Frances' Mod App

[Frances]

Basic Information

Byond Account:

FFrances

Character Name(s):

(Some of these are old) Ajira Srad'maar, Ajna An'rakharr, Alee'sa Kashirrta-el-Ebek, Alice Wilson, Adrian Escurdado, Buck Dunneroo, Eliya Kha'ssad, Eric Humphreys, Fran Naomi, Hee'ru Jalamak, Olivia Ingigneri, Observer, Peter Okereke, Phyllis Grayson, Raphael Manson, Wadiy Shey'filqqi, some others that I probably forgot.

AI Name(s):

Twistbot, JANIborg (other people used that name tho), Integrated Systems (these are all borgs, not AIs)

Preferred means of contact:

Skype, forum PMs

Age:

14

Timezone:

EST

When are you on Aurora?:

Recently, in the mornings. Not dead hour, but the part after it (the timeslot which I call "when Skull comes back from school"). I'm probably here 5-6 hours a day on average and will try to play 1-2 rounds every day.

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Experience

How long have you played SS13?:

Quite exactly one year.

How long have you played on Aurora:

Same!

How much do you know about SS13 (Baystation build) game mechanics?:

Apparently not much, today I had to cryo out of shame as a warden because I did a bad and didn't want my HoS to yell at me v.v

Do you have any experience moderating for an SS13 server?:

A bit (well, I was headmin here)

Have you ever been banned, and if so, how long and why?:

Surprisingly not. I really don't understand it, sometimes

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Personality

Why do you play SS13?:

Cause it's a cool platform for roleplay, while still having a lot of action/mechanics that aren't 100% controlled by the players. I also like sci-fi okay.

Why do you play on Aurora?:

The people on the server are cool, and it generally has a good balance of seriousness and comedy, without the admins being overly lax or literally Hitler.

What do moderators do?:

Enforce a general code of conduct, and help provide assistance about the game to people who need it.

What does it mean to be a moderator for our server?:

I am incredibly amused by the thought of trying to answer that question (given that I have been trying so hard to push my values when I was headmin, and am probably just going to repeat them here), but imo the most valuable qualities of Aurora mods are common sense, friendliness, and an ability to be laid-back, open to discussion and criticism, and always be willing to evaluate themselves and others.

Why do you want to be a moderator?:

Because it's fun. (I'm gonna expand on why I left in a bit). As much as I enjoy playing, my greatest love on here was to get involved in discussions on gameplay, roleplay, administration, etc. Devving is fun, participating is fun, helping people is fun. I'm also a bit of a workaholic v.v

What qualities do you possess that would make you a good moderator?:

I try my hardest to always remain level-headed, calm, and open to discussion. Despite being sometimes formal, and often aloof and sarcastic in my public addresses, I've always done my best to be friendly with users I've had to interact with as a mod (unless they were being awful, in which case I probably gave up after a while and made fun of them - which they 100% deserved).

How well do you handle stress, anger, or insults?:

I love it all, and honestly it's 50% of the reason why I enjoyed being a mod so much. I find I perform even better under stress than under normal conditions (plus it's fun), and being yelled at by angry griefers is absolutely hilarious. If you've never been a mod, you should see at least once the kind of people we end up banning from the server. It's an absolute joy.

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Anything Else You Want to Add: (Do not put words here)

I left the server due to personal reasons which I don't really feel like expanding upon (real life, blergh), but I simply found myself unable to dedicate as much time to the server as I wanted. Since I always primed myself on being active and involved, I despised the idea of becoming the inactive, show-once-a-week headmin that does nothing but take administrative decisions. Plus I think even the most precise and accurate status report does not equate being on the ground to see the action happening, so, yeah.

The reason why I feel like applying to be a mod again is because I still want to be involved among the community. And as much as I wanted to believe this was something I could do as a player (which is why I asked not to be granted a "retired admin" title), I'm very much forced to accept that there is an unbridgeable gap between the server staff and its users. No matter how much you try to reduce it, that gap will always be there to an extent, through failures of communication, rules sometimes being blindly enforced, and, well, people not being perfect.

I think at one point, anyone interested past a certain measure in the way the server is run will have to try their best to prove their abilities, and submit a mod application. Because there's always things that get done behind closed doors, development-wise. And it's not necessarily a bad thing - most of it happens to protect the staff against often unjustified backlash of a community that may be too quick to react (or against certain very vocal users, that although loud, are not necessarily right). I do *not* think staff are trying to ignore users (like, wtf, the reason you're staff in the first place is to serve the community, not the other way around), but in nature it's simply the most efficient way to get things done.

Oh, yes. Time-wise, I'm planning on being idle on the computer a lot throughout the summer as I draw, so one thing that you'd gain by modding me (along with all of my wooooooonderful old lady wisdom) is an extra pair of hands to watch over the rounds as we hit our next summer peak. (The idea of a summer peak is scary. The last one is the one that made us popular, so I don't know what might happen this summer. Perhaps nothing at all will happen too.) But I don't particularly fill any important timeslots we don't have covered, and we already have a lot of staff. So if the issue is to find a limited number of applicants, feel free to pick someone else over me. I'd still like to help, but I don't want to rob someone else of the experience, because being a mod is really fun and everyone should do it, sorta like drugs or unprotected gay sex.

PS: I've said a lot on here throughout the past year, did a lot of things, and tried to share, push for, and fight against a lot of ideas. So if you're afraid that being reinstated on the staff I'd end up doing X, or pushing for X, you can always ask me if I would.

[Serveris]

No headmin application?

All kidding aside, Frances was a spectacularly competent, just, and level headed head admin. I would be very excited to see her make a comeback. Out of curiosity, why didn't you retain a retired admin rank when you stepped down?

[Dea Tacita]

Rude/disruptive comments will be deleted.

[Frances]

No headmin application?

All kidding aside, Frances was a spectacularly competent, just, and level headed head admin. I would be very excited to see her make a comeback. Out of curiosity, why didn't you retain a retired admin rank when you stepped down?

As I said in my application, I didn't feel like it was something I needed - I wanted my actions to be judged solely for what they ended up carrying out, and not for who I was as a person or due to any titles I might've had. Further than that, I also didn't want to be bothered by additional chats and logs when playing on the server.

To be honest, though, being a regular player is fun. In some aspects, it's more fun than being staff, or even being recognized as ex-staff (though most people still know you've been around), because it gives me the possibility of doing some very silly things without getting the server in trouble (worst case people can't say "hey look at this retired admin doing a bunch of dumb stuff", and the staff could just ban me if needed haha). Obviously that's something I will (sadly) have to give up again if I rejoin staff, though I'm planning on saving myself plenty of time later on down the road for goofing around.

[PoZe]

Well i want to say a lot of, but i don't know Frrances so much. As i saw her at IC she is really interesting player, her Tajaran is playing as Warden or Security officer. And she is always trying to give chance to the antag.

What about here abilities? She is responsible person and i didn't expect that she is 14 years old, because she is acts like fully adult person, everyone like jokes)) She is Friendly, clever, wise. I would wish you luck to get back))

[Chaznoodles]

A previous Aurora headmin, and a good person altogether from my experience.

Looking back, if you could change anything you did during your time as headmin, what would it be, and why?

[Frances]

A previous Aurora headmin, and a good person altogether from my experience.

Looking back, if you could change anything you did during your time as headmin, what would it be, and why?

I've already got an answer all prepared for that one!

I would not get involved into as many projects at once as I did.

Basically, there was a time where I was headmin, handling every single unban request (because no one else really did), handling whitelists, spearheading the new map project (along with devs, but code and mapping didn't talk much), and looking into a possible wiki rework for the lore.

Theeeeen, I had to leave. Due to circumstances I really did not expect or predict. I tried to tie up as many of these loose ends as I could, but it was sorta lame, both for me and for everyone else involved, to have to quit on so many tasks I was important for all at once. In the future, I'll try to limit myself to 1-2 big things at the same time, simply for the off-chance that if I suddenly disappear or get hit by a bus, it won't ruin everything.

Love the questions, btw. They're a good way to get people to talk more (especially on super short applications), and more people should make an effort to ask them.

[Serveris]

Question.

Given more time (anywhere from months to this time next year), do you think you could see yourself returning to your headmin position, if it was offered after being promoted through?(Whilst acknowledging you'd want to limit projects you were involved in again.)

[Jakers457]

She has my vote

[Rusty Shackleford]

Holy crap, Frances, you're 14? I thought you were well into your mid-20's with the way you acted and maturity you displayed.

I'm fully in favor of you becoming staff again, as you were a pretty awesome headmin.

[Frances]

Question.

Given more time (anywhere from months to this time next year), do you think you could see yourself returning to your headmin position, if it was offered after being promoted through?(Whilst acknowledging you'd want to limit projects you were involved in again.)

I liked doing it, and would be glad to do it again, if it's needed.

However, I believe a new headmin will likely be promoted before I get a chance to. And I'm perfectly fine with that - there's a few excellent candidates to lead the staff right now.

[Valkrae]

Alright. Obligatory questions from another resident sla- I mean, moderator.

I haven't really read much else of this thread, mostly due to me wanting to ask my own question without having been influenced by another question.

You've been seen recently giving what could be classified as emotional outbursts in OOC. Would this behavior go away with a return to modship?

[Frances]

You've been seen recently giving what could be classified as emotional outbursts in OOC. Would this behavior go away with a return to modship?

Can you be more precise about that? (Like, post logs, an explanation, anything.) I do not recall ever having an outburst in OOC that was not a total joke (and thus made for comedic effect).

[Valkrae]

There aren't logs in general, but one particular incident I can call up was the extended debate that happened about a week or so ago.

[Frances]

There aren't logs in general, but one particular incident I can call up was the extended debate that happened about a week or so ago.

That was cleared up with Doomberg, though I don't mind explaining it again.

 

• -Kingmatt called a crew transfer vote at 2:58. The vote didn't go through due to the time restrictions, despite being 16-8 in favor.
  
  
  
  -I go on a short rant/argument throw about the issue of people calling votes minutes before the 3:00 cutoff mark, with the intent of prolonging the round. This short intervention did not target Kingmatt, mention him by name, or even refer to the particular incident here, but rather to the problem caused by the voting setup as a whole.
  
  
  
  -At the same time, Kingmatt apologizes for starting the vote too early, which was accidental.
  
  
  
  -Some people begin to talk about the voting problem as a whole, while some other people (either believing Kingmatt to be targeted, or simply not wanting him to feel bad), try to explain that the conversation could be perceived as directed against him, and should be dropped.
  
  
  
  -I actually do stop talking about it at this point, because I didn't want to make Kingmatt uncomfortable (despite everyone understanding that it was an accident, sparking this kind of conversation can kinda suck for the person involved).
  
  
  
  -Shortly after that, I ask in OOC if we could start another vote, since the last one should technically have passed and didn't because of what was a timing mistake. No staff replies for a while.
  
  
  
  -Some users (among which most vocally 1138) begin to oppose the idea of another vote. I fail to understand what exactly is so bad about calling another vote, so we begin to argue back and fort for a little while.
  
  
  
  -Eventually, Scopes calls a vote. The vote doesn't pass, because at that point it's been ten minutes, and people started doing other stuff on the station.

 

The only thing I can see could have been perceived as an outburst here was that I ended up asking two or three times (rather calmly) why people were against the idea of calling another vote, because 1. No one had clearly explained why they did not want another vote, simply stated they didn't, and 2. No staff was replying.

I cannot think of any other incidents I have been involved in in OOC.

[Guest]

I was opposed to even talking about the vote.

I have been told by Sound Scopes a million plus one times to not talk about the vote. I would've been up for another vote but you honestly should've adminhelped it instead of posting it in OOC.

[Frances]

I was opposed to even talking about the vote.

I have been told by Sound Scopes a million plus one times to not talk about the vote. I would've been up for another vote but you honestly should've adminhelped it instead of posting it in OOC.

I actually did want to hear what the rest of the server thought of it, and not just admins.

Anyway, the vote isn't a sacred topic. If you're being persistent about something and refuse to listen to staff I can see being told to quiet down, but talking about the vote at all should not be a taboo equivalent to IC in OOC, or talking about boobs.

[mirkoloio]

Frances is a nice person and definetly a good admin/mod/whatever.

Also, they're way younger then me and a LOT more mature then me, wich gives them another plus point. (( :3 ))

[Frances]

I had a short discussion with Skull as to why my application was not considered for trialmod.

A few people raised several objections, the major lines of which were that people were concerned certain matters in my private life (which I understand I've disclosed very little about) would affect my capacity to moderate, and that my recent involvement in the drama surrounding player complaints vs. Sue (and my ensuing thread) put me in a bad light (certain people believe me to be favoring Sue, among other things).

As the general policy is to not disclose information from the staff forums (to prevent users from nagging, questioning, and scrutinizing every single little thing a staffmember might do), I wasn't informed of who raised these objections, though it had the unfortunate effect of leaving me little chance to discuss them or defend myself. If I was given a chance to understand exactly where these reservations come from, I believe I would be able to provide a reasonable explanation for most, if not all of them.

I'm not looking to fight anyone, I don't think I've been overly aggressive thus far, and I'd really like to discuss these issues with the people who have raised them, as I believe most of them to be a misunderstanding. I don't bite. I'm just looking to understand what happened.

If you don't want to clutter up these threads, or simply wish to discuss these issues privately, feel free to send me a PM or contact me on the BYOND pager.

[Frances]

I'm simply posting to note that it's been 20 days since I was informed some members of staff had issues that pushed them to oppose my candidacy, and I invited them to discuss these issues with me (a few I know nothing about, a few I believe understand and might be misunderstandings.)

I'm not upset, or commenting this to be snide, but no one has posted (or PMed) me yet, and I highly doubt anyone will. I also understand that the application process for this trialround has been exceptionally weird, but I'm more calling out the fact that some people said that they had issues with me, rather than simply that I haven't been given a trial yet (lots of people haven't, it had to do with the weird system being used.)

If anyone is interested, perhaps, it would be nice to know why people would think I'd make a good addition to staff or not? Not that many people seem to have shared their input yet.

[Guest]

You lied on your application, you're not 14. underage, bant 0/10.

However, joking aside, I remember people talking about you being probably best head admin in the world and that you were calm and collected and otherwise a pleasure to be around. I've never really interacted with you, either ICly or OOCly to be honest, but if your past was of any indication, I would've vouched for you to come back again.

I think it was put off due to the fact the staff is looking for new faces (for some reason) and people who can fit their schedule into deadhour. I guess you sort of don't fit into those categories? I dunno, just a thought.

[Frances]

I've seen a few trials in deadhour, I've seen a few outside of it.

What sucks is that I was told my application wasn't even good enough to be considered for trial, for reasons that were originally presented to me as unrelated to timezone constraints. And when I asked about those further to Skull, he told me to simply consider the timezone reasons instead and that he was too busy to deal with the rest.

I did not attempt to contact Skull since he is very busy, and I do not want to hold him accountable for all of this (though I believe there's a few things as of late he should have delegated if he didn't have the capacity to handle them himself.) What disappoints me is that no other members of staff whatsoever rose up to discuss the issue at any point.

I tried to hunt around a little to find out exactly what happened, but the few people I got in touch with told me they couldn't reveal others' names (for understandable privacy reasons) and I gave up on trying to pursue the entirety of staff after that, because honestly, that's just annoying for everyone.

I was told that multiple people spoke against me. And it's like these people said their word and simply disappeared without giving me a chance to clear anything up (or even understand what their gripes were) and now no one cares about it anymore.

(Sorry for the delayed reply. I wasn't sure what to say to Delta and figured I'd wait until someone from staff posted here, but either nobody saw the thread or nobody wanted to.)

[Jakers457]

Well, personally I feel you surpass a good handful of current staff in productivity and general etiquette. To not accept you seems like a silly move. And perhaps I'll piss people off by saying that, but the whole debacle seems shitty and I'm willing to show some support.

[Guest]

Also willing to show support. Pretty much what Jakers said, I'm just as confused as Fran is about them not being considered for this roll.

[Guest]

I like you a lot FFrances, you were by favorite admin to have to deal with whenever I got bwoinked, because you took your time to explain what I had done wrong and why it was wrong, and never got passive aggressive or rude about it, even when I was. I support this application. So much so, If I was in charge, I'd literally skip the trial and make you Head Admin again.