Are staff possibly immune to criticism (due to the cultural climate of the server)?
Let's be real here, before I state anything, it's not relevant who I am because barely anyone in this community knows who I am so if the staff members will pry beyond the scenes and look at my IP address then so be it, fine. And while granted this tarnishes my ethos, to remain anonymous in inexplicable ways - you may consider me fearful of what the public eye of certain staff members may affect me with. Pardon my preface if it came off as brash or abrasive, however as this was not the intention but the only medium I had in my feelings to construct a preface. This is likely a fault of my own writing, but I ask kindly not to bare my diction with too much significance, as it is YOUR thoughts that matter here.
But I need to make something very clear towards this community in raising this question, because my experience on MassiveCraft has augmented the idea that Staff Members of MassiveCraft are immune to criticism under the guise of hate mongering and even to that point it is used as a veil to sheathe any spotlight that may criticize or challenge the ideas of certain staff members. Many Staff on MassiveCraft will claim this is "hate mongering" as it is most often done in Discord calls, but this is inappropriate labelling because it is not done with the intention to demean or hurt others. Staff should expect critique and judgment against all the work they do here because they are public servants.
I would like to remind everyone that the meaning of being a Staff Member to a community is to provide the community with a service or tool, this does not mean that Staff are of higher social standing which is often socially implied. The reason currently that people have to go and complain about Staff member action in private channels is due to the culture of resistance against criticism towards staff. There is, of course a point where criticism is done with malice, but in my own personal case I barely criticized and know the details surrounding the motivations for my affairs with the current Administration.
Now, while my own experience is leading me to believe that the culture of MassiveCraft is promoting a brick wall against all forms of criticism towards the Staff Members, this may or may not be the case, my detachment with the community for long intervals of time may strike this as otherwise. This is a question, not a criticism in itself. Granted it may be somewhat alluding or allegorical, passive aggressive even, but this is the nature of the server. A lot of things on this server, in OOC, are passive aggressive and it is difficult to trust people on the server. My experience with various members of the community and the culture that is promoted was not a positive one but this is inherently subjective - do not think of this as an argument. This is just more or less a comment. But I'd like to stress that this is a question.
Are MassiveCraft Staff Immune to Criticism? If you think yes, then give your reasons why and vice versa if no. What has your experience been with the current administration, what is your perception of the current staff - do you fear them enough to keep your comments to private channels even if they are questioning of the personal character, actions or personality of certain Staff Members? All of these are questions to ask when constructing your responses. I do not want to see ad hominems of any sort, I'd like to facilitate a civil, positive and constructive thread. This is because by doing so we may begin to amend some of the problems with the staff culture on the server. And now while many staff members will point out the 'Staff Complaint' feature, I know from a fact from 'private discord calls' - this feature is not really respected or considered often, at least this is the account of various individuals in private servers.
Some players even find that Staff are quick to usher out bans for incidents on 'Discord' with minimalistic cases of evidence or proof on the player, because of hearsay and other factors. While this is questionable, it is something that requires investigation. On the account of unwritten rules, it is also concerning in some 'private discord calls' that I've heard many people are troubled by the unwritten rules of massivecraft, or the hidden set of rules that Staff /will/ ban for but is not explicitly stated on the rule page. MassiveCraft reserves the right to remove anyone from the server for any reason (corrupt or not), but as a company of dignity it requires some inquiry into the nature of these 'unwritten rules'. In short, many players are becoming more scared of staff because of these methods of penalization, but this also ties closely into the culture of how staff operate to justify why many are in fear of speaking up against them.
Now what do I mean by staff culture? Addressing the climate of staff on the server, it is no doubt that many players (including myself) have viewed Staff Members especially on Minecraft as some upper echelon force of players that control the server and operate it indefinitely. But what is the nature of a staff member? It is someone that is working for you, and not working for the bureaucracy, this is what it should be. In many cases personal bias, cliquish, and other elements corrode staff working environments and this is by no means limited to the culture on MassiveCraft, it is just a negative element of what Staff can become. However, it is my own personal belief that the idea Staff are somehow of a higher social and power status than a regular player is toxic and corrosive to the community and this should be addressed within the Staff Codex.
There needs to be an effort to ensure that staff are not viewed as some elite organization that everyone is scared to speak up against or question forthright, and furthermore some staff members should cease being quick to penalize players for their opinions if this case has ever occurred. There have been negative infractions with certain staff members during my time(s) on the server, and this is unfortunate but it is unavoidable. Try and avoid talking about specific scenarios when replying, and see the bigger picture instead. We need to recognize staff as public servants rather than a collective of friends that avoid talking to players as much as possible. Like it or not, you sign up as a staff member to a job. A professional job, as there is a Staff 'Contract' of sorts in place, you do not sign up to be in a friend circle and do friendly work. Staff should be taken more seriously, objectively and holistically in my opinion, and I'd like to see what other perspectives can offer on this philosophy.
A lot of you, are likely tempted to point to very specific cases, with specific staff members even passively, but I urge, greatly, against doing this. In these cases where we collect our thoughts we must be discrete but also capture the bigger picture to avoid offending or hurting any staff members who could negatively penalize you. Yes, we need to be respectful, but a lot of cases I've heard personally are awarded to people who have been respectful but have done something personally wrong, on the account of certain 'unwritten rules'. Nevertheless, you need to show dignity and kindness in your thoughts and responses, because it is uncivil to not do so. As a server full of adolescents and adults, it is imperative that we retain self control.
Let's be real here, before I state anything, it's not relevant who I am because barely anyone in this community knows who I am so if the staff members will pry beyond the scenes and look at my IP address then so be it, fine. And while granted this tarnishes my ethos, to remain anonymous in inexplicable ways - you may consider me fearful of what the public eye of certain staff members may affect me with. Pardon my preface if it came off as brash or abrasive, however as this was not the intention but the only medium I had in my feelings to construct a preface. This is likely a fault of my own writing, but I ask kindly not to bare my diction with too much significance, as it is YOUR thoughts that matter here.
But I need to make something very clear towards this community in raising this question, because my experience on MassiveCraft has augmented the idea that Staff Members of MassiveCraft are immune to criticism under the guise of hate mongering and even to that point it is used as a veil to sheathe any spotlight that may criticize or challenge the ideas of certain staff members. Many Staff on MassiveCraft will claim this is "hate mongering" as it is most often done in Discord calls, but this is inappropriate labelling because it is not done with the intention to demean or hurt others. Staff should expect critique and judgment against all the work they do here because they are public servants.
I would like to remind everyone that the meaning of being a Staff Member to a community is to provide the community with a service or tool, this does not mean that Staff are of higher social standing which is often socially implied. The reason currently that people have to go and complain about Staff member action in private channels is due to the culture of resistance against criticism towards staff. There is, of course a point where criticism is done with malice, but in my own personal case I barely criticized and know the details surrounding the motivations for my affairs with the current Administration.
Now, while my own experience is leading me to believe that the culture of MassiveCraft is promoting a brick wall against all forms of criticism towards the Staff Members, this may or may not be the case, my detachment with the community for long intervals of time may strike this as otherwise. This is a question, not a criticism in itself. Granted it may be somewhat alluding or allegorical, passive aggressive even, but this is the nature of the server. A lot of things on this server, in OOC, are passive aggressive and it is difficult to trust people on the server. My experience with various members of the community and the culture that is promoted was not a positive one but this is inherently subjective - do not think of this as an argument. This is just more or less a comment. But I'd like to stress that this is a question.
Are MassiveCraft Staff Immune to Criticism? If you think yes, then give your reasons why and vice versa if no. What has your experience been with the current administration, what is your perception of the current staff - do you fear them enough to keep your comments to private channels even if they are questioning of the personal character, actions or personality of certain Staff Members? All of these are questions to ask when constructing your responses. I do not want to see ad hominems of any sort, I'd like to facilitate a civil, positive and constructive thread. This is because by doing so we may begin to amend some of the problems with the staff culture on the server. And now while many staff members will point out the 'Staff Complaint' feature, I know from a fact from 'private discord calls' - this feature is not really respected or considered often, at least this is the account of various individuals in private servers.
Some players even find that Staff are quick to usher out bans for incidents on 'Discord' with minimalistic cases of evidence or proof on the player, because of hearsay and other factors. While this is questionable, it is something that requires investigation. On the account of unwritten rules, it is also concerning in some 'private discord calls' that I've heard many people are troubled by the unwritten rules of massivecraft, or the hidden set of rules that Staff /will/ ban for but is not explicitly stated on the rule page. MassiveCraft reserves the right to remove anyone from the server for any reason (corrupt or not), but as a company of dignity it requires some inquiry into the nature of these 'unwritten rules'. In short, many players are becoming more scared of staff because of these methods of penalization, but this also ties closely into the culture of how staff operate to justify why many are in fear of speaking up against them.
Now what do I mean by staff culture? Addressing the climate of staff on the server, it is no doubt that many players (including myself) have viewed Staff Members especially on Minecraft as some upper echelon force of players that control the server and operate it indefinitely. But what is the nature of a staff member? It is someone that is working for you, and not working for the bureaucracy, this is what it should be. In many cases personal bias, cliquish, and other elements corrode staff working environments and this is by no means limited to the culture on MassiveCraft, it is just a negative element of what Staff can become. However, it is my own personal belief that the idea Staff are somehow of a higher social and power status than a regular player is toxic and corrosive to the community and this should be addressed within the Staff Codex.
There needs to be an effort to ensure that staff are not viewed as some elite organization that everyone is scared to speak up against or question forthright, and furthermore some staff members should cease being quick to penalize players for their opinions if this case has ever occurred. There have been negative infractions with certain staff members during my time(s) on the server, and this is unfortunate but it is unavoidable. Try and avoid talking about specific scenarios when replying, and see the bigger picture instead. We need to recognize staff as public servants rather than a collective of friends that avoid talking to players as much as possible. Like it or not, you sign up as a staff member to a job. A professional job, as there is a Staff 'Contract' of sorts in place, you do not sign up to be in a friend circle and do friendly work. Staff should be taken more seriously, objectively and holistically in my opinion, and I'd like to see what other perspectives can offer on this philosophy.
A lot of you, are likely tempted to point to very specific cases, with specific staff members even passively, but I urge, greatly, against doing this. In these cases where we collect our thoughts we must be discrete but also capture the bigger picture to avoid offending or hurting any staff members who could negatively penalize you. Yes, we need to be respectful, but a lot of cases I've heard personally are awarded to people who have been respectful but have done something personally wrong, on the account of certain 'unwritten rules'. Nevertheless, you need to show dignity and kindness in your thoughts and responses, because it is uncivil to not do so. As a server full of adolescents and adults, it is imperative that we retain self control.
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