What not to do when staff make mistakes

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by RhazhBash, Mar 16, 2020.

  1. RhazhBash

    RhazhBash Professional Button Presser VIP

    Staff members getting reported isn't anything new, but lately I've seen lots of people blowing these reports way out of proportion. I wanted to write about things I've seen people do that cause more harm than good. If you do any of these please read through and listen to what I have to say. It'll be helpful for you, for the staff who get reported, and for the community as a whole.


    Don't: Post on reports you aren't involved with

    I can't believe I have to put this here but people do it all the time. A report against a mod is between them, the player making the report, and their admin. Unless you were a witness to the offense and have facts to add that aren't already in the report there's no reason for you to step in. If all you know about the situation comes from the report thread, then you don't need to post anything because the admin already knows everything you know.

    Even if you disagree with the rule, breaking it accomplishes nothing. You'll get ignored, you'll be viewed as a backseat mod, and you'll probably end up with a warning point. If you don't like the rule you can make a suggestion to change it, but as long as the rule exists there's no reason anyone should break it.


    Don't: Act like any offense is worthy of demotion

    Demotion isn't something admins take lightly. It takes way more than one bad call on a report to get demoted. To get demoted a mod needs to either get multiple valid reports in a short period of time, intentionally break staff rules, or commit a severe offense (Something worse than fspecing the whole server). The admin is the person who monitors that mod the most, and they have the most info available to decide what action to take.

    Mods are human. It's not unheard of for even lead admins to make mistakes occasionally. When staff get valid reports against them, sometimes they'll feel down for a few days thinking they're a bad mod. I know I've done things I regret as staff and I'm still beating myself up over some of them. The key thing to realize is that mistakes are learning experiences. If a mod gives a bad slay and gets reported, then they'll know in the future how to handle the situation whenever it comes up.


    Don't: Discuss reports against staff publicly

    I mentioned already that reports against staff are none of your business unless you have a firsthand account of the offense. There's no reason people should bring the offense outside of the report. Staff already lose a lot of morale when they get valid reports against them, and if people keep making fun of the mod for it then they're gonna feel even worse. Imagine if you got a mass RDM ban for throwing a frag as an inno and the staff kept making fun of you for the next 3 weeks. That's what it feels like when people call you a bad mod for getting reported.

    This isn't just a problem for the reported staff member. It's a problem for the entire community. Imagine a new player hops on vanilla and gets hooked. They go on the forums, and the first thing they see is a shoutbox conversation saying staff don't know what they're doing. Do you think that player is gonna stay? We already have trouble getting new players. Even if what you're saying is correct, if you try to spread the image of an incompetent staff team you're gonna make that problem worse.


    Don't: Challenge an admin's verdict on a report

    For messing up reports punishment is simple. The mod gets slain for their mistake. The issue comes when staff are reported for grey area offenses like unprofessionalism. When a mod is reported for a subjective offense the action to take is entirely up to the admin handling the report. Sometimes if a mod acts unprofessional they might not get any punishment other than a talk from their admin. Even it looks like they were doing something worthy of demotion there's other factors to consider. Maybe the mod hasn't had any other infractions so far and all they need is a warning. Maybe the admin decided to be lenient and tell them this is their last warning.

    If you report a staff member your goal shouldn't be to get them punished. You should be reporting them so they can acknowledge their mistake and not do it again in the future. Even if you think a mod did something worthy of demotion, the admin could see the report as an isolated incident that won't be repeated. You have to trust their judgement when they decide on what action to take. They were promoted to admin for a reason.
     
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  2. Dodley27

    Dodley27 Dolfin VIP Bronze

    I will now proceed to do the complete opposite of this thread
     
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  3. john redcorn

    john redcorn strangers like me VIP Emerald

    double edge sword there, often times incorrect verdicts won't get fixed/amended/solved/mythbusted unless they are challenged. See the recent report against fear, I had to "challenge" the verdict he gave for the correct action to occur
     
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