05-31-2011 at 1:36 AM

I think one of the problems is that we have a lot of mods and admins and probably inadequate communication between all of them. It means the site can be run a different way each day depending on which admin and which mods are on at any given time. Not to mention some mods that will suck up to the admins they like best <i>and</i> send members they dislike to whichever admin they know will be the harshest on them. I think there's a major lack of order and respect, but nobody wants to come out and say it and remove these people from their position or reprimand them, so they just keep doing what they're doing until it gets worse.

05-31-2011 at 1:24 AM

I definitely agree with Geist here. <br /> <br /> I do know a few mods that I really look up to, and admire... But unfortunately, they are outnumbered by the mods/staff that I find unpleasant. :c<br /> <br /> I'm not trying to sound bratty, or rude... I'm just saying it like it is. Also, I don't want anyone to think that I like certain mods because they're more slack than others - that's not what it's about at all.<br /> <br /> I like these certain mods because while they enforce the rules when it's necessary, they are nice to the people who haven't done anything wrong and are just generally pleasant people to talk to. <br /> <br /> If more mods were like this, and were chosen based on their ability to be nice and respectful to people, there wouldn't be an issue. I just find it rather annoying that I'm supposed to have the utmost respect for someone who treats me like a lesser individual.<br /> <br />

05-31-2011 at 12:18 AM

Silas, as Cervine said, there <i>are</i> staff members with absolutely undeniable bias. ..And a complete lack of maturity. I would name names and give examples, but I would probably be banned so fast my head would spin. <br /> <br /> Not everyone gets a chance to see it. But if you get hit with it, you get hit <i>hard</i>. A moderator with a grudge or bias against you is like a heat seeking missile of misery. It's why I generally try to keep a low profile these days, and I really would not be surprised if I got a warning for this post. <br /> <br /> I've been chastised for not respecting moderators, when they did nothing to earn my respect. They did everything to earn my feeling of antipathy, though.<br /> <br /> Besides, anyone remember that Rejuvenator fiasco? I don't know how many people could see what was going on behind the scenes with that mess, but my good lord. I can't overly detail it, but it was a moderator who got it in their head that they didn't like the item's abilities, went on a rampage, and nerfed the thing after people had already bought it, and it continually snowballed for hours like a train flying off the tracks. It involved manipulation of a higher up and scapegoating another mod, just to name a few things.<br /> <br /> Haha I am so getting warned or banned for this.<br /> <br /> my own disclaimer: There are plenty of mods and admins who I like and get on well with. But they're in the minority.

05-31-2011 at 12:01 AM

"I obviously agree with this issue, as anyone who has seen me in chat would most likely know. Yeah, I pick fights sometimes, but I only do it because the mods are not doing their jobs. And if the mods aren't going to respect the players, I'm not going to respect the mods. Sure, the mods have the right to say what is and isn't allowed, but I feel like way too often, they are inserting their own personal bias into it." <br /> <br /> I understand this, and I definitely agree that occasionally the staff inserts their bias into things, but I've seen you pick a lot of fights and that's really not the way to go about it. It's one thing debating with a mod, but you have a tendency to come back over and over again on chat even when you're told to drop it and I've seen you post extremely passive-aggressive statuses when repeatedly told to drop it there as well. I understand your frustration, but you're only digging your own grave with that one. A forum topic like this is a good way to express how you're feeling about the mods, as is a well-thought out reply to a mod in comments or chat, but picking a fight that boils down to "omg this is stupid" is not. <br /> <br /> Just, there's a point where you go too far, I've been there myself and it's not the way to handle things.

05-30-2011 at 11:59 PM

Silas, I am also here most of the time, albeit lurking. I see it plenty of times daily. I see several mods who place a lot of personal bias in their decisions.

05-30-2011 at 11:27 PM

The staff members here on ala aren't "acting like gods" for I am here all the time and I never see them commanding or being all godly they are just doing their jobs!! The artist like the community's input of what they would like to see on ala! Sometimes the artist already have so much of their plate that they can't do everything everyone wants all at once. Also, the admins and mods are suppose to enforce the rules and if someone gets out of line they tell them nicely more than 98% of the time to please stop. But if the person doesn't they will take it to the extreme like chat banning them and/or finning.

05-30-2011 at 11:25 PM

I obviously agree with this issue, as anyone who has seen me in chat would most likely know. Yeah, I pick fights sometimes, but I only do it because the mods are not doing their jobs. And if the mods aren't going to respect the players, I'm not going to respect the mods. Sure, the mods have the right to say what is and isn't allowed, but I feel like way too often, they are inserting their own personal bias into it.<br /> <br /> It doesn't help that I actually talked to higher mods and admins about how I thought the behavior of a couple mods was completely unacceptable, and I haven't seen anything come of it. (Actually, when I complained, I'm pretty sure one of these mods was a newbie helper. And now they are a mod...and I know I wasn't the only one who had had trouble with said mods. And I bring it up in a fairly sophisticated private message and one of them gets a higher position. Uh...ignoring the players, much? Although, I could have a horrible memory and they could have become a mod a few days before that complaint, and if so...yeah.)<br /> <br /> Anyways, I don't see mods asking for user's opinions ever, or at least it's very rare. And, while I know you can't please every person on this site, it would be nice if they at least made an attempt to please some of us based on opinions they have gathered from users rather than just pleasing some people by pure luck and without any user opinions. It drives me crazy.<br /> <br /> And I'm one of those people that avoids chat, and I'd rather not be. I would like to be active in chat, but I'd rather wait until I see less flat-out bias from the mods.<br /> <br /> I'm not saying all mods are like this though, as a disclaimer. There are quite a few mods/artists/admins/etc that I adore, but I feel like having those few that are taking their perceived mod power way too far is severely hurting my, and no doubt, other people's opinions of this site.

05-30-2011 at 10:23 PM

When I was part of the art team, the artists went to great lengths to find out what the users wanted. This included making threads, lurking the chat to find out, or straight-up asking people in chat. I did the latter, personally. It's the reason why the owls exist. The artists really, really want to know what you would like to see, but the thing is.. it's <i>impossible to please every member on a site like Alacrity.</i> When you have a member base in the thousands but an art team you can count on both hands? It can't be done.<br /> <br /> I stepped down due to conflict <i>primarily</i> with staff, however- none of them on the art team, so take that as you will.

05-30-2011 at 8:34 PM

I finaly hit f5 and saw the new riddler image, from what i have seen and read, the posts about the image have been accuret. I didn't know that the News section was simply to say what you LIKE about a change and how dare you if you say something that could lead to an inprovement.

05-30-2011 at 11:41 AM

It's a shame when this sort of thing starts to happen. Staff members tend to get this god complex where they bring their personal opinions into staff matters and suddenly if a staff member dislikes what you've got to say, you're in trouble without breaking a single rule. <br /> <br /> Lately when there's an aesthetic change, we get no warning anymore. It just happens, and then anyone who doesn't like it is told to shut up because we worked very very hard on it and you're being so disrespectful and unappreciative, didn't you know? And so on and so forth. <br /> <br /> I think what we need is a bit of a staff makeover. Re-balance the power and straighten things out. I've abandoned many a site because the staff failed to communicate with the player base and became too power-crazy. I'm really hoping Ala can stop this before it truly starts. <br /> <br /> Edit: I also think there should be more staff meetings about members violating the rules. Sure, certain things are a given like someone blatantly flaming someone else or swearing excessively or openly breaking age rules on the 18+ forum, but some things are extremely subjective matters (ie, is such and such a thing offensive enough to break the rules, is so and so being too harsh) and when you let one mod handle it, they're bound to (often unintentionally) inject their bias into it when they really should reach a decision based on what's best for the community.

05-30-2011 at 10:43 AM

The polls need to be more functional. Dog breeds? Whatever to me. I'm happy with whatever comes out in that department... But things like image changes... Trivial things that matter to US and make no difference to the cost/benefit of the site? We should be allowed to vote on those things, and our opinions on these things should MATTER.<br /> <br /> I have seen a lot of suggestions get used, yes... But sometimes the things that we already have and like get changed just because. <br /> <br /> I've also noticed that when an aesthetic change occurs, it's not talked about at all beforehand, and the news posts are just there to INFORM us that there's been a change, and that we have to "like it or shut up". :I

05-30-2011 at 10:36 AM

I agree completely. I've been noticing this lately and quite frankly it's getting aggravating. To the point where it feels like user input is just ignored. Yes, I understand that things aren't always going to change just because some members think it should. But, back in Ala's earlier days, it felt like the staff spoke to us, asked for opinions before changing things. Does that happen anymore? Hardly, if at all.<br /> <br /> A vote of some kind would be just an easy solution, yet at the same time the ones we've done in the past didn't seem to matter. Wasn't there suppose to be polls on what breeds will be added? I've YET to see any such thing. If they're going on what breeds are popular, I would think labs would come before borzois? >_><br /> <br /> Excuse me but, us members are what keeps this site afloat too, particularly those of us who donate our own money. It's not just the staff who run the show. I for one haven't donated in a while simply because Alacrity isn't as enjoyable as it once was, meaning I don't feel like handing my money over to a site that more or less tells is members to suck it up and deal with it when we disagree with a change. All we're asking for is some communication, votes possibly. Can we be blamed when things are changed that we liked? Like the old porch background, which I'm still sad to see no longer stocked in shops, and the riddler image.<br /> =/ I miss when the staff cared more about what its members thought, instead of calling us immature when we say something they don't agree with.

05-30-2011 at 10:30 AM

I will say that I wish the user base had more of a direct say as to what WE want to see, as opposed to only a few select people making every decision.<br /> <br /> I think that the polls we have should be more useful - as opposed to useless statistics information, it should be a way for us to vote on the important changes that alacrity may undergo. I have seen a couple of cases where the poll system has been used for a real reason, but most of the time it seems like it's more of a 'just for fun' thing.<br /> <br /> As for the individual staff members being rude to players, I can't change how an individual chooses to treat others... But I will say that it isn't in the site's best interests - or anyone's for that matter - to be rude. Players are quitting, avoiding chat, and generally losing interest in the social aspects of the site, which is a shame in my opinion because that is the real reason I loved it here when I first started playing.<br /> <br /> Admittedly, sometimes I do avoid chat because there are certain players whom are not considerate or respectful to the people that they don't know as well. I think everyone here has the right to feel accepted, and above all WELCOMED by the staff here. <br /> <br /> I also think that perhaps Robyn should have a meeting with all the staff members, and give them a little pep talk about respect... Because lately it's been getting out of hand. The very people that are supposed to be moderating the site and keeping the peace are contributing to the problem, and anyone who denies that hasn't been in chat lately. :/<br /> <br /> I'm definitely not saying that the mods don't work hard or that all of them are behaving in this way; I'm simply saying that a few of them seem to have forgotten how to be nice. :c