Save the Earth Mods (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
theearth) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
saveyourselves2014-05-01 08:29 pm
theearth) wrote in 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
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
please respond to my second comment-- not this one. i'm going to be editing this one.
» Players are uncomfortable with coming to the mods
• the PM warnings: We need to know who wrote them, who signed off on the warning, what they were thinking at the time.
• the 'Don't Be Mean to Mods' OOC comm post: same info required.
• Accountability and Transparency: people are legitimately worried about approaching the mods in a one-on-one, private manner. in the past, issues that have been brought up or plot points presented have been completely forgotten or totally shut down.
• Mini's role in this and what will happen to her?
• Blue's role in the initial problem with Mini, and what exactly she said/did to Batty.
• Anduin's role in this and what will happen to her?
posts for further details:
http://saveyourselves.dreamwidth.org/213376.html?thread=5785216#cmt5785216
http://saveyourselves.dreamwidth.org/213376.html?thread=5784192#cmt5784192
http://saveyourselves.dreamwidth.org/213376.html?thread=5791104#cmt5791104
http://saveyourselves.dreamwidth.org/213376.html?thread=5794432#cmt5794432
http://saveyourselves.dreamwidth.org/213376.html?thread=5797504#cmt5797504
http://saveyourselves.dreamwidth.org/213376.html?thread=5803136#cmt5803136
http://saveyourselves.dreamwidth.org/213376.html?thread=5803392#cmt5803392
http://saveyourselves.dreamwidth.org/213376.html?thread=5803392#cmt5803392
http://saveyourselves.dreamwidth.org/213376.html?thread=5806720#cmt5806720
» Rules, upholding and enforcing how the game runs
• Anduin and AC: what is going on here?
→the cast member in question responded here
→Anduin responded here
• Plot handling in the future: if there are two conflicting plots, what will you do? how will you make sure you aren't shutting down players' ideas or being inflexible?
• Information dispersal: it seems like some players are "in the know" about plots while others aren't.
• Questionable bias against Batty/other players: was this a problem Mini had? What do you do if this happens in the future?
posts for further details:
http://saveyourselves.dreamwidth.org/213376.html?thread=5792896#cmt5792896
http://saveyourselves.dreamwidth.org/213376.html?thread=5789568#cmt5789568
http://saveyourselves.dreamwidth.org/213376.html?thread=5799296#cmt5799296
http://saveyourselves.dreamwidth.org/213376.html?thread=5832064#cmt5832064
» Mod Roles
• PR; obviously whoever wrote those PMs to myself and others should probably never ever deal with players ever again. what will you do to work on PR?
• Are you guys communicating with each other? is there a way you can work on that? what plans will you implement to make it so that you're all on board with your own decisions? what plans will you implement to make sure your own decisions aren't like what's happened here?
• Mod apps? you guys definitely need more people on the team-- either to balance you guys out or to just generally help with the workload of a huge game.
• who does what? this technically fits under transparency, but it also fits here-- we know certain mods are more picky with apps than others, we know certain mods are better at handling player plots and player concerns than others. can we get it in concrete who does what so there won't be such varying standards?
posts for further details:
http://saveyourselves.dreamwidth.org/213376.html?thread=5785728#cmt5785728
http://saveyourselves.dreamwidth.org/213376.html?thread=5815680#cmt5815680
good solutions:
http://saveyourselves.dreamwidth.org/213376.html?thread=5799552#cmt5799552
http://saveyourselves.dreamwidth.org/213376.html?thread=5799296#cmt5799296
http://saveyourselves.dreamwidth.org/213376.html?thread=5810048#cmt5810048
http://saveyourselves.dreamwidth.org/213376.html?thread=5832320#cmt5832320
good summation of the major problems:
http://saveyourselves.dreamwidth.org/213376.html?thread=5793152#cmt5793152
http://saveyourselves.dreamwidth.org/213376.html?thread=5805952#cmt5805952
http://saveyourselves.dreamwidth.org/213376.html?thread=5809792#cmt5809792 - (wonderful analysis on what it means to be a mod)
finally, here's a link to my original plurk where I explain everything from the original plot conflict to setting up a date for me and Guin to walk the mods through each of these points.
batty's apology
legitimate concerns about the discussion's tone thus far