First let me preface this by apologizing. I hate being just another fire starter, but I felt this didn't belong in the middle of the rules topic. Feel free to lock,delete, ban what have you, but please first read my thoughts and allow others to read them as well.
So I'm going to write a short novel here. As much as possible I am not going to directly name names, but there are a few times where I'm going to have to. I'm not doing this out of spite, but I'm doing it to make some points. I will keep this as civil as humanly possible. This is aimed at management, and I apologize but I feel a few things need to be said. I am only speaking for myself, but I feel what I have to say is probably shared by others.
When someone on your team goes. Hey. I've written up a draft of these rules. A few things need to happen.
1. You actually read them.
2. You discuss them.
3. You submit amendments, edits, what have you.
4. You take a look at the finished product, and discuss it further.
5. You post them for the community to discuss.
This is purely an outsider looking in, but from what I'm gather, it went something like this.
Jayde: Hey I wrote up these nice rules. What do you all think. Any questions?
Mod: Hey these are great.
other mod: Yeah I like them too. You should post them.
Other Other mod: Yeah they're perfect.
Other Other Other Other Other mod: Can I have a puppy?
You also can not have one moderator writing rules and wielding all the power. This is not a dig at Jayde, as I know Jayde is really trying. But you all also have to try.
The community's trust and faith in you as at an all-time low, and what we're seeing in the rules topic is a prime example.
There is no reason why when a set of rules is posted for discussion that anyone, in upper management especially an Admin should ever say things like.
"I really do think clarification of rule 6 needs to be done. Maybe make it sound less strict. "
"In fact @Jayde I do have a question for you, well, could you sort of explain this rule a bit more because I will be honest I am confused by it."
This further erodes the trust that the community has in the management. Which as I've stated is shaky at best.
So it comes down to this. If you are in a position of authority, you can not stand by while someone makes all the decisions. You also need to actively discuss and give feedback in the initial decision making process. if you are going to sit back and yes sir three bags full everything, and then later on be surprised that you don't understand something, then you need to take a good look at how you're conducting yourself.
If I were doing this which sometimes I'm glad I'm not, here's how I would have rolled it.
I would have submitted a set of rules to the mods. Immediately they would point out how atrocious both my spelling and grammar are, and we'd start brainstorming how to fix them.
We would then hash everything out over a week or two, not an hour or two.
Then when we felt we had something solid that everyone was in agreement to and understood we would present it to the community. Everyone would have contributed to it, and would be able to clearly and succinctly be able to answer questions that were posed by the community.
Yall dropped the ball hard. Jayde should have waited back a bit to give everyone time to read them, but if you all agreed that they were fine and he should post them, then you're guilty as well. You esentially hung him out to dry.
I do think though that you guys can salvage this. It sounds like there's internal dialogue going on which is truly fantastic. That needs to continue if you are going to rebuild. But it needs to be all hands on deck. Jayde can not and should not be doing things alone. If your life is getting in the way or you don't have as much time to commit then that's okay too, but it's important that you discuss bringing on board people who can help you. And if that is something you end up doing. You absolutely, one, hundred, and, fifty, percent, need to involve the community in that process. It can be as simple as. "Hello everyone. We would like to bring Sloppy Joe on board as a moderator. He has shown leadership qualities and has suggested many great ideas. How do you all feel?"
Then you give the community a few days to discuss whether or not Sloppy Joe is someone they want as a mod. If people are pleased with Sloppy Joe, then you bring him on board. If not, then you find someone else. The worst thing that you can do now is to just hand out mod status. The community even informally should have had a say in whether or not Jayde or any mod for that matter joins the team. It is after all a community.
I'm going to leave you with this thought. You have the power to do really good things that could make this community stronger than it has ever been, or really bad things that could do irreparable damage to the forum. As uncle Ben said in Spiderman about 5 million times. "With great power comes great responsibility".
I hope you do the right thing. I really hope you do.
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