TW Council - UPDATED w/ structure

[Crescent Seal]

In-game name(s): cres / crescent seal

Years playing TW, SS: lots

Primary arenas played: TWD/TWL

Short TW/SS Bio in a few words: NC17, pro, bff with Sir spider, we all know about cres and roxxkat's sister, syne, potenza, savanger, wolf, practically already a boss in tw

Why choose you for Council?: self explanatory

Zone issues important to you: all the important things

LOL. no need i think we will be in safe hands with pee pee sock.

[Ephemeral]

Please allow me one final attempt at describing what I think needs to be done to the zone. The leadership of the zone, and the zone itself, needs to have a ‘top down’ perspective. The primary reason the zone has faltered for years is because the opposite was done; a bottom up perspective has always been the norm. This is stopped the zone from moving forward, prevented people from wanting to invest, and burned out many, many good people. So bear with me while I sketch this analogy out.

Say TW is a restaurant. Everyone who comes in to eat has some ideas on how to make it a better place. Some want to add certain things on the menu, others want to change the existing menu. Some suggest that we should update the table and chairs, paint the place, add some new lighting. Others think we could add an outdoor patio. Some say to add some bug busted waitresses in low cut blouses.

All good ideas and some may work; but this is all ‘bottom up thinking’. The last thing this zone needs are more of this kind of ‘good ideas’. We have always had good ideas. But let’s continue to walk through the analogy.

Players are the customers of our restaurant. TW Deans are the guys who own/manage the restaurant. TW lower staff are the waiters. TW Development are the chefs in the kitchen. We can restructure the staff in this restaurant all day long but does that mean that people will like our restaurant and it be successful? No, not if the food still sucks. Not if the place smells bad. Not of the menu is over-priced. Not we have no place to park.

Do we allow the Chefs (development guys) to set our menu? No. The chefs are key to our success, no doubt. They have certain skills and we should use them to the best advantage. But a chef has virtually nothing to do with the running of the restaurant. They do not dictate to the restaurant staff what is going to be served; they cook what the restaurant management says the menu is.

So what is ‘top down’ thinking? First, we figure out what kind of restaurant we are. Are we Tex/Mex? Asian? Italian? Fine dining? A five-star restaurant or a biker bar and grill? Do we serve drinks or wine? What is the menu? <- These are ‘top down’ or ‘strategic’ things. This is what the upper staff of TW should be defining and driving. Once this is set, and only then, can the ‘operational’ things can be figured out.

For example, do we start spending money and time trying to bring new people into the restaurant right now? No. The place sucks, people will eat once and never come back in. Do we spend time tweaking a few menu items? No. Changing a few menu items serves no real purpose if we have left the raw chicken wings out on the counter too long and we get people sick. Do we try getting M_M God to stand on the side of the road in a costume and see if he can wave people in? Good for a laugh but No.

What we need is upper staff to define the zone and make a high level plan. We need to temporarily stop allowing the chefs, waiters, customers from making changes; even if they think they are operating in the best interest of the zone it is really not helping at this point. Operational changes in the vacuum of a plan/direction is not progress. We are only burning through chefs, waiters, other restaurant staff AND customers as they come on board and then give up.

Decide what kind of restaurant we want to be. Define a plan on how to become that restaurant. Communicate to the chefs the menu. The menu should be broad enough to bring in new customers and appease older, existing customers. Prices should be set correctly based upon the plan (which should include the demographics of those who we want coming into the restaurant). Perhaps we will want to redecorate (change Pub), but how we do this depends on the bigger plan. We may want to hang a new sign out front and pave the parking lot, but again we need to do this in the context of the entire plan for the restaurant.

If TW understands this, if this is what TW is headed for, I am in. But if this council is the extent of the changes, I am not in. If this nonsense of making all these bottom up changes coming from disparate people is the direction of TW, I am not in. Only M_M and Demonic have the power to change TW to ‘top down’ thinking. I am willing to assist in any way possible, including doing a lot of the actual work like writing a possible plan, if the zone is willing to stop being so fucking myopic operationally-centric. Frankly I think that I am not the only one might really step up of this happens.
eph

[Crescent Seal]

Yes, that was long and probably tl;dr for most people.

is it ever not?

killing me smalls

[bkgmjo]

Or in short... you can talk a lot but don't want to do anything at all, just command others around and also let them take the blame for your ideas. You might wanna try on other zones staffs.

Sorry for breaking posting rules, delete when you see qan-lord. Had to...

[paradise!]

exalt..for real?

[qan]

I'm adapting our current polling bot to use TW logins, and once a last call is made for candidates, we will be having elections.

Might have a web-accessible version as well, though a lot on my plate at the moment.

Please keep in mind you will need to be registered for TWD to vote, in order to ensure (relative) vote legitimacy.

[qan]

So.....

Any news on when the elections will actually start?

Post-TWL, once everyone's attention is not distracted. Also hoping to gather one or two more candidates. Yes, I'll agree my attention's divided -- a lot of things going on right now. I work and have a small social life on top of my duties as a dev for TW, and have been preparing for a pretty big interview as well. Trying to balance. It's not gone or forgotten, by any stretch of the imagination; don't worry. It's better to take things slowly than to rush headlong into error anyhow.

Thanks to everyone who continues to discuss Council. Elections will be held soon. I've been reading up on Robert's Rules again, preparing myself.

[roxxkatt]

are you sure its not a better idea to be impatient and say a bunch of stupid immature things instead
it works so well

[Zeebu]

Bumped. Is this Idea just going to die now, or what? Did Qan get bored and move on to some new project (rest of staff along with him), or what's up? Give some updates, or declare this idea dead. Don't let it stagnate forever and just be forgotten about. That's the usual course of action in staff, and that kind of crap needs to stop immediately. If you're actually doing things behind the scenes, you need to be transparent enough to explain what you are doing to the rest of the public. Nobody likes secrets, and nobody will stick around for you to waste our time anymore with silence either. We can all just up and quit and you can be staff of a dead zone just like all the faggots in hyperspace or dsb. Give updates or stop wasting our time.

id rather them come out with a good 'mission statement' for lack of a better word than to just hold elections and then have everyone start yelling at each other. i also think it would be a good idea to wait until after twl to hold the elections. theres always a population spike during twl. if you want to be a part of this, i think you ought to be around for more than just 3 or 4 months out of the year. i agree that some of the better twl players are only active during this time, but you dont need the best players for this to happen; you need twl players with a good knowledge of the system.

my thoughts

[Exalt]

So.....

Any news on when the elections will actually start?

Bumped. Is this Idea just going to die now, or what? Did Qan get bored and move on to some new project (rest of staff along with him), or what's up? Give some updates, or declare this idea dead. Don't let it stagnate forever and just be forgotten about. That's the usual course of action in staff, and that kind of crap needs to stop immediately. If you're actually doing things behind the scenes, you need to be transparent enough to explain what you are doing to the rest of the public. Nobody likes secrets, and nobody will stick around for you to waste our time anymore with silence either. We can all just up and quit and you can be staff of a dead zone just like all the faggots in hyperspace or dsb. Give updates or stop wasting our time.

[Spock!]

So.....

Any news on when the elections will actually start?

[Exalt]

I highly agree with everything you've said Ephemeral.I really don't know what else I could add to that. You made such a great case that stands on it's own. I definitely agree.

[Ephemeral]

Really? I don't know anything? I suppose that you're forgetting that I was upperstaff for a while, and I was the banC operator directly under demonic for a while too…
I went from ZH to Smod and did all the steps in between. I was the 2nd ZH hired when they brought the position back. I worked in the training department. I was a TWL Op and ran the league for weeks at a time when real life caught up with Flared. I handled appeals. I trained people in banC, I trained people in banG, I performed, edited, and lifted bans that no one else other than Demonic had access to. I worked with the billing ops…

IMO Paul’s post above is VERY significant, it is a great explanation of what is so badly broken in the staff structure. This ‘old school’ approach to staff hiring and promotion is the root cause to many of the problems that have existed for years with staff. Whomever put this system in place had zero experience in managing people and organizations. It is moronic to think that the best way to build a leadership structure is to force everyone to ‘come up thought her ranks’, it is typical bottom up thinking. Of course this approach seems logical on the surface, ‘gee everyone that comes up through the ranks gets to learn everything there is to know about the zone’. While this logic has a bit of truth it has many, many more problems.

First, it sends the message that being staff is all about having ‘powers’. It attracts the wrong type of person to staff (instead of attracting those who primary purpose is to help zone). And when you do have a person who only really wants to help the zone, it forces them into doing things that they don’t want or care about doing. For example if a person joins staff with the primary purpose to help new players who enter zone, why the fuck would you force them to host events?
Even worse, the truth is that the ability to send a zoner or some other dumbass command has NOTHING to do with the true empowerment in the zone. The true empowerment is concentrated at the top few staff positions, those who are making the decisions for the zone. All the other staff positions are simply busy work positions; operational tasks. It is like saying that the person serving you burgers at McDonalds has ‘power’ because they have the ability to stop you from upsizing your order. Yet we spend huge amounts of time writing walls of posts flaming the guy behind the counter as being ‘power hungry’ or some fuckup.

Second, it greatly limits the choices for Deans. The current staff system would be like saying ‘no one can become a leader of Ford Motor company until they have worked every job in the company. They start at the loading dock and have to work their way to the top.’ WTF kind of moron would think this is a good idea? The only thing this has accomplished is to burn out good people and prevent other good people from even trying to join staff. Plus, you end up with the same kind of service from lower staff that you get from that guy at the McDonalds counter; someone who really is not invested in the job they are doing. Just going through the motions, no real passion in what they do. They end up just fucking around on the job, pulling pranks and doing stupid things (like exploiting bugs). Sound familiar to anyone? Doh.

THIS is why we pushed for something like the council. THIS is why we need sweeping changes in the way staff is structured. THIS is why we need to attract the right people and give them responsibilities they want AND enjoy doing. Trust me, having right ‘employees’ in place makes all the difference in the world in the product (TW zone). Change the staff structure, change the way staff is hired/prompted/fired and the zone will greatly improve. This has ZERO to do with ‘good ideas’ for features, we can fucking come up with endless ideas for improving the zone until the sun explodes; but as long as staff structure is so badly broken the product will never grow and be successful.

Demonic, whether you like her or not, needs to be respected for understanding the above and trying to begin the change process. She could not simply axe the entire staff and ‘start over’; the zone still has to operate while whatever transition is attempted. Plus she has her hands full with some existing staffers who are pushing back on a lot of this, they are threaten and want things to stay the way they are. Others may just be apathetic yet are playing critical roles in getting things done. She cannot simply flip a switch. Well she could but it would take a lot more effort, skill, and risk to pull it off. It is doubtful that many people in the zone have this kind of experience (I have it but frankly I’m not interested in investing that much time). Others have the issue figured out because they lived the pain for years. Guys like Paul, kthx, PH, LF and many other who are saying ‘fuck this’ understand exactly what is wrong with staff structure but have little interest in investing either; they have already donated huge chunks of their time and little to show for it. And then there are a few guys, like Qan and Shaddow, who are currently on staff and understand the above is badly needed.

How will this turn out? One of two ways. Either people will get on board with the council and support it to drive the changes to the staff structure that are so desperately needed. Or we will allow the council idea to wither on the vine and go back to the traditional old school staff structure that has given us such a cluster fuck for all these years. But whatever turns out no one can say that Demonic, M_M and Beasty HAVE given us the opportunity for change ad improvement. Big props to them.
eph

[Ricko]

bring Paul back to staff - 1

[Demonic]

Really? I don't know anything? I suppose that you're forgetting that I was upperstaff for a while, and I was the banC operator directly under demonic for a while too. I'm not saying that I know every single thing that goes on these days, but I do know a lot more than you're giving me credit for. I didn't just hear about it, I did it. I have/had a very good handle on how staff works and who does what, and a first hand view of what the problems were, and undoubtedly still are. I was on staff when Wark and LF were there, we were in pure_luck's corner the entire time the SSC thing was going on, I was there for all of it. That's not some sad ass play for e-kudos or anything, I'm just saying I know what goes on because I've been there and I've done that. I went from ZH to Smod and did all the steps in between. I was the 2nd ZH hired when they brought the position back. I worked in the training department. I was a TWL Op and ran the league for weeks at a time when real life caught up with Flared. I handled appeals. I trained people in banC, I trained people in banG, I performed, edited, and lifted bans that no one else other than Demonic had access to. I worked with the billing ops. And I quit over the way staff, already inefficient at best, tanked when 4o was promoted all the way up to smod. I quit when M_M God became less and less involved. I quit when Poid took over and saw the way long time, still producing staffers (see Lizard Fuel) were run off. More than most, I know the problems that happen at the top and affect the entire zone. I know what CAN be accomplished, but more importantly, I have a very good reason to believe that I'm right when I say I can produce a very good guess as to the large gap that will occur between what can occur and what will occur.

Trust me exalt, I'm not pulling shit out of my ass on this one.

hah I remember that, everyone was like don't give it to TP and turned out my best bang op lol