Shirumic's Admin Application

[shirumic]

BYOND ckey: Shirumic
Character name: Ivelia, Shikii Cemyaza, SUo-476, (among other lesser known characters)
Discord username (+user id): shirumic
How long have you played on Citadel?: Five years, though I only really started being active in 2021.
How long have you played SS13?: Twelve years, since 2011-08-08, starting on Goonstation for a few weeks, then quickly went to and stayed on Baystation, much later, Hestia. I've been on a ton of niche servers from Fallout 13, Halo, SCP 13, Neekothing, Europa, and various 40k servers.
What is your timezone/general hours of activity?: American Central Standard Time, CST. I usually have a lot of free time and come on in the evening hours or very early morning hours, depending on my sleep schedule at the time.
Previous SS13 related admin experience: Archangel of Absolution in at least two iterations, the very first iteration of Drymouth Gulch, Halostation, and Foundation 19. As a result of my long time with Halostation particularly, most of my experience with admin tools has been with bay code.
Previous non-SS13 related admin experience: A handful of gmod servers in the distant past.
Current administrators who have agreed to support your application: Silicons (non-endorsement), Trojan Coyote, Kat Computer, Puddlecathedral, Doctorjay, Sentre.
Reason for application:
Ever since I came to Citadel, it's felt like a second home to me. I came here during a dark time in my life, and the people I've met in and around this server have become cornerstones of my social life. I've always wanted to contribute to Citadel since I became active in 2021, but never had the development skills to do anything, and never felt comfortable with the age verification process, until recently, where I feel more confident with certain others.
Shortly, I see Citadel as my home server, and I want to contribute to it as much as I can, using the experiences I've learned over the years, since I don't think I'll be leaving here until the server dies or my life drastically changes.


Please answer the following questions to the best of your abilities:

1. How would you engage with two players having an out of character altercation?
This will change depending on where they have it, either in OOC or LOOC, but I would first ask both players to drop it and take their problems elsewhere, or adminhelp/otherwise submit a ticket if they need help resolving it. If they continue, then temporarily mutes of both players are in order (or the lazier option of disabling OOC/LOOC, though I try to avoid doing that as much as possible)

2. What should an admin do if they're involved in a situation that needs admin intervention?
It is my belief that an admin should never be responsible for investigating a situation they were involved in. This creates a clear conflict of interest that isn't fair to the other party.
Instead, the admin should act as a normal player in that situation, and call a different admin (preferably one who isn't biased towards them as a staff member) to resolve the situation.

3. How should an admin determine in what way to punish someone who breaks the rules?
By looking at the notes of the player and severity of the rule violation. Depending on internal policy and past violations, generally a warning should be issued first, then a jobban (if applicable, heavily dependent on context) or day ban, to week-long bans and incrementing to longer punishments up to bans until appeal. Anything beyond this should be discussed with upper management.

4. Under what conditions should an admin de-admin themselves while playing?
An Admin should de-admin themselves every time they are actively involved with the round as a player, either crew or antagonist, to prevent metagaming. However, if the character is inconsequential (such as a civilian in a corner somewhere) or the admin is helping to aid in an event in some cases, it is acceptable and even encouraged to not de-admin so they can respond to adminhelps.

5. What is expected of an admin on Citadel?
It's my belief that Admins represent pillars of the community. They are the biggest faces and personalities of the server as much as they are rule enforcers and should keep in mind how they carry themselves in everything they do, within reason.

[Trojan_Coyote]

1. I'd like more clarification on why you want to apply beyond: "I want to contribute"
2. You realize you will have to age verify if you become a staff member, correct?
3. I'd also like more clarification on the "What is expected of an admin on Citadel" question. You didn't particularly answer that question so much as state what an admin is to you.

Your activity recently also worries me a bit, you're applying for staff during a period in which you've been very absent, this is pretty odd, most people do the opposite.

Edit: Ultimately, I don't think admin is the logical next step for you. -1

[Monara]

I've seen very questionable things with how you handle volatile situations, as well as the confrontations between two people that you aren't involved in. I know others both within and outside of staff have seen the same. To be entirely straightforwards; regardless of what your intentions might be I'm not sure you have the mindset to handle administrative issues, or to reliably keep a players sensitive information behind closed doors.

-1

[shirumic]

1. I'd like more clarification on why you want to apply beyond: "I want to contribute"
2. You realize you will have to age verify if you become a staff member, correct?
3. I'd also like more clarification on the "What is expected of an admin on Citadel" question. You didn't particularly answer that question so much as state what an admin is to you.

Your activity recently also worries me a bit, you're applying for staff during a period in which you've been very absent, this is pretty odd, most people do the opposite.

My experiences with citadel for the past four years has lead me to believe that the staff team is largely lethargic and has widely varying periods of activity, to the point where there have been several admins who don't play the game or engage with development. I'd like to pick up on the work that those less active admins have left behind, and breathe new life into discussions of sever direction and player-staff relations.
Age verification is why I didn't apply back in 2021. I've become much more comfortable with certain head administrators in my years here, so I'm quite fine with doing it now.
I expect that I'll be held to the same standards as everyone else, if not more so as a trainee.
I should be active, adhere to the rules in both book and spirit, be kind and welcoming to the playerbase, and strive to communicate as competently as possible to resolve any and all issues.
My activity in the game itself is limited due to the hours I devote to college courses and family affairs, but I do plan to show more of a presence ingame.
On the discord and around the community? In all likelihood I'm more active than most people are.

[shirumic]

I've seen very questionable things with how you handle volatile situations, as well as the confrontations between two people that you aren't involved in. I know others both within and outside of staff have seen the same. To be entirely straightforwards; regardless of what your intentions might be I'm not sure you have the mindset to handle administrative issues, or to reliably keep a players sensitive information behind closed doors.

-1

I will not reference any past incidents you may be referring to for the privacy of others, however I will say that my personal conduct differs from my professional conduct. Whereas Citadel is concerned, no information given to administrators should be shared with anyone outside of staff without the explicit consent of the person providing information. This was something I myself had to enforce in my time with Halostation, since this virtue of keeping private material private is not always obvious to everyone.

My mindset on administration is simply that everyone deserves equal and just treatment under the assumption that all conflicts arise for a contextual cause and all players and parties do not intend harm until evidence proves otherwise. Psychologically, I very much lean into situational attributions, which I find is a desirable trait for an administrator to have, even if others both here and in the past believe that to be a naive stance.

[Jaybirdnerd]

+1 as Shiru was a capable lore team member and they seem capable as a staff member based on prior experience with them in the community. They haven't stirred the pot, they haven't really done anything against our code of conduct, and as I see it they're worth having on the team.

[SpessInquisitor]

They've done a lot for the lore team over the past few years, and their enthusiasm is admirable. But no people-pleasing crap, no being a centrist in any argument, and he has to learn to take a side.

+1. Put him in a trial position, see how it shakes out, and we'll go from there.

[Silicons]

abstaining.

you are a great lore maintainer but i do not necessarily think you have what it takes to be an administrator.

this role is ultimately a role of service to the community / playerbase.
you'll be asked to make choices that you do not like / are not comfortable with.

one of the people i would consider a mentor tended to ask extremely hard questions of administrative candidates that there was no 100% community-supported answers to, on purpose, to gauge how those candidates reacted.

i'm not entirely convinced, as of right now, that you are able to answer such a question should it arise.
a lot of the times there really is no appeasement possible or a way to have things both ways.
unless you are able to accept that i'm not sure it's a good idea for you to be in charge of the community, trial period or not, because that is the part of an administrator's job that no one enjoys yet people sign up for anyways.

as a general statement, going forwards on admin applications i'm mostly looking for people who can foster healthy communication and debate and are able to understand the logic behind such a debate. administrators are not just there to enforce rules, they are meant to be a good example of what we want the community to be and a good example of how people should handle things like aforementioned debates.
i do not think my mind will be changed unless that is addressed; as usual i am leaving things vague on purpose because the way to 'address' my concerns, as it always has been, is never to tick some box off a checklist.

good luck.

[shirumic]

abstaining.

you are a great lore maintainer but i do not necessarily think you have what it takes to be an administrator.

this role is ultimately a role of service to the community / playerbase.
you'll be asked to make choices that you do not like / are not comfortable with.

one of the people i would consider a mentor tended to ask extremely hard questions of administrative candidates that there was no 100% community-supported answers to, on purpose, to gauge how those candidates reacted.

i'm not entirely convinced, as of right now, that you are able to answer such a question should it arise.
a lot of the times there really is no appeasement possible or a way to have things both ways.
unless you are able to accept that i'm not sure it's a good idea for you to be in charge of the community, trial period or not, because that is the part of an administrator's job that no one enjoys yet people sign up for anyways.

as a general statement, going forwards on admin applications i'm mostly looking for people who can foster healthy communication and debate and are able to understand the logic behind such a debate. administrators are not just there to enforce rules, they are meant to be a good example of what we want the community to be and a good example of how people should handle things like aforementioned debates.
i do not think my mind will be changed unless that is addressed; as usual i am leaving things vague on purpose because the way to 'address' my concerns, as it always has been, is never to tick some box off a checklist.

good luck.

That's why I want to apply, Sili. I want to be a part of the debate and understand the logic of the debate.
I am confident that I can answer any questions you pose at me, with all the drama I've dealt with in my own years of experience.

I don't understand why I have this reputation of a "people appeaser" when I try to look at issues with as much information as possible. You've only ever seen me act as a friend and community member, where I do not act because it isn't my job to do more than what I've already done.
Taking a more active role will require more active work and definitive answers.
I understand why you're uncertain, but I wish for an opportunity to prove my worth in a community that needs work.

When I asked Trojan if he'd support me a few months ago, he asked me why I wanted to apply, and when I told him it's because I wanted to be a part of community discussions, he told me I shouldn't have bothered because that's not the job of an administrator. I disagree in that, where I want to do this because I've already been a part of many community discussions where my hands have been completely tied with the faith that the server administration would always act in the best interests of the community. Adding my voice to these discussions, not taking control or shouting at people for them, is what I wish to do.

[Silicons]

the time to apply is when you are
1. part of the debate
2. able to understand and accept the logic of the debate

someone should become an administrator when they are able to take custody of the community.

this kind of reads as "my hands are tied if i'm not an admin in a discussion" which is completely wrong from every standpoint as someone who frankly never had that problem. when it reads like that i do not care who it is i automatically am against it for the express reason that someone is ready to have the authority that comes with staff when they can do things without being staff.

sure, i'm staff, but i only make staff after changing the community / codebase / whatever; not before.
that is not a requirement by far but people are granted custody of the community after they prove they're able to handle it, not before