Bormiar You mentioned the roleplay mentors, so I have a question on that too. Do you think the roleplay mentors were a success that can be used in other areas (e.g. gameplay, cards)?
What is the extent of your duties as a moderator? / Do moderators truly run things other than how “moderation” is defined? I’ve noticed some moderators seem to work on things like issues, WA, technical issues (fris answers lots of questions), etc.
How do moderators reach a consensus on major issues (e.g. crises like predator, DoSing)?
What is the best way to communicate that you believe there has been a moderation mistake? This isn’t something I specifically need to know, but I know there are “rules lawyers” out there who can be quite annoying.
And, if you’re ok with it despite not being relevant, do you know anything about how Greater Dienstad was founded / grew over the years?
Sorry for asking so many :p.
1,) The Roleplay Mentors originally came to be because there was no one teaching people how to RP within the standards of NS. Originally, more experienced RPers would take newer RPers aside and teach them, but that dropped off after awhile. So the mods got together, and selected the more helpful RPers that came to their notice, and put the whole program together, originally under Jenrak. I was not one of the first group of mentors selected, but either the 2nd or 3rd batch, I forget which.
Where am I going with this? Well, the difference between RP and Gameplay or cards, is that there are plenty of people who can/do teach Gameplayers how that part of NS works, and cards really aren’t that difficult to learn, so there is less of a need for mentors for those groups, imo. NS Sports also does a good job of teaching people how their community works, and how to be part of it.
A mentor program could indeed work for those parts of NS, but there seems to be less of a need for them there.
2.) Moderators handle functions both visible to the general NS public, as well as functions that are not nearly as visible. I’m sure that you’ve seen mods handing out warnings/bans/DEATs before, but we also handle things backstage that I won’t mention (OPSEC again!), but are essential to the functioning and general well-being of the site. While not a duty of moderators, we are also regular players on the site, in addition to our official duties.
There are indeed moderators that have specialties. With the recent departure of Kyrusia, I run the RP Mentors program. There are also mods who specialize in working with the Issue Editor team, those who work with the WA, some who answer technical questions, and more. When it comes to these, it really depends on the community or communities within NS that the individual mod is comfortable with, and how much time and effort that they are willing to commit. The NS Moderation staff is composed entirely of volunteers, and we fully realize that RL > NS time, so we don’t press people into doing more than they are comfortable with.
3.) The answer to this one is going to be pretty boring. We talk to each other in order to get consensus. Sometimes this takes longer than others, and RL time zones can sometimes be a factor. Discord can be great for getting a quick decision, but the forums are generally used for matters that require more time or thought. Not exactly a secret that we have parts of the forums that most cannot see, or that we have our own Staff Discord.
4.) The best way to communicate that you think that there has been a moderation mistake is to discuss it calmly and reasonably on the moderation forum. Getting angry with moderation is not going to help anyone’s case, nor is going all rules lawyer. Both of those just annoy the mods, when we are perfectly willing to work with you, and see what the available evidence of the case says. The first and most important rule of NS has always been, “Don’t be a dick.”
5.) Greater Dienstad came to be as a result of an earlier region named Imperial Armies, which changed into Greater Dienstad during/after the course of an excellent RP called The Golden Succession. I wasn’t involved in that RP as I wasn’t in the region at that time, but I joined GD later, at the invitation of Lyras and The Macabees.
Since then, Greater Dienstad has grown by having a core group of highly experienced RPers that have stuck around through the years, as well as being helpful to new RPers who are willing to listen to what we have to teach them. In a way, we were RP Mentors before the RP Mentor program even came into existence, and it is no mistake that quite a few GD members have served, or are currently serving, in the RP Mentor program.
That, I feel, is the major key to Greater Dienstad’s continued existence and growth, as an RP region.
