Community "Support" Role

[SKUDRUNNER]

I've been thinking about how much the Admin/Staff teams have to go through on a daily basis in RustEZ. What can we as the community do to assist the Staff? Some of us went and applied, joined an admin team, and that's all fine and dandy. Sometimes the job becomes daunting; dealing with bad, toxic players, moderating and keeping things friendly, trying to solve everyone's issues, all at the same time, it must be tough. Sometimes, Staff isn't available; after all, we do have lives. What happens then?

 

Might I suggest a role for trusted Community members to participate in. Giving powers to players that they don't normally have, so that they may be of basic assistance to others. Where a player new to Rust joins the server and needs help getting started, they can easily call upon a Support member to help them on their way, to one day loot their own coveted M249. Where help is needed because somebody fell asleep in someone else's house, they can call upon Support to have the sleeper moved and tucked in somewhere warm... or cold (sleep is for the weak!). Is there a player being rude and obnoxious and needs to be dealt with? Have a support member Mute or Kick them for a while.

In essence, give powers to the Support members to be able to handle the basic tasks, while our Staff handles the more extreme or important stuff.

Here's a breakdown showing how this Support role would differ from a Staff role.

Kick/Mute Players: Support , Staff
Ban Players: Staff Only
Teleport/Fly Powers: Support , Staff
Godmode: Staff Only
Discord Moderation: Support , Staff
Web/Forum Moderation: Staff Only

Consider Support members as a rank lower than Staff. Support is made up of trusted members of our community, but that doesn't give them access to the same privileges or expectations that Staff has. Thus, the separation of powers should come in the form of Support being seen as members of the community, not those leading it. Support has no say or charge in any of the behind-the-scenes stuff that goes on in RustEZ. However, I think this Support role could become a stepping stone into a Staff role. A Support member that shows themself as exemplary could be given the honor of being asked to come onto a Staff team, should they choose to accept. Only then would they become Staff, not just a privileged member of the community.

Support members should probably go through a similar Application/Acceptance process as admins do, but this time have recommendation from a Staff member. I don't think this is a role to be given away, but rather something that you show yourself as worthy of, to which a Staff member can vouch for you.

 

Please share any feedback you have about having a Support role, or anything you'd like to suggest be changed about my suggestion. Thank you for reading.

 

I'd like to give a special thank you to Spliff, who was very kind enough to answer some questions about how Staff/Adminship works, without alluding into the behind-the-scenes stuff that a commoner such as myself doesn't see.

[BloodyBaroness]

I'm going to level with you, and I'm not trying to sound rude, I don't see how this serves any purpose. It's creating a role that's not really needed. 

You can be helpful and contributing in chat/discord without any kind of special "role." Loads of folks do it, just because they enjoy helping. 

If rule breaking is observed the current procedures are fine, people just need to use them. It's easy to fill out a help request/ticket or post in discord. Players really need to be encouraged to do this. 

As someone who has been in a moderation role/admin role in several different types of online community, adding roles often creates more problems and confusion. The simple chain of staff - leadership - owner is much more palatable to end user. 

Helpers are great and every community benefits from them. When you start adding "powers" and layers you end up creating more problems than you solve. 

I would personally advise anyone who likes helping to keep doing so, people enjoy it and it's a great asset to the community. There are a lot of folks who would make wonderful admins around, but they just like helping out when they can, not a full staff responsibility. If someone is interested in moving beyond just casual helping, apply for admin. 
 

 

[DabDaddyJosh]

Have you applied to be an admin?

[RepeatPete]

I'll only say this, and I apologize if it comes off as abrupt. I agree with what @BloodyBaronesssaid. You keep layering on individuals to pick up the slack of the current staff, then why are those players still staff?

A cursory check of Battlemetrics, I can tell you I have 15 more hours played on the server I'm on, than a staff member on US Scourge with 46 hours since wipe. You also have staff with as little as 6 hours since wipe.

Lose the chaff and fill staff positions with individuals who want to play and help the community as much as possible - it's really that simple.