Currently, we have two tiers of activity (active and inactive) when, in reality, staff activity is a rather insane spectrum of "I'm here every day!" or "I log in at least once every couple of days." or "I'm taking time off to finish my novel." Currently, this activity spectrum is neither representative of staff as a whole nor particularly useful for figuring out 'who do I bother?'
After all, we have staff listed as active because we see them every day in chat, talk to them often, and work with them on things… who aren't very active on O5 or in the running of the main site. We have people that we know 'not to bother' with things unless they're important for a while, because they're busy for a few days. I could continue to list examples, but I think you understand what I'm talking about.
I'd like to introduce the concept of a staff member 'in reserve.' Yes, I know we already have a 'reserve' team, and if this measure passes, those team members would be moved as the team is dissolved.
Activity Levels:
Active Member: Active in the day-to-day running of the site. This means that you…
- …as an administrator: ban/revoke people as needed, run applications, and participate in policy discussions, especially those related to teams you are a member of. Active administrators can vote on measures and perform administrative fiats when necessary.
- …as a moderator: work on your team for its goals, run deletions when necessary, and participate in policy discussions, especially those related to teams you are a member of. Active moderators can vote on policy issues and be team captains.
- …as an operational staff member: work to further your team's goals, vote on deletions when necessary, and participate in policy discussions, especially those related to teams you are a member of. Active operational staff can vote on policy issues.
Reserve Member: Semi-active or partially active in the day-to-day running of the site. This means that you…
- …as an administrator: ban/revoke when requested to do so, work on applications when requested to do so, and participate in policy discussions which are relevant to your content knowledge or vision of the site. Reserve administrators can vote on measures, when their knowledge or ability allows them to do so, but cannot perform administrative fiats except in the case of emergencies (to prevent damage to the site or correct a serious problem which requires admin access).
- …as a moderator: participate in team discussion when able, delete articles if necessary and available (troll articles, for example), and participate in policy discussions. Reserve moderators can vote on measures, when their knowledge or ability allows them to do so, but cannot be team captains.
- …as an operational staff member: aid their team as needed/requested and participate in policy discussions when needed. Reserve operational staff can vote on measures, when their knowledge or ability allows them to do so.
Inactive Member: Not active in the running of the site, except perhaps tangentially. This means that you…
- …as an administrator: ban/revoke only in the most extreme circumstances, when literally no one else is available, or in dire emergencies only. Inactive administrators cannot vote on measures, and cannot perform administrative fiats except in the case of emergencies (to prevent damage to the site or correct a serious problem which requires admin access).
- …as a moderator: delete articles if necessary and available (troll articles, for example) only in the most extreme circumstances, when literally no one else is available. Inactive moderators cannot vote on measures.
- …as an operational staff member: aid their team when possible. Inactive operational staff cannot vote on measure.
Requesting a Vote:
Currently, we have a fairly direct system of voting on things. If it's site policy, everyone gets a voice, and if it's promotions, only the same tier of staff can vote. This would not expand that system greatly. Instead, we'd simply alter the method of counting.
Since we do not want to have to track down all the Reserve Staff each time we do a vote, we instead simply increase the total number of possible voting staff to see if we achieve a quorum. So, if we had twenty active staff, and two reservists weighed in, then the total number of votes is 22 and quorum moves from 11 to 12.
This provides two advantages:
1) The 'reserve staff' (those who might be more difficult to get ahold of, for example) would no longer clog up getting a quorum to move forward on measures. Voting on staff would be faster, easier, and more symbolic of genuine activity level.
2) It still allows people with a vested interest in the site, who have put in years of work, to maintain a level of activity without feeling obligated to weigh in on every issue.
"But, Troy," you say. "Why even have the distinction? Shouldn't just active people be allowed to vote?"
Any situation where additional opinions (and as many different points of view as possible) are for the best should be subjected to an open vote of all staff (major policy changes, for example). And in any situation where rapid action is necessary (most of which are simple disciplinary matters), if a reserve member of staff could be helpful, there's no reason they shouldn't be able to be so.
Reserve staff who don't have the necessary content knowledge or desire to voice an opinion should recuse themselves from votings (by simply not voting or deferring in a post if asked to vote).
Moving to and from Reserve:
Most people can move to reserve without any problem, simply by announcing that they're doing so. We already do this all the time.
I'm going to be on reduced activity for the next week or two while I'm getting ready for final exams.
I'm going to be largely absent for the month of May to finish my novel.
A raccoon just ate my house, so I'm flying to Concorde to buy a new one.
I made up that last one, but the other two are relevant examples. I propose that someone can move themselves to 'Reserve' so long as they're going to be around, but don't have as much time as they once did, the same as we currently do. This is simply codifying it into an actual system. Someone who has been on Reserve without being at least somewhat active should be automatically moved to Inactive and the staff list modified.
Moving from Reserve back to Active should be similarly painless. "I'm back."
Keep in mind that a team captain can recommend that you be moved from Active or Reserve to Inactive if you're not actually around anyway. Getting back from Inactive usually requires that you do a little work as a show of good faith before we take your opinion into account again.
What Do Reserve Staff Do Exactly?:
That's up to the Team Captains. A reserve member of the Crit Teams might have Zyn or Soulless ask them to cover a much smaller number of articles than normal. A reserve member of Licensing might have Vince ask them to hand off Amazon to someone else, but keep checking another site. Team Captains should make a small guide which Reserve Staff can easily follow to make sure they're still participating and don't get automatically moved to Inactive for not actually doing anything.
Edit: Timer removed. Voting thread for change is in the relevant forum.
"WELL FOUNDATION. YOU MADE IT SO EASY. SO VERY VERY EASY." - dimensionpotato