Staff Title Updates

[NewCalamity 3,454]

Staff Title Updates

 

 

                As you all may or may not have noticed, the staff groups’ names and colours have been changed, and some classifications have disappeared entirely.  This is to make way for the future, and to let the staff’s titles accurately represent their intended focuses and jobs.  Here is a list of all of the changes made to the way the staff groups are now classified:

 

Poniverse Staff:  The former “community stewards” now have a new name to more encompass their position and job as a staff member dealing with non-moderation issues such as EqTV and the Q&A board.

 

Moderator:  One who moderates the forum.  “Global moderator” and “Sectional moderator” are no longer discernible titles, to dispel the illusion that Global moderators were of “higher rank” than their Sectional counterparts. 

 

Administrator:  A merging of the titles “Community admin” and “Tech admin”, both of the merges serve to make things more simple for the userbase as well as make it look much cleaner and less cluttered.  After all, if a user was to look for tech support, they would not contact the admin directly, but instead create a support ticket dedicated to their issue.

 

 

                No jobs have changed, however and everyone is still comfortably milling about attending to their duties.  As these changes have been made to reflect what the future has in store for our fine community!

 

[King 5,625]

Its looking quite good to me

Although I miss the Red of Chaotic Discord xD

 

Other then that things seem to look alot easier for newer members to grasp...

[Vicke 3,189]

This will be permanent, right?

 

To me, this is a great change since it makes everything look so much more polished, instead of everyone being spread out into 5 different divisions. Keep it up :3

Edited April 9, 2013 by Vicke

[NavelColt 22,881]

People can keep up with the 'Who does what here?' page, as well. Asides from the chart, which will be updated tomorrow when Key and I work with Akita on a new chart, the rest of the page is all up-to-date. It contains some explanation that may not be found here

[Starshine 16,334]

 

Administrator: A merging of the titles “Community admin” and “Tech admin”, both of the merges serve to make things more simple for the userbase as well as make it look much cleaner and less cluttered. After all, if a user was to look for tech support, they would not contact the admin directly, but instead create a support ticket dedicated to their issue.

 

 

This is kind of reminds me of that one time I mistook Zoop as an admin that can muck things up directly on technical problems. But then again, I don't remember if there was a support ticket system back then to get those tech problems straight to Feldo's table. Welp.

 

I guess I can understand the reasoning behind the merging of Sectional and Global mods, but it's kinda sad that there won't be anymore rainbows on the "Users currently online" list.

[Dave247 568]

Sometimes, simplicity is best, because too much information can also confuse.  It's something that I keep telling myself as I have a habit of overly-complicating things that don't need to be. I don't see any problems with the changes because the titles still mean the same thing they did before, except now their just spelt differently. A relativity minor change, but important all the same.

[Jonke 3,743]

• Subscribers | Poniverse Staff | Administrators | Moderators

 

S P A M

 

It's all for the silliness~ x)

 

But yeah, it makes sense to change it this way as the community evolves more into the super community. (Poniverse) Keep changes coming.

[Concord 1,982]

Hello!

 

It's great when things can be cleaned up and presented in a more simple way. Personally, I am pleased with the update. Considering the whole community is turning into a "Poniverse", it's important to keep things as simple as possible!

[Planty 1,053]

Must more straight forward to understand

 

Ponyverse is probably a more fitting name then community stewards .

 

Will there title pictures stay the same or are they being changed slightly as well?

[NewCalamity 3,454]

This will be permanent, right?

This setup will be around for the forseeably future, for sure.

 

 

it's kinda sad that there won't be anymore rainbows on the "Users currently online" list.

Damn, you're right! Back to the drawing board, we can't do without rainbows.

 

Will there title pictures stay the same or are they being changed slightly as well?

The badges will indeed be remaining as they were. Moderators possess the Royal Guard emblem, whereas Administrators possess the Alicorn emblem.

[Jokuc 8,174]

Aw, I liked the way some admins has blue text and some red.. Cause, for some reason you feel that the ones with red text is scary

 

Nah jk, I think it'll be fine. I mean it's nothing that really matters too much to the users.

[Neikos 968]

But green is not a pretty cooooloooooor

 

 

 

 

But joke aside, good idea; Color cluttering is always annoying and this way everything stays consistent as well.

[Zoop 8,384]

 

S P A M

 

 

I can't believe that I didn't catch this before you pointed it out. That is entirely too golden. x)

 

I guess I can understand the reasoning behind the merging of Sectional and Global mods, but it's kinda sad that there won't be anymore rainbows on the "Users currently online" list.

 

 

Who knows? As the Poniverse is developed and grows into a massive and far-reaching entity maybe there will come a day where we will have a true need for that many unique groups?

[King 5,625]

I can't believe that I didn't catch this before you pointed it out. That is entirely too golden. x)

 

 

 

Who knows? As the Poniverse is developed and grows into a massive and far-reaching entity maybe there will come a day where we will have a true need for that many unique groups?

We only need two groups...

Zoot's minions

And not Zoot's Minions...

 

It would make everything alot easier to understand then, now wouldnt it ?

[Creamy Arty 6,252]

So much for the Star Trek hierarchy I had in mind with the old staff structure. I imagined Community Stewards as Ensigns, Sectional Moderators as lieutenants, Global Moderators as lieutenant commanders, Community Admins as commanders, Key Gear as the captain, and Feld0 as the admiral. No matter, as that wasn't an accurate comparison anyway. It was just a fun idea.
 
I shared one particular concern that's been addressed by this restructuring, and I'm sure some other staffies are feeling a bit relieved for their own reasons. This might take some adjustment for people, but I think it's a fantastic change overall.

 

 

Most importantly my title is once again the color of best pony.

I guess I can understand the reasoning behind the merging of Sectional and Global mods, but it's kinda sad that there won't be anymore rainbows on the "Users currently online" list.

 

Good point. @Apple Bloom and I are both moderators as well as part of the Equestria.tv staff, so maybe we could have our titles two-toned? That would rule.

[Killian Jones 2,655]

@@Artemis, Actually Star Trek new era had different colours for science, operational and tactical crew. hence the colours as they were, pips are used to denote rank.

[Creamy Arty 6,252]

@@Artemis, Actually Star Trek new era had different colours for science, operational and tactical crew. hence the colours as they were, pips are used to denote rank.

 

The three colors for different "departments" have been used in every series since the original, although the colors for operations and command were switched when TNG debuted. And in the original series rank was denoted by stripes/stitching at the end of uniform sleeves. I think they kept that for the Abrams reboot.

 

My rank association with staff here didn't have anything to do with their colors, it was just due to the number of groups we had and the way in which they were arranged on the front page and the "who does what here" FAQ entry.

[Shanks 10,816]

So since global moderators and section moderators are no longer separated by title does that mean that the former "section moderators" now have the entire forum as their "section"? I was under the impression that section moderators had their own section and global moderators had the entire site as their section, was I mistaken in this assumption?

[Creamy Arty 6,252]

So since global moderators and section moderators are no longer separated by title does that mean that the former "section moderators" now have the entire forum as their "section"? I was under the impression that section moderators had their own section and global moderators had the entire site as their section, was I mistaken in this assumption?

 

Sectionals are confined to a specific area of the site, whereas Globals are capable of moderating in all areas of the site, including status updates, blogs, and user profiles. The former Sectionals are still doing what they did before, as is everyone who was a Global. All that's changed are our titles in order to eliminate an apparent hierarchy between us when one didn't exist (Globals have more responsibilities but Sectionals aren't subordinate to them), and to improve organization; our duties are unaltered.

 

Check out the Who does what here? FAQ entry. It's been updated to reflect the restructure.

[Evilshy 5,090]

This is mostly good. I just have one problem.

 

Fact of the matter is, globals are higher than sectionals. They have priveliges over more things in more places, and I'm not just talking about sections. They have more access to different parts of the site than sectionals. When new mods are brought on, they start as sectionals (except ~CD~ cuz he's just cool like that), but can eventually be selected for promotion to global. Sectionals may not take orders from globals, but globals are certainly a higher rank of mod than sectional.

 

I don't have a problem with this. The system works very well, better than the mod system on any other site. I just don't think we should pretend that it's something it isn't.

[Shanks 10,816]

I don't have a problem with this. The system works very well, better than the mod system on any other site. I just don't think we should pretend that it's something it isn't.

Yes and that is exactly why I was confused by the statement in the OP about the "illusion of global moderators being of 'higher rank' than their sectional counterparts." It made it sound an awful lot like "aw to hell with it, we will just make everyone global mods" but I guess from Artemis's response to my query that will not be the case. I do think that this little discrepancy can bring up some confusion as though section mods may not take orders from global mods if global mods do have more power it does make sense to consider them a higher rank.

[Doctor XFizzle 8,669]

*ahem*

*clears throat*

*aheeeeeeemmmmmmm*

 

I do believe one title has been greatly overlooked. That is the title of Timelord. Carry on.

 

[Radiance64 7,053]

Ah yes, things are much more uniform and organized now, I like it. Only the moderaters and admins are technically 'seperated' now, and Poniverse Staff is certainly a nicer name for our external moderators than Community Stewards imo. I admit I will miss seeing the orange and red names around though, ah well.

[Scootalove 10,689]

I guess the staff title updates will serve some justice in the future. I will definitely miss the old orange and red. But we will get used to it.

[Zoop 8,384]

 

 

Fact of the matter is, globals are higher than sectionals. They have priveliges over more things in more places, and I'm not just talking about sections. They have more access to different parts of the site than sectionals. When new mods are brought on, they start as sectionals (except ~CD~ cuz he's just cool like that), but can eventually be selected for promotion to global. Sectionals may not take orders from globals, but globals are certainly a higher rank of mod than sectional.

 

I don't have a problem with this. The system works very well, better than the mod system on any other site. I just don't think we should pretend that it's something it isn't.

 

 

 

This is precisely the perspective that we're trying to correct.

 

It's not a matter of rank, as much as it is a matter of focus. Consider:

 

 

Section Moderators

• Focus their attention on specific portions of the forum.
• Actively seek out and resolve issues that have not yet been reported.
• Seek out and monitor topics that are likely to result in arguments and warfare.
• Ensure that thread titles are accurate and feature reasonable spelling/grammar.

Global Moderators

• Focus primarily on resolving reported issues.
• Police blogs, status updates, and similar things as needed.
• Act as section moderators for the Welcoming Area and Feedback boards.
• Fill gaps in section moderator coverage where needed due to absences and similar things.

While it is true that global moderators have access to some extra tools, that access is provided because they are necessary to carry out the functions that they are intended to fulfill. As far as additional access goes, I can't think of anything that they have that section moderators don't have, to be honest - no secret global moderator areas or other things.

 

While it is true that we have made a habit out of putting people into the section moderator role prior to transitioning them over to to global moderators, this is done primarily for the sake of giving them a chance to get used to forum moderation in a focused environment before throwing them into everything else - the focused nature of being a section moderator makes it a good way to get a firm grasp on the fundamentals of how moderation is carried out here on MLP Forums, after all.

 

The pay is the same, the benefits and stock options are the same, no orders are given, and no special consideration is provided.