What's happening in here?

[_Zenith_]

Communication sitewide and either Restructuring or Reorganizing the current structure that the Staff runs on would be the most important things to address before things that can be accomplished on a daily basis (working on removing rated/bugged scores, a prevention method (for lack of a better term) against profile bots, etc.

[psychoangel691]

Originally Posted by Mister_Raccoon

Now, I took a hiatus for 5 or so years so take my opinion with a grain of salt:
But would it be safe to say that if we had bigger community it would inspire shit to get done? Or is the community on it's last legs because nothing was getting done?

The community was significantly reduced because of the extended downtime that started in Dec of 2009 and ran until I think it was October of 2011. Most people moved on during that time.

[DossarLX ODI]

Originally Posted by Trumpet63

Hahaa... dude yeah we tried that. Organization is not currently the issue for dev.

Then please prove me wrong (can be PM'd or whatever). I don't know what dev does to monitor their progress or assign tasks. Being a part of staff myself and not having the slightest high-level idea on what dev is working on is definitely a concern.

Originally Posted by Trumpet63

I would be ridiculously happy if the dev team could get to work on, i dunno, making a new version of the FFR engine (that's what dev is meant to do right)? That is what I want to happen, and what I want to be a part of. Unfortunately we've got a laundry list of bugs on the site and in the engine, and I'm not qualified to fix them, neither is anyone else so far.

"Making a new version of the FFR engine" would be an epic that would have to be split into multiple stories and then subtasks for each. That big of a general idea doesn't work unless the work is split into smaller sections that are more well-defined. I understand that may have just been a hypothetical example to illustrate a point, however it still needs to be divided properly.

Let's take a moment to reflect on a few users that entered Dev for a bit, but left:
- Fission
- qqwref

Both Fission and qqwref were great additions to the team but continuously got shut down. Their unpleasant experience being on staff convinced them to leave despite wanting to help, and I can understand their pain. These users were certainly qualified and willing to help with dev, and maybe the dev team should reconsider how it's going to approach its problems. I still don't know what dev does to monitor its progress.

Originally Posted by Trumpet63

Oh and another thing, sometimes people just want to do one specific project, and then leave, which I think should be allowed, and we should READILY allow those people into the group temporarily to give them CRUCIAL FEEDBACK, with the option of joining if applicable.

Consultants do this. This is a perfectly legitimate strategy.

[Rapta]

List of important things to do from chronological order of most important to least:

1. Things To Fix

1. Staff communication

2. Restructure/Reorganize current staff structure

3. Address inactivity within staff

4. anything else

[justin_ator]

Also another comment - I do recognize that some things (aka "laundry list of bug fixes" as mentioned before) are not AT ALL enjoyable, or even overly stimulating to the community as a whole - but even those need to be done to make progress. The fact that it's a "daunting task" just makes it THAT MUCH more relevant for dev staff to have accountability on finishing these fixes. Get it done, and move forward!

[Mister_Raccoon]

I prefer to be solution oriented.
If anyone has any realistic ideas, the authority to get it done, and some gumption, I donate my time to the cause in any way I can be useful.

I'm just a PM away.

God dammit I just got back into FFR. It's too early for me to be hearing talk of how the shit is already dead.

[Rapta]

It may be easier to fix the issues at hand if everything were explained a bit more.

For example, someone in staff could tell us how they would try to contact someone else either for permission to do something or clarification, or if they use a chatting platform like a Skype group chat they could talk about that, and then they could state what they think the issue is with the current way it is done.

Quoting older posts wouldn't be a bad idea for this too.

[MosaicMan3]

Originally Posted by Rapta

I spent an hour on a post and said "nevermind" lol

In a nice, short, non essay, I would like to exclaim that I think if staff applications were open at all times, and staff applications constantly reviewed, and consensus on said reviewed applications was reached with a (subject to change) time minimum of one month of contemplation about said applicant being reviewed, it might be a good idea. I also agree that what's going on should be expressed in some way, or at least a more effective system be put in place which allows ALL staff and possibly all users to know what's going on with EVERYTHING.

In fact, someone tell all staff about this thread please, this is a well past due "what is happening" thread

I know it's a little dated. But I absolutely agree with Rapta here. Applications need to be offered 100% of the time. Different people can bring different things to the table.

We put a lot on the current staff's shoulders. There are a lot of people here who have the skill, and the passion to help this site out. I personally don't give a damn if 50% of the active community base is staff, as long as it gets things moving again. I took a short hiatus from this game, and I come back seeing it worse than it was.

There's a lot of work that needs to get done, and a lot of people willing to help with that work. Please offer positions to people who can and want to help.

[psychoangel691]

Originally Posted by Rapta

It may be easier to fix the issues at hand if everything were explained a bit more.

For example, someone in staff could tell us how they would try to contact someone else either for permission to do something or clarification, or if they use a chatting platform like a Skype group chat they could talk about that, and then they could state what they think the issue is with the current way it is done.

Quoting older posts wouldn't be a bad idea for this too.

Everything used to be on skype but Zag moved everyone to slack. I really am not fond of slack at all and still prefer skype when I can but usually if I'm trying to reach him I use the slack. I went on earlier though and it really doesn't look like much has been going on. I can't see the dev chat though, so idk.

[Rapta]

Originally Posted by MosaicMan3

I know it's a little dated. But I absolutely agree with Rapta here. Applications need to be offered 100% of the time. Different people can bring different things to the table.

We put a lot on the current staff's shoulders. There are a lot of people here who have the skill, and the passion to help this site out. I personally don't give a damn if 50% of the active community base is staff, as long as it gets things moving again. I took a short hiatus from this game, and I come back seeing it worse than it was.

There's a lot of work that needs to get done, and a lot of people willing to help with that work. Please offer positions to people who can and want to help.

Please offer positions to people who can and want to help.

And if anything, you could just do it more often! Like, Psycho said that the last applications for one of the staff groups' was almost a year ago, which in her opinion isn't long but I think that is a very long time for applications, especially when this site is as slow as it is.

[psychoangel691]

Originally Posted by MosaicMan3

I took a short hiatus from this game, and I come back seeing it worse than it was.

I think this is a really unfair statement, there has been a lot of stuff that has been done. I wouldn't say that the site is worse than it was, but there is a lot of things that can be improved on.

[Rapta]

Psycho:

I really am not fond of slack at all

What do you not like about it? I don't know what slack is, i'll try a quick google search.

Edit: basically a communication thing is what I've gathered.

[psychoangel691]

Originally Posted by Rapta

And if anything, you could just do it more often! Like, Psycho said that the last applications for one of the staff groups' was almost a year ago, which in her opinion isn't long but I think that is a very long time for applications, especially when this site is as slow as it is.

There were other additions that came after that though, and again it's not the fault of the people added if there's no real structure for what's going on. I've seen quite a few of the people who were added that have been in this thread expressing this. Adding a bunch of new people to teams doesn't mean jack if the teams aren't functioning right. If the teams were functioning right we really probably wouldn't have to be adding many more people on. There's actually a good deal of people in various staff roles right now.

[psychoangel691]

Originally Posted by Rapta

Psycho:

What do you not like about it? I don't know what slack is, i'll try a quick google search.

Edit: basically a communication thing is what I've gathered.

It's a chat thing but I just don't really like it. I preferred skype and always will.

[Rapta]

Originally Posted by psychoangel691

It's a chat thing but I just don't really like it. I preferred skype and always will.

I feel like I don't have much information to go off of about Slack.. Is everyone in a big group? Do the Events and Devs and such have their own groups? You said you can't see the Dev chat, do you think that should be changed?

[psychoangel691]

Originally Posted by Rapta

I feel like I don't have much information to go off of about Slack.. Is everyone in a big group? Do the Events and Devs and such have their own groups? You said you can't see the Dev chat, do you think that should be changed?

There's a general chat that everyone from every group is in, but it hasn't been very active. Then everyone has their own private groups. I don't think that everyone should have to be able to see everything but I think there should be more communication in the main chat about what's going on.

[SKG_Scintill]

FFRama

[Rapta]

-Waiting for other staff members to give information/opinions on the current form of staff communication (which seems to be Slack)-

[Trumpet63]

I love slack. I think it's pretty subjective honestly, although clearly slack has more features. I don't care where we talk, just that we talk.

[psychoangel691]

I should probably note that I actually don't mind people approaching me outside of application periods about possibly joining the events team. I added badman on without the application period cause he had been doing some event stuff and looked like a good fit. I want to say that if someone really has the skills for something that even maybe going to a staff member and just saying hey I know how to do x could I help out? Idk, I'm getting tired at this point.