As has been evident for nearly a year now, the state of the Recap Team was not sustainable, and the team's ability to do our primary task collapsed within a few months of our founding. Admittedly, this was not entirely our fault, as the increasing length, speed, and detail of discussions in staffchat caused recaps to have to catch up, meaning burnout became a problem that could not be ignored.
However, now that staffchat is public and recaps as they were are no longer very necessary, the team is somewhat aimless, and I would like to seek a new purpose for it, as I believe it still has some use to serve.
I propose turning Recap into a more general, as-needed team. Recently, several staff members, including ones on the Recap roster, participated in recapping the November 2020 incident for users and staff who were unfamiliar with the incident or with the details of how it played out. This is the sort of thing I believe Recap should focus on in the future. Rather than recapping everything that goes on in staffchat, the team is called in from time to time to write summaries of especially long, detailed discussions that make the topics more approachable and understandable to those less familiar with the proceedings. It is also possible that Recap could still perform a lesser version of its former task, keeping two-to-three-sentence 'minutes' of each discussion in staffchat along with links to the relevant timestamps and messages, containing simply the topic, impetus, and final resolution. In essence, Recap is called in where it's needed rather than always having more work to do.
This process, despite being a reallocation and reassessment of existing structures, would essentially be the same as starting an entirely new team. As such, I would like to ensure things are thoroughly discussed and agreed upon before formal procedures begin. The main vectors of discussion I'm looking to iron out are:
1. Sustainability of the team. Reviving Recap is essentially pointless if it just peters out again immediately afterward. Ensuring and safeguarding stability and sustainability should be a priority to avoid the new team suffering the same fate as its predecessor.
2. Clarity of purpose. The new team should have a clear mission and should serve a purpose for the betterment of the site. As mentioned previously, the new public nature of staffchat does not necessitate full recaps of every topic that gets discussed. Recap should be seen and used as a resource to alleviate points of confusion in discussions on 05Command and staffchat and improve communication. Additionally, the purpose and availability of Recap should be sufficiently communicated to all staff members and users such that if there is need for the team's assistance, the parties involved are aware of when and how Recap may be called in.
3. Ease of due process. In the first version of Recap, it was subject to an extensive and frankly draconian cycle of drafting, review, and edits. I would still like the recaps to remain as unbiased and neutral as possible, but I want to explore methods of streamlining how they get there to avoid frustration and burnout.
If you have any other suggestions for how to proceed regarding the Recap Team or ideas on the above topics, please discuss them below. Once this discussion is complete, a proposal will be drafted to officially redesignate the team as deemed necessary by the discussion.
This discussion will expire after one week.