Post by Ace Spade on Feb 21, 2016 14:26:15 GMT -9
I've been personally removed from this community for a while and have taken the past few weeks or so to thoroughly think through all my reasons for wanting to leave to give the community a firm understanding for my farewell.
Firstly, I don't enjoy how there is only a very few amount of the staff that actually gets work done at all. Call me hypocritical, but I've tried to get things done in this community as well as moderate and contribute in the past. Not a lot of admins get on and do anything for the game as they put their full focus on the forum. My only question is: How does moderating the forum help the game? That's a trick question because it really doesn't.
Secondly, there's no want for change. I get the saying of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it," but PPR needs change in some way or form to help it. However, the staff and community make it impossible because everyone seems to reject change or be highly critical of it. It feels as if PPR is afraid of change and doesn't want some form of "pride" broken or shattered because they may be wrong. As a sub reason of this one, no one seems to like to admit their wrong or can even tolerate the fact that they may be wrong. Keep in mind that this isn't for all members but at least a significant enough amount to be noticeable.
Thirdly, the community is just dysfunctional in general. Things get easily twisted around and other users enjoy to point out mistakes that they make in spite of others. It's less of a united community and more of a divided kingdom. Not to make it sound as if there's not to be conflict or that PPR is supposed to be highly official, but it would help to have the community as a place where things can get done, people become active, and there are just fights to have fights.
Here's one lesson that the whole community needs to learn, so listen: Criticism is nothing without being constructive.
It's one thing to point out flaws but it's another thing to give possible solutions, even if they wouldn't be used. So, how do you fix the staff so more gets done? No, don't force people to come on constantly, but a standard for what "active" is needs to change. Some people seem to think that coming on everyday makes the best admin when it's not true. Try looking at the admin and asking these questions:
Does this admin come on frequently enough to stay updated with community?
Does this admin contribute in places necessary?
If the answer to these questions were a "yes" in any way, that person is a good admin. Please know that being a good admin does not mean you're a good person. Bad people can be good at their job and good people can be bad at their job.
So what did that contribute? Well, I want to shift a perspective. If an admin cannot fit to these standards, they should be simply removed. But fixing admins' activity doesn't mean removing admins. However, removing all these admins will fix the problem of "too many admins" as a lot of them don't even deserve it. The only deserving admins are ones that make effort to try to help this community and that should be that.
Instead of waiting for applications, really look at the users that come onto the game and try to help out. If you think they're qualified, run it through the admins and agree that they should be asked to join. It's not about waiting for a fix, it's about finding it. If you don't try, you'll never get your answer.
Don't be afraid to change. If something doesn't work quite the way that you wanted it, know that the staff can always change it back until there's something else found that can do better. I won't rant as long as that last one, but this community needs to know that there's not going to be anything helpful unless there's change. It's trial and error. There's no need to be completely dismissive of a change that has potential to help but without solid proof that it will.
I think that if the community can really take these in, it can at least give it a push in the right direction. But, for now, this is a community I do not want to be apart of for the very reasons listed above. This is my very last attempt to help this community before I leave. Don't pass this off as some mindless ranting of me trying to blow steam off because it's much more than that.
Anyhow, this is goodbye to Paper Pokemon Roleplay.
Firstly, I don't enjoy how there is only a very few amount of the staff that actually gets work done at all. Call me hypocritical, but I've tried to get things done in this community as well as moderate and contribute in the past. Not a lot of admins get on and do anything for the game as they put their full focus on the forum. My only question is: How does moderating the forum help the game? That's a trick question because it really doesn't.
Secondly, there's no want for change. I get the saying of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it," but PPR needs change in some way or form to help it. However, the staff and community make it impossible because everyone seems to reject change or be highly critical of it. It feels as if PPR is afraid of change and doesn't want some form of "pride" broken or shattered because they may be wrong. As a sub reason of this one, no one seems to like to admit their wrong or can even tolerate the fact that they may be wrong. Keep in mind that this isn't for all members but at least a significant enough amount to be noticeable.
Thirdly, the community is just dysfunctional in general. Things get easily twisted around and other users enjoy to point out mistakes that they make in spite of others. It's less of a united community and more of a divided kingdom. Not to make it sound as if there's not to be conflict or that PPR is supposed to be highly official, but it would help to have the community as a place where things can get done, people become active, and there are just fights to have fights.
Here's one lesson that the whole community needs to learn, so listen: Criticism is nothing without being constructive.
It's one thing to point out flaws but it's another thing to give possible solutions, even if they wouldn't be used. So, how do you fix the staff so more gets done? No, don't force people to come on constantly, but a standard for what "active" is needs to change. Some people seem to think that coming on everyday makes the best admin when it's not true. Try looking at the admin and asking these questions:
Does this admin come on frequently enough to stay updated with community?
Does this admin contribute in places necessary?
If the answer to these questions were a "yes" in any way, that person is a good admin. Please know that being a good admin does not mean you're a good person. Bad people can be good at their job and good people can be bad at their job.
So what did that contribute? Well, I want to shift a perspective. If an admin cannot fit to these standards, they should be simply removed. But fixing admins' activity doesn't mean removing admins. However, removing all these admins will fix the problem of "too many admins" as a lot of them don't even deserve it. The only deserving admins are ones that make effort to try to help this community and that should be that.
Instead of waiting for applications, really look at the users that come onto the game and try to help out. If you think they're qualified, run it through the admins and agree that they should be asked to join. It's not about waiting for a fix, it's about finding it. If you don't try, you'll never get your answer.
Don't be afraid to change. If something doesn't work quite the way that you wanted it, know that the staff can always change it back until there's something else found that can do better. I won't rant as long as that last one, but this community needs to know that there's not going to be anything helpful unless there's change. It's trial and error. There's no need to be completely dismissive of a change that has potential to help but without solid proof that it will.
I think that if the community can really take these in, it can at least give it a push in the right direction. But, for now, this is a community I do not want to be apart of for the very reasons listed above. This is my very last attempt to help this community before I leave. Don't pass this off as some mindless ranting of me trying to blow steam off because it's much more than that.
Anyhow, this is goodbye to Paper Pokemon Roleplay.
