[Persian_Xerxes] Moderator Application
Posted: Mon Oct 21, 2019 4:26 pm
BYOND ckey: Persian_Xerxes
Character name: Kevin Leach, York Reeds, Kyle Simmons
How long have you played on Citadel?: Since late April 2019, six months per Statbus
How long have you played SS13?: Six months of actual playtime, thank Sseth for that. I had much longer exposure via Something Awful, but never pulled the trigger on playing until Ssethtide.
What is your timezone/general hours of activity?: US EST, lately I’ve been active overnight: 10PM EST – 6AM EST on worknights.
Previous SS13 related admin experience: None
Previous non-SS13 related admin experience:
In 2011, I became an admin for a long defunct Team Fortress 2 server known as Forever United, this lasted for about 3 months before the group dissolved. I also admin’d for a VS Saxton Hale server for RMES for about a year between 2012 and 2013, which still lists me as a moderator despite years of inactivity.
For about half a year in 2014, I served as an admin for a kink-adjacent Trouble in Terrorist Town server and Steam + TeamSpeak group I’m reluctant to name publicly, but can identify in private.
I run a personal Discord server of roughly 50 members started in 2016, and have been a moderator for Foxehhyz/Pakun’s Discord server of 141 members, responsible for granting access to new members who are not subscribed to his Patreon, since 2017; as well as being an admin for a fetish focused Discord server of 200 members between 2015 and 2016, which was disbanded by its owner, but whose former admin team I maintain good ties with.
Current administrators who have agreed to support your application: Chase Redtail, Justin Phillips, RogueSteampunker, Drewfus, BlackMajor
... oh, and Kevinz000 kinda supports me too. :^)
Discord username (+user id): Persi #5209
Reason for application: My time on Citadel has been very enjoyable and I have been eager to give back to the community in a tangible way, so far in the form of assisting with our Halloween ball map and minor balance changes, when Kevinz made clear a need for more staff on the Main server. I've seen this shortage of staff firsthand, often finding Chase, Kevinz, and BlackMajor are the only admins online when I am recently.
Kevinz has asked me to apply for some time now, and I feel I can use my prior experience to help uphold the standards of the Citadel community.
1. How would you engage with two players having an out of character altercation?
So long as the dispute remains civil, I would allow it to play its course. If the situation becomes heated or overwhelms legitimate communication for other players, I would first direct the involved players to the proper channels to settle their grievances and then intervene in a way dependent on the location of the dispute should they continue (such as disabling OOC chat, assigning a mute role in Discord, etc…).
2. What should an admin do if they're involved in a situation that needs admin intervention?
I firmly believe an admin should never act upon a report involving themselves. If an admin did so, his judgement would be biased and players would rightly come to question any action he takes going forward as a result.
If an admin becomes involved in a situation where their intervention is required, they must reach out to other staff to resolve it, or go through the same channels a normal player would if they found themselves unable to be assisted by an admin during the round.
This, of course, ignores extreme situations of verifiable, inarguable mass grieving, where quick and decisive action is the best way to salvage the experience of the server population as a whole.
3. How should an admin determine in what way to punish someone who breaks the rules?
The best way to determine a punishment is to look to precedent and intent. When either is lacking, and the admin does not feel confident in the fairness of his own punishment for whatever reason, consultation with the rest of the team is the next best step. If neither option is available, he should rely on his best judgement and be willing to discuss his decision with the team in private, adjusting a punishment after the fact is not an admission of failure on his part nor unreasonable for a game admin.
4. Under what conditions should an admin de-admin themselves while playing?
In the ideal world, it is my personal belief that an admin should always be de-admin’d while playing, due to the risk of logs revealing privileged information that can influence their in-character decisions despite their best efforts to avoid it.
That having been said, this is not always a reasonable request, and so when an admin must be active while playing, they should at the very least de-admin when playing a role such as head of staff, Security, AI, or antag where a failure not to act upon metaknowledge can ruin the experience for several players.
5. What is expected of an admin on Citadel?
In any community, the administration team has a duty to set and uphold the standards all members should strive towards. In a “gated community†like Citadel, this goes a step further in that the first experience a new member will have with the community is often an administrator themselves, thanks to our server whitelists. In this role, admins need to be welcoming and capable of setting the proper expectations in new members’ minds of what Citadel is.
Beyond that, our staff need to be able to make difficult decisions when needed, using good reasoning and judgement, while remembering that behind every character is a real person whose experience is made or broken by our actions. In game, the admins should be aiming always to enhance that experience for the majority of our members.
Character name: Kevin Leach, York Reeds, Kyle Simmons
How long have you played on Citadel?: Since late April 2019, six months per Statbus
How long have you played SS13?: Six months of actual playtime, thank Sseth for that. I had much longer exposure via Something Awful, but never pulled the trigger on playing until Ssethtide.
What is your timezone/general hours of activity?: US EST, lately I’ve been active overnight: 10PM EST – 6AM EST on worknights.
Previous SS13 related admin experience: None
Previous non-SS13 related admin experience:
In 2011, I became an admin for a long defunct Team Fortress 2 server known as Forever United, this lasted for about 3 months before the group dissolved. I also admin’d for a VS Saxton Hale server for RMES for about a year between 2012 and 2013, which still lists me as a moderator despite years of inactivity.
For about half a year in 2014, I served as an admin for a kink-adjacent Trouble in Terrorist Town server and Steam + TeamSpeak group I’m reluctant to name publicly, but can identify in private.
I run a personal Discord server of roughly 50 members started in 2016, and have been a moderator for Foxehhyz/Pakun’s Discord server of 141 members, responsible for granting access to new members who are not subscribed to his Patreon, since 2017; as well as being an admin for a fetish focused Discord server of 200 members between 2015 and 2016, which was disbanded by its owner, but whose former admin team I maintain good ties with.
Current administrators who have agreed to support your application: Chase Redtail, Justin Phillips, RogueSteampunker, Drewfus, BlackMajor
... oh, and Kevinz000 kinda supports me too. :^)
Discord username (+user id): Persi #5209
Reason for application: My time on Citadel has been very enjoyable and I have been eager to give back to the community in a tangible way, so far in the form of assisting with our Halloween ball map and minor balance changes, when Kevinz made clear a need for more staff on the Main server. I've seen this shortage of staff firsthand, often finding Chase, Kevinz, and BlackMajor are the only admins online when I am recently.
Kevinz has asked me to apply for some time now, and I feel I can use my prior experience to help uphold the standards of the Citadel community.
1. How would you engage with two players having an out of character altercation?
So long as the dispute remains civil, I would allow it to play its course. If the situation becomes heated or overwhelms legitimate communication for other players, I would first direct the involved players to the proper channels to settle their grievances and then intervene in a way dependent on the location of the dispute should they continue (such as disabling OOC chat, assigning a mute role in Discord, etc…).
2. What should an admin do if they're involved in a situation that needs admin intervention?
I firmly believe an admin should never act upon a report involving themselves. If an admin did so, his judgement would be biased and players would rightly come to question any action he takes going forward as a result.
If an admin becomes involved in a situation where their intervention is required, they must reach out to other staff to resolve it, or go through the same channels a normal player would if they found themselves unable to be assisted by an admin during the round.
This, of course, ignores extreme situations of verifiable, inarguable mass grieving, where quick and decisive action is the best way to salvage the experience of the server population as a whole.
3. How should an admin determine in what way to punish someone who breaks the rules?
The best way to determine a punishment is to look to precedent and intent. When either is lacking, and the admin does not feel confident in the fairness of his own punishment for whatever reason, consultation with the rest of the team is the next best step. If neither option is available, he should rely on his best judgement and be willing to discuss his decision with the team in private, adjusting a punishment after the fact is not an admission of failure on his part nor unreasonable for a game admin.
4. Under what conditions should an admin de-admin themselves while playing?
In the ideal world, it is my personal belief that an admin should always be de-admin’d while playing, due to the risk of logs revealing privileged information that can influence their in-character decisions despite their best efforts to avoid it.
That having been said, this is not always a reasonable request, and so when an admin must be active while playing, they should at the very least de-admin when playing a role such as head of staff, Security, AI, or antag where a failure not to act upon metaknowledge can ruin the experience for several players.
5. What is expected of an admin on Citadel?
In any community, the administration team has a duty to set and uphold the standards all members should strive towards. In a “gated community†like Citadel, this goes a step further in that the first experience a new member will have with the community is often an administrator themselves, thanks to our server whitelists. In this role, admins need to be welcoming and capable of setting the proper expectations in new members’ minds of what Citadel is.
Beyond that, our staff need to be able to make difficult decisions when needed, using good reasoning and judgement, while remembering that behind every character is a real person whose experience is made or broken by our actions. In game, the admins should be aiming always to enhance that experience for the majority of our members.