show you still care about the server. I understand playtime in-game can be scare due to personal reasons, but to not communicate for weeks/months to any of the community is not fulfilling your position. Those who choose not to, just lack the motivation to moderate for the server and there shouldn't be a reason for those people to be kept on the team in my opinion, it's just an empty spot kept there. The whole purpose of applying for the staff team is to fulfill your position as a volunteer helper for the players of Skyblock. It's not uncommon, but after a few months or such it's very obvious these staff have lacked their motivation to fulfill their position like they were pre-application or when they were promoted. I have always said this, but these staff were at first regular players applying for a position to benefit the server, and have sort of lost touch with being a player of Skyblock and do not come on to even play the server. I've seen staff just log on to get their /staff activity on when they haven't been on in weeks. Staff who have come on for 10 minutes and don't chat to get their activity record updated, and the list can go on. There is no negative or positive in keeping a team member or team member(s) on the team that aren't fulfilling their position, but what is the point of keeping those staff? What's benefiting? A larger staff team on the Staff List? From what I've experienced and observed over the years is that sometimes less is more. Sometimes it's better to have a small team of active volunteers instead of having a large team of some active volunteers and more inactive volunteers.
I read the thread. Your initial post said they had not logged on for weeks, my post then contributed with the fact that maybe they are in a busy period of their life (3 weeks+) or just enjoy the game at this current moment in time. It doesn't mean they will stop enjoying it forever. I provided an example of myself, where I tend to be very active but only during one particular time of the year. During my off-months, I will not log on at all for a very long time. I personally don't think it's unreasonable for staff to stay members of staff if they are going through the same thing. Especially considering the application standards are so high that it is very easy to burn out following a staff application, and simply stay inactive again. The ideal scenario for me would probably be to have much lower application standards for staff members who have previously been a part of the team and have now resigned. That way, the staff tag can be removed for the duration of inactivity and then re-applied whilst they still enjoys the game and are actively willing to volunteer (rather than taking months to re-apply and then burning out straight after).
Moderators who have shown ability to moderate well should not be demoted over lack of activity. As a few others stated, they are not 'taking up space', and the time they can spare for the server is apprieciated. I suggest you also look beyond server activity. Yes, staff such as Kerhana may not be on Minecraft as much as some of the newer moderators, but I know that they do other things for the server that may go unseen, such as handling Discord, or handling appeals (Many more, these are just examples). I do agree that if a moderator just does nothing, then their spot as a staff member should be reconsidered, but basing this only off server activity is not the right way to handle these sorts of problems.
This is not just based off of server activity, this is based off of activiiy in general. There are some staff who have no in-game activity, forums, or discord. There are some staff who do nothing and log on every 3-4 weeks for 10 minutes to either be afk or say 2 things then hop offline. Is that fulfilling your position? In-game inactivity is understandable, but to not even put in the work to make a Discord message, comment on a forums thread/post, etc. probably should mean your position should be reconsidered and just shows that there is no motivation left for these people when this has been an occurance for months with some staff. Excuses work like a charm here, if you say you're busy with school or work you basically don't have to put in any of the desired work needed for such a position. The excuse "maybe they are just working on behind the scenes stuff", is questionable. Yes, the higher ups on the team do more actions behind the scenes, but some regular team members who do not do behind the scenes things just don't do anything related to the server for weeks then come back for 1 day for 15 minutes just to repeat the cycle. Some communication on the forums/discord is possible no matter how busy you get in your days, you have a few moments to spare to checkup on the other aspects of the server, and those who don't just simply show they don't care anymore, so why should those people stay on the team just because it's "extra help"? Why should their activity be outlooked? Activity plays a huge role in the application process and for it to go unnoticed AFTER a promotion just does not make any sense.
Staff who have been offline for a very large amount of time were demoted in the end. If staff who show no effort currently continue to do so I am sure they will also be demoted in the end aswell. Staff do a lot of things than go completely unseen. I am not sure you acknowledge that. You may see the lack of activity on forums, discord and other places as a sign of "I don't care,' but take in mind that the people who have been selected to be a staff member on this server have proved as responsible, able and fair. Do you really think it is right to demote the responsible people just because they don't play as much as you would like them to? I said it once, and I'll say it again. Staff who are inactive do NOT 'take up space' on the team, nor do they not care. The time they can/do spare for the server is much apprieciated.
The time that they can/do spare is appreciated, but with some staff members it's very obvious that they just log on every 3-4 weeks for a few minutes just to get their activity. They aren't coming on to fulfill their position or to help in anyway by choice, they are only logging on for their activity in /seen /staff to change, it's noticable and kind of upsetting
I'll give my perspective, as one of the kings of inactivity. Personal Inactivity For me personally, there's a combination of things. I won't come make a bunch of excuses, but the three primary things it comes down to is life, general lack of interest in Minecraft, and a "promotion" at work last year. Won't get into the life part too much, but been a long series of bad things going on the last two years. As for Minecraft itself, I haven't played it all longer than an hour or two the last year or two. Usually just get on to talk to friends or play survival alone to check out new updates. Then there's work, where I got a "promotion" last year, in that most things are the same but I have much more work and responsibility every week. With all that, I'm usually stressed at the end of the day and just want to relax. When I'm into Skyblock and playing everyday, even as staff it's still fun to get on. But when you're not really feeling Minecraft, getting on becomes more of a chore than something fun. Though this in itself is fine, and staff usually take smaller breaks to deal with this. General Fear of Return The biggest issue, in my eyes, comes from once you're away for an extended period of time. After you've gone a month or two without playing, you constantly get messages from people asking you where you went, if you still want to play, all these other things adding pressure to the simple act of getting on. Once you do actually get on, you get bombarded with love (which can be nice though sometimes overwhelming) along with a good bit of hate. All the "who are you?", "fake mod", "you don't even like this server", and other discouraging statements. Whether you agree with those negative statements or not, it'll wear on anyone's mental a bit, no matter how tough you think you are. Both of these reactions get more extreme the longer you're away, so it constantly makes coming back harder and harder knowing you'll have to deal with at least a week or two of people constantly bombarding you, while you're simultaneously still trying to fulfill your staff duties, catch up with friends, and just play the game in general. Demoting Staff I've always been torn on the matter. On one hand, I see how it can look bad, especially for new players getting on and seeing that there's staff that haven't been on in ages. On the other hand, having around people that you can trust, who are already setup with permissions, can be a very valuable thing to have if ever needed. If Kerahna one day decides that she wants to start pruning inactive staff, I wouldn't have any objections. At the same time, I understand her current position. Inactive staff genuinely do not take up "spots". The staff team has always been very welcoming and open to new staff, and we haven't really had an issue with being overstaffed anytime the last few years. As for the conversations about the "double standard" where new applicants have to be active, but staff can be inactive, it comes down to a few things. The main point being that all staff have committed themselves to the server and proven their dedication and trust. All of the staff have hundreds to thousands of hours that they've played on the servers over the year. When all staff were promoted, it was during times where they were heavily active on the server, and had put in the time and effort to establish themselves as a good candidate. What We Contribute It'll vary by the staff, but many staff still contribute things to the team and server as a whole. Whether that's taking part in group discussions on Discord or forums, helping with warps and ideas, and a whole range of other things. For me personally, I try to just be here whenever people ask for me. The thing I spend the most time directly related to the server doing is just fielding questions on Discord. I always leave my status as active and online, and do my best to reply to anyone who messages me. Being the only "Active" status moderator on at times, newer players tend to message me a lot of questions. I help them the best I can, and if I can't immediately help I'll help point them in the right direction to where they can find answers or a solution. Conclusion There's a lot that goes on behind the scenes that people generally don't see or hear about. Both for the staff team as a whole, as well as at the individual level for each person. If a staff member has been away for a while, don't try to prod or interrogate them too much. It's always nice to show interest and show that you care about someone, but the added pressure, and especially the negativity surrounding being away can be a lot to deal with. When someone is ready to play a lot again, they'll do it. Better to have staff who are happy to play and enjoy it than who are resentful every time they hop in. While it definitely is always a shadow hanging over the server having these inactive staff, it also provides a valuable resource having a big group of people that you know know the server well, can trust, and are ready to help out on the server when needed. Kerahna has done a lot to make sure the staff team is like a big ol' family. Some people may move away and only stop home for the holidays, some only stop by on the weekends, others are out for a while and just call in when they can. Some may get in disagreements with each other from time to time. At the end of the day, everyone still respects each other, we're all always here for each other to whatever capacity we can be, and we all love the server as a whole. If you've made it this far, thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful day
Honestly, unless there's a significant amount of players applying waiting to fill the position, I think demoting existing moderators is counter-productive. At least they have perms to be able to help and take action when necessary.
These are only a few quotes I’d like to make, I’m on my phone so it’s kind of hard to quote though. Anyways, I really hate your reply. No offense. After reading it I cried, you had me believing y’all inactive staff were actually in some sort of hostage situation and not in a (as everyone loves to point out) voluntary and unpaid position. Why… Why would you subject yourself to such a (from the way you view and talk about it) immensely painful and horrid position? Why not just resign if you actually feel this way? You not only demand sympathy when posting some sob story like this, you also directly blame the community as one of the major reasons you don’t play… that’s low man. I have more to say about your post, but I refuse to add to your suffering. I’m above that. Congrats on the promotion at work! A+ job with them warps homie!
I'm not looking for any form of sympathy, I'm not blaming the community, I didn't say I hate being staff. You're focusing on a very small portion of everything that was said and exaggerating it far beyond anything close to it's original meaning. For better or worse, I was giving a very genuine insight into what happens when you come back from any sort of break. A good number of the community is happy to see you back while the majority of the community just continue playing as normal. An extremely small percentage of players will react with hostility and toxicity, though these players tend to also be the loudest. They'll dedicate however long you're on to insulting you, questioning you, and just generally trying to make you feel bad. While I don't agree with how they display it, I understand their frustration. In no way am I saying this negativity is "immensely painful and horrid". It's just a simple acknowledgement that having some people insulting you and trying to bring you down will hurt, no matter who you are. It is of no fault of the players doing this, and you should not feel pity for the staff member. It's all part of life. We all still love working for the server and helping out, just sometimes it's easier to help out in other ways than actually playing on the server. Every staff member has their own life and experiences, I just wanted to give some insight into mine. My overall goal was to respond to the original post, as well as some of the comments I've seen throughout this thread. I'm sorry if me injecting some of my personal experience in the first two sections took away from the overall message.
I just want more active ones. Let the old ones stay but add more helpers in the ideal time zones/play times. Helpers could then be promoted to staff once they’ve learned how to do everything and a new spots comes available, if there is a staff limit. And just so you know, 18, some of those that you mentioned have been super active spanning years, they know how to deal with things/have seen it all...so I understand why they are being kept. But we need more staff like how they used to be: super active. (a la Sky, Souly and Houzo) (Bree, Meg, Frez) etc. AND KRISSY! (Haha, she gave me a cookie...)
tldr; I'm too lazy to get on the server and I actually don't enjoy moderating for skyblock. also I haven't been on the server in over half a year
One thing I don’t understand, is how are there staff applications that are over one year old and the player who applied is still active and bumps the thread…. (2 users) Is this due to the lack of space on the staff team? Or is this due to another factor?
Probably they are not fit for the team as the staff team as most likely already seen the application and reviewed the applicant after a year+. Although, if the applicant aren’t fit for the team they will most likely not be promoted. Factors such as being able to cooperate with other staff members, feeling comfortable with the member, etc is important in the promoting process.
Ironically, I’m late to the party I’m not going to pretend that I’m a currently active staff member, never would I lie and say that in my current state of activity. Personally however, I have taken an extended leave to focus on my studies. Unfortunately, my education is much higher on my list of priorities at the moment due to the significance it has at this stage. I love Skyblock, I love the community, I love everything it has to offer. I also really love moderating. Believe me if I could be on everyday for hours on end to spend time with everybody, I would. But unfortunately the reality is right now, I just can’t. I just wanted to comment on my personal situation, take it as you wish
I feel like there are a lot of solid arguments for both sides, so I feel like I'm really more neutral on this. I feel like getting rid of some inactive staff wouldn't really be that great because it's not really "taking space up", but on the other hand, not many people are applying at the moment anyway so there's not really many options or anything. I can kind of see, because applicants have a drastically higher expectation than mods to be active, so I can see why people would want inactive staff to be demoted, considering a staff applicant has way higher expectations held toward them. In a way, I see this thread almost challenging the statement, considering staff applicants can get dragged for activity, so why not the staff? There are plenty of factors that can contribute to someone having a lot of time to be online, or hardly any at all. I do agree that if people pop in every so often at least, that'd be great, but we need to be mindful that we don't always know what's going on behind the scenes, or in a certain person's life. The staff are a mix of adults who have their own lives to sort out, or are going through, and teenagers still going through school trying to succeed, so they have a lot going on, and to be quite frank I think if someone was to put a Minecraft server before their real life responsibilities, I would personally question that person's judgement. I love seeing active staff, but I completely understand that we all have lives outside of this game. If you weren't active in a real job you'd probably get fired, and yes moderating a server is in a way a job, you're also more than likely not being paid or compensated for it, it is a volunteer position and as far as I'm aware, you don't need to do it in shifts or anything. I know the staff of the server are really fond of it and love helping out, but it would be unreasonable for us to expect them to put it first. I guess in a way I'm leaning more towards defense of staff rather than attacking, which I know a few years ago I would've been heavily against keeping them, but now I'm just slightly more in favor for keeping them. Obviously some staff have been inactive for an unreasonable amount of time, I won't deny that, if they do get demoted or not then I'm indifferent, however sometimes there's a good reason. I guess it's a good thing we have more than staff member, isn't it? Maybe a staff member only checks discord and the forums? Yes you should be checking all possible platforms, but sometimes you may not have the time or space to do so, so I dunno? I really do hope that people are able to drop their standards even a little bit, even enough to not discourage applicants and say they're "not active enough" despite them being more active than the actual staff, and maybe more people could be willing to offer their help? I think we need more staff, but last time I checked, there were only two applications, and I know more than two staff members are considered inactive. I feel like this was something tough to explain how I feel about this, and I got a lot of insight from both sides of the argument, but to be quite frank some people need to show a little kindness and stop having selective reading to other's responses.
tt takes less than a minute to load up minecraft & join the server, but I do understand that education comes first. So why not just very, very quickly make an update on your profile? "Hey guys, going to be inactive for a while whilst I focus on my education, wish me luck" would suffice, or at least something to this effect.
