Moderator Applications (Possible Revamp)

[Ceroria]

Everyone is rollin' with my +1 thing. I dig

+2

 

[bad2020]

I think this could be a thing however there are other moderators who then do not go in-game and end up only on the Forums. I must say I do not do much on the Forums because I find it hard to talk to people and hard to find topics. I am a bit of a shy person and that travels with me somewhat here. However if you see me in-game I try to be as active as possible and punish as many players who are breaking the rules. I am almost always on TeamSpeak and have help many players with various issues there. As much as this is a good idea if this is implemented you would have to set requirements across all the game platforms which would be hard to monitor. Also I believe this would take a bit of discussion with Sr. Staff which could take quite awhile. TLDR: Maybe

 

[Fireworks]

I think this could be a thing however there are other moderators who then do not go in-game and end up only on the Forums. I must say I do not do much on the Forums because I find it hard to talk to people and hard to find topics. I am a bit of a shy person and that travels with me somewhat here. However if you see me in-game I try to be as active as possible and punish as many players who are breaking the rules. I am almost always on TeamSpeak and have help many players with various issues there. As much as this is a good idea if this is implemented you would have to set requirements across all the game platforms which would be hard to monitor. Also I believe this would take a bit of discussion with Sr. Staff which could take quite awhile. TLDR: Maybe

He was simply using the active in-game/uncaring forum mod as an example. What (I see) is truly being wanted is for our moderators to be active in all the platforms that they're expected to moderate.
At this current time, I don't believe they've dedicated certain staff to only in-game work, or forum work. As its always been, the staff have been required to moderate everything MCGamer runs. If they're required to moderate these platforms, they should at least know how to handle each platform effectively before having to moderate them. Implementing these requirements for each platform can possibly ensure we get mods who know their way around each area with ease.
Also, you say you don't moderate the forums because you find it hard to talk to people on here and etc. Do to your job on these forums you don't have to interact with us. You just got to make sure all business on here are following the rules. Locking a thread and explaining why it's been locked has no social interactions going between both parties. Simply put, being shy and hard to communicate on the forums is (in my eyes) no excuse to not do the tasks a mod is expected to do on this platform. Besides, not all of us bite on the forums. We're just here to discuss things outside of the game, most us us are quite friendly frankly.

(My apologies if this came out as rude. I'm tired and I just wanted to point some things out I thought of as I read your post.)

 

[Creepah]

I think that in general the standard for forum activity should be raised, but I also believe the process shouldn't be too harsh.

When I first received moderator, I had around 40 posts and likes and had been on the forums for a month. I was one of these newbie moderators once and I have to sympathize in a way even though I can really understand the other side of the argument. I didn't turn out too bad, so what's to say these new mods won't be the same given a chance?

I think forum activity should definitely be a factor, but not a determining one.

 

[bad2020]

He was simply using the active in-game/uncaring forum mod as an example. What (I see) is truly being wanted is for our moderators to be active in all the platforms that they're expected to moderate.
At this current time, I don't believe they've dedicated certain staff to only in-game work, or forum work. As its always been, the staff have been required to moderate everything MCGamer runs. If they're required to moderate these platforms, they should at least know how to handle each platform effectively before having to moderate them. Implementing these requirements for each platform can possibly ensure we get mods who know their way around each area with ease.
Also, you say you don't moderate the forums because you find it hard to talk to people on here and etc. Do to your job on these forums you don't have to interact with us. You just got to make sure all business on here are following the rules. Locking a thread and explaining why it's been locked has no social interactions going between both parties. Simply put, being shy and hard to communicate on the forums is (in my eyes) no excuse to not do the tasks a mod is expected to do on this platform. Besides, not all of us bite on the forums. We're just here to discuss things outside of the game, most us us are quite friendly frankly.

(My apologies if this came out as rude. I'm tired and I just wanted to point some things out I thought of as I read your post.)

I do, try to do work on here but on the fact of "doing the job" locking threads and some other actions would not raise you messages or posts which if you set a requirement on would not necessarily be fair to the forumly handicapped like me. I have tried to be more active in the forums and try to do report abuses whenever I have the time, however the forums were never as easy or simple of a thing for me. And yes most moderators balance their time on all platforms evenly. The training moderators recieve after they get accepted helps with the ability to know how to use all the platforms it is on whether they do or do not. And do not worry you aren't being rude you are simply stating your point without attacking, questioning, abusing, or denying me as a person or authority so it isn't rude.

 

[roygator14]

As hard as it is for me to say, I agree with this.
+1
And +2 Ceroria

 

[AGFire2013]

Hi!
Moderators are our first line of defense against hackers on MCGamer here. We have an excellent staff here who do a great job in-game punishing rule breakers yet there has been more and more players applying for moderator lately and they are able to obtain it. I see no problem with it, the more the staff, the more players that will be punished, but do you feel as if there's now quantity over quality in the staff team?

Recently as I have noticed, there have been many people who have applied for moderator yet they have under 20 posts on the forums sometimes and so it can't help me but think some people joined the forums only to apply, not to interact with the community. Of course, there are some exceptions such as TrebleMaker07_ she does a fantastic job, tries to be active on the forums, but of course it isn't her strong suit.

The MCGamer forums have a Spam Protection for people with very little posts in case they are a spam bot. What happens if they could corporate that into where a player needs to post at least 50 posts so that they are able to get access to apply on the forums. If they did so, people on the forums would recognize names in the staff team and actually be able to get to know them more seeing as they posted a little bit, rather than let's say 12 posts.

While not all moderators are extremely comfortable with the forums, they should at least try and read some posts or post once in awhile as the forums is the best way to interact with each other and to just get to know some of the community members more.

Another suggestion inspired by the thread; Community Discussion: Regarding mod applications created by Trilexium gives out some great points. People who apply for moderator should somewhat be known in the community as they are the more respected members of staff. Of course not all of them would be a great staff, but this would have the community trust more in its staff members. I am not bashing the staff team at all, but for example; many community members enjoy Mooclan Ceroria AGFire2013 Jeffrey | JDusk OhFancy mainly because they were somewhat known before they applied, and as of now, I'm seeing almost all of the members of the community being disrespectful to most of the new moderators mainly because they were not as known as the people I stated above were.

Please put your opinions on this matter and if you do believe that the staff should take this into consideration.

Forum activity should definitely be looked at beforehand, as I do feel it is the most neglected platform of the MCGamer Network right now. It's important to get to know the community and connect with them by making posts, as well as share your opinions in a place where your own won't conflict as much as it would on Teamspeak or Ingame. It's a nice outlet where you can express yourself, interact with others, and keep up to date with the servers.

We could incorporate a kind of system where new moderators who do not have as much posts or experience on the forums will have to go through a forums training session, something that is already available to us moderators, so that we can ensure that they at least know how to moderator the forums properly as even I struggled a little bit with the forums after being officially trained as a moderator. Though it should be encouraged, I don't believe that moderators should really post a lot of messages on threads if it's not their thing, but they definitely should be active in terms of forums moderation.

 

[Fireworks]

I do, try to do work on here but on the fact of "doing the job" locking threads and some other actions would not raise you messages or posts which if you set a requirement on would not necessarily be fair to the forumly handicapped like me. I have tried to be more active in the forums and try to do report abuses whenever I have the time, however the forums were never as easy or simple of a thing for me. And yes most moderators balance their time on all platforms evenly. The training moderators recieve after they get accepted helps with the ability to know how to use all the platforms it is on whether they do or do not. And do not worry you aren't being rude you are simply stating your point without attacking, questioning, abusing, or denying me as a person or authority so it isn't rude.

The requirement is not like a monthly quota of forum locks you have to do. There's too many mods and not enough threads for that. The requirement is used as a part of the application process. Having the requirement during the application process will help avoid having mods in the position your in now, being uncomfortable using the forums, so they avoid it. Gaining that comfort of using the forums before becoming a mod is what's important, for part of the job is managing them.

I figured they would get all the training to do everything in-game, on the forums, and on teamspeak. It is up to them whether or not they do the moderation on all of them. I agree with you there. It's just when they decide not to and give the burden to someone else is what bugs me. Giving more work to others just because you don't want to, it's a frowned upon practice, at least in my eyes. (I heard stories from my dad of people in his workplace doing this to him all the time. Gives him so much unnecessary stress...) Even if you don't find a thread to lock, or some flame to take care of, at least taking a look around the forums for anything is enough.

I'm glad you've at least tried to do stuff around the forums. It shows your willing to help out around here. Even if your having a hard time with it, keep at it. The more practice and exposure you give yourself, you'll start to get more comfortable around it. I'm similar to you in a way, I'm shy, I don't do many interactions with people besides those I'm comfortable with. I've just been using the forums for a long time, and I've gained comfort to it. It's not impossible for a shy guy to be active around here, just got to put the time into it.

 

[Ceroria]

The requirement is not like a monthly quota of forum locks you have to do. There's too many mods and not enough threads for that. The requirement is used as a part of the application process. Having the requirement during the application process will help avoid having mods in the position your in now, being uncomfortable using the forums, so they avoid it. Gaining that comfort of using the forums before becoming a mod is what's important, for part of the job is managing them.

I figured they would get all the training to do everything in-game, on the forums, and on teamspeak. It is up to them whether or not they do the moderation on all of them. I agree with you there. It's just when they decide not to and give the burden to someone else is what bugs me. Giving more work to others just because you don't want to, it's a frowned upon practice, at least in my eyes. (I heard stories from my dad of people in his workplace doing this to him all the time. Gives him so much unnecessary stress...) Even if you don't find a thread to lock, or some flame to take care of, at least taking a look around the forums for anything is enough.

I'm glad you've at least tried to do stuff around the forums. It shows your willing to help out around here. Even if your having a hard time with it, keep at it. The more practice and exposure you give yourself, you'll start to get more comfortable around it. I'm similar to you in a way, I'm shy, I don't do many interactions with people besides those I'm comfortable with. I've just been using the forums for a long time, and I've gained comfort to it. It's not impossible for a shy guy to be active around here, just got to put the time into it.

+3

Hehe

Yes not everyone may not be comfortable with using the forums, but it's an equally important platform. It's like me saying I don't do ingame work because I'm uncomfortable playing Minecraft. All of our platforms are important, and all require experience.

 

[Fireworks]

+3

Hehe

That caught me off guard. What a great way to start my morning, with a laugh.
+1

 

[Beardy]

Oh yes, this is genius. I hate people who make an account just to apply for mod. It's really bad because they'll have poor grammar and double post after they're a mod. Are the forums excluded from the training? It just looks bad because these are the staff of the future and I don't think I want to be around if they rise in the ranks.

 

[Doubted]

I think this could be a thing however there are other moderators who then do not go in-game and end up only on the Forums. I must say I do not do much on the Forums because I find it hard to talk to people and hard to find topics. I am a bit of a shy person and that travels with me somewhat here. However if you see me in-game I try to be as active as possible and punish as many players who are breaking the rules. I am almost always on TeamSpeak and have help many players with various issues there. As much as this is a good idea if this is implemented you would have to set requirements across all the game platforms which would be hard to monitor. Also I believe this would take a bit of discussion with Sr. Staff which could take quite awhile. TLDR: Maybe

You should not be a mod in this case. I had a friend who applied for mod but got denied for "forum inactivity" since you do not come on the forums often I do not see why you are mod...