In addition to the May 2021 ISM, the administrators also held an Administrative Staff Meeting, which produced a few results of its own that we would like to share. The admins accepted one ban appeal, and made the following decisions on other items:
Inactivity proceedings initiated
Admins periodically review the activity levels of staff members, and we have recently noticed that a few moderators have either already crossed or are near our thresholds of “inactivity”. Because of this, we are initiating inactivity review proceedings with two moderators, and will monitor a few others over the coming month to determine if we need to expand our review.
For those who are fairly new, “initiating inactivity review proceedings” is a fancy way to say that the admins will be discussing activity status with the involved moderators one-on-one and determining what the likelihood is of that moderator to return to active status. Just because we have initiated proceedings does not mean that a specific moderator will be suspended for inactivity.
However, we are letting everyone know now so that if our conversations lead us to issue a suspension or for a moderator to step down for inactivity, that no one is caught off guard. We certainly don’t like to reduce our numbers (especially leading up to the busy summer season), but we do need to ensure that the players with access to staff tools are continuing to serve the community first and foremost, and active status is a critical component of that.
Speaking of moderators…
Reviewing the nomination process again
Ever since we first used the new moderator promotion process six months ago, we’ve been continuously making changes to have a better experience for everyone involved. We have regularly heard feedback from members that the requirements to submit a nomination are fairly high, and while we don’t want to lower our standards when it comes to the voting phase, we do want to make it easier for nominations to be considered.
We don’t have any specifics at this time, and any changes we make would take effect for the July GSM. However, we do recognize that this is a burdensome process (especially with regards to the collection of supporting evidence), and we are open to any suggestions or feedback that anyone is willing to share. If you have any recommendations, please let an admin know.
If you have a nomination you’ve been working on, the deadline to submit it for consideration at the next GSM is 7:00 pm UTC on Sunday, June 6 (a little over a week from now). We are in fairly high need of new moderators, especially for individuals outside of the Americas, so please send in nominations if you have them.
Yoshi has stepped down
Yesterday (unrelated to the ASM), MinecraftYoshi26 announced, and the remainder of the admins accepted, his resignation from the staff team effective immediately. Yoshi has stepped down so that he can spend time preparing to enter the workforce and pursuing other endeavors. Yoshi’s in-game rank has been set to Governor for his towns of Hummingbird Islands and Itokani. His resignation announcement is available in #announcements in Discord.
Yoshi has been with the server since the beginning and has instituted some of our most popular community events. From The Amazing Race to the MRTvision Screenshot Contests to spontaneous games of Bootleg Telephone, Yoshi has made some truly incredible contributions to the community, something that we are incredibly grateful for. While we certainly hope that other members and staff will bring similar large events to the server in the future, there is something special about the events that Yoshi has conducted that we don’t think anyone will be able to replicate to the same style, degree, and scale that Yoshi has while he has been on staff. We can’t thank Yoshi enough for everything that he has done for us, and we wish him the best in his future endeavors.
As a result of Yoshi’s departure (and the recent departures of godzilltrain and megascatterbomb), the admins are considering retiring the concept of “titled” positions, with the exception of Head Administrator. The Special Events Coordinator title will not be assigned to anyone at this time, partially because we hope that special events are run by a diverse group of members in the future.
Upcoming meeting schedule
We are making two adjustments to the meeting schedule:
- The July GSM will be happening this year, and will occur on July 10.
- The July ISM has been moved forward one week to Saturday, July 24.
Staff meetings in June and August are not affected and will occur on their usual dates.
Thanks everyone!
<3,
Chief
Head Administrator