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Things That Are on Your Mind

Mido

Version 1
Joined
Apr 6, 2011
Location
The Turnabout
I WANNA BE STAFF :kawaii:
What the deal with being staff? Chill people, being staff isn't all candies and roses.

Ah, but as vague trends have shown, the more one doesn't want (i.e. openly express) the desire to become staff, the more likely said individual will attain such a status! In all honesty, positions of power on ZD have always seemed to have an allure...quite the enigma.... Anywho, onto my thoughts!

My mood hasn't been the best as of late due to various reasons, but I suppose things haven't been too bad. I have a few games that I'm occupied with, so I guess that's a relief at this time!
 

Jamie

Till the roof comes off, till the lights go out...
Joined
Feb 23, 2014
Gender
trans-pan-demi-ethno-christian-math-autis-genderfluid-cheesecake
Ah, but as vague trends have shown, the more one doesn't want (i.e. openly express) the desire to become staff, the more likely said individual will attain such a status! In all honesty, positions of power on ZD have always seemed to have an allure...quite the enigma.... Anywho, onto my thoughts!

My mood hasn't been the best as of late due to various reasons, but I suppose things haven't been too bad. I have a few games that I'm occupied with, so I guess that's a relief at this time!
Being staff is a lot harder/more stressful than it sounds. Lots of people want to be staff, but I think most of the time it's an ego thing. Occasionally it's wanting to better the site (which is why people actually get promoted), but everyone (yeah, everyone) has had a period where they thought "man, it'd be cool to be staff and be important on the site and stuff". I had those moments, as did others. I still have moments of regret after resigning, but they are almost entirely based in that "it was sort of cool" mindset, one which I don't think should ever be your basis for being staff. When I first became staff, and the entire time I was staff, I was more focused on helping the site, which is really what you need.

The reason why there is a trend of banned members getting promoted is actually explainable if you think about why people are often banned. Many times, it's a result of frustration from not being able to do anything. A lot of Loz and Seth's various infractions were due to speaking against staff members--my ban was for sending PMs to members that I felt were not being dealt with, and this aggravated me, Kitsu's ban was due to an exploit that he actually helped fix. But it really isn't all puppies and rainbows (or as SMS says, 'candies and roses'). It's very stressful, and the more you want to change things, the more opposition you will get. Even if you are in the right, and are supported by the majority, you will receive opposition. If you are in the right but only supported by a minority, it's even more opposition. Sometimes, when you do things wrong, you actually don't get as much opposition as when you do things right, which can cloud your view of right/wrong.

I applaud the staff members who have been here for so long and have not resigned. But, I think that also has lead to a lot of apathy. The stress of having people attack you makes you feel like doing nothing, which is I think a large part of why Locke had his periods of inactivity (which of course lead to his resignation over time), and why Djinn has also had his inactive times (which has picked up as of late).

Anyway, don't wish to be staff any more than you 'wish' to help at the soup kitchen. It's a serious amount of work, and it's entirely volunteer work. You should only do it to help, and nothing more. If helping is not your primary motivation, you should not be staff.

My two cents, at least.
 

Mido

Version 1
Joined
Apr 6, 2011
Location
The Turnabout
Being staff is a lot harder/more stressful than it sounds. Lots of people want to be staff, but I think most of the time it's an ego thing. Occasionally it's wanting to better the site (which is why people actually get promoted), but everyone (yeah, everyone) has had a period where they thought "man, it'd be cool to be staff and be important on the site and stuff". I had those moments, as did others. I still have moments of regret after resigning, but they are almost entirely based in that "it was sort of cool" mindset, one which I don't think should ever be your basis for being staff. When I first became staff, and the entire time I was staff, I was more focused on helping the site, which is really what you need.

I think you hit it right on the money with this. Although I suppose at the time in which I truly paid attention to the inner workings of the Dungeon, the whole sense of desire for positions and/or ego boost motivations generally seemed to lie with the usergroups like the HK's and HN's as opposed to the moderators. (Since the mods/admins/site staff are focused on actual site assistance.)

The reason why there is a trend of banned members getting promoted is actually explainable if you think about why people are often banned. Many times, it's a result of frustration from not being able to do anything. A lot of Loz and Seth's various infractions were due to speaking against staff members--my ban was for sending PMs to members that I felt were not being dealt with, and this aggravated me, Kitsu's ban was due to an exploit that he actually helped fix. But it really isn't all puppies and rainbows (or as SMS says, 'candies and roses'). It's very stressful, and the more you want to change things, the more opposition you will get. Even if you are in the right, and are supported by the majority, you will receive opposition. If you are in the right but only supported by a minority, it's even more opposition. Sometimes, when you do things wrong, you actually don't get as much opposition as when you do things right, which can cloud your view of right/wrong.

I applaud the staff members who have been here for so long and have not resigned. But, I think that also has lead to a lot of apathy. The stress of having people attack you makes you feel like doing nothing, which is I think a large part of why Locke had his periods of inactivity (which of course lead to his resignation over time), and why Djinn has also had his inactive times (which has picked up as of late).

Anyway, don't wish to be staff any more than you 'wish' to help at the soup kitchen. It's a serious amount of work, and it's entirely volunteer work. You should only do it to help, and nothing more. If helping is not your primary motivation, you should not be staff.

My two cents, at least.

After all is said and done about the 'banning=staff' trend, once again, I agree with you on how it all played out via the circumstances. That being said, I think your generation of staff was among the best, and also fair to the members. I'd hate to run my mouth some more, but honestly, this is insightful!
 

Terminus

If I was a wizard this wouldn't be happening to me
Joined
May 20, 2012
Location
Sub-Orbital Trajectory
Gender
Anarcho-Communist
Alright so I've been gone for two months and in case anyone is interested as to what happened to me while I was gone;

-Started talking to this girl from England
-Had to break it off because I'd be ignored for days at a time
-Wallowed in more despondency
-Started losing what little motivation I had for uni
-Tried to overcompensate by having friends over every weekend
-Missed a quiz in a class I had bad grades in
-Miraculously got a date
-Life goes on
-Day before the date, get flaked out on via text
-All the while spent over 200 hours in Skyrim
 

Night Owl

~Momentai
Joined
Oct 3, 2011
Location
Skybound Coil Tree, Noctilum
Gender
Owl
Trying to get an interview set up with the local animal shelter so that we can complete a group project for my govt class.
We've been trying to set one up the past 3-4 weeks.

Sigh, It's annoying when things don't want to come together.
 

Beauts

Rock and roll will never die
Joined
Jun 15, 2012
Location
London, United Kingdom
I love anxiety attacks about things that haven't and probably never will happen they just keep life interesting you know

Like just now woke up because accidentally fell into a dream about a plane crash, wouldn't have anything to do with the plane over Egypt today plus me flying alone for the first time next month I'm sure

:(
 

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