Response to PMs and complaints

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WHO

Active Member
#21
I believe there is a lack of communication with all the staff. (not really the new ones, since I haven't discussed with them). I've talked to different staff about the same problems and it doesn't seem like they communicate or anything. Anytime I pm a moderator or admin I'm given a snarky reply or no reply at all and when I ask if they are going to reply to my PM I'm given another snarky remark. I've been given multiple warning for "publicly criticizing staff members", well if a staff member isn't going to reply to my PMs how am I supposed to get the situation handled or know it's handled?

Some of the mods I've talked to have favorites as well. The other day someone was harassing me on one account, then got on another and I asked if they knew it was a different account, in which they responded that moderation was none of my business. However, a week earlier I received information that the same staff member was sharing information about rules I've broken and their actions against ME with someone I had a "feud" with. Another time I was being attacked by someone here and I sent a report in and the staff member did nothing about it because they were friends with the person doing it. (I saw them in the thread several times and no posts were removed until another administrator stepped in HOURS later) I think there are tons of problems in the forum staff department with different admins/staff. It's not my job to go and PM a different moderator about another(I've tried), because they're all friends and will stand by each other no matter what and when I made threads similar to this one without naming names I'm given infractions.

I personally don't think Amy should be condoning the way private messages/complaints/reports are handled by giving the forum staff in-game ears and other features if they have them. If Amy wants to let these type of things slide then there doesn't need to be any correlation,tie-ins, etc with the game and forums. I know that's a whole different discussion/rant but I think it ties in to the most important thing of this whole community, the game.
 
#22
I don't agree with a lot of the staff does, the thing that really annoys me is closing threads. They close threads for the dumbest reasons, like if I'm trying to persuade you to do something don't be stubborn and close the thread because you refuse to. I don't mean to criticize staff but I'm trying to help them get better at their jobs.
 
#24
Hi!
From experience, I can say that addressing certain issues in a timely manner is not always as easy as it might seem. We receive PM's about anything and everything, which we try to get through as quickly as possible. I myself, set aside a large amount of time to get through most of my PM's. If there is an issue with a staff member, contacting an admin (Amy, Grizzly, or myself) might be beneficial. :)
 

Whispered

Well-Known Member
#25
Hi!
From experience, I can say that addressing certain issues in a timely manner is not always as easy as it might seem. We receive PM's about anything and everything, which we try to get through as quickly as possible. I myself, set aside a large amount of time to get through most of my PM's. If there is an issue with a staff member, contacting an admin (Amy, Grizzly, or myself) might be beneficial. :)
I mean, I understand this but seeing a staff member in game/in shoutbox for a long period of time, and it being quite a while with more than adequate time for a response, as well as the fact the staff should've known the action would prompt PMs or requests for explanation... It just doesn't add up to me.
 
A

ABrighterFuture

Guest
#26
I just remembered that I had this problem on another forum. The staff member even had the audacity to respond to other people (and I know because it was in VM), but ignored me. I brought it up in the shoutbox and got banned.
 
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WHO

Active Member
#27
As Whispered mentioned, I didn't get a reply from a pm in a full 24 hours and I see the staff goofing around for hours at a time in-game and in the shout box.
 
A

ABrighterFuture

Guest
#28
As Whispered mentioned, I didn't get a reply from a pm in a full 24 hours and I see the staff goofing around for hours at a time in-game and in the shout box.
That's ridiculous. We need some checks on them, maybe like a rating system, and if their rating gets too low, they are fired? From how I know Amy, I'm sure we could trust her to maintain that (but maybe we could have a vote on who maintains it).
 
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Jasmine

Well-Known Member
#29
Hi!
From experience, I can say that addressing certain issues in a timely manner is not always as easy as it might seem. We receive PM's about anything and everything, which we try to get through as quickly as possible. I myself, set aside a large amount of time to get through most of my PM's. If there is an issue with a staff member, contacting an admin (Amy, Grizzly, or myself) might be beneficial. :)
So for future reference, if we have issues with other admins (or staff actions in general - whether they be in game or forum related), we should contact one of you three? Thank you, because we usually have no idea who to go to. :)

And also, as it's been said, often PMs are outright ignored. It's never been too big a deal for me, but I've seen numerous times where a member has to ask a staff member who is active in the shoutbox to reply to their PM. The staff member usually responds with a pretty snarky comment, which escalates things until it becomes an outright shoutbox argument. (The staff member defends herself or they defend themselves and then members agree with them... and then members also agree with the person who asked for the reply to their PM.)
 

WHO

Active Member
#30
So for future reference, if we have issues with other admins (or staff actions in general - whether they be in game or forum related), we should contact one of you three? Thank you, because we usually have no idea who to go to. :)

And also, as it's been said, often PMs are outright ignored. It's never been too big a deal for me, but I've seen numerous times where a member has to ask a staff member who is active in the shoutbox to reply to their PM. The staff member usually responds with a pretty snarky comment, which escalates things until it becomes an outright shoutbox argument. (The staff member defends herself or they defend themselves and then members agree with them... and then members also agree with the person who asked for the reply to their PM.)

I actually have gone to Amy SEVERAL times about forum staff and misuse of power and how they are handling things.

EDIT: I understand she is a bit busy with the game, but if there are problems on the forum and you're giving the forum staff extra items in-game, that automatically ties the two together.
 
#31
Honestly, if you want to go make your own forum, nobody here is stopping you. We all do our best and nobody has malicious intentions. I personally appreciate constructive criticism but not when it's publicly made personal to myself or my coworkers (we actually aren't robots, believe it or not, and we have feelings ;)). But as I have said many times before, I encourage you to contact an administrator if a staff member's actions concern you.

You don't have to like any of us, just like you don't have to like all your teachers at school, but that doesn't give you the right to disrespect them and try to make them look bad to your peers. All we ask is that you follow the simple rules we have set in place, and the forums are yours otherwise. We're here to make the experience as pleasant as possible for the maximum possible number of people.

As Whispered mentioned, I didn't get a reply from a pm in a full 24 hours and I see the staff goofing around for hours at a time in-game and in the shout box.
If by "goofing around" you mean multitasking our game characters on fantasyland rides and working on the forums, then I'm not exactly sure what to say to that.

Also, I don't see how nontradeable ears, that are meant solely to make us noticeable and accessible, give us any advantage in the game at all.
 
A

ABrighterFuture

Guest
#34
I actually have gone to Amy SEVERAL times about forum staff and misuse of power and how they are handling things.

EDIT: I understand she is a bit busy with the game, but if there are problems on the forum and you're giving the forum staff extra items in-game, that automatically ties the two together.
I don't know how related this is, but I asked her a question in January and I still have not gotten an answer. It's a bit ridiculous to be honest.
 

Chill

Well-Known Member
#35
I believe [MENTION=962]Whispered[/MENTION] and [MENTION=503]AlexanderH[/MENTION] bring very good points to this discussion.

I would really like to see these specific issues addressed by staff. On the topic of replying to PM's I personally sent a PM to about four staff members on a quite controversial topic and haven't received a reply in almost a week. I sent one of these staff members a PM relating to something else since then and this staff member responded promptly. I guess I can sympathize that it was a difficult message to respond to, but I mean... Really? Four staff members, one week... Really?

Also, I think MyVMK is about us, the members, having a good experience. Being a moderator/staff member is a responsibility and not an entitlement. This means listening and acting on member's opinions and explaining your decisions, to make sure it's clear to us that you are making these decisions for the good of the community and it was not biased or a premature action. As a moderator/admin/whatever-the-heck, this is not a place to be tyrannical.

I would also like to bring light to [MENTION=3024]ICON[/MENTION]'s point about the entire staff being friends who stick by each other's opinions and decisions regardless of their own judgement. I personally don't have much evidence to support this but if this is indeed the case, this is an unacceptable occurrence. What is the point of having more than one staff member? Well duh, to be able to get more work done, but also so that no one person has an unreasonable amount of power, and that there is a diverse range of minds and opinions at work so if one staff member slips up, another one will corroborate. They are supposed to just generally spot each others mistakes.

This post was not directed at any particular staff member except when referring to the PM issue.
 

WHO

Active Member
#36
Clicking an exit tile in a window on my other monitor certainly does not distract me from my duties here.

Then I'd love to hear any other defense of why moderators and admins take HOURS to handle a situation or reply to a private message? Surely you can't say working on technicalities of the forum considering more and more bots are joining daily and we hardly have a forum skin.
 
A

ABrighterFuture

Guest
#37
Given recent posts, I'm a bit concerned that this thread is going to be deleted or removed from our views soon, so I'm going to be saving these pages onto my computer in case.
 

Exodus

Well-Known Member
#38
Multi-tasking getting SITS and managing the forums isn't what you signed up for.
If you haven't forgotten, every staff member in the team are volunteering out of their own personal lives to maintain the forums/game. They're allowed to do whatever they wish while moderating to the best of their ability.

It's sad to see people being so sour. Any forums you go to, there will always be a select couple who do not agree with the staff. Feel free to create your own fan forums. Nobody's forcing you to tolerate the staff here if you're unable to. As long as Amy and Grizzly is satisfied with their team, there's nothing else to say.
 
#39
Then I'd love to hear any other defense of why moderators and admins take HOURS to handle a situation or reply to a private message? Surely you can't say working on technicalities of the forum considering more and more bots are joining daily and we hardly have a forum skin.
Again, this is a volunteer position. I can't deny that sometimes I'll see a message, read it, and then get distracted by something else on the site, but unfortunately, I'm human. I do my best and the rest of the team does too.

While we support each other as coworkers, we are not afraid to speak our minds with each other. Just because someone on the team suggests something doesn't mean that everyone else agrees with it automatically. We discuss the logic behind every situation, potential consequences, etc.

Personally, I do not work with the "tech" side of things (but a new measure was just implemented to prevent bot registrations).
 
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