My view on the situation

[sierk]

Hello,

I think it is useful if I give my point of view on all the commotion that we have seen on this forum concerning ---MAD--- and some staff leaving. Maybe I should have done that before, but I am busy with work and don't have much time to read and post on the forum.

ABOUT THE COMPLAINTS

It all started with a thread by some of the forum staff together, where they complained about ---MAD--- . As far as I have seen there are in general three complaints about ---MAD--- .
1) He is arrogant and unfriendly towards others.
2) The forum staff are not involved in the running of the forum and feel they are run like a dictatorship.
3) He abuses his powers.

I have looked into 3). A few times ---MAD--- was accused of deleting a thread or changing something, but we have logs of all changes made on the forum. And after looking into it all the accusations turned out false. So this is clearly not true.
Number 2) is probably true, as we don't involve the forum staff into the decision making much. ---MAD--- always talks things over with 8Freak8 , Seacat and me, and we almost never ask an Assistant Forum Manager or Super Moderator for their opinion.
Although I think it works fine the way it is now, I also understand that it is nice for the moderators if any changes are first discussed with them also. This way they feel more involved and appreciated. We will try to do this from now on, also by having regular forum meetings with all forum staff to discuss anything related to the forum.
About 1) this is very hard to judge for me, as I never noticed that myself. Also I haven't received any concrete examples of for example ---MAD--- being rude in a PM to somebody on the forum.
But after talking to a few people it seems they feel ---MAD--- doesn't show much respect towards the staff working for them, or doesn't show that he appreciates them. I have discussed this with ---MAD--- , and allthough it is hard for us to understand the exact problem, he will do this best to be more friendly and appreciating to his staff. I think it is important that people give concrete examples to me or ---MAD--- then he can work on it to improve things.

ABOUT STAFF LEAVING

We have staff rules that say what is allowed and what not, mainly to prevent staff arguing among themself. One of the most important rules is that it is not allowed to complain about another staff member in a post. In stead, if you have a problem with something, you have to contact a Manager and discuss it with the Manager privately, so that he can do something about it.

Therefore the thread that started everything was not allowed, and removed by ---MAD--- . For some reason Catzsy found it then necessary to move the thread back, even though it seems she knew ---MAD--- , her manager, had removed it. This is clearly something we cannot accept from our staff, and after this it wouldn't be possible for ---MAD--- to work with Catzsy anymore, if she not only doesn't listen to him, but also goes against his actions. So after ---MAD--- , Seacat and me discussed this we desided we had to fire Catzsy. Note that we decided to not take action to the thread itself, which was also not allowed, but signed by a lot of forum staff.

The same day Dan announced that he quit, since he didn't agree with Catzsy being fired. However already the next day he told me that he regretted his decision, and wanted to stay on as Super Moderator. I told him that he had to ask ---MAD--- about that, and after ---MAD--- was ok with it, he was rehired. But when Seacat found out about this, he decided he didn't trust Dan anymore. He was worried that Dan might have come back to abuse his rights, as it was weird how he suddenly changed his mind, and also seems to be good friends with Catzsy. So Seacat decided to remove Dan . It is quite possible that Dan had no bad intentions when he came back, but Seacat just felt he didn't want to risk it in case Dan would abuse his powers and mess up the forum.

More recently the moderator Lµke was fired by ---MAD--- because he felt he couldn't trust him anymore, and that Lµke's attitude was just bad. Lµke had made it clear that he wanted ---MAD--- to leave, and that he might resign himself if ---MAD--- didn't.

WHAT NOW?

Basically I think it's important that we try to learn from the complaints, by getting forum staff more involved with making decisions about how the forum is run, and by ---MAD--- improving his attitude towards his staff.
I think that if Catzsy wants to return at some point, and we (the general management) feel she can still be trusted, in that for example she wouldn't abuse her powers and mess up the forum, she can come back as Super Moderator, as long as it is ok with the Forum Manager (whoever that is at that time).

Thanks

[jackass]

Hello,

I think it is useful if I give my point of view on all the commotion that we have seen on this forum concerning ---MAD--- and some staff leaving. Maybe I should have done that before, but I am busy with work and don't have much time to read and post on the forum.

ABOUT THE COMPLAINTS

It all started with a thread by some of the forum staff together, where they complained about ---MAD--- . As far as I have seen there are in general three complaints about ---MAD--- .
1) He is arrogant and unfriendly towards others.
2) The forum staff are not involved in the running of the forum and feel they are run like a dictatorship.
3) He abuses his powers.

I have looked into 3). A few times ---MAD--- was accused of deleting a thread or changing something, but we have logs of all changes made on the forum. And after looking into it all the accusations turned out false. So this is clearly not true.
Number 2) is probably true, as we don't involve the forum staff into the decision making much. ---MAD--- always talks things over with 8Freak8 , Seacat and me, and we almost never ask an Assistant Forum Manager or Super Moderator for their opinion.
Although I think it works fine the way it is now, I also understand that it is nice for the moderators if any changes are first discussed with them also. This way they feel more involved and appreciated. We will try to do this from now on, also by having regular forum meetings with all forum staff to discuss anything related to the forum.
About 1) this is very hard to judge for me, as I never noticed that myself. Also I haven't received any concrete examples of for example ---MAD--- being rude in a PM to somebody on the forum.
But after talking to a few people it seems they feel ---MAD--- doesn't show much respect towards the staff working for them, or doesn't show that he appreciates them. I have discussed this with ---MAD--- , and allthough it is hard for us to understand the exact problem, he will do this best to be more friendly and appreciating to his staff. I think it is important that people give concrete examples to me or ---MAD--- then he can work on it to improve things.

ABOUT STAFF LEAVING

We have staff rules that say what is allowed and what not, mainly to prevent staff arguing among themself. One of the most important rules is that it is not allowed to complain about another staff member in a post. In stead, if you have a problem with something, you have to contact a Manager and discuss it with the Manager privately, so that he can do something about it.

Therefore the thread that started everything was not allowed, and removed by ---MAD--- . For some reason Catzsy found it then necessary to move the thread back, even though it seems she knew ---MAD--- , her manager, had removed it. This is clearly something we cannot accept from our staff, and after this it wouldn't be possible for ---MAD--- to work with Catzsy anymore, if she not only doesn't listen to him, but also goes against his actions. So after ---MAD--- , Seacat and me discussed this we desided we had to fire Catzsy. Note that we decided to not take action to the thread itself, which was also not allowed, but signed by a lot of forum staff.

The same day Dan announced that he quit, since he didn't agree with Catzsy being fired. However already the next day he told me that he regretted his decision, and wanted to stay on as Super Moderator. I told him that he had to ask ---MAD--- about that, and after ---MAD--- was ok with it, he was rehired. But when Seacat found out about this, he decided he didn't trust Dan anymore. He was worried that Dan might have come back to abuse his rights, as it was weird how he suddenly changed his mind, and also seems to be good friends with Catzsy. So Seacat decided to remove Dan . It is quite possible that Dan had no bad intentions when he came back, but Seacat just felt he didn't want to risk it in case Dan would abuse his powers and mess up the forum.

More recently the moderator Lµke was fired by ---MAD--- because he felt he couldn't trust him anymore, and that Lµke's attitude was just bad. Lµke had made it clear that he wanted ---MAD--- to leave, and that he might resign himself if ---MAD--- didn't.

WHAT NOW?

Basically I think it's important that we try to learn from the complaints, by getting forum staff more involved with making decisions about how the forum is run, and by ---MAD--- improving his attitude towards his staff.
I think that if Catzsy wants to return at some point, and we (the general management) feel she can still be trusted, in that for example she wouldn't abuse her powers and mess up the forum, she can come back as Super Moderator, as long as it is ok with the Forum Manager (whoever that is at that time).

Thanks

Holy...
That is one heck of a post & has cleared many things up. The thing about Seacat & Dan was confusing, Dan would never do anything like that, hes not immature.
But nevertheless +REP for that excellent post.

[Hazza]

Right, The only part I disagree with is firing Dan because you couldn't 'trust' him, When you never gave him a chance to come back, and do whatever. If he did abuse his powers then fair enough but you fired him without giving him a chance.

Thanks.

[Dentafrice,]

Hello,

I think it is useful if I give my point of view on all the commotion that we have seen on this forum concerning ---MAD--- and some staff leaving. Maybe I should have done that before, but I am busy with work and don't have much time to read and post on the forum.

ABOUT THE COMPLAINTS

It all started with a thread by some of the forum staff together, where they complained about ---MAD--- . As far as I have seen there are in general three complaints about ---MAD--- .
1) He is arrogant and unfriendly towards others.
2) The forum staff are not involved in the running of the forum and feel they are run like a dictatorship.
3) He abuses his powers.

I have looked into 3). A few times ---MAD--- was accused of deleting a thread or changing something, but we have logs of all changes made on the forum. And after looking into it all the accusations turned out false. So this is clearly not true.
Number 2) is probably true, as we don't involve the forum staff into the decision making much. ---MAD--- always talks things over with 8Freak8 , Seacat and me, and we almost never ask an Assistant Forum Manager or Super Moderator for their opinion.
Although I think it works fine the way it is now, I also understand that it is nice for the moderators if any changes are first discussed with them also. This way they feel more involved and appreciated. We will try to do this from now on, also by having regular forum meetings with all forum staff to discuss anything related to the forum.
About 1) this is very hard to judge for me, as I never noticed that myself. Also I haven't received any concrete examples of for example ---MAD--- being rude in a PM to somebody on the forum.
But after talking to a few people it seems they feel ---MAD--- doesn't show much respect towards the staff working for them, or doesn't show that he appreciates them. I have discussed this with ---MAD--- , and allthough it is hard for us to understand the exact problem, he will do this best to be more friendly and appreciating to his staff. I think it is important that people give concrete examples to me or ---MAD--- then he can work on it to improve things.

ABOUT STAFF LEAVING

We have staff rules that say what is allowed and what not, mainly to prevent staff arguing among themself. One of the most important rules is that it is not allowed to complain about another staff member in a post. In stead, if you have a problem with something, you have to contact a Manager and discuss it with the Manager privately, so that he can do something about it.

Therefore the thread that started everything was not allowed, and removed by ---MAD--- . For some reason Catzsy found it then necessary to move the thread back, even though it seems she knew ---MAD--- , her manager, had removed it. This is clearly something we cannot accept from our staff, and after this it wouldn't be possible for ---MAD--- to work with Catzsy anymore, if she not only doesn't listen to him, but also goes against his actions. So after ---MAD--- , Seacat and me discussed this we desided we had to fire Catzsy. Note that we decided to not take action to the thread itself, which was also not allowed, but signed by a lot of forum staff.

The same day Dan announced that he quit, since he didn't agree with Catzsy being fired. However already the next day he told me that he regretted his decision, and wanted to stay on as Super Moderator. I told him that he had to ask ---MAD--- about that, and after ---MAD--- was ok with it, he was rehired. But when Seacat found out about this, he decided he didn't trust Dan anymore. He was worried that Dan might have come back to abuse his rights, as it was weird how he suddenly changed his mind, and also seems to be good friends with Catzsy. So Seacat decided to remove Dan . It is quite possible that Dan had no bad intentions when he came back, but Seacat just felt he didn't want to risk it in case Dan would abuse his powers and mess up the forum.

More recently the moderator Lµke was fired by ---MAD--- because he felt he couldn't trust him anymore, and that Lµke's attitude was just bad. Lµke had made it clear that he wanted ---MAD--- to leave, and that he might resign himself if ---MAD--- didn't.

WHAT NOW?

Basically I think it's important that we try to learn from the complaints, by getting forum staff more involved with making decisions about how the forum is run, and by ---MAD--- improving his attitude towards his staff.
I think that if Catzsy wants to return at some point, and we (the general management) feel she can still be trusted, in that for example she wouldn't abuse her powers and mess up the forum, she can come back as Super Moderator, as long as it is ok with the Forum Manager (whoever that is at that time).

Thanks

I think you should have done this before yes.

Thanks for pointing all this out I guess, maybe if staff was allowed to say what they feel about other staff by PM to an administrator none of this would have happened.

[mat64]

Very pleased to see this post, It has cleared up many quires about what has happened and what is to happen. Once again, Thanks for the info

[---MAD---]

Great thread, I hope this will lead to a better understanding of this whole situation that has accord (nearly a week ago now).

[brandon]

Good on you for getting involved,

About Catzy returning, i think she is one of the most trusted and popular members of the forum and i dont think there is ANY chance of her abusing any power given to her. i think it would be a good action and a safe one to rehire her as a SMod.

i also think mad would be greatly supported in rehiring Catzy as a gesture of good will

[mat64]

Great thread, I hope this will lead to a better understanding of this whole situation that has accord (nearly a week ago now).

Certainly has for me, and has changed my view on you. I also have to agree with Brandon on Catzsy.

[---MAD---]

Right, The only part I disagree with is firing Dan because you couldn't 'trust' him, When you never gave him a chance to come back, and do whatever. If he did abuse his powers then fair enough but you fired him without giving him a chance.

Thanks.

I think it is vital that the forum team work together and trust each other. Being a super moderator, it is vital that all of management trust this member of staff because he or she have a lot of power to basically do a lot of damage. Even though we take daily back ups and not too much would be lost, it is still very annoying for members to have to repost things and loose any rep / vip that they might have bought since the time of the backup and the time of the smod abusing his / her powers. Its in the interest of the general public as well as management that the staff are all trusted and have no intensions of doing any damage. This is also one of the reasons it takes a long time for us (management) to pick and promote moderators to then become super moderators or even administrators.

Very pleased to see this post, It has cleared up many quires about what has happened and what is to happen. Once again, Thanks for the info

I am glad to see that this thread has helped you understand the whole situation, we have all learned from what has happened at Habbox (those that were involved) .

[Nixt]

Good on you for getting involved,

About Catzy returning, i think she is one of the most trusted and popular members of the forum and i dont think there is ANY chance of her abusing any power given to her. i think it would be a good action and a safe one to rehire her as a SMod.

i also think mad would be greatly supported in rehiring Catzy as a gesture of good will

I agree . Catzsy did what she did as she felt it important the issue was addressed, it is good to see that this has now happened and our resignations and "signatures" in the thread in Moderators only have been notived and something has been done about it.