Staffing Reflecting on a past issue want to see if I handled it well

[Morrigan 1,826]

Alright! So I had a bout of nostalgia a little bit ago about a site I used to run. It's been forever and I honestly... sadly... don't remember the name (I must be getting really old). Anyways! I was thinking about a situation that arose and how I dealt with it and I want to see what other staff members would have done if they were in my shoes.

Alrighty! So everything is fabulous and all that jazz and we get this member. They aren't a bad person, I think they were a little self conscious and negative (it blurs together a little) but they joined the site.

Now here is where everything went a little sideways. I didn't mind the member they were fine, maybe said something a little annoying every now and again but overall they were fine. They weren't breaking rules, they were a little grating but they were active and whatnot. Well, they ended up doing something that did cross a line. I don't remember if it was in a conversation (in the cBox) or a thread I just remember it was in a public place that EVERYONE saw! It was pretty bad and my staff cried for blood, they wanted her banned immediately.

Obviously the banning came down to me and my co-admin at the time. We reviewed the situation and the overall behavior and decided to give the person a second chance but a fierce warning. I didn't want this to happen again and I wanted the staff to feel like I had done the situation justice.

Apparently, I hadn't done that and I felt like what's her face from "The 100" when she let the jerk guy live after he had killed someone else or whatever. We did what we thought was best and that wasn't good enough as we didn't do what everyone else wanted. To be fair, in my opinion, it's an administrator's job to deal with the hard decisions and while the staff is able to contribute their thoughts and opinions it still falls on the shoulders of the administrators on what to do in a severe situation as this one had become.

 

This is part that I want opinions on.

My staff members disagreed with me so vehemently that after a day, while they were still angry and wound up about it, a few of them send me a long PM that basically said, "We're leaving the staff" while they didn't say that it was because of this particular issue it was obvious from the "timing" of it that it was this issue that made them choose to leave the staff. I mean really? What else could it have been. I discussed and talked it out with them but basically I felt like I was pounding my head against a brick wall because they refused to see any reason or even discuss it. In a way I felt they were being immature and unprofessional about it. Putting it in perspective, just because my boss says "you still have to work this Saturday" doesn't mean that it gives me a good reason to quit my job (a little bit different since RPs are volunteer work but hopefully you still see my point).

Continuing this story of woe, my co-admin wanted me to salvage the staff even though they were dead set on getting their way on a decision that we made collectively. I felt that salvaging the staff, while it may save face a little bit, didn't actually fix any of the issues and would just continue harboring ill will until eventually it blew even FURTHER out of proportion than it already had.

Eventually the decision was to let go of the staff and made them normal members again. I had expressed to my co-admin that I didn't want this sort of thing to happen again and knowing that it happened once was stressful enough for me on my hobby without having to walk on eggshells all the time.

 

 

My Questions:

What would you have done in my shoes? Would you have saved the staff and banned the member? Would you have tried to keep both? What is your opinion on this?

Unfortunately there is no tl;dr version of this you will have to read the full story to understand what I am asking! Thanks for the thoughts.

[Honorem 219]

2 hours ago, Morrigan said:

My Questions:

What would you have done in my shoes? Would you have saved the staff and banned the member? Would you have tried to keep both? What is your opinion on this?

Staff or not, they need to realize that the site creator is the one that has the final say. If they think the member deserves a second chance, then that's that. I might not get popular points for this but in my opinion, a roleplay forum is not a democracy, it is a dictatorship. The choice ultimately falls into the hands of the head staff member.

 

I mean, look at it the other way. If it were a minor infraction that definitely did not warrant a ban and they were behaving in this way, they would look totally unjustified. If someone was appointed to mod and thought that meant they could just make sweeping changes to the lore, that too would be unjustified. Just because what the member did caused an uproar doesn't make their actions any less mutinous.

 

The way I look at it, the moment someone becomes staff, they are agreeing to be an assistant of the administrators who helps run the site, not become a new ruler of it. If the admin is being a tyrant blatantly insulting members then yeah, by all means I wouldn't blame people for throwing a fit and leaving the staff team. But in this example where you've made a difficult decision they should deal with it. They should realize it is their role to assist the admin, not hold a knife to their throat and tell them exactly what should be done in any given situation.

 

So tldr - I would have stuck to my decision and told the staff they can accept it or be demoted, especially after it seems they ganged up like a bunch of bullies to you, their own admin of all people. If you felt the member deserved a second chance then that should be final and they need to learn to accept it.

[CovertSphinx 710]

It's a little harder for me to say with absolute certainly a right or wrong; without knowing exactly what was done. Being that you can't even REMEMBER what the member did to cross the rules line (or even which rule was broken), I can only surmise this: While probably offensive and insulting, most likely was not anything that deserved an outright permabann.

 

As for your staff, well, they sound like a bunch of entitled children. As Honorem just said, it's a dictatorship not a democracy. The decision ultimately fell on you and your co-admin. There's a reason only the two of you had the power to do so, and the two of you used that power the way you agreed upon at the time.

 

Sometimes we have to make the tough choices; and no good deed ever goes unpunished. And sometimes members are just brats. If it was a case where the others just plain didn't like the newbie and used this one instance as an excuse to take drastic final measures, then screw 'em.

 

I CAN say with certainty that you were right in sticking to your guns on the decision that was made.

Edited February 25, 2016 by CovertSphinx

[Cloud 0]

Sounds almost like an attempted coup. They hold leaving en mass unless they get their way. Due to the lack of context, it sounds like your staff are more in the wrong than the actual member. That or it sounds like you had too many hands in the pot about the specific situation. 

 

As far as banning the member on their first major offense... that sounds extreme (Unless the major offense was really, really bad. Like, something toxic to the community and would degrade the overall site for that one individual to be there).

 

 

[Elena 546]

Unlike the others, I see it as a democracy. But still democracies have rules and hierarchy.

 

I think that everyone needs to get over themselves and understand that life doesn't stop for being outvoted in a matter. Not every time people are going to agree entirely. They should have picked up their inflated egos only with "I wish it had been done differently" and accept their objections had been overruled and noted to file.

 

You did it well.

Edited February 25, 2016 by Elena

[Tired Old Soldiers 10]

Without knowing the exact specifics, I couldn't say exactly for sure that this was the best way to handle it. It really does depend on what the member did. Some things that cross the line aren't nearly as bad as others.

 

I have had staff want to ban over the smallest of issues, most of which just required [at most] a warning. Some weren't even offenses really, just little things that needed a bit of coaching/guidance. Once that was situated the member was fine - one of our best members, in fact.

 

With that said, in most situations I would not attempt to salvage a staff team who were clearly throwing tantrums and issuing ultimatums and the like. It's your board, you have a right to decide how to handle situations and deal with them in that fashion. Someone who would behave the way you describe those staff members behaving is not someone who should be on staff at all. Staffing is teamwork yes, but at the end of the day it's the admin's job to keep the board how they want it and that includes not being overly heavy handed with punishments.

[Guest Archaic Cyborg]

It depends on what actually happened; a vague memory of something that happened long ago is bound to get muddled, BUT.. Staff can stay staff even if they disagree with the head admin's decision. I've been in staff teams where I didn't agree with absolutely everything, and vice versa. But no one threw hissy fits, everyone just agreed to disagree and moved onto the rest of our admin duties.

 

If the head admin made a decision, and it's about something rather serious: bullying/sexual harassment, blatant insults and the like, welp, in my position I don't give second chances. If a problem player like that was allowed to stay, I'd leave the site.  Too often I see staff allowing such attitudes to stay, excusing them with 'oh, everyone says something BAD once in a while' and so on.

 

There is a line, however, but at the end of the day, the head admin would do good if they stay consistent with their rules, bans, and more. I'd be suspicious if an admin played favourites, or can't seem to decide what to do with a recurring problem player.