If that was to me, I didn't mean it was a bad thing. In my own way, I was simply stating that Anna is doing an excellent job. Wow, people! Lighten up.

< is a bit appalled by the maturity level of certain moderators whose jobs are to lead by example. /semi-random;

Am still waiting on more response from different mods/admin on what I've already posted in here. *whine*

*re-reads*

Ok, as far fas Reili is concerned, there was something about algebra, a computer and history and miscellaneous other homework. She's here, but will be a bit sporadic.

I thought I had acknowledged the verbal warning critique. I can't speak for anyone else, but I've been very careful about how I warn (not just the process, but being consistent in giving warnings) after this whole situation to make sure it is done the same way across the board. Sandra got one yesterday, for an example.

You've been honest with me so let me be honest with you guys. Up until mid last week I've been a little shy about giving out warnings, to anyone. I was sort of internalizing things that were going on here and dealing with how actions and words (not just yours) were affecting me, and how words and actions were affecting you and others in the community (believe it or not). My staff related actions became a bit low-caloric as a result.

I don't know, I guess I sort of woke up and realized that it was time to just move forward. (As I mentioned, I did give someone else a verbal that very morning). I can't go back and change the way I handled James' warning. I wish I could, believe me, I wish I could. But I wouldn't go back on the warning itself. I wasn't picking on James either, I would have done the same thing had it been anyone else.

Oh and the TA analogy is actually very applicable (just had to mention that).

Understanding that I could be really asking for it by saying this, but what else did I miss?

Actually, Rebecca was TOO generous. *sigh* I deserve more. I'm really sorry Rebecca.

QUOTE(Zatanna @ Sep 18 2006, 6:13 AM)

Understanding that I could be really asking for it by saying this, but what else did I miss?

Nothing really. >_> I actually hoping that there would be more feedback from the other moderators, since it seems that you're the only one responding to us(me).

Well in their defense, I have no life. Other than that, I've got nada.

Thank you, Anna.

I second what Anna said.

A lot of the time, i don't like what rebecca says, but at least she says SOMETHING, and i can respect someone who at least has an opinion.

oh, and Rebecca, dont worry about the warn thing, really. there were circumstances, etc.

What exactly are you wanting our opinion on, Anna?

How warnings and verbal warnings are handled?
On our personal activity or other mods activity issues?

The situation with Jame's warning is in the past now, and Rebecca was dealing with that whole thing.
I'm not entirely sure what you are wanting to discuss.
and yes, I read the entire thread.
It seemed like you were aiming your responses more towards Rebecca and such,
you guys were going back and forth.

Again, what do you want our opinion on.
I'm sure a lot of the mods would be happy to speak up.

QUOTE(KissMe2408 @ Sep 18 2006, 12:13 PM)

What exactly are you wanting our opinion on, Anna?

How warnings and verbal warnings are handled?
On our personal activity or other mods activity issues?

The situation with Jame's warning is in the past now, and Rebecca was dealing with that whole thing.
I'm not entirely sure what you are wanting to discuss.
and yes, I read the entire thread.
It seemed like you were aiming your responses more towards Rebecca and such,
you guys were going back and forth.

Again, what do you want our opinion on.
I'm sure a lot of the mods would be happy to speak up.

We were going back and forth because nobody else would dive in. But since you want to know..

QUOTE(Azarel @ Sep 15 2006, 1:30 PM)

And how is this punishment of coming forward any less leniant than the punishment of not coming forward? To be fair, you started it; I only had good intentions when I posted what you initially attacked. (btw, this is the issue J&A has with you [Mona] at the moment.)

QUOTE(Azarel @ Sep 15 2006, 4:05 PM)

We complain about the activity of mods that are inactive, obviously; the reason we don't differentiate between those mods is because those who are inactive are pretty obvious. Yes, I get that the mods we(I) complain about are inactive because of various reasons, but in the mod hiring thread, wasn't it stated (oh, and I know it was, so ignore the rhetoric here) that cB wants dedicated members as staff? I understand that moderators may need breaks once in a while, but.. sometimes those (school/hw/vacation) are just excuses.

I mean, Kathleen (before she was demodded) had just started school and just gotten a new job, but she still made the effort to spend at least fifteen or so minutes on cB, doing as much as she could, and it clear that she was trying. Also, Keira (sorry to bring you into this, I need another example) was active on cB during the most difficult time of her life. And even you, Rebecca, are on cB when there are real life issues you need to deal with. I'm not saying that moderators should neglect non-cB obligations in order to be good moderators; it's just that they willingly signed on to be moderators, so they should be doing their jobs.

Compare the situation to.. say.. a TA. In both cases, you're not getting paid, but you've signed up to perform some sort of duty or something or another. (Wow, I am so good at explaining things. XD) If an TA neglects their duties (to grade papers, photocopy stuff, help out the teacher, whatever), no matter what the reason, they would be given a bad grade as a TA, right (er, at my high school it was a class)? But once in a while, if the TA asked to not do anything for the teacher that period because they needed to study for a test, it would be acceptable because it wasn't often that it happened. Technically, a mod (imo) should have something like that going along. Most of the time, they should be actively participating and performing moderator actions if they take a break once in a while for a few days at a time, but return, continuing with the active modding and such, it should be no problem. However, the mods(I) we were(was) complaining (and in one case, still am) about did no such active modding.. (I know, not exactly the best analogy, but it gets my point across.) I've been rambling on about that for entirely too long. >_>;

HI THIS IS ESPECIALLY DIRECTED TOWARD YOU, SINCE YOU WANT TO ASK WHAT I WANT RESPONSE ON, THANKS MUCH. /immature;

QUOTE(Azarel @ Sep 17 2006, 10:02 PM)

< is a bit appalled by the maturity level of certain moderators whose jobs are to lead by example. /semi-random;

I realize this is PURELY puerile (yay alliteration), but..
CAN I GET AN AMEN?

My name wasn't included in your second post/quotation when I first saw/read the post and since I PMed James about the sequence of events that night and he didn't want to acknowledge anything I said and I have a hunch you probably saw the PM, I didn't respond to it.

I don't see any issue with you bringing up mods' inactivity. Yes, school shouldn't exactly be used an an excuse to be inactive, but we don't all function the same way. And if someone does have frequent absences, they are asked to step down. If they say they will try to improve, they are allowed to stay. But if no improvements are seen, they are again asked to step down or be demoted.

^ Yes, but "school" has been an excuse for awhile now. A lot of people have settled in. Moreover, both Kiera and Rebecca (sorry to bring both into this yet again) were on cB even through hard times in real life. I don't think school comes close to the equivalence of what they went through.

I just started college last week and am still not used to it yet.

Yes, but why should such difficulties be used in comparisons? I am truly sorry that they have to go through said difficulties and I appreciate that they take the time to come on here but obviously, not everyones experiences will have the same degree of effects. Just trying to look at it from both sides...

But I at least see you doing things. I see you online. I don't know if Kiera told you (or if I did on the phone/Skype), but when I was on Staff, I noticed there are a few members whose posts are mostly Backstage for the day. I literally went to view their posts and saw that most of them were Backstage. If they have enough time for Backstage, why don't they have enough time for the rest of the site, where they're supposed to be doing their job?

Edit: And if anyone thinks I'm saying this out of resentment for being demoted, I am not. Being on Staff alerted me of these problems.

Are you only going towards people staff on this stuff? Or Design staff as well?

Again, I want to know how that is any less lenient of a punishment.

Between "vacation" and "school," a mod could never be around and still be kept on the moderating team; that's the way it is right now. You say you want dedicated members on staff in your hiring thread, but come the end of the day, it's just people you like and don't like. Where's the dedication of someone that doesn't, no, won't make the time to perform their duties?

What it comes down to is that there are people who stay on staff just because they can't stand to lose their precious access backstage, which shouldn't even be used for your chat topic; I know that post count is now disabled back there, but that doesn't stop moderators from getting chummy within themselves and become withdrawn from the rest of the community.

Out of both teams, I'd say the Design Staff is most efficient. I constantly see many of you on (except a couple). I see you, Kristina, Rachael, Toya, and Jackie on all the time. So yeah, I guess it just happens to be mostly People Staff (who, ironically, are the ones that should be better in touch with the community and have more forums to look after).

Anna you are bringing up subjects that we are all aware of. If a mod is lacking or inactive, it's not like the admins are blind to that fact. A mod is usually PM'd about their inactivity and many have stepped down lately due to outside obligations. Whether it's school, dance, jobs, family situations, whatever, mods are fully aware when they have been inactive, and if for some reason they are in denial, then other mods or admins and members [like yourself], bring it to attention to the right people.
School isn't meant to be used as an excuse, and I do believe that many mods here put a lot of time and effort, regardless of outside activities, to really support this community. If they don't put in the effort or time, then they step down or are forced to step down. period.

As you brought up, there are special situations where mods can go on a brief hiatus for a while [let's say they have a vacation or something], and are inactive for [a week/few days], then no, obviously they don't have to step down. CB should always come second to things like school or family.
If school or family becomes too overwhelming then a mod might feel like they need to clear their head and step down from their position. It happens all the time, members do the same thing.
And unless you have someone in mind, I don't see what the problem is here. And I KNOW you have someone in mind, you always do, so it might be easier to just name that person.

Again, Mods are humans. They make mistakes, they regret their mistakes, they get tied up at work and when they get home they crash. We aren't robots, though sometimes it seems like you guys would prefer if we were. So again, give some mods a break. Especially around such a weird time as school starting. And no school is not an excuse, but c'mon, let's look at the big picture here. CB is only a part of someones life, not life itself.


Yes, moderators do need to be an example to the community because they are leaders. Maturity and having a good attitude are crucial, thank you for pointing that out.


And which people exactly are just staying on staff so they can get "chummy" backstage? It is important, on CB and in the world, to have your employees bond and work TOGETHER. You want a strong staff, a staff that gets along with each other. Same when casting for a show, you want a group of people that will work together, build up each others strengths and cancel out any weaknesses. In no way are any mods withdrawn from the rest of the community because of things happening backstage. It's important to balance the two, but you need to know what's going on behind the scenes, before you try to fix things out front.

And we do want dedicated staff members who can do the job right and have a good attitude and have leadership qualities. C'mon you know what we are looking for. It's not about who we like and who we don't like, because trust me, there have been people on staff that I haven't exactly gotten along with. And you keep talking about mods who won't dedicate time and effort. It was already said that they either step down or are demodded. It's really simple, I don't get what you don't understand about it. And it comes to this, you probably are talking about someone again, so it would be easier if you just named that person, instead of naming what this person is doing.

Okay, fine; you. And Sammi. But mostly just you.

Sammi

What about her? She's not even on staff anymore, I don't see how she could be a big problem. I dont' see anything that shes doing wrong either?

Um. As mentor, does she even do anything other than post in the chat topic backstage?

Shes a mentor now. I don't know how big of a job that really is once your that. I know you can't do as much as a normal mod can.
And Roxy? is one as well
http://www.createblog.com/forums/index.php?showuser=797

And I see Sammi around a lot more than Roxy.


Sammi posts in the lounge, interest subforums, pictures. Almost everywhere. So you can't exactly say she doesn't post anywhere but backstage.



Excuse me if I repeat anything, or something doesn't make any sense. I'm sick once again.

You bring up an interesting point. I feel that a majority of a mod's activity should be outside of backstage. I think sometimes mods (including myself at one time) get a little too comfy cozy back there and fall back on doing modly duties or get caught up in that the only things we need to address is what goes on backstage. It's great to be actively involved back there, but be equally involved around the forums. I think that is summing up what's Kathleen is trying to say.

As far as moderator inactivey due to school my stance is this, school is first. This very true for me and the minute cB starts to interfere greatly with school is the day I step down. With that said, there is usually a grace period allowed to mods who are starting back at school to become adjusted to their new workload and time being a mod. After that grace period however, school isn't very much of a good excuse. Holding on to a position because you want to "help out" is not going to work if you can't be around. I would much rather see a mod leave responsibly because they know they can't afford to contribute as a mod as much as they would like than for a mod to become reluntanct to step down, make failed attempts at staying active, and ultimately be forced to step down. It kind of forces into one's mind what that person is truely on the staff team for. I know dedication to the forum is something that Jusun is big. Either be 100% or be out. This last part applies to all of us on staff.

I feel like all of this was said already. I've been typing this reply out for the last 15 minutes ( plus interruptions) so if I've stated something already said in the last few replies above, excuse me.

Kathleen, no one thinks that you are stating your concerns out of resentment. I know I don't. I would also like to thank you for pointing out that design staff is active. I'm not sure if it was your intention, but hearing something nice in all this is very appreciated.

Also, I don't think that being close with fellow staff members necessarily equates to being withdrawn from the community. It is possible to do both. I think Dani is a good example of that.

I may regret asking this, but can you guys point out some examples of the immaturity that has you concerned. I'm not saying it doesn't exist, it would just help pin-point a little better. That's all. That goes for activity concerns as well.

You (all of you) are a part of the community here and it's important that these things get straightened out one way or another.

[off topic] hates having first post on a page [/off topic]

Sammi is a mentor, as mentioned above.
Though, i'm not 100% sure if you can get kicked off staff for being inactive as a mentor. You would have to ask Keira or Mona about that, as Holly pointed out, do notice that Roxy is a mentor.
And Sammi has been active, I see her around all over the place.
And she does a lot, and puts in her opinion on tons of subjects that are brought up, and her opinion matters.

As for me, I believe I have been active, especially lately, as well as doing my job around the community. However, you have your opinion and I have mine. If you would like, PM Mona or Keira about my inactivity.