Question What's the point of former staff?

[banjo2]

They seem to have the abilities of moderators, like deleting posts that break the rules, so I'm not sure I see the purpose. Is it the same thing but less responsibility than a moderator?

 

[p1ngpong]

Seeing as no other former staff have jumped into this discussion to put forth their perspective I will do so. When you step down as an active staff member it is never an easy decision, especially if you have been staff for a long time. You can not just turn off the love and loyalty you have for the site and community, it is still there and there is always an element of guilt that you are letting people down when you retire. Knowing that you can still help around the place makes the decision much easier and also means that all of that experience you accrued does not get lost as soon as you step down.

"Why not just stay as staff then if you are going to mod still?" There are many reasons for this. So you do not feel obligated to check in often to mod the place but you can still intervene when you think it is required. Personally I would not be able to stand seeing something terrible happening on the site without being able to do something about it. That may even be enough to pressure happily retired staff back into a mod role when really they can not dedicate themselves as they know they should into being a mod. To have a clear structure of staff that normal members know that they can go to for help. If everyone just held their staff title we would have 150 mods when only 20 are active, it would be completely confusing. Those are just a couple of the more obvious reasons anyway, there are tons more...

@WiiMiiSwitch you seem adamant in a way that some sort of miscarriages of justice are going on with former staff. To my knowledge there has never been a major incident where a former staff member has lost their mod powers completely for abuse after they stepped down or been banned or anything like that. Your cop analogy I do not agree with, it is looking at the situation in a cold way. A better way to view former staff is not as a retired cop but as grandparent, aunt or uncle. Yes I may step in as a grandparent and discipline my grandchild for doing something silly, take them out for a day, babysit them for an evening, help them with homework etc. But that does not mean I want to take over their care permanently just because I lended a hand. Nor does it mean if I do want to help once in a while I can not be trusted to do so.

"Why not rename former staff to something else?" Because it is clear title that does not confuse people, when you get modded by a former staff member and you know nothing about the site you can put 2 + 2 together and figure out they are not a normal member. Conversely if you see a former staff member online with a black name in bold you can again probably figure out that you should not go to them for general help. This is all a system that has worked pretty flawlessly for almost 20 years, as others said it aint broke and we are not going to try and fix it.

One last thing that you all should consider and probably do not know. Former staff are trusted enough that they can return as staff at any time. Extenuating circumstances aside I could come back as a Supervisor tomorrow if I wanted to. So in that regard the Former Staff title makes sense too if you can come back as Staff at any time.

At any time............

 

[Minox]

First being a moderator is a job.

A job that doesn't pay is a shit job. People become staff because they care about the site, not because it is a job.

 

[Hunter]

as a former staff from long long time ago, even before a lot were born, I actually do not have any powers to delete posts or comments.

I do have visible access to moderator/admin only forums, I could comment in them, but I choose not to at current, and I feel my title is much appreciated.

 

[Deleted member 546149]

A job that doesn't pay is a shit job. People become staff because they care about the site, not because it is a job.

It's a voluntary job then. Also, I'm honestly surprised that your payed nothing, although I give massive respect to the moderators and supervisiors that don't make a cent. Anyways, now that I know it's voluntary forget everything I said

 

[Julie_Pilgrim]

It's a voluntary job then. Also, I'm honestly surprised that your payed nothing, although I give massive respect to the moderators and supervisiors that don't make a cent. Anyways, now that I know it's voluntary forget everything I said

I mean, why would they be paid?

 

[The Catboy]

It's a voluntary job then. Also, I'm honestly surprised that your payed nothing, although I give massive respect to the moderators and supervisiors that don't make a cent. Anyways, now that I know it's voluntary forget everything I said

A lot of work for the community isn't paid work, this goes beyond staff members of the site. At most, many are only paid through donations that come from the community. A lot of people just have that kind of love, respect, and dedication to want to help out and not expect money in return.