staff Sectional Moderator applications open!

[TwilightPomegranate 324]

Good luck to everyone! Who else thinks it'll be female?

[Scarlet SoftPaws 3,587]

Well...applied now to play the waiting game

[Foxy Socks 2,602]

I wonder how many applied, probably plenty. It's good to see this community to keep up the quality and staff

[Rick Sanchez 76]

alright i'm genuinely going to apply since i have quite a bit of experience in being a moderator on forums, an RP moderator at that

 

 

Someone told me to treat it as a real job.

FAM I AINT GETTIN PAID FOR THIS WHAT DO YOU MEAN

[Jeric 46,876]

alright i'm genuinely going to apply since i have quite a bit of experience in being a moderator on forums, an RP moderator at that

 

 

 

FAM I AINT GETTIN PAID FOR THIS WHAT DO YOU MEAN

 

He means he was given advice to put some effort into the application and the 'real job' metaphor was used. I have to agree with the advice in general ... but with a caveat.

 

Being on staff is a little like a community within a community. Not in a bad way, or in the way some cynical minded people will use to state that there is an elitist approach. I mean you have an opportunity to get to know your fellow staffers better and on a personal level.

 

You want to treat the application as serious, insofar as to not treat the questions as a joke and be detailed with your answer. BUT (and this is a mountain sized but) you want to be genuine and have some of what makes you ... 'you' ... come through in your application. An employment application is usually not a platform like that, so I do think it isn't a completely​ perfect analogy.

 

Be you, but answer the questions fully and honestly. They seem to appreciate that.

[Rikifive 24,668]

*cough*, cough*, but being a moderator actually is a some sort of a job. Most of the time non-profit and less serious, but still a job. 

I'm pretty sure in some cases you're getting paid for being a moderator/staff member. Think of some companies, that have customer service etc. etc..

 

Anyway, it's not a random thing to have fun with, but a serious responsibility, no matter how it may look like in the first place. 

I agree with @Jeric about the interpretation of what @Mentis Soliloquy had in mind. You obviously won't be picked, if you'll appear to be completely immature and incompetent, so it's worth to approach it like it was a normal, paid job. Filling the application with lol's may not work. 

[Hypn0ticD 1,213]

He means he was given advice to put some effort into the application and the 'real job' metaphor was used. I have to agree with the advice in general ... but with a caveat.

 

Being on staff is a little like a community within a community. Not in a bad way, or in the way some cynical minded people will use to state that there is an elitist approach. I mean you have an opportunity to get to know your fellow staffers better and on a personal level.

 

You want to treat the application as serious, insofar as to not treat the questions as a joke and be detailed with your answer. BUT (and this is a mountain sized but) you want to be genuine and have some of what makes you ... 'you' ... come through in your application. An employment application is usually not a platform like that, so I do think it isn't a completely​ perfect analogy.

 

Be you, but answer the questions fully and honestly. They seem to appreciate that.

^^^^^ This exactly. If you're neither genuine nor have the serious desire to help keep the forums running smoothly, then you need not apply.

 

If you think you can handle the responsibility of maintaining a firm but fair stance in regards to some of the more unruly members, as well as uphold and provide an example of what it means to be an exemplary member, then take​ a chance and apply.

[Rick Sanchez 76]

i think 3 of you didn't understand that my "im not getting paid for this" statement was a joke

 

lol

[Fhaolan 4,492]

i think 3 of you didn't understand that my "im not getting paid for this" statement was a joke

 

lol

  Honestly, we do get a number of applicants who are shocked and dismayed when they find out that none of the staffers of MLPForums (and the rest of Poniverse for that matter) are paid. In fact, I remember one person who on a previous staff-trawling-effort full-on raged about how *dare* we even *think* about not paying them for it. It was amusing.

[DJ Wolfe 5,354]

Pardon the intrusion, but that would've been provoked if you said so earlier. Not saying you should have but it would avoid being misled.

[Rick Sanchez 76]

Pardon the intrusion, but that would've been provoked if you said so earlier. Not saying you should have but it would avoid being misled.

I figured the way I phrased the sentence was enough... no one says the word "fam" in a serious tone. It was in all caps too.

I didn't know I needed to explicitly specify my statement was a joke, I thought you guys were capable of detecting text cues lol.

  Honestly, we do get a number of applicants who are shocked and dismayed when they find out that none of the staffers of MLPForums (and the rest of Poniverse for that matter) are paid. In fact, I remember one person who on a previous staff-trawling-effort full-on raged about how *dare* we even *think* about not paying them for it. It was amusing.

Well it is just a forum, it's not exactly manual labor, so no one really needs to be paid. It's more or less volunteer work. I would figure the experience is enough payment, lol.

[Jeric 46,876]

I figured the way I phrased the sentence was enough... no one says the word "fam" in a serious tone. It was in all caps too.

I didn't know I needed to explicitly specify my statement was a joke, I thought you guys were capable of detecting text cues lol.

My kids say 'fam' often, also with some volume. It is non-ironic as well. Their friends do the same. They are also working on their comedic timing and approach, so there's that.

 

Perhaps the real moral is to ensure that anyone who reads this understands the only payment they can expect is deer puns by the gross, as well as all the Skype emotes they can eat.

[Rick Sanchez 76]

They are also working on their comedic timing and approach, so there's that.

wow

i really irritated you

i apologize

[Dark Horse 12,969]

 

 

Well it is just a forum, it's not exactly manual labor, so no one really needs to be paid. It's more or less volunteer work. I would figure the experience is enough payment, lol.

 

There are some corporate forums that will have paid affiliates to act as 'moderators', although they typically also serve as customer service agents, usually handling basic queries from users that the corporation trains the affiliates to answer (hence the 'boilerplate' responses often associated with such services). One of my current colleagues did it for a while and surprisingly enough said that there was some decent money in it with no prior qualifications necessary. I guess it all depends on who is running the forum and what kind of resources/budget they have to allot.

[Jeric 46,876]

wow

i really irritated you

i apologize

Not at all. It was a good thing you asked the question you did. I had a platform to encourage people to let their hair down a little in the process and not be too serious. Staff wants some personality in applications. Anything that initiates good advice for applicants is preferable to silence. No worries

 

Trust me, it takes a whole lot to irritate me.

[Ganondorf8 11,602]

I decided to go for it and will accept whatever the outcome is.

[DJ Wolfe 5,354]

I decided to go for it and will accept whatever the outcome is.

Best of luck to you and everyone else.

[Ganondorf8 11,602]

Best of luck to you and everyone else.

 

If I don't get picked, then I will accept that and maybe try again some other time.

[Artimis Whooves 1,577]

I applied! It took me two days to fully complete the form. This'll be my third time applying for a spot. Hopefully I'll get it this time!

[Rikifive 24,668]

i think 3 of you didn't understand that my "im not getting paid for this" statement was a joke

To be honest I had that feeling, that it was said jokingly, though I was not sure, due to the way how it was written.  :-P 

 

(...) no one says the word "fam" in a serious tone. It was in all caps too.

(...) I thought you guys were capable of detecting text cues lol.

It really depends on particular person and the environment. Some people tend to use urban dictionary in a pretty different way, hence some shortcuts and words have multiple meanings. Some even use them incorrectly, so sometimes it's really hard to determine what somebody had in mind.

For example, our lovely overused "lol" - now it doesn't really mean what it originally was supposed to.

 

As for caps - I interpret it more like yelling to express frustration and/or trolling, rather than marking the sentence as a joke.

Heh, when I see something like "ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?", then it's kinda difficult to consider that as a joke.   

 

Either way, I just wanted to say, that don't take what I said personally. I'm saying this just in case if you took that as offensive ~ that's what I didn't aim for.

[Rick Sanchez 76]

To be honest I had that feeling, that it was said jokingly, though I was not sure, due to the way how it was written.  :-P 

 

 

It really depends on particular person and the environment. Some people tend to use urban dictionary in a pretty different way, hence some shortcuts and words have multiple meanings. Some even use them incorrectly, so sometimes it's really hard to determine what somebody had in mind.

For example, our lovely overused "lol" - now it doesn't really mean what it originally was supposed to.

 

As for caps - I interpret it more like yelling to express frustration and/or trolling, rather than marking the sentence as a joke.

Heh, when I see something like "ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?", then it's kinda difficult to consider that as a joke.   

 

Either way, I just wanted to say, that don't take what I said personally. I'm saying this just in case if you took that as offensive ~ that's what I didn't aim for.

this conflict is basically over so your input doesn't really do much now

[Rikifive 24,668]

That's true. I know it was pretty much irrelevant at that moment. Nevertheless I just wanted to make it clear, that there wasn't even any conflict between us at all.  :-P

That's because I was mentioned before, so I was not sure how it was received by you. 

 

Okay, I'll stop derailing this thread.   

[Foxy Socks 2,602]

Is there an approximate time they would be notified? I am  guessing not, but I want to be sure.

[Snow 8,359]

Is there an approximate time they would be notified? I am  guessing not, but I want to be sure.

There would be quite a line up of people they have to process now because of the application boom and depending on where you are in the queue it could take a while to get to you, organisation and availability of staff members for the interviews is also scares it seems. do prepare yourself for a bit of a wait. 

[Jeric 46,876]

 

 

Is there an approximate time they would be notified? I am  guessing not, but I want to be sure.

 

 

 

There would be quite a line up of people they have to process now because of the application boom and depending on where you are in the queue it could take a while to get to you, organisation and availability of staff members for the interviews is also scares it seems. do prepare yourself for a bit of a wait. 

 

Like most things I opine on in this area of the forum, it is all based on possibly outdated information so for concrete information ignore me and wait for the official response. I'll try and talk in broad general strokes. 

 

JU88snow has it right that it can take some time and patience is helpful here. The general life-cycle of an application is pretty basic. You complete the app, the app posts to the staff where all MLP Forums staff (Sectional Moderators to Administrators) can view it. It is read for MLP Forums staff and input from all parties is sought. It the application is promising it can move forward to an interview. If not your application can be set aside for a variety of reasons and you will be notified that the MLPF staff did not select you. Specific reasons may be in the notice or you may be asked to inquire as to why you weren't selected. 

 

The time it all takes varied greatly on the number of applications and the availability of the staff. The two stages that took the longest were the staff input and interview setup stages. The Administrators generally didn't like to rush an application and would wait to make sure everyone on staff had an opportunity to chime in ... at all levels. Since some staff live in other countries, work jobs, and do that college thing, it has always been an asynchronous process. It actually benefits the applicant and community since I've seen staffers come in late to the discussion, usually when we were going to make a final call on moving to an interview or passing, only to show us something we actually missed or overlooked. And yes, that can be favorable for the applicant. More eyes is a good thing here. 

 

Getting interviews set-up was a challenge since we did like to have an interview conducted live in a Skype chat group with multiple Moderators and Admins. We also would work with the applicant to get a good time for everyone. It took a bit to do that for even 12 applications, and there were usually more during a drive, not including a few joke apps by trolls and former (but well-meaning) staffers. Sometimes the application forwarding did not function properly causing hiccups. We always preferred taking our time due to the possibility of human and software errors. 

 

I can tell you that they are almost certainly working on them and making progress. When ever we got distracted by this crisis or that crisis, someone would invariably remind us ... "So how about the applications ... let's work on them )

 

Now, they may have introduced a new system since October and all of what I said is not valid, but in general ... it just takes time to do this thoroughly. How much time has varied.