Anonymous 234 Share Posted March 29, 2017 I have a staff member, we'll call them "Star", who I'm having an issue with. The thing is, I really love them. I value them as a friend and care about their real life, as they do mine. They have chronic issues and got a job recently. I'm happy for Star, they needed it, but they are overworking. All they are able to do is go to work, the necessities of their home, and sleep. Because of this they have been on a long LOA and each time we communicate, I get promises but no results. I do believe that Star wants to, I don't think they are just saying it. I know they love the game. I think it's more than reasonable for me to demote them from staff member, but what do you think? Do you think it reflects badly on my board to have Star listed as a staff member? I'm already planning to release some of Star's canons should they not post in the time frame required, but I don't want to lose Star as a friend, or as a member, because of this. Anonymous poster hash: abfce...56c Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VirusZero 176 Share Posted March 29, 2017 I'd suggest talking to them first. I don't imagine they'll be happy about this but it'd be far better for them to hear it from you up front and before anything happens than for them to sign on in a month and find out it happened behind their back. (That'd be a real kick in the backend.) But when you talk to them be careful, there's almost no way for this to really end without them getting upset. Even if they understand why it's happening, it's still not going to feel good. You're about to pull characters from them and demote them. So just prepare yourself because this can get nasty. I know when I had to have this talk with a co-admin it didn't go well. It pretty much ended our friendship. They accused me of stealing the site and of backstabbing them. They claimed they couldn't trust me anymore. After that I just lost all interest in trying to continue that site and it died. What might be another idea is to create a group, call it Staff on Haitus and just move them there. Possibly this way they see that they still aren't losing their staff status but still are shown as away. "There are three sides to every story... Your side, their side, and then somewhere in the middle is the truth." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uaithne 543 Share Posted March 30, 2017 On the contrary, I think it could end really well. Sometimes people have responsibilities and duties that they know that they should do and they don't dislike per se, but it's just too much for them. Sometimes it bogs people down to the point where they don't even want to sign onto the site because they know they have a huge to-do pile and they'll have to start making more excuses as to why they can't complete it right now. Having that responsibility lifted from Star's shoulders could be what she needed to be a better member. If it were me, it would go something like this: "Hey Star, we've had many discussions in the past about your activity and how it affects your ability to be a staff member, and it appears that you're continuing to struggle to do your staff work on this board. I understand that RL responsibilities take precedence over RP responsibilities. For the time being, I think it would be best to have you on the site as a regular member. Once things calm down for you IRL, we can talk about being added back to the staff team. I value the insight and experience you bring to [board name]. Rather than burning yourself out completely, I'd rather have you focus on being a member without the extra responsibilities. Please let me know what I can do to help you." So there are a couple things about this paragraph: - You acknowledge that they're struggling. - You acknowledge that this is an on-going problem that hasn't been resolved. - You don't give them a choice at this point - they're being demoted and there's no question about that. (They're not being left in limbo.) - You don't use accusatory words or tone. - You acknowledge the person's input/achievements. - You offer to help them if they need it. The last line is important because rather than just a "Hey, you're being demoted but I'm being nice about it" message, you're 1) conveying that you still care about Star, and 2) you're inviting Star to reply to you so that you know that this message has been read and understood. Be aware that there is a big difference between "Let me know what I can do to help you" and "Let me know if I can help you." The former is much more inviting. The latter is nice, but its not as open. Once you have had this conversation, it will hopefully open up more conversation. Perhaps Star will admit that she needs a break from being staff. She might give up some of the canon characters that she's inactive with, or maybe it'll give her the time and peace of mind she needs to be active with them. Now may or may not be the time to explain that if she's not active with her canons, you're going to open them up to others - that's up to you to decide based upon how the conversation is going. If she is upset about the initial PM, it might not be a good time to bring it up. Let her have some time to work things out for herself. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josie 198 Share Posted March 30, 2017 I agree entirely with @Uaithne! This is how I would handle the situation as well, for those exact reasons. 1 1 WANTED: flamboyantly rich & famous family members, workers for a creepy foundation, & an AI handler Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Icewolf 258 Share Posted March 31, 2017 Perhaps moving them off staff would be the best, but let her make the decision over whether she keeps the canon characters or cut down on them. Being staff is a huge responsibility, as depending on what her duties are, she might not want to do moderate posts, make graphics, code things for the site, fix site problems for members, etc. Lightening the load by reducing responsibility should be welcomed. Taking characters away? Not so much. I do realize that members will want to write, and that canons should be active, but it's a bit more personal because they might see it not so much as their activity level that's the problem, but how they play the character. If she doesn't have all the staff responsibilities to worry about, it might bring the fun back for her for being on the site and she might do more IC posts knowing that's all she's got to worry about. (Incidentally, though, having absent staff and not replacing them/giving them help is really bad for a site and will in the end do the site more harm than good. One of the things which killed off the Star Wars board I was on was absent staff. Another solution to the problem could be getting a new member of staff on board - you need to make sure that those jobs get done!) 1 Legends of Arda Character Archives Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krank 0 Share Posted April 4, 2017 If you love something, set it freeee.... But really, it would be in everyone's best interests for you to slowly ease Star out of staff. Perhaps taking off that extra pressure of having those characters and responsibilities would actually help Star feel better about things? And perchance that might even mean when things settle down, you might get Star back full-force and ready to start up new characters or even politely ask for theirs back. Keeping a stagnant staff is bad, and as long as you explain what you're doing and why, Star should understand if they've been in the rp world long enough to know the struggles of running a board. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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