Questions to the Adminburo

Or the Leadership council, or whatever you're calling yourselves.

I'm not trying to imply you're some sort of shadowy orginization trying to dominate the world of internet star wars message boards, but I've never really seen anything pertaining to what you actually do, other then some rather cryptic comments about 'it being discussed by the leadership council'.

So, um, yeah

Who are you?
What do you want?
Why are you here?

 

The role of the LC is limited to the discipline of mod abuses. That's it.

And if you're wondering who they are, it's the 3 JC admins, 3 FF admins, Josh Griffin and myself. The JC admins would determine the discipline for JC mods and so forth. However, every LC member gets a vote in the discipline proposal for acceptance.

 

Then why are you called the leadership council?

And if I may ask further, why exactly are Josh and yourself involved if it just has to deal with the punishment of mods?

Edit//And I believe the Adminburo has it's own board, why is that neccesary for the infrequent punishment of mods?

 

It used to be Scott and Josh but Scott has shifted responsibilities. There are mods who come exclusively from staff whom we would be responsible for.

And there is no separate LC board.

 

I personally dislike the title of "Leadership Council", as it seems to separate us Admins from the rest of the team.

 

Personally I dislike it because you infrequently at best show any leadership.

And Carter, if I may be so rude, what exactly do you do on the boards?

I mean it's nice to know you're staff, but why do you need to be an administrator?

Edit//If there's no special board why does there need to be a council? Do you not discuss it in the modsquad or do you just converse via PM? Exactly what qualifies a mod for 'leadership' anyways?

 

TFN staff has always maintained administratorship of the boards but this policy has been changed to include several JC admins and FF admins.

I've taken over Scott's role so that the JC isn't neglected by the staff. If you check the JC admins thread, most if not all of the core staff are admins. I simply have higher visibility.

 

Yes quite.

But that still doesn't explain why you need to be admins.

Could you explain to me why the staff has a free pass to modship?

After all the purpose of the mods managers and admins should be to regulate the boards. It seems to me your justification for being an admin is to govern the other staff members who have been given mod powers.

No?

Why do you need to be admins when, as I see it, you do little actual moderating?

 

But that still doesn't explain why you need to be admins.

We're admins for different reasons, some are techies, and some handle other depts. I also handle all design issues concerning TFN and the JC.

Could you explain to me why the staff has a free pass to modship?

Most have previous experience moderating, but I don't know everyone's case. While I think it's "easier" to become an mod through the staff ranks, it doesn't exclude any one of us from the rules of the JC. The LMM case still fresh in our minds should be evidence of that. And I'm not going into the LMM case, that's a done deal.

After all the purpose of the mods managers and admins should be to regulate the boards. It seems to me your justification for being an admin is to govern the other staff members who have been given mod powers. No?

I assist whereever help is needed and I've been asked many times through PM to moderate.

Why do you need to be admins when, as I see it, you do little actual moderating?

I moderate the comm forum, and many PMs requests which you never see.

 

Forgive me carter, but anyone who'se seen you in one of the debates could hardly call what you do moderating.

And any mod accepts PM requests, atleast those from the general populace had to earn their colours.

 

That is of your own opinion. I'm here to help the JC and administration whereever I can.

 

In the next update, there will be mention of a discussion concerning the "Leadership" Council. I have already seen to that.

farraday, your concerns are not unfounded nor ignored by your peers. Regardless of what colors our names are in, we are still peers and can only do our best to be egalitarian in our decision making. The role of the LC is something that should be scrutinized a bit more. It started out different from where it is right now, a product of time and a lack of direction. So we are left with a beast with no leash and not wanting one. What to do? Why, everything I can to make the situation change for the best, for how it has to be for the JC to continue with the least amount of difficulty.

It may take a telescope to see the lack of drama, though. It is quite far ahead of us.

 

wow, a whole new level of administration i have never even heard of!

now where are those people who decry too many layers of "bureaucracy" ?

 

Who watches the watchers?

 

Who watches the watchers?

The Watchettes.

 

The Watchettes

Aren't they just The Watchers dressed up in drag?

 

Yes, but they look fabulous.

 

Fabulous? I don?t know what you?d call Carter and co. smeared with eye-liner and lipstick, wearing a dress and singing ?Stayin? Alive?, but it certainly wouldn?t be ?fabulous?. Well, maybe if you?re into that sort of thing?.

 

Wow. It's like a puzzle wrapped up in an enigma wrapped up in a whoop te doo!

 

Farraday, whoa, chill my man.

''And there is no separate LC board'' - CarterTFN

Since when!?


The way I see it all staff members are also mods. It's really a given and is like that on every site I have worked on for sure. I guess it has something to do with thanking the staff for their time and well - they are staff site. The boards are on the site.
To not have staff be mods would be akin to having lifeguards at swimming pools banned from swimming.

 

It's pretty straightforward to me. A select group of administrators and the site owners periodically handle issues pertaining to situations beyond the everyday occurences and decide on disciplinary actions, if necessary. Trying to define each and every scenario is impossible. But I understand who and what the group is and it makes sense to me.

 

toochilled, it is my understanding that the administration wants better mod member relations.

It's also been my observation that the longest most drawn out problem occur when a mod who is also a staff member does something wrong.

While I'm sure they do a great job on TFN, I don't see how that automatically translates into being a good mod.
The mods and admins had to earn their colours, the staff members feel they're entitled to them.

Which one has the bigger Ivory tower complex?

And Sape by their own words they only deal with punishing mods who screw up.
Of course that makes no sense since also by their own words the JC Admins deal with JC mods FF with FF and Staff with, supposedly, staff.
So either there is no real need for a council, they do more then they admit, or it's just staff admins throwing their weight around.

 

"The way I see it all staff members are also mods. It's really a given and is like that on every site I have worked on for sure. I guess it has something to do with thanking the staff for their time and well - they are staff site. The boards are on the site.
To not have staff be mods would be akin to having lifeguards at swimming pools banned from swimming. "

Well, I'm a VIP not a mod, and that's all I've ever asked for. Now if JP didn't do such a bang-up job in Games, I might consider looking into that, but the point is moot. As for the last sentence, we can swim, (posting) just fine, we just don't lifeguard so to speak when we're off duty.

"While I'm sure they do a great job on TFN, I don't see how that automatically translates into being a good mod.
The mods and admins had to earn their colours, the staff members feel they're entitled to them."

I agree entirely, being staff != good mod. Case by case entirely. As for the last sentence, I don't feel entitled by any right to colors.

¤Night

 

To not have staff be mods would be akin to having lifeguards at swimming pools banned from swimming.

see, i see it more like not having staff be mods is similar to not letting the people that work in the pool office be lifeguards. sure they can play in the pool, but that doesn't mean they're all good enough to guard... they've got to be able to swim well enough first.

 

I would also like to add that I question how much of the divide between admins and members is actual versus created. I say this because of threads like this. You have a former moderator who entitled a thread as Adminburo. This is clearly a play on the word Politburo. And what exactly was the Politburo? The Politburo was the former central policy-making and governing body of the Communist party of the Soviet Union and, with minor variations, of other Communist parties. So the title of the thread was a veiled attempt of comparing the admins to Communists.

Now come on. Is that really necessary and is it really that bad? Or has someone who is well-known on the boards used the highly public Communications forum as a launching pad for furthering the gap that may not be so bad instead of trying to help close that gap? I'm sorry, but I will never be convinced otherwise of the true nature of this particular thread.