counterproductive moderation.

[Kyle]

Why are staff given incentives that normal members don't have access to simply because they are staff? If anything normal members should be rewarded for posting and it should be made a prerequisite to become staff to post actively if applying a 'community' job.

Staff spam is just the start of the problem. Once those threads are removed (doesn't look v likely atm) what happens then? Staff are going to simply stop logging onto the forum or post their mindless chit chat via visitor messages. Forum just needs some stimulating threads like the ones posted recently in order to pick up activity. Suggesting that the likes of a DJ must make posts simply because they work for the site is poppycock.

I'm not staff and I don't post. Not because I have a separate forum to talk with people, it's just because I don't have any interest in replying to any of the threads posted. I don't think that all these staff that aren't posting are... scared... to post, I just think they they have no interest in doing so.

[The Don]

Surely you realise staff don't feel comfortable posting in spam. Ask yourself why that is :rolleyes:

Because staff haven't made the effort to mingle with people outside of their comfort zones. This is reinforced by the segregation made by the staff spam threads.

[Red]

That isn't true Tom. I was made to feel that way as soon as I joined the forum. My friend Dan made a few threads and he was basically attacked and then left as a consequence. He would of been a really active member. This wasn't years ago, it was months. Whether its jest or not, it HAS stopped people from feeling comfortable to post in spam.

[FlyingJesus]

Yes I remember your friends, as I mentioned before they were extremely rude and made no attempt to befriend anyone here. Ironically it's the fact that they were actually acting in the way that you keep suggesting current members do that caused the reaction which sent them on their way

[The Don]

I also find it ridiculous that staff members are being bribed with the promise of VIP to participate in the community, as a representative of Habbox, that should be their responsibility in the first place. It’s like at school when the teachers reward the naughty kids for behaving themselves whilst the good kids get overlooked. If staff members don’t want to participate/communicate with other members of this community, they shouldn’t work for Habbox. (Unless their role is not community based)

[Catchy]

I also find it ridiculous that staff members are being bribed with the promise of VIP to participate in the community, as a representative of Habbox, that should be their responsibility in the first place. It’s like at school when the teachers reward the naughty kids for behaving themselves whilst the good kids get overlooked. If staff members don’t want to participate/communicate with other members of this community, they shouldn’t work for Habbox. (Unless their role is not community based)

Yeah I see what you're saying like I said it isn't exactly hard to participate a little bit, some of the staff members have no participation or input what so ever which I find a little odd seeing as they're supposed to be a part of Habbox. Surely all staff members want to help with the growth of Habbox to try and improve it as a whole!

[Neversoft]

So hang on, are staff actually afraid to post in spam? I have to say, I find that rather humourous. It's a forum got goodness sake, not a battlefield. When was staff spam even introduced, because I don't remember it when I was staff back in the days of Tony Blair (so old). Why is there even a staff spam forum? I'm sure this has been said before, but there's nothing wrong with a bit of emphasis - it's against the very meaning of community and just creates a divide, which ironically is what most of the staff seem to be complaining about as they talk about members of the spam forum as if they were rabid dogs and a different kind of people to everyone else. Who even is a 'member of spam' these days? The whole forum is way past its peak and no one sticks to one area anymore. If you're going to be victimised, then it's going to happen regardless of whether you post in spam or not.

[GirlNextDoor15]

The staff are just lazy so, shut the staff spam. End of talk

[Grig]

Let me just say, when we hired staff back at news in 2010, I made sure they were active members on the forum and posting. That was a criteria and actually encouraged over a time period.

Staff spam, was fantastic back then, but that's because people in our department were actually pretty active around the forum. Now it's just lost its purpose. Bigger departments like radio don't even need spam because the bonding purpose that people claim within it has fully disappeared. I cannot for one name or know any of the new DJs apart from the ones who are oldies. Some staff there don't even participate in spam and just sign on to check threads and whatnot.

As for all other departments, you can remove it. I would have fought on your side @Bethie to do so. Spam wasn't here years ago, and the departments were much more well bonded and staff actually posted outside the forum. Over the years it became such an institution that some staff members thought that nothing exists out of the staff forums. That is a very wrong message. If you are a good manager you would know other ways to bond the department outside spam.

I'm not saying it will work, and for some departments may be a loss at first, but there is no harm testing it. There is no "us and you" bureaucratic values that should be installed, instead, we should work to be one, with staff providing for the community and vice versa.

[xxMATTGxx]

I have read through the posts from last night/early this morning - I have decided to close all of the staff spam threads in each department forum. I'll call this a "Trial Period" for the time being to see how it goes and to see what happens - there is no date of them returning and no one knows if or when they would return. This is just a small part of the puzzle to encourage staff members to post in the public forums. So other plans and ideas also needs to be put into place to encoruage further and not just by closing their spam threads.

I also agree that if they are member of Habbox Staff then they should also be a member of the community which requires them to post around the forum.