Staff Feedback: June 2017

[Brandon Rhea]

Hi everyone. Every once in awhile, we post feedback threads like this where we want to know how you think the staff is doing and what suggestions you have for improvement.

In this thread, you can review the overall staff and give us your suggestions for where we could improve. If you want, you can also comment on the individual administrators. If you're going to comment on individual administrators with your feedback, I would recommend reviewing every admin. That way, you're not singling anyone in particular out.

We are looking for feedback on:

• Level of site-wide activity
• Level of RP activity
• Effectiveness as a group
• Member relations - do you feel the admins are accessible, nice, fun, etc?
• Suggestions for improvement
• Overall performance
• Anything else you want to comment on

We want your honest and thoughtful feedback on everything we do as staff, whether that's in public or through our interactions with you. We want to know what you think of our performance and what we can do better. We may also choose to respond to your feedback, and we will do so with the same respect and civility we expect of you.

Remember, this is for your benefit as well as ours. We're here to provide you with a great website, so we want your honest assessment of whether we're living up to that. You will never be banned for giving your honest feedback. So, please feel free to post your feedback in this thread. Thanks!

 

[Sakie]

I guess I'll start off by saying that you and @Sreeya have assembled an awesome lineup of mods and admins. I don't really know if I can overstate that fact, you've done a great job, and I probably spend far too much time on here because of that. I could go on about specific staff members who are freaking awesome (specifically @Malon, @Aberforth, @Dark child and @Zenya). That being said, in my opinion there are still a few improvements that could be made.

Probably due to the fact that we have a relatively large pool of members, I noticed that it can be hard - especially for newer members - to get the attention of some of the website's staff (especially if that user, like me and @Nova Elgrin, is from a country that is more active when the rest of the American population of SWRP is asleep; for example, we might post a CP when it's around 2-3 AM in Central US, and for some reason that means it sometimes goes completely ignored). This can be extremely deflating for a new member (especially after working for hours on a CP), and can even cause them to lose interest in SWRP altogether.

This isn't the only issue effecting newer members; if their occasionally faulty characters go completely unnoticed - it leaves us with people RPing as THE Darth Vader and maybe a lightsaber-wielding Gandalf (obviously, this is an overstatement of how severe their character malfunctions go, but i think you see my point. Seemingly 1 in 3 new members will make their first CP without viewing the character creation rules, which is an obvious issue).

It would be fantastic if we could get to the point where every new CP was reviewed within 72 hours or so, without letting any slip through the gaps - the same goes with faction applications, new members posting in the 'welcome' section, etc. - this might be a little unrealistic of an expectation, but there are heaps of members here who would be willing to help out in that regard. I guess I just feel like the staff are a bit stretched at times.

;)

 

[Gian Greydragon]

I guess I'll start off by saying that you and @Sreeya have assembled an awesome lineup of mods and admins. I don't really know if I can overstate that fact, you've done a great job, and I probably spend far too much time on here because of that. I could go on about specific staff members who are freaking awesome (specifically @Malon, @Aberforth, @Dark child and @Zenya). That being said, in my opinion there are still a few improvements that could be made.

Probably due to the fact that we have a relatively large pool of members, I noticed that it can be hard - especially for newer members - to get the attention of some of the website's staff (especially if that user, like me and @Nova Elgrin, is from a country that is more active when the rest of the American population of SWRP is asleep; for example, we might post a CP when it's around 2-3 AM in Central US, and for some reason that means it sometimes goes completely ignored). This can be extremely deflating for a new member (especially after working for hours on a CP), and can even cause them to lose interest in SWRP altogether.

This isn't the only issue effecting newer members; if their occasionally faulty characters go completely unnoticed - it leaves us with people RPing as THE Darth Vader and maybe a lightsaber-wielding Gandalf (obviously, this is an overstatement of how severe their character malfunctions go, but i think you see my point. Seemingly 1 in 3 new members will make their first CP without viewing the character creation rules, which is an obvious issue).

It would be fantastic if we could get to the point where every new CP was reviewed within 72 hours or so, without letting any slip through the gaps - the same goes with faction applications, new members posting in the 'welcome' section, etc. - this might be a little unrealistic of an expectation, but there are heaps of members here who would be willing to help out in that regard. I guess I just feel like the staff are a bit stretched at times.

Sorry for the rant! ;)

While I agree with the majority of your statement, I've noticed a lot of change in regard to CPs going unnoticed or unreviewed, up until @Zenya stepped up to the plate. I'm very impressed by how she's taken on her role of Character Mod, and how proactive she is at her job. Since myself and a few others urged her to take the position, she's blown my personal expectations out of the water.

 

[Outlander]

While I agree with the majority of your statement, I've noticed a lot of change in regard to CPs going unnoticed or unreviewed, up until @Zenya stepped up to the plate. I'm very impressed by how she's taken on her role of Character Mod, and how proactive she is at her job. Since myself and a few others urged her to take the position, she's blown my personal expectations out of the water.

Personally, i'm of the opinion that, with proper time and training, Zenya could replace every single Admin, Mod, and Site Owner that exists, has existed, or will exist at some point in the future.

But that's just my two cents on the matter.

 

[Hol Horse]

Well, I hit 100 messages now with this post, so I guess thats good enough for a bit of hindsight.

Overall the new member experience on SWRP so far has been pretty great in my opinon, and I'd say a lot of that comes down to easy access and availability on behalf of the mod team. As someone who's been an rp mod on other sites in the past since he was 13, I gotta admit, the level of welcomeness and inclusion I've felt so far from the staff, especially new member mods like @Dark child and @Zenya have been pretty impressive. In terms of admins, @Malon, @Phoenix, @Arclight , etc., have been helpful when putting up with my pestering questions here and there, as have all the other higher ups in all honesty.

Id probably chime in with the same point that @Jacob Eden made about timezones though. As someone who usually lives outside of the US during term time, I find that usually the site is pretty dead in terms of admin activity since, so far as I can tell, most people on the site are from the states. That's not necessarily a bad thing, quality over quantity and all that, but the place can suddenly feel rather barren if your awake during the day in the UK or similarly. When it comes to actually getting approved, I never had any hassle and instead usually get constructive feedback when needed.

One thing that definitely feels like a step in the right direction was the recent pack of New Member Missions. Truth be told, I'd be totally for possibly tossing out some more series of missions here and there for new members to feel involved in, as that early investment might create more of a desire to stay and play things out than waiting for a character to get approved and go from there. Maybe like a bi-monthly sort of deal, something along those lines.

Only other thing I could think of to chime in on as a new member might be the sheer volume of content a new/casual star wars fan has to soak in and learn after going of what they know from the movies or tv shows. @Valen Pelora was helpful with what to look at in terms of canon and where to start, but something a bit like the Rogue One page but skewed slightly might be appreciated. That or I'm just a wimp who needs to git gud.

 

[Undine]

Level of site-wide activity

We hit a bit of a slowdown as the timeskip approached, which is to be expected, but the level of bounce back post-timeskip was amazing to see. In particular, and I don't know the exact numbers on it, but I feel like we've had more new members in the last month or so, which is always nice to see. It might be a perception thing on my part though, as I like to read up on all new Jedi profiles, and there might have just been more new members going for Jedi.

Level of RP activity

This kinda goes hand and hand with the site-wide activity, as with the level of bounce back post-timeskip also brought a lot of new story arcs and mission packs for the various factions, even feels like there are more people interested in making their own indie factions. Not sure if this is just because of the personal preferences and ideas of the members involved, or if it's possible that with the rise of the Mandalorians as a main faction more people are interested is the potential of indie factions. Either way a cohesive diversity will only serve to enhance the RP overall, and from what I've seen there seems to be more willingness from people to have characters involved in the same threads or even story arcs that wouldn't normally commingle.

Many members, often myself included, end up only really RPing with characters from within their own faction or group of friends, and it's really cool to see people RPing with a wider variety of characters. Paired with the rise in interest for making some pretty awesome Indie characters in the last couple weeks, it almost feels like we've shrugged off the shackles of the last timeline where so many indie characters were isolated.

Effectiveness as a group

To me at least it feels as if we're leaning towards a more diverse cast of characters, as I've mentioned above, but at the same time characters from all factions feel so much more connected to one another than they did last timeline, which is something I'm really excited about personally and I think shows that we've grown as a community on some level.

Member relations - do you feel the admins are accessible, nice, fun, etc?

Always, I would put some quirky comment or something, but to be honest I haven't felt that you guys were out of reach since I first started on the site and I didn't know anyone. Personally I value the insights of newer members over members like myself when it comes to this topic since after nearly 3 years, I kinda already know everyone on the admin team well enough to know how you guys operate.

Suggestions for improvement

At the moment I'm just waiting to see if the current aspects I've given praise to pan out, or if it's just a burst of activity following the timeskip. If I did come up with an idea for improvement, it'd most likely be about something small scale or niche on the site that'd be better brought up elsewhere. If anything, I've noticed that when some people use formatting to frame their text, as with the abox/b/box/cbox coding, part of the text gets cut off when viewing in mobile mode, but that's really the best I can come up with.

Overall performance

Good, it's been good for a while and even looks like it's going in a more promising direction yet.

Anything else you want to comment on

I don't want to get into any specifics or go into a full blown breakdown and review, but @Zenya @Dark child and @Aberforth have really taken to their new roles as slaves of the SWRP rather well from what I've seen. I either don't interact with the other admins or I'm not very active in thier fields of admindom, such as the tech forums to really be able to comment. For that I apologize.​

 

[Sakie]

While I agree with the majority of your statement, I've noticed a lot of change in regard to CPs going unnoticed or unreviewed, up until @Zenya stepped up to the plate. I'm very impressed by how she's taken on her role of Character Mod, and how proactive she is at her job. Since myself and a few others urged her to take the position, she's blown my personal expectations out of the water.

I totally agree, @Zenya is doing a absolutely fantastic job, and I wasn't trying to take away from that. She's drastically cut down on the amount of CPs going unreviewed, and she probabl deserves some sort of medal for that, but she still has a life outside of SWRP, and - correct me if I'm wrong, @Zenya - that makes it quite difficult to catch every single CP that goes through; specifically ones posted at uncomfortable American times like 1-4 am in the morning when we have like 5 members online.

EDIT: Yesssss, 100 posts.

 

[Outlander]

I think @Zenya's job, ideally, should be to rule on characters with obvious issues, to deal with writers that are acting negatively or obstinately towards critique, or to stop people from giving members bad advice on their characters. She shouldn't have to rule on every single profile.

 

[Undine]

I think @Zenya's job, ideally, should be to rule on characters with obvious issues, to deal with writers that are acting negatively or obstinately towards critique, or to stop people from giving members bad advice on their characters. She shouldn't have to rule on every single profile.

Agreed. @Jacob Eden I'm not sure if your under the impression that every character needs to be approved or given the go ahead to RP, but no character needs to be approved to be RPed. When issues arise members who read those CPs will comment addressing them, or even tag the appropriate admin. Yes, Zenya reviews CPs, and is really doing a great job at it, but she can't and doesn't need to approve every character. Honestly, if I was in her position I'd mainly focus on Indie characters, as CPs destined for the main factions tend to be reviewed by that particular faction's leadership quickly enough, often pointing out and addressing the same sort of issues that Zenya would, but they also have the benefit of having a deeper understanding of what that specific faction looks for in their members, something Zenya might not have for every faction.​

 

[Sakie]

I think @Zenya's job, ideally, should be to rule on characters with obvious issues, to deal with writers that are acting negatively or obstinately towards critique, or to stop people from giving members bad advice on their characters. She shouldn't have to rule on every single profile.

Again, I agree. If Zenya is going to take on that massive role, she shouldn't have to deal with every other CP. But I think someone or a set group of people should (maybe we could have some sort of 'character check' team, to help lighten Zenya's load). Basic feedback really helps newer members, because it's really rare for a new member to get it perfect on their first or second attempts (unless they have previous experience in RP, obviously) and, at least in my case, it really gave me the boost I needed to getting to being (somewhat) proficient in writing character profiles.

 

[Sakie]

Agreed. @Jacob Eden I'm not sure if your under the impression that every character needs to be approved or given the go ahead to RP, but no character needs to be approved to be RPed. When issues arise members who read those CPs will comment addressing them, or even tag the appropriate admin. Yes, Zenya reviews CPs, and is really doing a great job at it, but she can't and doesn't need to approve every character. Honestly, if I was in her position I'd mainly focus on Indie characters, as CPs destined for the main factions tend to be reviewed by that particular faction's leadership quickly enough, often pointing out and addressing the same sort of issues that Zenya would, but they also have the benefit of having a deeper understanding of what that specific faction looks for in their members, something Zenya might not have for every faction.​

No, I didn't think that all characters had to be approved to RP. I was just suggesting that its always helpful for (specifically newer) members to get feedback on their characters, and it can be somewhat deflating if they don't, especially after working on a character for a long time (hours, days, or even weeks - trust me, I've been there... although maybe it's just a perfectionist thing).

 

[Outlander]

Again, I agree. If Zenya is going to take on that massive role, she shouldn't have to deal with every other CP. But I think someone or a set group of people should (maybe we could have a 'character check' team, to help lighten Zenya's load). Basic feedback really helps newer members, because it's really rare for a new member to get it perfect on their first or second attempts (unless they have previous experience in RP, obviously) and, at least in my case, it really gave me the boost I needed to getting to being (somewhat) proficient in writing character profiles.

Ideally, that job would fall to the community. Profiles have been crowdsourced for years, and while I love having @Zenya around to offer official positions on profiles, I like the approach we've had generally.

 

[Sakie]

Ideally, that job would fall to the community. Profiles have been crowdsourced for years, and while I love having @Zenya around to offer official positions on profiles, I like the approach we've had generally.

That's fair enough. My argument would be that some members can't always be trusted to provide accurate info, and it still lets a few CPs slip through the cracks, like this one, posted by a brand new member three days ago (i might just be nit-picking though; i have ocd so everything must be perfect XD), but it's a fair argument and you're entitled to your opinion.

 

[Outlander]

That's fair enough. My argument would be that some members can't always be trusted to provide accurate info, and it still lets a few CPs slip through the cracks, like this one, posted by a brand new member three days ago (i might just be nit-picking though; i have ocd so everything must be perfect XD), but it's a fair argument and you're entitled to your opinion.

Maybe no one commented because no one saw anything particularly wrong?

I get what you're saying. But putting in full on character reviews and getting a staff dedicated to that kind of goes what's been built on here for a long time. The situations you described are ideal areas for @Zenya to cover, but I don't really want to see things going farther than that.

 

[Sakie]

Maybe no one commented because no one saw anything particularly wrong?

I get what you're saying. But putting in full on character reviews and getting a staff dedicated to that kind of goes what's been built on here for a long time. The situations you described are ideal areas for @Zenya to cover, but I don't really want to see things going farther than that.

I could go on about this for hours, but presumably you aren't an ENTP (the personality type who enjoys debating) like me and generally people get really pissed off at me when I keep arguing about stuff; so I'll stop. I respect your opinion, and honestly this argument probably isn't going to change our minds about the topic anyway.

 

[The Living Daylights]

Even though I've only been here half a year, I've noticed a drastic change with the CP reviews, so I can safely that @Zenya is doing a fantastic job. It also seems like the content submission area is being responded to more quickly than before. And all the other mods (@Malon, @Dark child, @Aberforth, @GABA LAMA DING DONG, etc.) are all fantastic also.

RP & site-wide activity, member relations and effectiveness as a group — All seem pretty flawless from what I've seen. I've got hardly any criticisms myself, except the fluctuating mod activity due to timezone differences. Being Australian, my times are practically inverted with those of you in the UK and US. But I see a fair bit of you guys (and a couple of mods), especially if I get on in the morning. So it's not that big of a deal, and I definitely wouldn't go so far as to say that the timezone disparity causes a loss of interest in RP altogether or anything like that. You're all human and all have to do things outside of the site, so it's not even a major criticism, just something that could be improved upon.

 

[Sreeya]

@Jacob Eden and @Outlander and for anyone else: Let's please not have back and forth dialogue in here. Only feedback in the format posted above should be posted here. Thanks for understanding.

 

[Valen Pelora]

I love you all.

 

[Dmitri]

Something I'll add: Like what was discussed before, Zenya is not able to review every profile, and probably prioritizes Indie characters. That being said, if you would like second opinions or look-ats by others, just ask. I personally don't mind helping new members (or older members) with characters; I promise not to name anything ;)

 

[Zenya]

Well. I was not expecting the storm, when I woke up...
This is my job~
I try to work diligently on all profiles. On the occasion one gets missed, I have no issue being PM'd or tagged. If one looks absolutely perfect, sometimes I don't comment. However, usually I do just to notify the person that they are good to go. I am not required to comment on all profiles, but I do enjoy complimenting people's work that stands out to me.
It's also worth noting, that not every profile will receive comments. There's nothing wrong that, but if you @Jacob Eden would like to work to make a change, I suggest you do. The profiles are open to the public, and members are free to comment. Just make sure you are not providing critiques unless you are positive it is 100% accurate.
If you feel like your character is being neglected, post on my wall, or do as @Dmitri suggested, and grab the attention of him, or one of our staff.
Also. We don't need a character-staff-team put together. If anything, two character mods at most. We have a fantastic team of FLs/AFLs that also put a lot of work into getting characters approved. We are at no shortage of hands for this project.
Aaand that seems about it on that subject... If you have any further questions @Outlander or @Jacob Eden feel free to message me or an admin. If there's a serious issue, we will get it resolved.
As of right now, I hope we can move on to feedback about the other staff and leadership :P