modliness is goodlinesss this season!
Entry posted by Sword of Estel
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Happy Saturday, Cybernators!
If you were to hazard a guess, which moderators would you think most active in any given specialty? Game modding, forum modding, signature & avatar maintenance, forum administration requests, answering questions, handling complaints & appeals in moderation, participating in policy discussions? And most importantly, just generally smacking down the bad guyz and helping to maintain a pleasant and safe environment for the rest of us angelic souls?
I just completed a seasonal full-scale audit + summary of recommendations for the Game & Forum Moderation Team you all know and love, and you'll be happy to know we're in capable hands. While we perform regular staff audits throughout the year, the seasonal audits are extensive and typically result in changes to the team structure based on demonstrated strengths. Activity across the board is in an upswing and another wave of new mods have joined the staff, bringing new ideas and fresh insight into our discussions.
Newbie mods on training orientation day.
Newbie mods two weeks into boot camp.
No-longer-newbie-mods on forum staff graduation day.
The Senior Staff and I went over the results of the audit over the past week or so and enacted a number of exciting changes today. Most notably, some of our staffers have taken on leadership positions, including the entire Senior Staff. Each member of the SS now has an assigned specialty/emphasis based on their demonstrated interest and activity levels. This should make it easier for you all to find your point person for any given issue, resulting in less PMs getting lost in mod inboxes (especially mine & admin's!), and a quicker response time.
Senior Staffers going over the audit; reminding players to follow the chain of command with a meaningful look.
The chain of command is very important and when followed ensures all your issues will be heard. First contact a member of the team specializing in the area you're inquiring about (Game Mods, RP Mods, Gameplay Mods, Forum Admins) when applicable, if you believe your query is more complicated than normal mod queries go to their team leader (RP, Gameplay, or Visual--latter is signature & image expert), and then the applicable member of the Senior Staff. admin and I are inundated with PMs each day so it's vital you go to other mods first unless you're addressing an issue specific to the queries we'll hear. Which brings me to that detailed list...
A comprehensive description of each position has been updated here:
Another helpful tip is to title your PM very specifically with what you're writing a staffer about. Getting 50 "hey there" or "hello" PMs a day isn't helpful when we're trying to deal with queries by urgency and can't even tell if it's an important mod query or a social call. 
While the mod list has been updated so you can check it out if interested, to single out specific changes:
* Philo & Atlas have joined the Senior Staff.
* Manwe, EvenStar & HK47 are now Global Mods.
* Megabyte, Vetinari, Atlas, & EvenStar are now Game Mods.
* EvenStar is now Gameplay Team Leader and HK47 is Role Play Team Leader.
The Mod Team participating in syncronized rejoicing at the announcement of promotions.
We also changed the name of the Community Structure Forums (and therefore Mod Team) to Gameplay Forums. None of the current staff even remembers how those forums were named in the first place and agree across the board the new labeling makes far more sense.
Vivi made the official announcement regarding that change here.
While everyone's activity skyrocketed across the board, some staffers stood out from the rest this season--or fought it out in a close race for the gold and pulled off a close win.
The Mod's favorite outfit was singed over the course of becoming Game Mod of the Season with his l33t multi-bombing skillz, but he was still able to clean up pretty nicely for the red carpet walk and awards ceremony.
Philo proved to rulebreakers that no matter where they try to hide, Philo will find them--earning the Forum Mod of the Season title.
I took home the Forum Admin of the Season award again as expected...but then, how could anyone complete with my trademark drop-kicks, right?
I'm quite pleased with the results of the audit and in fact believe the current state of the Mod Team to be teh best evar. With the new changes hopefully we will only continue improving our organization in effort to make your gaming experience all the more enjoyable.
And, of course, all of this good news comes just in time for the Holidays!
Questions? Comments? Thoughts? Cookies?
B)
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