A Hella Rant, Tbh

Im not one to post a new thread on the forum frequently. I think in the past month, Ive made 1, just the other day. But nonetheless, I feel this needs to be pointed out. I expect some level of hate for this, for whatever reason, and just CANT WAIT for that there reputation number to go down as people angrily downvote this. (sarcasm)

But Im Canadian, so I shall try to be polite about it.

Im not sure if anyone else has noticed but we have had alot of Jr. Mod applications as of late. This, to me, seems like a strange trend. The way I see it, this is a position that requires a lot of deliberation and whatnot beforehand. At the moment, we have seven applications currently recieving vouches or feedback. Dont get me wrong, Im not saying that anyone running for Jr. Mod at this time doesnt deserve it. A good amount of them would do excellently as staff, not dropping names. However, it would be a very interesting promos month to get SEVEN new staff members. It seems like a very large number, just saying.

Another trend Ive seen is people running for veteran, not getting it, and then deciding to go for the staffing position. Im not saying this is wrong, at all. At the moment we have a number of people on the staffing team who did just this, and it is working swimmingly for them. Names will be dropping here, as they do deserve recognition. Im talking Ben and Amelia, or Emerson and Apple for those who dont know them by name. Great additions, inspirations even. Shout outs aside, about half of the people currently going for staff were recently (Im talking a month or two ago) applying for veteran. To me it seems somewhat cheapened, to not get the promo and then just turn around and try for a position in staff. Just a pet peeve of mine, not saying its wrong or anything, not putting anyone down. To me this just seems like something of a bad trend, almost as if the player just wants SOMETHING, regardless of what it is. I admit this is not always the case, but in some cases it may not appear in the applicants best interests.

My point in this rant was not to put anyone down or discourage anyone from vouching for anyone else in any running. Instead, I would like to call attention to the deliberation of submitting an application for staff, as I mentioned before. I dont doubt that everyone running for staff at this time put at least an hour into their application, or even two. Some of these are very well written and have obviously been painstakingly revised. However, in some cases, I doubt how long the applicants actually thought about becoming a part of the staffing team. If you just look at that section of the forums you can see countless half hearted applications. You will also see a few very deserving yet forgotten applications or, more interesting, worthy applicants who decided to recede from the running. You can always tell the difference between someone who wants it and someone who really believes in the position. Those three categories Ive mentioned can be a good gauge of this, as we can always learn a little something from those who have come before us, but that is neither here nor there.

Moral of the story, there is more to putting thought into something than simply putting in time and effort. With something as hefty as a staff position, the only one who can judge this is you. This whole rant sprouted from my noticing the influx of staff apps weeks ago, so I would ask that for those whom it applies to, give that a good thinking over. It took me about two weeks to articulate it as I pleased.

Im about to hit that send button and allow the floodgates to open. Just know that this was no whim. I spent about an hour and a half writing and revising it, about four times in total. I will admit to being nervous about the feedback I will be getting. I await the opinionated positions of those who I know are dedicated enough to read all of that rant. Its very long and, as always, I appologise for your trouble. This is why I dont like to make my own topics a whole lot... I tend to write a novel... Just know that it all ties into one core concept, at least.

Perhaps you were trying to be nice, but by all means, post the names of people you see doing this. I see seven apps open, and I see seven people who would make great Jr Mods (I only feel *slightly* pretentious saying that). There have been some great discussions in the past concerning staff. Overall, there are a lot of people qualified and overqualified for the rank. Just because we have excess does not limit them from applying.

I would rather have an excess of staff than not enough, especially when looking at the quality of the staff. Oasis has some of the greatest staff around, and the applicants all look like they can live up to the expectations.

On a side note, its not often that people get JrMod the same month as applying. Usually there is a 2-3 month interval between the time the app is posted and the time it is either taken down or accepted. I certainly don't expect to see a lot of staff promoted next week (I have my bets, but I'm not saying).

I'd say you should go look through all the apps (not just current ones) and take note of the amount that weren't accepted. Not all apps will be accepted, and if a person doesn't deserve the position, they won't get it. The applications are open however, and the decision of who gets accepted is that of the current staff team.

I will have to agree with Mick on this, there are currently seven jr. mod apps open right now and every one of them deserving of the position.  I think that all seven people bring something different to the table but are all deserving none the less. Good luck to all that have applied.

Dont get me wrong, Im aware that the vast majority of applicants do not get the position. Im more focusing on quality over quantity. If you were to look through those apps, you would see countless apps with virtually no justification behind them.

Also, I would like to point out, when I said it would be interesting to have seven new staff members, I meant as in metaphorically. Idealy, everyone applying would want the position, know what I mean? If everyone got it we would have a whole lot of staff. Yes, there is a process of weeding out, but I was outlining what it would be like if all those people just magically got what they wanted. I was making a point was all.

And lastly, Mick, I think we all have some bets for next week. Definitely not going to miss that! Hopefully... I may be out of town for that week :(

Couldn't have been said better shnoork.

I agree completely. The more staff we have, the less esteemed the rank becomes.I feel at the moment we have an adequate number of staff at the moment, there's almost always at least one online. There isn't really a problem to fix by increasing the number of staff. This was not the case a few months ago, when QPrime and Mega applied, there was a significant amount of time each day when there wasn't often staff online

There may be 7 apps open but 1 or 2 of them they were told to wait and second not many of us will be getting staff. Its not handed out like candy like member. If they gave staff to everyone who applied then the rank wouldnt be worth it. However the more staff there is the safer the server but i can gurantee not all 7 of us who applied will get it

I disagree with you Schnoork, respectfully.

While I do agree that there are a large number of applications, I take that as a good sign! People want to help the server. The very thing you are complaining about, however, is something staff take into consideration. Do you think they promote people that only want the position for status or staff powers?
The staff have a "weeding out" process. Like others have said, they don't just promote everyone who applies. As for the "half-assed" or inferior applications, staff and players usually comment on those applications suggesting the person makes a more complete application. In some cases, they even tell the person they are not a good candidate and lock the application. So, the very things that you are complaining about are already addressed, and I'm not quite understanding why you posted this rant in the first place. I don't really think there needs to be a discussion; the position is open for anyone who wants to apply and staff filter and weed out the unnecessary candidates. If you are criticizing the people who are casually applying, there's no real point because it's unlikely they will even read this rant or join the discussion. Also, it seems the amount of applications has gone up ever since the message "Want to help the server? Apply for Staff" was added to the regular broadcast. Obviously, the owners and staff of Oasis wanted a bigger applicant pool to weed through, or they would not have set that message to broadcast.

Also, when I applied, I was told that I probably wouldn't be promoted for a while and to be patient, because they've been promoting a lot of staff lately and there seems to be enough for now.
So, I think you are being a little critical, Schnoork. I don't think it lessens the position at all, unless staff was just promoting everyone who applied left and right (which obviously they don't do).

I can't speak for others, but I assume most are applying for the same reason I did: To help keep Oasis a great server and to help other players.

Now, just to clear a few things up here.

All of you who disagree with this post are stating reasons I have adressed already. I can see where you all are coming from, I would simply suggest another quick read through of that God forsaken wall I wrote (again, sorry) or my previous clarification of things. However, Fairy, you did raise some good points I will adress now.

I had no intention to criticize anyone in particular, let alone you who are currently running for staff. However, Oasis is the type of community where this type of thing can indeed be openly discussed with positive results overall, regardless of topic. This topic in particular came to be because I noticed something and was a little unsure how to feel about it, so I posed it to the community.  I do like your point about staff inputting the server message about joining the staff team, however. It could be that they do, in fact, want a larger pool for that, as you said, or that they are simply showing everyone that the option is out there. If we were to have some input on this from staff, it would greatly contribute to the discussion.

As for every other point brought up since my last clarification, these have already been seen to. I appreciate all of the feedback, however. Even if a point has been explained, it is nonetheless important. I wont go through them all again because that would take a while. Good discussion so far!

Shnoork wrote: I do like your point about staff inputting the server message about joining the staff team, however. It could be that they do, in fact, want a larger pool for that, as you said, or that they are simply showing everyone that the option is out there. If we were to have some input on this from staff, it would greatly contribute to the discussion.

As to why, "We want people to apply" is all I remember from the day the message was implemented into broadcast.

There are other things I want to say here, but let me gather my thoughts.
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On Apple and 4emersons:
It may seem like Apple applied because she didn't get vet.
It may seem like 4emersons applied too soon after getting vet.
We confronted them and encouraged them to apply, because we felt they where qualified.
Hell, Apple had David's vouch, if that gives you any idea of our support.
They did not apply through any attempt to seek more power quickly. They genuinely wanted to help, and we could sense it. Their applying is by no means "cheapened".
This is also true for MegaScary02, q_prime, Pax, retired Big_Piglet, several other current/past staff, and myself.
Those who apply for JrMod right after vet-apps solely for power are extremely obvious. If not by the application, by their behavior in-game.

On applications in general:
We want people to apply. We want people to feel like they can apply without being shut down. We don't want people to be discouraged to apply. If the apps need work, constructive criticism can be provided.

My Opinion on the Number of staff:

My Opinion on apps right now: