Ambassadors have arrived!

[Drewar]

Ambassadors have arrived in the hotel, here to welcome and help the new generation of Habbos, as best they can!
Never heard of Ambassadors? Here's a Q&A to get you up to speed.

What do Ambassadors do?
Ambassadors are a group of experienced, mature Habbos who's main mission it is to welcome new users to the hotel and show them the Habbo ropes. They also make sure that public rooms are nice, safe places for everyone to hang out. Ambassadors may also help keep official game rooms blocker-free.

Who's currently on the Ambassadors team?
Master Ambassadors
Pixelsean
Agesilaus
Drewar

Ambassadors
Habtaz
.Tubes.
RIPXBX
Teddy
Phil,
rzg

What sort of powers do Ambassadors have?
They have access to new-user-only lounges and can identify new users around the hotel for engagement purposes. They can also warn, kick or mute misbehaving Habbos in public rooms.

What's the difference between Master Ambassadors and Ambassadors?
Ambassadors are grouped in three teams according to the main time zones in the hotel. Master Ambassdors manage these teams as team leaders.

How did you pick Ambassadors? I don't remember seeing an application process.
Candidates were selected from those users who have been active Guardians over a number of months. We looked at their Guardian votes, their mute/ban history, their behaviour around the hotel and many other criteria.

Why did you only pick male Habbos? Are you not considering girl Habbos for this programme?
Of course we are! Any active Guardian, independent from their gender, is considered, as long as they fulfill the criteria we set out for this programme. Active Guardian pool is predominantly male, so on this occasion we ended up with only male Habbos, but that may very well change as and when the programme develops and expands.

10 Habbos only? Why are there so few Ambassadors?
The idea is to start out with a small team and then add to it as and when we feel that more helping hands are needed.
When do current Ambassadors finish? When do they get replaced?
This is an ongoing programme, meaning that there are no finish dates. If an ambassador becomes inactive or quits the programme, we may look into getting a replacement from the active Guardian pool.

Are Ambassadors the next step on the Helper/Guardian track?
No. We consider only full, active Guardians for the Ambassador programme, because the majority of these Habbos will have an interest in helping others and because we can track their activity. Nevertheless the Ambassador programme is entirely seperate from the Guardian track.

What's happening with TBD on the Guardian track then? You've been promising to sort that out this year.
We're sorry that this has been taking way longer then expected. We had a rethink and decided to overhaul the entire track, before something new can be introduced. We think this should all be done early in the new year.

Can I report hacking incidents and stuff like that to an Ambassador?
No. Ambassadors do not have access to chatlogs, like moderators do. If you want to appeal a ban or report a hacking incident, you still need to alert moderators or submit a ticket at help.habbo.com.

What if I see an Ambassador being inappropriate or I don't agree with their alert or mute? Can I report them?
Everyone in Habbo has to follow the Habbo Way. This includes Ambassadors. If you feel that an Ambassador is not playing by the rules, you may alert a Master Ambassador or submit a ticket at help.habbo.com for staff to look into the matter.
We hope you're just as excited about Ambassadors as we are and join us in wishing the team all the best for great start!

-p2, Waltz, Queen and Kitchen-

Source: http://www.habbo.com/articles/3411-ambassadors-have-arrived

[Sian]

All males... Even fishier they decided to address this. But good luck? Even though I have no faith in the current guardians!

[:odey:]

Congrats.
I've never been interested in guardians or anything like that. But, sounds like a good idea.

[Drewar]

All males... Even fishier they decided to address this. But good luck? Even though I have no faith in the current guardians!

I think that they decided to address it because it was brought up by one of the current Ambassadors after the list had been revealed to the Ambassadors / before the public launch today.

The staff probably figured that if one of 10 Habbos asked about it, there would probably be others.

[e5]

It didn't even occur to me to check the gender, don't think it matters. Good luck guys!:p

[Samantha]

Good Luck Drewar, although it's a bit fishy that someone who mentioned it in 2012 in the Council got the job lol.

[Bloop]

I am actually waiting to see if the ambass would go berserk and starts to kick without reason in events because that WILL happen
Drewar would b fab nw

[Drewar]

Good Luck Drewar, although it's a bit fishy that someone who mentioned it in 2012 in the Council got the job lol.

Although I'm not sure who you are talking about... why is it fishy that someone who has obviously been rather involved in the community for several years now (according to you) was selected for the position?

I'm not familiar with the 2012 version of the council or the selection criteria... but I'm assuming that one of the criterion would be that you would have to be an active member of the Habbo community? Surely serving on a Habbo Council would be a good indicator of their commitment to making Habbo a better place (and therefore make them a better choice for an ambassador position, rather than a fishy/suspicious one).

[Samantha]

Although I'm not sure who you are talking about... why is it fishy that someone who has obviously been rather involved in the community for several years now (according to you) was selected for the position?

I'm not familiar with the 2012 version of the council or the selection criteria... but I'm assuming that one of the criterion would be that you would have to be an active member of the Habbo community? Surely serving on a Habbo Council would be a good indicator of their commitment to making Habbo a better place (and therefore make them a better choice for an ambassador position, rather than a fishy/suspicious one).

Back then they were a kiss up, well a few were, but I think some of them have left now. I'm not disputing that they may help the community and be active - I just don't 100% believe that will be the only reason they got chosen if that makes sense? One of the people in the council did come up with an alternative way to the ambassador scheme though, which would have made it even more exclusive which I don't think would have worked.

It'll be interesting to see how it pans out though.

[Red]

Good luck drew!! But yea I doubt you guys were selected through activity to the guardian tool. I know sean is all into his helpdesks and safety stuff but he hasn't barley been logged on habbo for at least a year lmao. What was your activity like Drew, didn't you only recently come back too?

Anyway I think moderating should be left to moderators. The guardian system is a fail and I've seen many being unfairly muted through it. These programmes will always end up with bias taking place.

[-Nick]

Well done! I think this idea will do well!

[andoo89]

moderation on the cheap... can someone please tell why the old "hobba" programme was disbanded?

[RyRy]

moderation on the cheap... can someone please tell why the old "hobba" programme was disbanded?

Because it was a flawed system.

So they've replaced a flawed system with various issues, with another flawed system with various issues.

This is going to crash to the ground, I was around when Hobbas were about and I'm seeing the indicators already. People are reporting enmasse for the smallest things, even today 3 users (including myself) were muted/banned in HxHD for the only reason I can think of which was friendly banter. We actually put this down to somebody trying to get their reporting numbers up as a Guardian so that they had a good chance of becoming an Ambassador in the future. I'm not sure what reason they created, but taken out of context anything can be considered offensive.

At least with Hobbas, age was verified (most of the time lol hey FarmerGiles) and they most certainly would've had to be CRB checked due to their age and working with children. I've heard no assurances that this is the case with the Ambassadors program, so that leads me to believe they're putting people forward based on what they've done, disregarding the age limit, and that concerns me. For users who don't keep track of what is going on across other hotels, this Ambassador business will be a total surprise to them. Nothing was mentioned on Habbo so I'm led to believe that there wasn't any information given out beforehand nor was there any consultation on how this program would actually be ran with the people who'd be affected by it (us the users).

So yeah, can't say I'm impressed but from what I've seen on the first day I hold very little confidence this is a solution to their problem.

[Phil]

Wooo well done Drewar! Doesn't seem like a bad idea, worth a try I guess. Someone is trying to steal my name though :(

[MKR&*42]

Issues have started already in terms of the guardian tool. I've used it on/off for several months now and people usually deal with cases perfectly fine, but today I've noticed they've been giving users a 'naughty' or 'severe' rating for literally the tiniest things. Someone told someone to **** off (with an A instead of a U) as a joke and you could quite clearly tell from the convo they were friends, and they got voted ''naughty'' by four guardians.

This is stupid, so many people are going to suffer because now we're going to have a guardian tool where everyone gets a bad rating if you say the tiniest thing and I'm so pissed it's happening purely because of the mention that ambassadors can stem from those using the guardian tool often. I don't think ambassadors are that bad themselves but just the effect on the guardian reports errrgghhhhhhhhh.

[Kyle]

the flaw in the guardian system is that there are no guidelines like there are for moderators and the age range is vast, meaning that interpretations of rule breaks are hugely subjective. I don't believe for one second that this ambassador scheme is remotely related to guardians and from the looks of things the pool of users that have been chosen seem to be relatively inactive. it's a bit like habbo xs with less power to hold over people. can work but can see it seeping into areas that it isn't needed. stick to welcoming new users and it'll be fine.

[Okeanos]

like i said in the other thread, i will give ambassadors a chance before i give my opinion. that said... from what i can tell, some of the ambassadors have only recently come back to habbo after many years away. that is a bit odd. but congrats drew, im glad you're on the team.

[James]

Congratulations Drew! You'll do fab x

[Reality]

Your comment about age is flawed. They have been selected as they're somewhat old habbos and have been there for a number of years
This being said you cant join Habno now until youre 13 so this excludes them from being to young or too old as the have birthdates on record when you sign up. The age of 13+ doesn't therefore mean they have to carry out CRB checks because systems have changed. Like previously said they were mainly inactive which means they wont know as many people as they did. Plus years of being on there and having a clean record Sulake have no reason to carry out CRBs.
Because it was a flawed system.

So they've replaced a flawed system with various issues, with another flawed system with various issues.

This is going to crash to the ground, I was around when Hobbas were about and I'm seeing the indicators already. People are reporting enmasse for the smallest things, even today 3 users (including myself) were muted/banned in HxHD for the only reason I can think of which was friendly banter. We actually put this down to somebody trying to get their reporting numbers up as a Guardian so that they had a good chance of becoming an Ambassador in the future. I'm not sure what reason they created, but taken out of context anything can be considered offensive.

At least with Hobbas, age was verified (most of the time lol hey FarmerGiles) and they most certainly would've had to be CRB checked due to their age and working with children. I've heard no assurances that this is the case with the Ambassadors program, so that leads me to believe they're putting people forward based on what they've done, disregarding the age limit, and that concerns me. For users who don't keep track of what is going on across other hotels, this Ambassador business will be a total surprise to them. Nothing was mentioned on Habbo so I'm led to believe that there wasn't any information given out beforehand nor was there any consultation on how this program would actually be ran with the people who'd be affected by it (us the users).

So yeah, can't say I'm impressed but from what I've seen on the first day I hold very little confidence this is a solution to their problem.

[jorsian]

There is no need for ambassadors. We have seen small groups with power become corrupt time and time again. What's even funnier, though, is that their duties are essentially the same as when they were guardians EXCEPT now they have the ability to warn, kick and mute. The voting system was better because it allowed a wider group of opinions. The power is now concentrated into the hands of a few, and who knows whether they will make fair decisions. It's not like the staff care about or monitor this stuff anymore.

[Macklebee]

There is no need for ambassadors. We have seen small groups with power become corrupt time and time again. What's even funnier, though, is that their duties are essentially the same as when they were guardians EXCEPT now they have the ability to warn, kick and mute. The voting system was better because it allowed a wider group of opinions. The power is now concentrated into the hands of a few, and who knows whether they will make fair decisions. It's not like the staff care about or monitor this stuff anymore.

You'd be surprised what we care about and monitor, we would not have made the decision to introduce ambassadors and give them these limited powers if we did not trust that they would perform their duties responsibly. Give them a try, let's not be so negative from the outset :)

[Inseriousity.]

Issues have started already in terms of the guardian tool. I've used it on/off for several months now and people usually deal with cases perfectly fine, but today I've noticed they've been giving users a 'naughty' or 'severe' rating for literally the tiniest things. Someone told someone to **** off (with an A instead of a U) as a joke and you could quite clearly tell from the convo they were friends, and they got voted ''naughty'' by four guardians.

This is stupid, so many people are going to suffer because now we're going to have a guardian tool where everyone gets a bad rating if you say the tiniest thing and I'm so pissed it's happening purely because of the mention that ambassadors can stem from those using the guardian tool often. I don't think ambassadors are that bad themselves but just the effect on the guardian reports errrgghhhhhhhhh.

lmao I wondered why I seemed to be getting a lot more Habbo messages now (when the banter is generally the same as I've always done it).
Only recognise Drew from that list cos I'm not really up to date with the people who stalk Habbo staff.

[RyRy]

Your comment about age is flawed. They have been selected as they're somewhat old habbos and have been there for a number of years
This being said you cant join Habno now until youre 13 so this excludes them from being to young or too old as the have birthdates on record when you sign up. The age of 13+ doesn't therefore mean they have to carry out CRB checks because systems have changed. Like previously said they were mainly inactive which means they wont know as many people as they did. Plus years of being on there and having a clean record Sulake have no reason to carry out CRBs.

How is it flawed? How do you know all of their ages? Do you know something I don't? How many years we talking here? I'd be surprised if any of these are over the age of 18, and if they are, I'll be even more surprised that Sulake didn't CRB check them for that fact. Think like a parent, would you want your child going on something which is under control by god knows who, people that have been passed through on merit? You don't know who is at the other end of that desktop, and I think it's not out of the realms of possibility that there could be somebody abusing their position (in the future) for their own personal gain, whether that be exploitative sexually, mentally or using these avenues to exploit somebody physically. That's why CRBs are a thing, you get a better picture of whose behind the desk.

If Sulake checked me out on my CRB record, they'd find I'm as clear & experienced as they get, but if they checked my online persona, it would paint a very different picture of who I am. Switch the results around of each check and you get a picture of what the system is now (unless anybody wants to pitch in and say otherwise).

The system has changed, and I've pointed that out that it's got its own flaws compared to the last one. You also forget that people can fake their date of birth on Habbo, and keep their age a secret. Funnily enough, a respected member of Habbox was caught doing just that this year so that destroys that argument. The idea that these people have been put into position based on "how well behaved they've been" gives me the heebies.

It's all a bit too gray area for me.

[DPS]

You'd be surprised what we care about and monitor, we would not have made the decision to introduce ambassadors and give them these limited powers if we did not trust that they would perform their duties responsibly. Give them a try, let's not be so negative from the outset :)

how about you deal with people who buy and sell habbo accounts.. nothing is ever done about it and yet you guys know it happens.

people like M aka See always selling accounts and scamming people for rare accounts.

[minimew312]

Personally, I don't yet have an opinion about this Ambassadors program yet, as I haven't yet witnessed the outcome. Also, I'm not really going to judge it from the past either, as if we were to judge everything from the past nothing would ever get done!

So yeah, at the moment I'm all for this program, and I'd like to congratulate Drew!

[.red-bleu.]

Some guy in the .nl hotel (ex-habbo X and ever since always helped habbo's and owned a -still active- helpdesk) was not pre-selected to become a ambassador because 2 of the 3 the masters didn't want him to cuz he is close with a group of users with a not very good reputation. (This is told by the 3th one)

[October]

Back then they were a kiss up, well a few were, but I think some of them have left now. I'm not disputing that they may help the community and be active - I just don't 100% believe that will be the only reason they got chosen if that makes sense? One of the people in the council did come up with an alternative way to the ambassador scheme though, which would have made it even more exclusive which I don't think would have worked.

It'll be interesting to see how it pans out though.
If you're talking about who I think you're talking about, I've not seen them in a helping sort of area in a while now, just role playing...

[Nick]

LOOK OUT, Drewar has the power ;) Congrats and goodluck guys :)

[Kardan]

Found this thread a bit late, but I'll give my opinion.

Sadly, I think this is just another scheme that is doomed to fail. Whether it fails within a few months, or lasts a few years is a different matter.

It is essentially a reboot of the Habbo X system in it's 2007ish form. Back then the Team Leaders had the Mute/Kick/Warn features. There were only 4 of them, and they had the powers for a month until HQ decided it was too risky and removed the powers.

And, of course the core issue with each of these 'programs' is essentially 'power'. There is always, always abuse at some sort of level. For example with Habbo Xs there was the free HC, room override, easier access to events and badges, free tickets, and for team leaders, free furniture.

I've just scanned my emails and found the email that announced to the X Team that we were being discontinued, over 6 years ago now, and here's the relevant part of that email:


Evolution is an on-going process and just as the Hobba team made way for a new breed of helpers, it’s my sad duty to inform you that the time has come for the eXpert team as we know it to join the halls of Habbo history and be replaced by the next stage in Habbo’s development.

The one disappointment of staff and players alike with the Habbo eXperts program was that it could not expand to a size where it could encompass all those who wanted to participate. Every recruitment drive ended with hundreds of disappointed players wondering why someone else got accepted and not them.

Sulake has thought long and hard about ways to allow more players to greet new Habbos and be recognized for guiding them through the game without being constrained by the time and resources staff have available to manage such teams. The solution comes in the form of the revamped and much improved Welcome Party system which allows eligible Habbos to act as Guides to new players and be recognized easily within the Hotel by the badge they wear. The more experienced a Welcome Party Guide becomes and the more players they successfully help, the higher ranked badge they can earn to reflect their success. This new feature will be launched during the next Hotel update, which is coming very soon!


Now, it makes me question, have Sulake really solved the problems of the Habbo X program in the last 6 years? Well, the simple answer is no. Not only do we have a new scheme that has less members (making it even more exclusive), but quite arguably there's less staff involvement in the hotel now compared to 6 years ago. So if it was a struggle to maintain the X Team back then, I can't imagine it would be any different these days.

If Sulake had solved the issues, then this scheme could work, but alas, I don't think there's much hope.

Good luck to all the people involved, and for those that haven't experienced anything like it in the past, get prepared for a whole lot of flack.

[Okeanos]

considering you were permed for abusing your habbo x privileges kardan, i dont think you can moan about this. i personally dont think ambassadors are anything like habbo xs (thank god).

[Drewar]

Found this thread a bit late, but I'll give my opinion.

Sadly, I think this is just another scheme that is doomed to fail. Whether it fails within a few months, or lasts a few years is a different matter.

It is essentially a reboot of the Habbo X system in it's 2007ish form. Back then the Team Leaders had the Mute/Kick/Warn features. There were only 4 of them, and they had the powers for a month until HQ decided it was too risky and removed the powers.

And, of course the core issue with each of these 'programs' is essentially 'power'. There is always, always abuse at some sort of level. For example with Habbo Xs there was the free HC, room override, easier access to events and badges, free tickets, and for team leaders, free furniture.

I've just scanned my emails and found the email that announced to the X Team that we were being discontinued, over 6 years ago now, and here's the relevant part of that email:



Now, it makes me question, have Sulake really solved the problems of the Habbo X program in the last 6 years? Well, the simple answer is no. Not only do we have a new scheme that has less members (making it even more exclusive), but quite arguably there's less staff involvement in the hotel now compared to 6 years ago. So if it was a struggle to maintain the X Team back then, I can't imagine it would be any different these days.

If Sulake had solved the issues, then this scheme could work, but alas, I don't think there's much hope.

Good luck to all the people involved, and for those that haven't experienced anything like it in the past, get prepared for a whole lot of flack.

Hey Kardan,

First off, I must say... you have quite an impressive memory. I did not remember the part of the e-mail about exclusivity being an issue at all, but I just went backed and checked my e-mail and I see that I have the exact e-mail that you posted. The primary reason I remember we were given for the program being dissolved was because that it was taking up too much time for the Habbo staff, and that the "higher ups" would not allow the community staff more than 30mins/day to work on the program.

Secondly, I will say that the staff seem MUCH more involved this time around with the Ambassador program than before with the Habbo X program. Each of the Ambassadors have direct access to the staff by "Ambassadors Forum" in client, where we are free to post any concerns we have about particular Habbos who are repeatedly breaking rules, suggestions for the program (room design, changes to features within the "newbie lounges"), etc. I must say that I am very impressed with how quickly and efficiently powertoo has been at dealing with all of the threads and concerns that we post about. I have not seen an issue or post in the forum that has taken longer than 24 hours to yield a response from powertoo. Even if the issue is out of her realm (for example, a technical glitch or suggestion), she alerts the proper staff member for that department and it is dealt with extremely quickly.

From the outside, I'm not sure if the "average" Habbo player (meaning, an established player who frequents guest rooms rather than public rooms) will notice much of a difference due to the Ambassador program. For the new players, though, I think this is going to be an incredible thing for them. There is a "newbies only" lounge where they can talk with each other and with the ambassadors, and there is also a brand new "newbies only" gaming lounge, where the Ambassadors can host events in an incredible game room. The room is completely rigged up with wired so that the host can say one of 8 commands and the room will automatically transform into the setup required for that game. (Seriously... if by chance any of the builders who worked on the Games Room read this... job well done, the room is incredible.)

It's a really cool program. I'm happy to be a part of it, and although one can never be sure of the longevity of any given community program or initiative (as Kardan pointed out), I'm optimistic that this program will last quite some time, and provide a lot of benefit to new members :)

[dbgtz]

Did you just agree with Kardan's facts then try to disagree by "what you remember"? Well, from what I remember the X programme had a lot more than 30 minutes a day based on the fact they were pretty active on X forum, doing optional things on top of what they had to do.

The ambassadors will fall for the same reason as every other programme has.

[Drewar]

Did you just agree with Kardan's facts then try to disagree by "what you remember"? Well, from what I remember the X programme had a lot more than 30 minutes a day based on the fact they were pretty active on X forum, doing optional things on top of what they had to do.

The ambassadors will fall for the same reason as every other programme has.

That's not what I was saying at all, lmao.

I was saying I didn't remember them using that (exclusivity) as the reason. The reason that stuck out in my head was that the staff at the time didn't have enough time to commit to the program. I remembered that because at the time I though the X program deserved a lot more than 30 minutes a day from staff, which is why I was upset with one of Inari's posts about the CA/US X program on the XHabbo Forum:


As I said above the X program is a small portion of my job. Many of you with jobs know that you need to budget your time as there are rarely enough hours in the day to get everything done. 30 minutes a day is the maximum I have to spend on the X program. It is not a choice, it is my job description. And to make matters worse I have to split that between the US and CA teams.

Whenever I get free time I hop on the forum to read what is going on but that rarely happens. I have no free time. I had to fight for 30 minutes a day. It is not by choice, I would spend all day with the X program if I could but it is not possible and will not be happening.

Its not one of those things that can be changed, no amount of begging on either end will change this.


The big guns are the ones who have final say regarding time management and my contract with the company. I have a million different tasks which am required to complete each day which I must devote a set amount of time to. These tasks are never ending and I must spend x amount of time on each per day, no exceptions. I am given 30 minutes per day for the X program scheduled into my day and I had to fight for those 30 minutes.

This is not a question of pushing or begging. It is a set part of my job. You can not tell your boss that you will not be doing this task today because this other task is more important. I like my job and do not wish to be let go for not doing it anytime soon.

And I know you are volunteers but I am not. I am not allowed to spend time on the forum outside work hours. This is in my contract, I can not work longer than 40 hours a week. I am not allowed overtime. They would legally have to pay me and they can/will not. Again, it is not a choice it is in my job description and contract.


I then went on to say that I am very impressed with the current staff's involvement in the program. Powertoo has been a lot more involved than I remember Inari or Squib ever being, so that gives me a lot more hope for the Ambassador program :)

[dbgtz]

That's not what I was saying at all, lmao.

I was saying I didn't remember them using that (exclusivity) as the reason. The reason that stuck out in my head was that the staff at the time didn't have enough time to commit to the program. I remembered that because at the time I though the X program deserved a lot more than 30 minutes a day from staff, which is why I was upset with one of Inari's posts about the CA/US X program on the XHabbo Forum:





I then went on to say that I am very impressed with the current staff's involvement in the program. Powertoo has been a lot more involved than I remember Inari or Squib ever being, so that gives me a lot more hope for the Ambassador program :)

Oh right ok. Tbh unless Kardan; or someone else disagrees, I remember 0rca and colmc being rather active in the UK X programme to the extent I could have fairly informal, general conversations with either of them. I just don't remember time being an issue when it came to the UK hotel.