theearth: (Default)
Save the Earth Mods ([personal profile] theearth) wrote in [community profile] saveyourselves2014-05-01 08:29 pm
Entry tags:

MOD ANNOUNCEMENT

As many of you are aware, there has been a recent incident involving ourselves and a few players. We wish to address this matter here.

Firstly, we apologize not only for our delay in speaking on this, but for our own behavior during this. We do take fault for having been too inflexible on the matter which started everything. All of us are to blame for this inflexibility and we all take responsibility for it; not just one mod is fully to blame for anything which happened. The plot the player desired should not have been dealt with in the way that it was. Our reasoning had been that we had not seen evidence that the plot had been set in stone, we had not been given reason why change was necessary to reconcile the plots, and that the details behind this plot/what was needed to occur to bring it to fruition were not brought to us. We offered one compromise, it was not taken, and we should have been more flexible about offering further compromises. We are, again, sorry for that inflexibility on our end.

Secondly, to prevent any risk of this sort of situation ever happening again, we are discussing a frankly overdue new system of accounting for, organizing, and simplifying coordination between planned plots, both meta and player. Details on it will be coming soon.

And thirdly, the mod with the most concerns voiced about her has been issued a warning, and will be taking far less of a stance involving plot-related issues for the time being. We will monitor her behavior to ensure a repeat of this kind of situation does not occur again and, should it, she will be dealt with. In line with those concerns, while she will still be involved in plotting and whatever issues may come to us, the other mods will have far greater a say, and will be considered the figures of authority where directly addressing player concerns and needs is concerned.

However, what we stand firm about is that ganging up on a person while refusing their own comfort is not permissible. The mod in question had become extremely uncomfortable having so many people, including one not in the game, on her all at once while she was not feeling well. This was the reason warnings were issued. We do, however, concede to having been too impulsive in issuing warnings to all involved, and once more, we do apologize to the parties who had been warned without having acted severely enough to warrant a warning. All but one of the warnings has been lifted.

Finally, not all the mods are experienced mods, and even the more experienced mods will acknowledge they can always use some help. So please, we ask that if any of you have any suggestions on how we might improve to come and tell us.

Thank you and, once again, we all apologize for our respective parts in this situation.

Comments to this post are enabled. At request, they have been unscreened. If you have left a screened comment and would like it unscreened, please indicate so! As per the suggestion of Guin, if you would prefer to leave us a screened comment, please do so on the Mod Contact post.

We will make a second post addressing those concerns, resolutions, and invitation of a second round of feedback as soon as we're able.


UPDATE - 5/3:

The StE modteam is currently planning to come together as a group and discuss all the issues brought to them on this post. Linda and Guin will be present while we are all on to continue discussion as a full team in order to ensure that all points and issues are thoroughly addressed.

This discussion will be happening as soon as possible - but coordinating schedules has proven difficult, so please bear with us.

This post will be edited accordingly once the discussion's day and time have been set.

UPDATE - 5/3:

The discussion will begin Sunday, May 4th, 5:00 P.M. CDT/3:00 P.M. PST.

UPDATE - 5/4:

The discussion has begun and is underway; it's proven to be more intensive than anticipated and hasn't yet ended, but will resume tomorrow and continue until concluded.

In the meantime, screencaps of the discussion thus far are posted at Linda's public Plurk; further updates will be made on this post and the linked Plurk, including the date, once set, of the second post.

UPDATE - 5/5:

Discussion has now concluded - we're sorry for having been quiet for so long!

Formal address of the points brought to this post as well as a second OOC post and a mod apps announcement will be coming by the end of tomorrow - Tuesday, 5/6.

- THE STE MODS: Anduin, Blue, Mini, and Olga
onecream_fivesugar: (Happy times)

[personal profile] onecream_fivesugar 2014-05-02 05:39 pm (UTC)(link)
Hey there!

Been talking to some people on Plurk and we came up with a neat idea for the whole handling planned plots here. How about a Calender? Paradisa has one and it was a pretty easy way to see when something was going on when I played there.

http://paradisaooc.dreamwidth.org/6296942.html#cutid1

You could always color code the events between meta-plot and player plot, whether it's happening in Locke or Vegas, and OOC stuff.

fae_of_the_rose: (Default)

+1

[personal profile] fae_of_the_rose 2014-05-02 06:01 pm (UTC)(link)
It can always be kept vague, too, beyond "stuff happening here" if you wanted to keep aspects of the plot a surprise
onecream_fivesugar: (give me strength to face)

[personal profile] onecream_fivesugar 2014-05-02 06:05 pm (UTC)(link)
Exactly. You don't have to give everything away right off the bat. But just a mention that there might be something happen on some day would be good.
purestambition: (042)

+1

[personal profile] purestambition 2014-05-02 06:17 pm (UTC)(link)
In the end, as has been pointed out in many varying forms, what things come down to is communication. The calendar I think is a fantastic idea, if we want to move forward.

One problem I've noticed in the past is that we never quite know WHEN something is going to happen. There is an element of surprise to be considered sometimes, sure - I definitely get that. However, plot posts appear without warning, and it can make it very difficult to plan player plots accordingly.

As well, the spread of information rarely feels even among players. This is not something I feel is intentional or even malicious to any degree. I have seen comments just today to the effect of it seeming like your involvement in the game can depend on who's on your Plurk timeline, and there have been incidents - both major and minor - in my time here where it felt as if information that SHOULD have been available to all players at hand simply wasn't.

I don't expect all plot details to be revealed, certainly not - I don't want them to be. So that's not what I'm saying. But what's known to be going on should be something that is more evenly distributed among players, and focused. Such things are not just contained to the plotting posts, which makes discovering them not the easiest thing in the world sometimes, depending on who you have on your timeline.

Some players have expressed they just don't know where to even put forth any involvement in things, and I can't blame them. That can feel daunting at times, even if you're active and making a conscious effort towards things. It is extremely easy to feel out of the loop sometimes, even if you read every single comment to a Plot Post, because things seem to spread out in so many different directions beyond that, and even then digging through the Question & Answer portion of the Plot Posts can be just as daunting.

A good for instance to that is the fact that, in one of the Plot Posts in the past month it was asked if a Vegas Vermini would trigger an echo. They could, and that was awesome - yet the next, subsequent Vegas-focused plot post made no mention of this in "potential echoes." So someone who just apped in might not even be aware that there was a potential echo right at their fingertips if they were in Vegas. It wasn't until the last Plot Post this was added in there, but it would probably have been helpful to people to have that clearly stated and up front already, since it was still a factor.

It's a small example, but it's what comes to mind off the top of my head.

This distribution of information applies not just to Player Plots, but things which reflect upon the world plot as well.

I think focusing the spread of information, knowing when we CAN focus in on our own plots or when we need to be ready to focus on the Game Plot would be helpful, in the end.
Edited (clarification) 2014-05-02 18:22 (UTC)