[Suggestion] Redefining what "staff" is for HelloMiners

[ViHQ]

Suggestion: Improve the community by radically changing what staff is for HelloMiners.

What does that mean?
A: A number of different things, but mainly, combine the role of technician/admin, remove prefixes from in-game server chat, and redefine what being a moderator / staff member really is.

Why remove prefixes?
A: Staff members are players too. Removing prefixes would help take away some of the stigma, and allow players to still remain community members rather than an authority figure of that community. It also solves the problem of tab looking like a staff family reunion half the time. Some of the most active communities have zero prefixes in chat, everyone is treated equally. Community member first, staff member second.

What else should be changed?
A: Combine the roles of technician and admin. There used to be a major difference to both roles, but I think over the years & changes, it should be combined just to make things simpler for staff and the community.

A: Hold internal elections for a staff Leader(bi-yearly, quarterly? TBD). A good team is nothing without a great leader, and in an environment like this, leaders definitely step up without being asked, but there should be a system to keep growth consistent. Not handing them the keys to HelloMiners, but a defined leader would help staff be deliberate about any additions to the server and achievable goals. Holds a tie-breaking vote only.

A: This is the most abstract idea here, but it’s one of the most important: Redefine what staff is. A moderator is not simply helpme machine or there to dish out punishments, they are role models to new & younger player, they help keep peace when arguments get out of hand, and so much more. I don’t think moderator is the right term for what it means for a small community like this. It needs to be redefined.

Why?
A: The current staff team has done so much to keep HelloMiners alive, and I think we owe it to them, and our community, to grow and change into a better place for everyone. Becoming a staff member should be an opportunity to give some time back to a place we enjoy that asked for nothing in return, not a life sentence to either choose staff or choose being a HelloClan community member, or a HelloMiners citizen.

[CakeDevil275]

These are all my personal opinions:

@ViHQ

Removing prefixes would help take away some of the stigma, and allow players to still remain community members rather than an authority figure of that community.

The prefixes aren’t there to impose authority, they’re there to show who’s staff. More active players might know who’s staff already but new players or players who haven’t played for a while won’t even know whether they can make a helpme without asking in chat who’s staff first.

@ViHQ

Combine the roles of technician and admin. There used to be a major difference to both roles, but I think over the years & changes, it should be combined just to make things simpler for staff and the community.

There is still a noticeable difference. You wouldn’t ask Aya to connect your airports in the same way you wouldn’t ask Strange to fix a plugin lol

@ViHQ

they help keep peace when arguments get out of hand, and so much more

Is keeping peace when arguments get out of hand not… moderating the chat? What do you suggest the title be changed to?

@ViHQ

Hold elections for a staff Leader

While I understand the importance of a leader, I feel like holding elections would almost make staff political, as in people would vote for the staffer that most aligns with their interests and the last thing we want to do is divide the staff team up like that…

I don’t think being staff really removes you from the community, and while I know it’s happened in the past I don’t think any of the current staff have really changed on becoming staff.

[Herdie]

Combine the roles of technician and admin. There used to be a major difference to both roles, but I think over the years & changes, it should be combined just to make things simpler for staff and the community.

Techs have different permissions from Admins and do more behind the scenes rather than managing gameplay, for example I know Cheer had SSH access (I assume other techs do) but admins don’t. If they want to re-organise and remove that role, that’s up for them to decide and not us, but as Cake said they serve different purposes and also have knowledge in different areas. Although now we do see Admins adding and configurating plugins so they have panel access so I do see where you are coming from - as standard with most systems admins should have basic knowledge of systems and techs more in depth. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Technician role on any other server, but that’s because that role is normally fulfilled by Admins and Developers who are responsible for the custom plugins on other servers not general systems administration.

Removing prefixes would help take away some of the stigma, and allow players to still remain community members rather than an authority figure of that community.

In the end, staff are there to moderate the server and it’s important for them to have authority. It would also be more difficult to keep track of who has been promoted and demoted, and what permissions staff have (mod vs admin).

It also solves the problem of tab looking like a staff family reunion half the time

That’s the problem of having too many staff-members across the same timezones/activity periods across such a small playerbase. As a player I don’t agree with the latest staff applications because at times I can log on and there be 4 staff online, when what’s really needed is an incentive for players to learn Denizen, perhaps a new rank or financial reward for contribution.

I don’t think moderator is the right term for what it means for a small community like this. It needs to be redefined.

What term would you suggest instead then? ‘Staff’ alone is too vague, but I do see a lot of servers using the ‘Helper’ role, though that’s generally below Moderator (similar to Trial)

[Dylad]

One thing I would be concerned about is a player without a title handing out verbal punishments when they look like a normal player. A rebuttal to this would be appreciated.

[Luc]

@ViHQ

A: A number of different things, but mainly, combine the role of technician/admin, remove prefixes from in-game server chat, and redefine what being a moderator / staff member really is.

Although I agree there needs to be some adjusting of the structure, I disagree. Others have summarized it well enough before me.

@ViHQ

Staff members are players too. Removing prefixes would help take away some of the stigma, and allow players to still remain community members rather than an authority figure of that community. It also solves the problem of tab looking like a staff family reunion half the time. Some of the most active communities have zero prefixes in chat, everyone is treated equally. Community member first, staff member second.

This is pretty radical. I don’t see the actual benefit here, as this is all pretty unrealistic. The role of a moderator is to provide support, as well as moderate the chat. The title clearly identifies to the player that this person is fulfilling that role on the server. It’s a fairly standard system across so many servers too, so clearly the system works.

@ViHQ

A: Combine the roles of technician and admin. There used to be a major difference to both roles, but I think over the years & changes, it should be combined just to make things simpler for staff and the community.

There are major differences still in terms of responsibilities in the maintaining of the server, so again, I disagree. Again, others have summarized it better than me above.

@ViHQ

A: This is the most abstract idea here, but it’s one of the most important: Redefine what staff is. A moderator is not simply helpme machine or there to dish out punishments, they are role models to new & younger player, they help keep peace when arguments get out of hand, and so much more. I don’t think moderator is the right term for what it means for a small community like this. It needs to be redefined.

This is similar to a previous point, and my response is still the same here - I think there needs to be some improvements to the staff structure, but I don’t agree with what is being suggested here.

I appreciate the suggestion and we will most certainly reflect on it. I would be interested in seeing some more actionable and objective goals suggested.

[ViHQ]

@CakeDevil275

but new players or players who haven’t played for a while won’t even know whether they can make a helpme without asking in chat who’s staff first.

I did not consider the helpme aspect, but see below

@Herdie

It would also be more difficult to keep track of who has been promoted and demoted, and what permissions staff have (mod vs admin).

See Below

@Luc

I don’t see the actual benefit here, as this is all pretty unrealistic. The role of a moderator is to provide support, as well as moderate the chat. The title clearly identifies to the player that this person is fulfilling that role on the server. It’s a fairly standard system across so many servers too, so clearly the system works

It’s definitely standard, but does that mean it’s the best way? I see happier communities playing Vanilla Minecraft for the last decade, and while there are staff duties, they are players first.

On Prefixes:

It feels like the prefix suggestion is being taken face value, and nothing more. I assumed it spoke for itself, but I can be clearer:

My suggestion is not removing prefixes and leaving it at that. Steps can be taken to prevent confusion, and any new players would quickly jump to whatever systems are designed to make up for it(For them, it would be the default). Removal of prefixes comes with the idea that we need to seriously analyze how our staff team functions.

Here is a list of things that could be done to help transition to no prefixes: Command that lists online staff, updated in-game GUI with staff names & contact information, a revolving message that occasionally lists active staff,

I’m exploring opinion territory here, but any sort of prefix on this server has become a status symbol. It has been said before that becoming a staff member in general has become a popularity contest for a few years now, which contributes to the idea that the staff team needs some sort of overhaul or change.

On Technicians:

In response to the Technician suggestion: I’m not ride or die on it, and I do not have much rebuttal to the responses here other than it seemed like another aspect of the staff that causes confusion & stress for everyone involved. It’s probably the least important part of my post, and could have been left out. I’m just personally confused after 5 years of multiple technicians being on the roster, on what the position actually is, and can it be improved in any way? Just a thought for the staff team that it might be something to address. We can leave it at that.

@CakeDevil275

Is keeping peace when arguments get out of hand not… moderating the chat? What do you suggest the title be changed to?

Yes… but please see where I noted that on HelloMiners, moderating is not the only thing they are. Something needs to reflect that

@Herdie

What term would you suggest instead then? ‘Staff’ alone is too vague, but I do see a lot of servers using the ‘Helper’ role, though that’s generally below Moderator (similar to Trial)

Will address this below

@Luc

This is similar to a previous point, and my response is still the same here - I think there needs to be some improvements to the staff structure, but I don’t agree with what is being suggested here.

I have not suggested we do anything specific in regards to moderators, and I denoted that by calling it the most abstract portion of the post.

On Moderators:
I didn’t know this would be so controversial, but I don’t understand why. I didn’t suggest we do anything specific. The entire point of this post is to highlight that we need some sort of radical change in the way staff functions, and I wanted to highlight that moderation isn’t the only thing they do.

Before they are mods, they are role models, business owners, city owners, and most importantly : community members. We have lost far too many great people earlier than needed because they took the promotion to mod. We will bleed through our best players & members over the next decade if something doesn’t change.

Conclusion:
In recent weeks, the staff team has taken more hits than it has in a long time. As someone who got to witness how the team functions… there’s improvements that need to be made.

Great group of people, but almost zero defined leadership has allowed it to turn into something it shouldn’t be. It has been allowed to get a little stagnant over the years, and I think the real goal is getting lost somewhere. I merely suggest that SOMEHOW the relationship be redefined, and player’s idea of staff needs to change.

An undertaking like this should be a collaboration between staff and players, for the best outcome for everyone… but at the most basic level my suggestion is this: Find a way for staff to be players first, and staff members second.

[ViHQ]

@Dylad

One thing I would be concerned about is a player without a title handing out verbal punishments when they look like a normal player. A rebuttal to this would be appreciated.

You get the special specific reply lol

That’s a good point, but I don’t think it would be as much of a problem as you might initially think. With alternatives to prefixes, players could quickly check if someone is a staff member or not, and if for some reason you might be the player getting warned, you’d know it was legit when you get the warning message, or suddenly muted.

I’ve seen players step up when arguments get too crazy and verbally warn others (but not an official capacity) in the past, and nobody really has an issue when that happens.

[Thendil]

Staff needs to take on more of a customer service type role. Like big servers whose staff are also players, there needs to be more of a dividing line, not less. Staff needs to act as if it is a professional function. Bad eggs should be removed pretty quickly. I agree they should be role models and be warned not to partake in controversial topics, bully other players or call out other members of staff in chat. Otherwise, the offended staff member can only try to defend themselves and it looks bad on the whole and nobody wins. One staff member was constantly baiting me with friendly banter that would always turn into nasty attacks so I left. Staff are unpaid and some of the problem stems from that but there’s gotta be a way to make the role more respected.

Publishing ban topics doesn’t help and can actually be illegal as even though your usernames are sometimes completely made up, they are indirectly personal identifiers and this website is publishing data about you in these topics. You have every right if you’re in the UK/EU to ask for this to be removed. There is always a careful line between wanting to be transparent, and then building up an online criminal-type record about children and never having that expunged so players can see what you did 10 years ago and make fun of that. It’s also led to the expectation that other players have a right to see this and challenge things, falsely making out that staff is unfairly banning players. Even though there are some questionable decisions, as the saying goes, where there’s smoke there’s usually fire.

Players in the last few years do seem to think they have more of an entitlement to dictate to staff what they want than they probably would if they went on Hypixel for instance. Maybe that’s always been the case. Yes it should be community driven, but at the moment it’s too community driven. There is no long term vision for the server and toxicity and narcissism roams free, which seems to be an ongoing staple with HM. Sorry to say but the opinion that staff have long dropped the ball on this is shared by many older players and this stems from a lack of oversight from Tedde. From the discord chat trolls to the abusive players who moderators have to follow too fine a line to know how to handle these, many of these players have become coordinated and testing, especially if they feel one of their friends has been wronged.

I really question as well the use of discord chat. It can’t be toggled on/off and this is also creating and opportunity for those players that don’t give a beep about the server to just use it to literally ‘sow discord’. I do feel that if players want to chat to players, they should just join the game. If staff can’t find a way to become more aggressive to put these players back in their box or tell them to find a new outlet for their behaviour, then newer players will continue to quit and not come back and the server will just eventually fizzle out.

[UltraPro]

I like this, however I feel technicians and admins fill different roles behind the scenes.

Removing prefixes for mods would make it tougher for players to find help, we could shorten them to [M] but most people wont get that.

Internal elections for staff leader is not going to accomplish anything, we have had bad leaders in the past and giving someone a lead or head admin role was ruled out years ago for numerous reasons.

Moderators should be pulling more weight in developing the server, they literally have every perm except gm1 and world edit. We need more people involved in the community, but I totally understand how the role just fell stagnant, I feel mods need a team leader, and admins are usually way too busy to focus on filling that role. I understand senior mod was terribly implemented in the past but there needs to be stronger leadership. Not saying this in a bad way, but everyone just expects the server to run smoothly or build itself, its the community that defines a server, its horizon awards that makes us hit 20 online users, its ashford that got us the intense roleplay that people wanted back in 2020-2021. Its the players, and moderators that make the server what it is as a community.

[Bmatt]

Do we really even need more staff? Everytime I want to join theres 0-3 players on? Kinda saddening

[CakeDevil275]

It does average like 14 in holidays and we lost 4 staffers recently

[Bmatt]

I haven’t seen anymore than 5 people on in the last year lol

[LordVikron]

@ViHQ

Great group of people, but almost zero defined leadership has allowed it to turn into something it shouldn’t be. It has been allowed to get a little stagnant over the years, and I think the real goal is getting lost somewhere. I merely suggest that SOMEHOW the relationship be redefined, and player’s idea of staff needs to change.

this.

[LordVikron]

yes and no. As in fill all the player tab with staff isnt the best idea but per day the amount an avg staff contributes from day to day is minimal.

[Luc]

@ViHQ

It’s definitely standard, but does that mean it’s the best way? I see happier communities playing Vanilla Minecraft for the last decade, and while there are staff duties, they are players first.

Its honestly all anecdotal because I can say the same on the side of having the defined roles. I agree adjustments need to be made to the structure of staff, I just don’t see any benefit in what is being suggested specifically. The reality is that for most moderators, they truly ARE already players first, staff members second. They are active contributors to the economy with their own cities, stores etc.

@ViHQ

Here is a list of things that could be done to help transition to no prefixes: Command that lists online staff, updated in-game GUI with staff names & contact information, a revolving message that occasionally lists active staff,

All of the above are not really better solutions. Currently, players can see in tab and just in chat if there are members of staff online. All these suggested solutions are added work for the player. I like the idea of the GUI regardless though, but not as a solution to prefixes. I just think it will be useful to add in general.

@ViHQ

We will bleed through our best players & members over the next decade if something doesn’t change.

I don’t quite understand this really. Just as we have seen over the past decade we’ve been around, so many players have come and gone. Attributing it to staff, when this is a normal phenomenon outside of just HM makes no sense.

Regardless though - as I’ve said above, I wholeheartedly agree that some things need changes, and improvements in the way staff is structured so that we can operate better and provide a better experience.