Player Vs Staff

[Thy]

even tho I was being respectful answered me "Go cry somewhere else".

I don't really have anything to say to this except that this is clearly something we have to work on as a whole within the staff team, but also in CM, including myself.

my experience overall has been good and fun, to give an example: Thy is one of the best roleplay players in the staff and I have had a lot of fun every time he joined the server.

Community Meetings must be done every month,

I can't say we're gonna have one every single month (we might though) but we will definitely try to host them more often than we have.

 

[Zynthax]

I don't really have anything to say to this except that this is clearly something we have to work on as a whole within the staff team, but also in CM, including myself.



I can't say we're gonna have one every single month (we might though) but we will definitely try to host them more often than we have.

Thank you, and appreciate you guys actually having an open discussion with us. As another guy said, this is the first time I see this.

 

[Xanzabar]

It's sad how much effort is put into silencing specific opinions from specific people. But here comes the truth that needs to be said that can help community management fix their ways.

Not all CM's are on the boat that I am going to talk about, in fact it's a select few, but for the sake of being able to expand the discussion let's go ahead and use CM going forward.

CM is stuck in the mindset that anyone high up enough resigning, and having remotely any kind of opinion on their management style, is malicious or horrible. This is not the case for a lot of us who left for different reasons. And the fact that when someone tries to share their thoughts and opinions, their IP gets discouraged and their forum account gets put under approval. Why? Unless that person is exposing or doxxing someone or doing funky shit why do that? What does it solve? It's the exact definition of silencing someone who you disagree with. CM use their powers when they feel like they need to shut someone up or remove them from their community. It's why the player count is so low. You continue to shut people up and hush people up, others see this, others follow suit, then they leave. You should not be using your powers to silence someone if they are simply sharing their opinion.

CM should not be using the power to discourage an IP on XenForo, or put someone under content moderation, unless that person is actually harming the community. "Drama whores" is a very subjective label that you can apply on someone. Anyone who even remotely disagrees with you can be given that label with zero ability to appeal. It's the reality of why people are so soft-spoken here. They either follow the norm or they keep their mouths shut under the fear of being removed, content moderated, etc.

Staff are not thanked enough for their work here by CM. A select few CM's do a really fucking good job of making staff feel welcome, appreciated, and heard. But there are CM's who have no people skills, no ability to act with empathy, and quite frankly should not hold the position they have. I don't want to name the CM's in the right or wrong because again I would like to avoid being slapped with a drama label.

Monolith truly needs more attention from Gurrazor, this includes reform under his CM's. Unless this happens, Monolith will die. Monolith is dying right now, they can stop it from dying if they wake up and stop labeling people, but if they don't this will be another GMOD server that has died.

 

[parkerx]

Kinda sad @PMX didn't end up replying to what I asked him so I'll ping him again

But I would also like to ask the same questions to @Mark. Are there any suggestions/criticisms that you're willing to take?

I would also like to ask you specifically to treat staff members with a little more respect than what I witnessed in staff VC last year. If things have improved, great! But I remember specifically when you joined, the whole mood would change. You would insult us and make pretty inappropriate "jokes" and comments. You'd deny suggestions and make us feel like shit for even having opened our mouths to begin with. I can say that this is the opposite of how a "leader" is supposed to act and I think that should be fairly obvious. Now, I can't say that this is the case anymore because I genuinely don't know. But from the start of my staffing right up until the last day, these were the problems I experienced with you. I will admit your behavior made you pretty disagreeable. I didn't want to be around when you joined the call and I think I speak for several other members of the staff team when I say that. Maybe I'll hear from current staff in a bit that you've made a complete 180 and you're doing a lot better.

 

[Alphadef]

Off topic - Players say that they think that staff are watching them and people said "no staff arent". But in a certain staffs fragtage it shows there is a watchlist that alerts all staff when a certain player gets on. View attachment 12184

As has already been mentioned, watchlist are not for "watching" people (usually). 80% of watchlist are pretty much "hey this guy needs to drop something" or "hey can someone finish up this forum report", 15% "see if you can catch this person hacking" and 5% "Keep this in mind". Its pretty much never a case of directly watching people, and hell, sometimes we don't even have time for the "catch people hacking" ones if reports are particularly busy.

A road map to let the community know what is going on, also more clarity on what staff do and how they make the decisions they make?

Just curious, what kind of information do you want about our decision making process? I feel I've personally been somewhat open about what I do when asked, and wouldn't mind answered (at least from my side) again.

 

[DevulTj]

It's sad how much effort is put into silencing specific opinions from specific people. But here comes the truth that needs to be said that can help community management fix their ways.

Not all CM's are on the boat that I am going to talk about, in fact it's a select few, but for the sake of being able to expand the discussion let's go ahead and use CM going forward.

CM is stuck in the mindset that anyone high up enough resigning, and having remotely any kind of opinion on their management style, is malicious or horrible. This is not the case for a lot of us who left for different reasons. And the fact that when someone tries to share their thoughts and opinions, their IP gets discouraged and their forum account gets put under approval. Why? Unless that person is exposing or doxxing someone or doing funky shit why do that? What does it solve? It's the exact definition of silencing someone who you disagree with. CM use their powers when they feel like they need to shut someone up or remove them from their community. It's why the player count is so low. You continue to shut people up and hush people up, others see this, others follow suit, then they leave. You should not be using your powers to silence someone if they are simply sharing their opinion.

CM should not be using the power to discourage an IP on XenForo, or put someone under content moderation, unless that person is actually harming the community. "Drama whores" is a very subjective label that you can apply on someone. Anyone who even remotely disagrees with you can be given that label with zero ability to appeal. It's the reality of why people are so soft-spoken here. They either follow the norm or they keep their mouths shut under the fear of being removed, content moderated, etc.

Staff are not thanked enough for their work here by CM. A select few CM's do a really fucking good job of making staff feel welcome, appreciated, and heard. But there are CM's who have no people skills, no ability to act with empathy, and quite frankly should not hold the position they have. I don't want to name the CM's in the right or wrong because again I would like to avoid being slapped with a drama label.

Monolith truly needs more attention from Gurrazor, this includes reform under his CM's. Unless this happens, Monolith will die. Monolith is dying right now, they can stop it from dying if they wake up and stop labeling people, but if they don't this will be another GMOD server that has died.

Hello Gregg,

You were discouraged because you have complete ill intent for Monolith Servers. You admitted this yourself - I think you should solely focus on your community.

If you had all of this negative stigma for Monolith - surely you'd have an inclination to work towards eliminating this during your tenure as a Server Director. To me, it just looks like you're taking advantage of a situation to align with your own goals.

As I've stated several times in this thread - we're looking to improve the professionality. PERSONALLY - it's something that I've already strived to commit to for the last 6 months, and hopefully it's already showing.

Staff are most definitely thanked for their work here by Community Management. You just haven't been here for a while.

We're already committing to an internal reform to how we present ourselves, even prior to this thread, even prior to the Community Meeting that happened yesterday.

 

[Tye]

As has already been mentioned, watchlist are not for "watching" people (usually). 80% of watchlist are pretty much "hey this guy needs to drop something" or "hey can someone finish up this forum report", 15% "see if you can catch this person hacking" and 5% "Keep this in mind". Its pretty much never a case of directly watching people, and hell, sometimes we don't even have time for the "catch people hacking" ones if reports are particularly busy.



Just curious, what kind of information do you want about our decision making process? I feel I've personally been somewhat open about what I do when asked, and wouldn't mind answered (at least from my side) again.

More in terms of punishments. Seeing no appeal/malicious intent/inciting drama bans doesn't give any sort of information and just slaps people under a label so that they can just be silenced and if you mention them you get in trouble. It doesn't seem to help anything just creates more tension/resentment between the players and the staff team. I understand some people who got that type of ban deserved it but some others didn't and just silencing anyone talking about them seems pointless and damaging to the community. On another note in admin sits in game you will sometimes not be in the discussion and will get a warning point/blacklist/ban without being told what rule you actually broke. If you don't get told what rule you broke it is really hard to appeal and is really frustrating. About the watchlist for me it was more the way that players who brought it up were treated. Also all staff have said they use it barely for watching people but from hearing stories off others and personal experience you can get staff that follow you for like an hour in invisible mode just watching you.

 

[Knight]

I... Is this thing on?

When I first (briefly) joined Monolith on Paralake in 2018, it was little more than a place I spent a couple hours on each week on to unwind from work. After a long hiatus, I rejoined Monolith on Truenorth in the summer of 2019 during a turbulent part of my life. I quickly lost myself on Monolith and used it as a form of escape. So many of the people I interacted with were fantastic and I made a ton of virtual friends.

The liveliness and atmosphere of the server were truly second to none. Around 2 months after my return I was asked to join the staff team. I was reticent because I did not think I was interested in investing that much time into moderating the server. I was an avid role-player at that point. During my time as a staff member on Monolith, I had the pleasure of working with many people who were extremely dedicated to the community. I witnessed so many times where staff members tried to do their absolute best to please all parties where possible and to make the losing party in a sit aware of why the sit did not go there way when that was not possible. The staff chats were always active, and I made a ton of friends from current and former members of the staff roster. I will be the first to tell anyone that most of Monolith's staff members, both past and present have nothing but the best wishes for the community. They want to help to make it grow and to be special for the players who choose to log-in everyday, whatever their reasons.

There is so much that the staff team does for players behind the scenes that it is incredible. I would like to see members of the community to thank many exceptional members.

Since this is a thread that seeks to address current issues with the community, I will offer up my own (very possibly) outdated opinion. I don't want to stoke any fires and I don't want to add to the already palpable, uneasy tension between many of the contributors here. I will not be responding to replies to this post. I truly wish the community the best and have debated now for several days whether my posting here could have any positive effect. I hope it does.




Community Management is far too removed from leadership roles. Staff are required to be active on the server, but CM are exempted from this requirement (to the detriment of both the community and the staff team). This is not a personal criticism, as everyone has their reasons for their activity levels, but it is impossible to effectively lead others while being inactive and removed. Around the time of my departure from the team, CM held outdated views on many players that oftentimes meant that those players would never have a chance at becoming mentors or staff. I'm happy to say that exceptional people like @Balldrip have proved them wrong. Overzealous staff members who issue punishments far exceeding the bounds of sanity and necessity were a huge issue. Certain community managers publicly making fun of players on forums and in Discord was yet another huge problem. CM, you set the example for those under you. If you routinely behave in an unprofessional manner to players, staff members will follow suit. It isn't enough to simply say that you make mistakes because you are human, you must own up to them, apologize, and explain to those under you your reasons for doing so. Other people doing the wrong thing cannot be an excuse for you doing the wrong thing. You know who you are. You cannot demand that your staff be professional while publicly writing posts vilifying those who don't speak English to a degree that satisfies you. There are players who choose to spend not only their time but their money in this community, and the last thing they want is to be bullied for not being able to speak English correctly. When you treat paying customers with such disdain and contempt, they will often simply move on, as many have chosen to do. The best way to deal with players who've presented problems in the past is to give them a reason to change. Let them know that if they put in the effort to show that they are trustworthy that you will reward them.

To the players posting here. understand that being a staff member on Monolith is a volunteer position. Staff members sink their free time into helping you get your things back from a rulebreak, moderate the forums, manage events and media, and occasionally help move your stuck car! The vast majority of staff are on the team for the right reasons. Understand that staff can make mistakes, and that is okay.

I sincerely hope CM is able to take all of this feedback to heart and turn things around. I no longer have a dog on this fight but hope to see Monolith around for years to come.

Best Wishes,

Knight

 

[BAC.]

Staff are most definitely thanked for their work here by Community Management. You just haven't been here for a while.

Wasn't @Damp Eggplant literally silenced for thanking someone the other day though?

 

[Maj.Kat]

Wow where do I start here. Everything that will be said here will be meant with all disrespect possible, which is why I am spending my time to type it.

If you do not know who I am, I am a Server Director who was demoted from Monolith servers after being with them for 1 1/2 - 2 years in total. Of course the reason I was demoted is highly tossed around and altered by community management which is then passed onto their staff members. Not going to discuss it because I will get banned for "inciting drama" and probably lies as well since the ego here is pretty big. Simply put I was demoted after volunteering thousands of hours of my time after roasting management and the development team for their non-perfections that I could not even change as a Server Director. So let's get through some topics:

Staff Appreciation:

I do not know where to start here one bit. I will tell you EXACTLY how management sees all staff which I have experienced as a Server Director who can view internal chats. They are nothing but puppets, slaves, and disciples. You will get rid of in a heartbeat. They only care about numbers. Everything I am going to say here is true. When a staff member is considered for demotion the first thing that is thought about (at least from the more rational community management MEMBER) is what is going to come from it. Will we lose other staff members in spite of this? This is the first think thought of and it is sad. Take me for example I was demoted after spending two years in this community and was demoted after a ONE hour argument.

As Gregg previously said, who is a former Server Director, as will I right now, staff are not appreciated. Community management does not care for you and will not care. Staff appreciation things are shot down all the time, same goes for mentor rewards, in which BOTH are a main fuel for income in the community. The only way appreciation is shown is through promotions and I will say it right now, they are earned by three ways. 1. Snitching on other people 2. Report count 3. Not sounding dumb. If you haven't gotten a promotion yet as a staff member, you haven't grinded reports out day and night yet or you are seen as a stereotypically irresponsible person. For example someone with a high toned / seemingly immature voice *cough* * cough*. Take this from a person who has first hand dealt with promotions.

Listening to Suggestions:

My god my god. God forbid someone suggests something in this community, your suggestion is taken as a grain of salt, because you know who handles them? No other than the Lead Developer. If you suggest something to them and you aren't one of his close buddies or he himself doesn't like it. It will not be taken into account. Again take it from someone who has been in this community for a long time and has seen everything. These issues were mentioned to Gurrazor a few months back, if nothing has changed with them, that tells you how much management cares. Ideas are shot down from both staff members and players all the time. The community does not care. Their excuse formally is always "we have our own vision of Monolith" or "Look what happened when we listened to you guys when we switched back to Paralake". But it is completely disregarded that the players run the community and suggestions are everything in such case.

Anticheat Measures:

Well if you haven't already figured it out yet your IQ is probably lower than your shoe size. These investigations community management have on players are nothing but them determining one's fate based on how the sun rose up that morning. There is nothing that should be internal about them because they see just as much as players see. Someone who doesn't play on the server, and plays nothing but cards games a.k.a Stuvi likes to call the shots on this one. Who in my whole entire run as a Server Director and staff hasn't spoke to me once. Some cheating reports are instantly denied for "insufficient evidence" because they are too lazy to investigate it or accepted because a die rolled an even number or some stupid bs like that. They don't care enough to investigate, simple as that. Their Lead Developer: Mark, got on the server once to participate in an event and got mad because he thought everyone was hacking and said hit reg sucked, this is the same person who is also rarely confronted about cheaters. Who knows why someone may get banned for "third party usage of software". It's all fake. Great system you guys have right? Pretty efficient and has worked well for the community!

Current Staff Members:

If you are currently a staff member and haven't thought about your dedication to the community please read through these posts, from players and former staff. I loved the staff team when I joined and I loved the server. I grinded out reports day and night and rose through the ranks incredibly fast. Once I got to the top it felt good and I started caring less and less for the community and would consider myself as a brain-washed person throughout that period. Therefore I would also want to apologize to former staff members I have demoted or gotten onto, or maybe even current staff members. I would also like to apologize to players who are banned currently because of me. If you think the reason you were talked to, banned, demoted, is bs it probably was and is. If you enjoy the community as a staff member great, it can be fun for a period of time. But you will soon come to the realization that you are a pawn and just another number. That may not sound right too many current staff members, but it is, and you would be able to tell if you took a peak at internal chats.

Conclusion:

Everything I have said here is 110% true and are events I have personally experienced with my time with Monolith. I am glad I am out of this complete shithole and fuckery going on here because after I got demoted after my long run by a management member (DevulTJ) who showed up on that blue moon day I felt relieved and glad. Throughout my time I was worked to the bone with a lot of stuff especially when I was a Senior Administrator (which is why I became Server Director). But the point I am trying to get across is this is all fake, it is ran by people who don't care, and the only thing they are running on is luck, money, and their staff members. Their players are soon going to give up then will the money, then will the staff members. And when finally the luck runs out, this community will be gone.

Hopefully I touched at least broadly on most topics or curiosities. This may get taken down, it may not. I couldn't go into much detail because I would have gotten banned regardless for "inciting drama" and leaking internal information which I have a lot of.

If you want to hear more of a rant or have questions you can message and add me here: Maj.Kat#2489

- Maj.Kat, former Server Director

 

[Xanzabar]

You were discouraged because you have complete ill intent for Monolith Servers. You admitted this yourself - I think you should solely focus on your community.

Point needs backing up with proof or a source. Ill feelings to negative aspects of your community =/= ill intent. Freedom of opinion.

If you had all of this negative stigma for Monolith - surely you'd have an inclination to work towards eliminating this during your tenure as a Server Director. To me, it just looks like you're taking advantage of a situation to align with your own goals

That's pretty unreasonable to say. I in fact did try to eliminate a lot of my negative thoughts of your community during my tenure. Unsuccessfully I was against the pure allowance of streamers to break rules with staff permissions was one of those I never could fix given how imbedded that is to your community operations.

Better staff promotion vetting was another. It's imbedded within your server to operate staff and promotions like a corporate company. Take a look at SuperHeavy. Very active and well driven staff member kept at moderator due to CMs visions on him as immature.

 

[BAC.]

this is meant to be a professional environment and we're meant to set an example to follow.

Isn't there literally a compilation of CM's using racial slurs within the monolith discord?

 

[Thy]

if you mention them you get in trouble

silencing anyone talking about them seems pointless and damaging to the community.

This whole thing with getting in trouble if you mention perma banned people who started drama begun way back in truenorth I believe. Some people were banned for breaking the rules, and a whole bunch of people thought it was a good idea to spam #freethebois and other fun things in OOC, forums and discord. So it was just to stop people doing that sort of thing. I will be the first to admit that it may have gone a little wild at times, however I hope you can understand how frustrating something like that can be when you have to dedicate so much time to someone who just wants to harm the community.
Hopefully we can move away from that and chill a bit.

get a warning point/blacklist/ban without being told what rule you actually broke.

This should never happen of course. Any time anyone is punished or warned by staff they should be told why they were punished and what to do differently next time. This is something we'll have to improve of course but it will be ongoing. If it happens, feel free to let me know.

CM, you set the example for those under you. If you routinely behave in an unprofessional manner to players, staff members will follow suit. It isn't enough to simply say that you make mistakes because you are human, you must own up to them, apologize, and explain to those under you your reasons for doing so. Other people doing the wrong thing cannot be an excuse for you doing the wrong thing.

This has been brought up repeatedly throughout this thread and we are taking it to heart. As TJ already mentioned, this is something we've discussed internally in the past month (roughly) or so, and we've become even more focused on it due to the community meeting this past Saturday and this thread of course.
What you're saying is true. We have to lead by example.
This will not be an immediate change of course, but we will actively work towards achieving a more friendly and open atmosphere.

Wasn't @Damp Eggplant literally silenced for thanking someone the other day though?

He wasn't silenced in my opinion. If that was the goal the thread would have simply been removed. The issue with that thread, is that based on experience of running gmod communities (all of two, wow) those types of threads rarely work out.
They start out really well, but usually devolve into drama one way or the other, ultimately taking away from the goal of the thread.
If you want to thank a staff member that you believe is doing a great job, you can write on their forum profile, message them on the server, discord, steam or here on the forums. There are plenty of opportunities to compliment staff (or mentors) who you think deserve it.

Staff Appreciation:
I do not know where to start here one bit. I will tell you EXACTLY how management sees all staff which I have experienced as a Server Director who can view internal chats. They are nothing but puppets, slaves, and disciples. You will get rid of in a heartbeat. They only care about numbers. Everything I am going to say here is true. When a staff member is considered for demotion the first thing that is thought about (at least from the more rational community management MEMBER) is what is going to come from it. Will we lose other staff members in spite of this? This is the first think thought of and it is sad. Take me for example I was demoted after spending two years in this community and was demoted after a ONE hour argument.

As Gregg previously said, who is a former Server Director, as will I right now, staff are not appreciated. Community management does not care for you and will not care. Staff appreciation things are shot down all the time, same goes for mentor rewards, in which BOTH are a main fuel for income in the community. The only way appreciation is shown is through promotions and I will say it right now, they are earned by three ways. 1. Snitching on other people 2. Report count 3. Not sounding dumb. If you haven't gotten a promotion yet as a staff member, you haven't grinded reports out day and night yet or you are seen as a stereotypically irresponsible person. For example someone with a high toned / seemingly immature voice *cough* * cough*. Take this from a person who has first hand dealt with promotions.

Okay then. I'm not really gonna make a big reply to you, since a lot of this is either misinterpreted or just blatantly lies.
We care about our staff. We want them to enjoy themselves as they do their duties as much as possible. We don't just say "oh well, good riddance who cares" if a staff member leaves or gets demoted. Off the top of my head I can mention several staff members who I'm sad have left and I still have respect for.

Listening to Suggestions:
My god my god. God forbid someone suggests something in this community, your suggestion is taken as a grain of salt, because you know who handles them? No other than the Lead Developer. If you suggest something to them and you aren't one of his close buddies or he himself doesn't like it. It will not be taken into account. Again take it from someone who has been in this community for a long time and has seen everything. These issues were mentioned to Gurrazor a few months back, if nothing has changed with them, that tells you how much management cares. Ideas are shot down from both staff members and players all the time. The community does not care. Their excuse formally is always "we have our own vision of Monolith" or "Look what happened when we listened to you guys when we switched back to Paralake". But it is completely disregarded that the players run the community and suggestions are everything in such case.

Again, incorrect and you know it is.
We do listen to and read suggestions. However just because we read/listen or consider something doesn't mean that it will be accepted. Yes, a lot of suggestions are denied. Many of them are duplicates, too difficult to attempt, not worth it in a time vs gain scenario or simply incompatible with the gamemode. But we also accept many suggestions. If we count roughly, more than 600 suggestions have been accepted, and that's not mentioning the ones that have been brought in second hand through word of mouth.

Anticheat Measures:
Well if you haven't already figured it out yet your IQ is probably lower than your shoe size. These investigations community management have on players are nothing but them determining one's fate based on how the sun rose up that morning. There is nothing that should be internal about them because they see just as much as players see. Someone who doesn't play on the server, and plays nothing but cards games a.k.a Stuvi likes to call the shots on this one. Who in my whole entire run as a Server Director and staff hasn't spoke to me once. Some cheating reports are instantly denied for "insufficient evidence" because they are too lazy to investigate it or accepted because a die rolled an even number or some stupid bs like that. They don't care enough to investigate, simple as that. Their Lead Developer: Mark, got on the server once to participate in an event and got mad because he thought everyone was hacking and said hit reg sucked, this is the same person who is also rarely confronted about cheaters. Who knows why someone may get banned for "third party usage of software". It's all fake. Great system you guys have right? Pretty efficient and has worked well for the community!

This is just so incredibly wrong and blatantly false that I'm not gonna waste any more time on it.

is all fake, it is ran by people who don't care, and the only thing they are running on is luck, money, and their staff members.

Again, incredibly wrong. We wouldn't have dedicated 1000's of hours to this project and this community if we didn't care or have a passion.

Isn't there literally a compilation of CM's using racial slurs within the monolith discord?

Probably, yeah. Ironic how the ones making the biggest deal out of it were themselves using it liberally.
Anyway for context. Full disclosure, yes we have used racist slurs on the monolith discord in private channels. No denying that. We did it, realized it was wrong and we have stopped. That does not excuse the fact that we did it, but at least we can own up to it and change for the better.


EDIT: Also good on your @Tye for moderating your own posts, appreciate it

 

[BAC.]

The issue with that thread, is that based on experience of running gmod communities (all of two, wow) those types of threads rarely work out.

Don't get me wrong, I respect you quite a lot, but I dont agree with what you're standing for right now, but then yet again I get why you do.

I don't see how appreciating @Thanewolfe could not work out? There is literally nothing that could go wrong.

 

[Alphadef]

More in terms of punishments. Seeing no appeal/malicious intent/inciting drama bans doesn't give any sort of information and just slaps people under a label so that they can just be silenced and if you mention them you get in trouble. It doesn't seem to help anything just creates more tension/resentment between the players and the staff team. I understand some people who got that type of ban deserved it but some others didn't and just silencing anyone talking about them seems pointless and damaging to the community. On another note in admin sits in game you will sometimes not be in the discussion and will get a warning point/blacklist/ban without being told what rule you actually broke. If you don't get told what rule you broke it is really hard to appeal and is really frustrating. About the watchlist for me it was more the way that players who brought it up were treated. Also all staff have said they use it barely for watching people but from hearing stories off others and personal experience you can get staff that follow you for like an hour in invisible mode just watching you.

The malicious/drama/etc tag tends to be reserved for people whos offense was probably both premeditated and directly intended to be harmful to the community as a whole (think manifesto mass rdms and such).

As for the other point, I dont know who's giving punishments without a chance for defense or explanation but they definitely shouldn't be.

And for watching: I'll be transparent with you. There are times where I will watch people for a little bit. But I want to be clear there are a couple of conditions on this. I don't watch people just because I don't like them. Whenever I'm watching someone its usually because either they've said something (such as in a sit or in ooc) or someone made a report saying that they believe there's a decent chance for a rulebreak. This also comes with the catch that I have to have the time available to do this (so, downtime between reports when id just be flying around checking things out otherwise). Basically the point I'm saying is that yes: there are times when staff (or at least, I) watch players. We're usually looking to catch something specific, not just watch someone hoping to catch anything. I dont think thats unreasonable, right?

In the situation where you have a staff watching you outside of the above situations, it still likely isn't malicious. Sometimes we're just bored and like to watch interactions instead of flying around glancing at people. One of my favorite people to sort of "hang around" when im bored was always Viktor Sokolov because its genuinely enjoyable to hear him interact with people.

 

[BAC.]

The malicious/drama/etc tag tends to be reserved for people whos offense was probably both premeditated and directly intended to be harmful to the community as a whole (think manifesto mass rdms and such).

What about @Nub ( Berry Smith )?

Even Nub himself doesn't know why he was banned just because it used the word "Malicious" to mask the reason.

 

[Tye]

This whole thing with getting in trouble if you mention perma banned people who started drama begun way back in truenorth I believe. Some people were banned for breaking the rules, and a whole bunch of people thought it was a good idea to spam #freethebois and other fun things in OOC, forums and discord. So it was just to stop people doing that sort of thing. I will be the first to admit that it may have gone a little wild at times, however I hope you can understand how frustrating something like that can be when you have to dedicate so much time to someone who just wants to harm the community.
Hopefully we can move away from that and chill a bit.

This should never happen of course. Any time anyone is punished or warned by staff they should be told why they were punished and what to do differently next time. This is something we'll have to improve of course but it will be ongoing. If it happens, feel free to let me know.

I understand that in the past there was some reason for it but most for most cases it wasnt someone saying #freethebois, it was someone asking why they got banned or referencing them in a goodbye post and getting told to stop mentioning them. If it has changed from that then great but telling people not to mention them just felt like it was an attempted to cover up that they existed on the server. I appreciate the offer and if it does happen again i will msg you.

 

[Joey.]

Well, considering everyone else has something going here, I thought I would put my mind to the thread as well;

Introduction
While some of you may know me, for those who don't, my name is Joey, and I was formally labeled as a Senior Administrator for Monolith RP. I will be completely honest, I did really enjoy my time on the team, and worked my ass off for it too. I substituted spending time with friends and family for a reason I can't even come up with. I guess I just enjoyed my time with the community and some of the people on the staff team. I was also known as Yo Bamba a couple years ago when I joined the team with Maj.Kat for the first time. This was the time I enjoyed the most. I had lots of fun with lots of the players and the staff team was arguably 10 times better back then than it is now. With that being said, I eventually left the team, I would tell you I was just doing stuff in real life that cut me off, but realistically I was just burnt out cause of the life I wasted here. You really do spend all of your day doing shit for the team with little to no reward. I just spent all my time taking reports and doing a lot for the different teams hoping for some sort of rewarding feeling, mainly looking towards further promotions. I got stuck at Moderator for so long, 2000+ reports later I was finally promoted to an Administrator when I was so burnt out I didn't even want to open the game. I finally resigned. A couple months later I was talking to someone from the team who convinced me to come back, which I did. When I was eventually labeled a Senior Administrator. But what was the real reason I was promoted from admin to SA? Because I changed my profile picture... : )

The Management
When it comes to the higher ups, I will be completely honest, in my own opinion, they couldn't give two shits what was happening internally. When it comes to who does all the work in management, the only answer I can give you is PMX and the lower staff members. It's quite obvious, and if you haven't noticed it yet, you need to get your head out of your ass.

As much as I enjoyed talking to Thy, another CM, I can't really say he did all too much when I was there. PMX seemed like a cool guy when I talked to him, but I don't know how sincere our conversations really were. But for the rest, I bet you can assume how I feel about them.

If I'm being fully honest, I forgot that Stuvi was a CM....He might as well have had all the DM's from the staff team blocked, and I know for a fact I could find multiple other staff members who dealt with what I did. Our DM's consist of me talking to him about joining forum moderation and report management on October 26th, 2019. Updated the question on December 9th. I got no response. I later resigned but like I said before I did rejoin the team. I then asked the same question on July 4th, 2020. Updated that 9 days later, when I was finally responded to 4 days later after asking other CM's to ask him for me. And while we are on the topic of Stuvi, he doesn't care. He treats everyone like garbage if I'm being completely honest. I never once saw him having a sincere conversation with anyone on the team. He also talked down to players, which I know lead to some staff doing the same, including myself. For this I apologize to anyone I have talked down to in the past, I was brainwashed, and knew no better.

I really have nothing to say about TJ, as I never once, in either of my times as staff, talked to him...

The Staff Team
In terms of the staff team, like @Maj.Kat said, you are nothing but brainwashed losers to the management. Nothing but mere pawns that can be discarded at any moment for any little thing. You are a puppet, that's as simple as I can put it.

I'm not gonna say that I did nearly as much as Maj.Kat did in his time, but I damn well put my time into this server.

As you may see, some of the threads that the team still uses are mine. There are also a few behind the scenes that players can't see that I spent lots of time on that I would bet every last dollar is still being used by them.

I don't necessarily mind that this is the case, but you never get recognition for things like this. You spend time doing something for the community, but it's as if they don't give a shit.

For those of you who don't know, there are rewards you can claim for the work you do as a staff member, and while I will probably get in trouble for saying this, this is something that the staff team MILKS. I never posted a thread on this page my second time around for a reward. I simply did everything I did for the community, and as stated before, who cares? Maybe the players, at least I would hope so.

FOR ANY CURRENT STAFF MEMBERS
Good luck! : )

That's really all I can say. There are the dumbest things that you will be held back for. Having a high pitched voice, having an "immature" profile picture, or even misspelling a few words will keep you locked in the ranking system.

Please, think about the time you are spending for the server. Is it really something you want to dedicate your life to? Is it really something you want to spend your time doing? If the answer is yes, you do you. I won't talk down on you, as I did the same. But if you really think about what you are working for, you may just change your mind.

And for all you two faced monkeys on the staff team, have fun working your life away!

Players
To any of you players that I have done wrong in the past or banned for something stupid, I sincerely give you my apologies. I can't say all too much on this topic cause I don't really remember half of you who were removed from the community cause of me. Sorry

Just as Maj said, my DM's are always open for questions too, go for it, you probably have my discord if you have any questions anyway, so no point in sending it.

In the end, I'll probably be banned for this. With that being said, I'll see you guys later.

~Joey

 

[Tye]

The malicious/drama/etc tag tends to be reserved for people whos offense was probably both premeditated and directly intended to be harmful to the community as a whole (think manifesto mass rdms and such).

As for the other point, I dont know who's giving punishments without a chance for defense or explanation but they definitely shouldn't be.

And for watching: I'll be transparent with you. There are times where I will watch people for a little bit. But I want to be clear there are a couple of conditions on this. I don't watch people just because I don't like them. Whenever I'm watching someone its usually because either they've said something (such as in a sit or in ooc) or someone made a report saying that they believe there's a decent chance for a rulebreak. This also comes with the catch that I have to have the time available to do this (so, downtime between reports when id just be flying around checking things out otherwise). Basically the point I'm saying is that yes: there are times when staff (or at least, I) watch players. We're usually looking to catch something specific, not just watch someone hoping to catch anything. I dont think thats unreasonable, right?

In the situation where you have a staff watching you outside of the above situations, it still likely isn't malicious. Sometimes we're just bored and like to watch interactions instead of flying around glancing at people. One of my favorite people to sort of "hang around" when im bored was always Viktor Sokolov because its genuinely enjoyable to hear him interact with people.

That is what the tag should be used for but it isn't a lot of time time. It is used a lot to cover up the reason and "no appeal" is pretty common. It is not rare to see someone getting banned or having their ban reinstated with "no appeal" i cant think of a reason where a "no appeal" ban should be handed out. As for the watching people i understand that sometimes it could be fun to watch people play but a lot of the time it is just a floating flashlight/physgun in the air and you will be pulled up into a sit and told to stop what you are doing. Again as i have said before it was more the complete dismissal of the fact the staff watch players which made it feel sinister as if you weren't meant to know that you were being watched.

edit - Sidenote = Why cant layzey say that he agrees with these posts and the problems they bring up and those are why he left the community?

 

[Credence]

I think at this point now we are all just repeating ourselves. Now its time to see if they listen to us and change.