Hats Off! (Give administrators, developers, &c the ability to present themselves simply as members)

[Oeconomist]

Recently, a member of your staff wanted to express his or her opinion about a suggestion here, without claiming special authority. He or she felt a need repeatedly to state that he or she were just expressing a personal opinion.

The concern was legitimate, but would have been less pressing if that person could simply have toggled his or her status to “member”.

If such a toggle is provided, it would probably be best [1] to make it something that is reset after actions of various sorts (such as posting comments) and [2] to give users with this privilege the ability to edit comments to put the hat back on or take it off, in case a mistake were made.

 

[ABCsOfLife]

Are you trying to interview the staff of MD?

 

[Oeconomist]

@ABCsOfLife—

No; I don't currently have any questions about MD that I want answered. I just observed a problem, imagined a possible solution, and presented it.

 

[Zephyrus]

I have advocated for something similar. It would be really great if moderators had a way to distinguish between them acting in an official capacity and just another member.

 

[Arashiyama]

Seriously, who cares? Just make an alt account if they want to be "just another member".

 

[Teasday]

If you're talking about me, you can just say it lol. It's fine.

Anyhow, I'm not quite sure what problem this is supposed to address. I feel like most of the time this is pretty obvious from the context, and when it's not it's a failure of communication on the staff member's part.

 

[Kaarme]

Even a nation's top politicians and top officials don't always know how to separate official and personal opinions in public, yet the country still keeps running. I hardly think it's a problem for a manga site. Surely nobody here feels like mods and admins aren't entitled to opinions of their own? As a person who has, over the years, served as a mod and admin here and there, in my opinion the only thing the staff members need to avoid is to publicly disagree with each other on matters than concern running the site (like, for example, if some thread needed to be locked, a manga removed, or a user banned). Otherwise their opinions are the same as anyone else's, though a site developer's opinion might be more educated in matters concerning the development of the site.

Other than that, when a person agrees to become a member of the staff, their posting habits will inevitably change due to the position of responsibility. That's natural. I don't see much point in trying to make them feel like they aren't a staffer for a particular thread/post. Quite phony.

In short, this is a site for entertainment, so everybody's here for that, staff included. Just relax!

 

[Oeconomist]

@Arashiyama—

If use of multiple accounts is not discouraged, the gates tend to be opened to things such as sock puppetry.

@Teasday—

Sad experience indicates that, if I am not circumspect in such references, then some yahoo (typically a third party) will claim either that I'm claiming an ally that I don't have, or that I'm criticizing someone.

Under the present system, there is indeed a failure of communication either when a member of staff fails to say that he or sh has taken off the staff hat, or when a member of the audience fails to attend to such words. But such failures will occur. and the need to communicate that distinction can get in the way of communicating what the staff member is primarily attempting to say.

@Kaarme—

Telling everyone in an Internet social forum to be relaxed and reasonable is not a strategy for success.

 

[Teasday]

_{@Oeconomist posted:}

Sad experience indicates that, if I am not circumspect in such references, then some yahoo (typically a third party) will claim either that I'm claiming an ally that I don't have, or that I'm criticizing someone.

Under the present system, there is indeed a failure of communication either when a member of staff fails to say that he or sh has taken off the staff hat, or when a member of the audience fails to attend to such words. But such failures will occur. and the need to communicate that distinction can get in the way of communicating what the staff member is primarily attempting to say.

Not entirely sure what you're referring to here, but nothing wrong with criticism. If I have a stupid opinion, people should feel free to call me out.

Anyway, what I meant to say is that I can't really take off my staff hat other than by sockpuppeting. With or without a hat, my name doesn't change. Anyway, the issues that might pop up from this potential communication breakdown don't seem to me like they're really much of a concern, or at least I don't remember anything significant happening so far. Certainly nothing that's unsalvageable with a quick clarification abouts facts and opinions.

 

[Oeconomist]

@Teasday—

In this case, I wasn't criticizing anyone, and I wouldn't have wanted someone to object that I were criticizing anyone even if criticizing might somehow have been warranted.

I think that taking one's admin/dev/mod hat off is analogous to an officer taking off his or her insignia of rank. Adopting a disguise really doesn't do it, that approach just conceals whether one has rank.

 

[Teddy]

I feel that this would be counter-productive in the long term.

This is site in which if a staff said they like bl, ecchi, loli, volience No one would bat an eye and would instead happily discuss which manga with the theme are good. We can frequently see staff talking about otaku stuff that they are enthusiastic about. I think this is actually sign of a good community since mods don't have to ooze a persona of strictness to maintain order. But a carefree community who are bought here by entertainment and interests. It is because of something so dumb that staff would volunteer to maintain such a site running: to feel joy in it and spread it to others.

Having to add such unnecessary filters would just make mods feel more structure and less free to enjoy the site they are helping out with. This isn't the same politicians and professionals since they have a paid job that includes discipline. We do not expect the staff to be saints nor even above average. Even when the staff have official announcements or bans people, we can (ought?)to see it as a friend just making something new they want us to try out or giving someone stupid a slap.

As of this point, thankfully I haven't seen any questionable decisions that resulted in bad intentional bans(not system tests). Only clear rule violaters.

(Though there was a religious discriminatory or political agenda name that was a cause of contention)

 

[AviKav]

@Teasday
Reddit's mod comments provide a similar mechanism to indicate whether a comment is on behalf of reddit staff, on behalf of the subreddit, or on behalf of themselves.

 

[AviKav]

@Teddy
The issue is not in changing the social interactions of staff, it's in indicating on whose behalf a comment is made. Whether something is the opinion/suggestion of the user vs the stance of the site.

 

[DANDAN_THE_DANDAN]

Can't this be solved by simply stating "I'm here to speak on behalf of my group/myself" at the beginning?

 

[Oeconomist]

@DANDAN_THE_DANDAN—

That belief has been discussed.

 

[Teasday]

@DANDAN_THE_DANDAN I'm here to speak on behalf of myself

Because it looks ridiculous

 

[DANDAN_THE_DANDAN]

Lol good point