all [7-7-16] Addressing A Few Important Issues

[Roy 10,832 / 0]

Hello Server Admins+, I would like to address a few import issues. To be honest with you, I’m going to be harsh in this post, but the things I’ve been seeing are very unacceptable.

 

Server Mismanagement
I believe this is a very important topic to address. Many of our servers are currently mismanaged. First, let’s talk about my definition of “mismanaged”:

1. Server has no active manager.
2. Manager isn’t fixing critical issues leading to population lost.
3. Manager isn’t willing to listen to all suggestions from other players.
4. Manager is making poor choices that a majority of the player base disagrees with (e.g. bad admin picking, etc).

 

Number one, if a server has no active manager, that means server content isn’t being updated or fixed (e.g. updating maps, adding new content, etc). Servers that aren’t being managed likely have no population and if they do, it is likely dying. If a server is dead and we cannot find a person to correctly manage the server, we should likely disable the server until we can find a good manager and focus on our servers with healthy managers.

 

Number two, this is the biggest issue I’ve noticed. There have been servers I’ve seen with issues that have been causing population to heavily decrease. I haven’t fully addressed this to the server’s managers and Division Leaders, but I will after I write this post. I’ve seen critical issues take weeks, even months to be fixed, which is completely unacceptable. And yes, I’ve witnessed these servers have a major population drop since these critical issues began. If you cannot fix or even address issues completely killing the server you manage, then you’re mismanaging your server. 

 

Number three, firstly, I receive reports from players about server managers not considering their suggestions. Now, yes, I get it, there are a lot of bad suggestions. However, I disagree with completely ignoring them. I want every suggestion to be considered in the future. Yes, you don’t have to implement them, but at least write a nice and valid response stating why the suggestion wouldn’t work for the server(s) you manage. This will generally make players more happy seeing the Server Manager at least consider their suggestion. That said, if this goes to plan, it will eliminate the “Server Manager not listening to my suggestion” reports. Once our GFL Core IPS 4 application is developed, I hope we can implement a fully developed suggestion system. This will make it much easier to see suggestions being made and if the Server Manager is actually taking their time to address some of them. If they are not taking the time to address the suggestions, then I would say they are mismanaging the server(s) they manage.

 

Number four, this issue has existed for a very long time now in GFL. A big issue I see is poor admin picking. From what I’ve seen and heard, the number of bad admins has been rising. It’s coming to the point where bad admins are pushing players away from the servers. Here’s my opinion on what a “good” admin is:

• Active within the community (Forums and TeamSpeak 3).
• Does their job (e.g. mutes mic spammers). 
• Treats all players equally. Doesn’t give players special treatment because they are their “friends”.
• Generally acts like just another friendly player (e.g. not power hungry or rude), but knows when enough is enough and action must be taken.
• Reports abuse to the appropriate managers and addresses suggestions from players to the Server Manager(s).
• Generally likes welcoming new players and willing to communicate with them on TeamSpeak 3, etc.

 

These six bullets make a great Server Admin. However, not every Server Admin is like this. Admin picking needs to improve and Admin reports need to be handled well. Once we get our GFL Core system developed, we’ll have official admin reports, etc. Other than that, I see Server Managers make decisions based off of either a couple of their friends or entirely themselves and a majority of the server’s player base disagree with it. This should not be happening and if it does, the server is being mismanaged.

 

To sum up, servers are being mismanaged. Whether it’s because the server has no manager at all or the manager isn’t managing it correctly, it needs to improve. Division Leaders are responsible for the managers they select and I hope things start improving after they read this post.

 

TeamSpeak 3
This is the next thing I want to talk about. I’ve been receiving many messages concerning our TeamSpeak 3 server recently saying how messy it is, etc. To start off, the main issue I see with our TeamSpeak 3 server is the fact that everybody has different strong opinions on how it should be setup and in the end, there will be a group of users who are upset. 

 

So, there are a couple questions we need to answer:

1. Do we want TeamSpeak 3 to become more known to the public? For example, when a user joins TeamSpeak 3, should they immediately notice a public room full of users?
2. Should only Server Managers+ have TeamSpeak 3 admin? Should there be official TS3 admin applications?

 

There are also users who are completely fine with our current setup for TeamSpeak 3. I believe a majority of us have to agree on one final and stable direction for our TeamSpeak 3 server. We still have to move the TeamSpeak 3 server off of our old SQL machine, once we move it onto our new machine, that may be the time to make correct changes to it.

 

Communication Within The Higher Ups
That brings me to the next topic, communication within the higher ups (e.g. Division Leaders, Council, etc). Communication has improved compared to 4 - 6+ months ago. However, I still think we can still further improve. For a short amount of time, the Council was heavily communicating with each other. We went into the same TeamSpeak 3 channel every day, talked about current issues and how we can solve them, etc. Sadly, that stopped happening a month or so ago. Although, we now have another place to communicate with each other and that has been working out. But I still think it can be improved. 

 

Now, eventually, we plan to code an official ticket system. This ticket system will include suggestions, etc and it should solve a problem similar to the #3 problem under “Server Mismanagement” for Higher Ups. Each suggestion (good or bad) should be listened to. Like I said in the “Server Mismanagement” section, you should always write some a nice and valid response to every suggestion explaining why or why not it is a good idea.

 

[Personal] My Schedule
I just wanted to give my schedule starting next week. I start work on 7-11-16. I will be doing the same thing I did last year, but this time, I will be working three days a week instead of four. I will also be working 8 hours a day and will be unavailable from 7 AM to 4 PM Mondays through Wednesdays.  

 

Overall
I just wanted to give another small update. There’s still a lot of things that need to be improved on. However, first, we need to discuss the main issues and from what I’ve seen, these are the main issues.

 

If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to post in this thread.

 

Google Docs Link

 

Thanks.

[Cypher 1,187 / 11,383]

Managers should start thinking about whether or not the issues about mismanagement applies to you. If it does, you need to start thinking about ways to fix some of the issues you're having with your staff or server. If you think it doesn't apply to you, you're probably wrong. Improvements can be made across the board, and everyone can do some fixing! 

 

Admins from all servers can also take some initiative and take steps to meet the expected characteristics that Roy listed above. You guys are the real faces of the community and it's super important that you guys are properly representing GFL as a brand. You guys are also super important in keeping players coming back. 

[Thomasdavid097 533 / 8,791]

38 minutes ago, Hatty said:

1. give me manager of a server, ill actually do shit.

• fix bugs
• add new things to entice the players.
• be active and mature
• just generally be the manager everyone wants.
• wont accept admins upon bias i.e, nice, friendly, friend, admin on another server.

(You can take this as a joke or w/e you want.)

 

v this is really what i want to to focus on, the stuff above, do what you please.

2. TS3 admin really should have applications, because if a person gets accepted they can be trusted with that power.

I don't want some kid kicking me from my own channel cuz he has admin.

admins should be looked at if they are firendly/nice, sure you can accept friends if you are going to demote him if he does wrong.

 

if you are being kicked from your own channel you could PM a DL/council member and have them to speak with the ts admin and see why.

 

 

 

 

[Thomasdavid097 533 / 8,791]

well, managers should warn friends if they apply/get accepted then they have to follow the rules like everybody.

 

as I tell my admins if they want to have abit of fun do it when no others are online, abuse when others are on and you are out. I try and have 0 admin reports for my server's.

[Otter 880 / 10,435]

Badmins: For what I have seen, I've seen some very biased admin picks coming through, especially throughout the Garry's Mod division. It's either A) You're a friend of the manager B) You're friends with the admins so they give those "+1s" or C) Sucking up to the admins/managers

 

It's extremely disappointing to report an admin and one of the other admins on the server replies with "Was it (Insert name here)?" because they have been reported for the same thing again and again. It's also extremely annoying when one of your used-to-be favorite servers to hop on and chill with your friends comes to a "Holy shit, if I get on this server one more time I'm going to go mental and murder someone".

 

Population: It REALLY doesn't help when a DL comes into a server, gets asked to do something(because it matters in that situation), and continues to say "Well this server sucks" then leaves. Really? 

 

Also, population comes from the players, I don't know how many times in 2015 I said(or someone else) said something beyond the lines of, "That server is shit because the manager is shit and the admins are shit." I don't know if I myself have made a big difference by telling people that a server sucks, but when you tell it to someone else and they tell it to someone, rinse and repeat, it gets the point across quickly.

 

Teamspeak: TeamSpeak is a giant shit show right now. Admins fighting over rules and telling each other what goes and what doesn't. Admins abusing their Server Admin rank to join channels that have passwords on them for a reason.

 

As for making it more public friendly, I don't think it's going to get that way. I, personally, have sat in one of the public channels for 20 minutes and had 3 micspamming assholes come in blaring, loud sonic music, shrek, and dial up. I don't want that anywhere close to me.

 

It definitely needs a clean up. (e.g. Googs Based God Shrine) If a VIP wants their teamspeak channel back because they were gone for a long time, they can ask 1 of the 10 staff members that are online.

 

Ban lists. This has been one of my main issues with TeamSpeak recently. I was told "No banlists." by Shuruia. Which I still don't understand why... Admins constantly don't want respect the "lock" I have on my channel. If you are an admin, and you don't respect it, you're being added to the banlist. I don't care. I paid money to have a teamspeak channel(and other various perks), why should I have to be told what people aren't allowed in my channel? I'm not attacking anyone. It's not pornography. It's not racist, sexist, etc. Why aren't they allowed?

 

TeamSpeak admin should be an application. A strict application. Trusted Managers+(managers who have been around for a while and have a good server) get TeamSpeak Admin and Regular Manager(New Managers), Trial Server Managers, and Admins should have to apply. Division Leaders and Councils decide who goes.

 

 

sorry if i sound like a retarded rhino im very tired

Edited July 7, 2016 by Otter

[LitTwix 81 / 3,355]

Managers should be seriously chosen and having a good reason as to why they get manager, instead of choosing someone because they are your girlfriend or best friends.  

Good luck to everyone that get's manager though.

 

Well, I guess I don't need to give my full opinion on this, Otter did that for me. 

 

 

[Bigtime 322 / 6,475]

On the topic of TS3 admin in my opinion it should be limited to Team Leaders and up. Like the only people to have it besides Managers + is GFX Leader and Media Team Leader then also Head Developer if they don't already have the perms of a TS Admin 

[HackingPotato 1,297 / 14,301]

2 hours ago, Hatty said:

1. give me manager of a server, ill actually do shit.

• fix bugs
• add new things to entice the players.
• be active and mature
• just generally be the manager everyone wants.
• wont accept admins upon bias i.e, nice, friendly, friend, admin on another server.

(You can take this as a joke or w/e you want.)

 

v this is really what i want to to focus on, the stuff above, do what you please.

2. TS3 admin really should have applications, because if a person gets accepted they can be trusted with that power.

I don't want some kid kicking me from my own channel cuz he has admin.

 

 

Good manager application. If you seriously want a server sean, go talk a division leader. Also, heard the saying "its easier said than done" ? Its easy to say what you would do then actually get it done successfully. Just think about that. 

 

11 minutes ago, FloppyDisk said:

Managers should be seriously chosen and having a good reason as to why they get manager, instead of choosing someone because they are your girlfriend or best friends.  

Good luck to everyone that get's manager though.

 

Well, I guess I don't need to give my full opinion on this, Otter did that for me. 

 

 

I have not seen a promotion recently that has been because of personal relation (higher up wise). I believe, like Roy said, that communication has been getting better and so has the promotions imo. Im not trying to call you out nor be rude. Just what I was thinking. (you may correct me if i am wrong) 

 

But i do agree that promotions have happened because of person relationships (not only manager but admin too). Managers should strive to have a solid admin team without hiring your best friends. 

 

 

2 hours ago, Cypher said:

Managers should start thinking about whether or not the issues about mismanagement applies to you. If it does, you need to start thinking about ways to fix some of the issues you're having with your staff or server. If you think it doesn't apply to you, you're probably wrong. Improvements can be made across the board, and everyone can do some fixing! 

 

Like a harsh way of saying "there's always room for improvement". Do not feel bad if you think you fall under the category of a inactive or a bad manager. Just grit your teeth and strive to prove everyone wrong. (thought it had to be said)

 

1 hour ago, Otter said:

Badmins: For what I have seen, I've seen some very biased admin picks coming through, especially throughout the Garry's Mod division. It's either A) You're a friend of the manager B) You're friends with the admins so they give those "+1s" or C) Sucking up to the admins/managers

 

Population: It REALLY doesn't help when a DL comes into a server, gets asked to do something(because it matters in that situation), and continues to say "Well this server sucks" then leaves. Really? 

 

Teamspeak: TeamSpeak is a giant shit show right now. Admins fighting over rules and telling each other what goes and what doesn't. Admins abusing their Server Admin rank to join channels that have passwords on them for a reason.

 

 

I thought i should comment to your aggressive post because I know no one else will. I cut out the parts I dont care to comment on.

 

I agree with everything being said in  the badmin section. The garry's mod section has been notorious for biased promotion. From the summer of 2014 to the summer of 2016 I have only seen this biased bullshit get worse. Lets improve please? 

 

 "Admins fighting over rules and telling each other what goes and what doesn't"  from this quote all I can think of is a single question. Where the hell you get this self entitlement from? Do you feel entitled to boss people around on teamspeak because you admin on a server? pft. k.

 

I left the Division leader comment to the end because it has been bothering me. I am constantly hearing complaints about DL's on a specific divison. I would hope to god that the division leader issue is being addressed in council + because from what I heard and this quote in otters post, the divison leader(s) are making it hard to function/manager a server(s).

 

yall thought i was gonna call out otter huh? well you just played yo self

 

TLDR;

 

fuk off , dafuq mayn. Thinkin' yo entitled when yo just gotz server admuns n/or servur munger. 

 

thats not what i said but close enough. 

 

Thought i had to give some input this time  

 

[Thomasdavid097 533 / 8,791]

if an admin is fighting over rules then don't you think it should be reported to the manager so he can deal with it? and if he doesn't speak with the DL for the given gamemode.

 

 

[Alucard33rd 1,175 / 15,145]

I just wanted to point out that I have helped a lot of servers I play on in one way or another. I Welcomed new Staff to server and show them what they need to do as an Operator/Admin, communicated with Server manager via PM, Steam, and Discord, and gave useful suggestions/reported major bugs. Even after all of this, I still feel like I am at fault for being not the best/good admin. I felt like I have been rude by PM a higher up about issues I have with a Server/ServerManager and calling out names instead of giving the general statement. In return I receive slight drama from those who follow he/she I called out in a PM. I understand that calling out certain people can ruin ones reputation with a server and its staff, but to be honest sometimes things need to be said and not hidden. 

 

NOTE: I have notice Higher Ups, Admin+, have acted one of two ways.

- One, They looked down on lower ranks.

- Two, They know they are a higher rank but act equally with all users and listen to what they have to say.

I don't have a comment of this view but its just something to think about when selecting Staff.

 

@Roy This is something I have notice regarding poor admin selection. On pretty much every server I help out in, Guide are hardly given to Operators and Admins. I think a Guide is essential for Admin+ to have. I believe that admins acting poor is because of the lack proper training though guides. I know for a fact that the servers managers some sort of guide/info to share with fellow staff, yet I find myself sending new staff guides and showing them how to properly moderate server and use commands. I want to said I am doing more work, but in reality I am doing unnecessary work that isn't what I was promoted to do as an admin.

[SwegBuster 879 / 15,758]

I feel we all need to improve. Its not just higher-ups and communication all the time. We need to be communicating through out the community as a whole. Admins need to be also communicating to their managers, if no manager then the division leader. We need to have a lay down of guides to help admins admin and managers how to run things. Managers need to make sure they properly train their admins (or the admins that do the training). I know my mistakes and I am going to be working on them. I suggest others follow with fixing their own mistakes.

[OtakuSupreme 109 / 3,595]

6 hours ago, Hatty said:

1. give me manager of a server, ill actually do shit.

• fix bugs
• add new things to entice the players.
• be active and mature
• just generally be the manager everyone wants.
• wont accept admins upon bias i.e, nice, friendly, friend, admin on another server.

(You can take this as a joke or w/e you want.)

 

v this is really what i want to to focus on, the stuff above, do what you please.

2. TS3 admin really should have applications, because if a person gets accepted they can be trusted with that power.

I don't want some kid kicking me from my own channel cuz he has admin.

 

You would actually have to care about GFL to be a manager. and you don't. Also being a part of another community doesn't help.

[Coolest Cat 1,266 / 14,449]

#AdBasedSupporterGiveaways

 

Anyway, are we ever going to do community meetings in teamspeak? I know that I suggested it before the forums got moved over and it never really had a conclusion. 

 

 

Also, can we get a list of servers that are potentially going to get cut? That way the server managers and admins of those servers know that they need to turn their server around or they're in risk of getting cut. And in servers that are on the verge of being cut, we should probably enforce a reasonable quota system. 

[Ben 2,378 / 31,861]

There should be minimum requirement to be a Server Manager. My suggestion for the requirement:

• Must be at least 17 year old
• Be known in this community
• Dedicated
• Have been involved in this community for at least one year
• Be well known
• Have experience with server management
• Know a little of SourcePawn/LUA
• Have mic
• Have good Grammar and English

Few of these things are the not what I fit for these requirement - I don't have mic, I can't use English and grammar, I don't know single thing about SourcePawn.

If these requirement did go well, we could get some GOOD Managers.

 

Unlike me, other managers have done great jobs while I didn't. I believe I'm part of the problem "mismanagement" and I did terrible job, I mean it. I tried what I can to populate Casual Competitive and find great administration team and everything.

 

1 minute ago, OtakuSupreme said:

You would actually have to care about GFL to be a manager. and you don't. Also being a part of another community doesn't help.

From what I've seen being with him, he does. He's a part of admin-mate with me on CS:S DeathRun, and I don't really see him getting involved in another community. I also don't get how being involved in other community would get you in trouble. 

[LitTwix 81 / 3,355]

13 minutes ago, Benroyjam said:

There should be minimum requirement to be a Server Manager. My suggestion for the requirement:

• Must be at least 17 year old
• Be known in this community
• Dedicated
• Have been involved in this community for at least one year
• Be well known
• Have experience with server management
• Know a little of SourcePawn/LUA
• Have mic
• Have good Grammar and English

Few of these things are the not what I fit for these requirement - I don't have mic, I can't use English and grammar, I don't know single thing about SourcePawn.

If these requirement did go well, we could get some GOOD Managers.

 

Unlike me, other managers have done great jobs while I didn't. I believe I'm part of the problem "mismanagement" and I did terrible job, I mean it. I tried what I can to populate Casual Competitive and find great administration team and everything.

 

From what I've seen being with him, he does. He's a part of admin-mate with me on CS:S DeathRun, and I don't really see him getting involved in another community. I also don't get how being involved in other community would get you in trouble. 

Having a mic, good grammar, and having experience as a manager before seem a little too much. Getting people with past experience seems a little hard. I do agree that requirements for manager should be a thing.

 

Also we shouldn't be giving our opinions on Hatti being a good manager or not. Some people have different opinions then others and it's best not to offend or hurt Hatti himself. Or even anyone being a good manager or not. 

Edited July 7, 2016 by FloppyDisk

[Otter 880 / 10,435]

6 hours ago, OtakuSupreme said:

 

You would actually have to care about GFL to be a manager. and you don't. Also being a part of another community doesn't help.

 

I'm pretty sure if he didn't care about GFL, he would've left a long time ago. He's the same as me. I "care" about the community, but there are so many issues in this community right now. I don't blame him to go over to a different community for a little bit until the issues get resolved or resolve themself.

 

Also, why does being in another community matter at all? He's not in .ru. He's not advertising that server.  He's fine. No one needs to dedicate their entire life to a community filled with mismanagement and idiots. If you want to pull this "You're in another community so you don't care." Derpy created her own community while she was manager, nothing happened to her about it.

 

 

 

 

Edited July 8, 2016 by Otter

[Bae 2,489 / 41,520]

This is for TS3. I answered the questions not in order. >v<

1. I believe TS3 admin should only be manager+ and we can have a separate rank for lower people to apply for as mentioned and suggested by Thomas (privately to roy). If you're dedicated and know how to help with things, then you can get the rank for it. Except the powers for ban and/or kick is restricted.
2. I would think it should be more public, it would be nice to welcome players when they join the teamspeak. Everyone pretty much hides in their own little private channels. 

I have no rights or any say in management because I pretty much agree everything you've and the other's have said.

[Roy 10,832 / 0]

Well, from what I've seen, there are many issues at the moment. Although, I will admit, I do think a few of the issues people list are just overreactions, etc. I see issues just by reading some of these posts. There's no reason to call each other out in this thread (even in the Server Admins+ section). Leave it to a PM with the Council/Division Leaders or whatever. Also, as long as the manager/admin does their job, there is nothing wrong with being in another community. If there is, well, you can count me out. Considering I've made other communities/websites that host gaming servers (in fact, I made another one recently). As long as it doesn't interfere with GFL, there isn't a problem (if it does, then yes, it is a problem).

 

Anyways, the important thing is, we see there are problems. I've been pretty busy recently (the entire TF2 situation, work coming up, etc) and I believe the Council will need to step up and take care of these core issues. I'll talk more about it later.

 

P.S. I'm going to start getting things done I've listed in the Updates section.

 

Thanks.

[Addy 1,648 / 18,732]

On 7/7/2016 at 9:25 AM, Roy said:

So, there are a couple questions we need to answer:

1. Should only Server Managers+ have TeamSpeak 3 admin? Should there be official TS3 admin applications?

Don't know if its too late for me to comment, but here's my two cents on the Teamspeak situation, cause this is really bothering me.

 

There should be a rank that can be handed out to people that has certain permissions (kind of like Operator on CSGO/CSS), maybe the ability to kick people from any channel, join any channel (except shit like Spacers/higher up channels), I dunno, I'm the one thinking of the rank.

 

Along with that, there should be a way to apply for Teamspeak admin, for people who'll dedicate to actually trying to help people within Teamspeak. The permissions for TS admin need to be polished a bit I think, but that might just be me.

 

And the last thing that bothers me are the permissions for the "Server Admin" group. I don't really see why they have permissions to move people (below Admin) and join channels with passwords without having to USE a password. They're not dedicated to trying to help TS, so they should kind of just have the same permissions as say, a VIP. It's kind of like an Admins permissions on a server they AREN'T admin on. They're just like a regular player.

 

Just my three cents (cause I'm worth more than 2)