This isn't a rant.

General
#1

[size=15px]This isn’t a rant, it’s an open letter to the senior staff of Project City Build. Please take the time to read this message thoroughly if you fall under that description. This letter not only recognizes issues and questions that I myself want taken care of, but rather that of the collective opinion of the lower staff. I understand that by making this post, I am shooting myself in the foot. However, it seems that no one else wants to jeopardize their own position like I am about to do.[size=15px]

This isn’t a resignation letter, because I’m willing to stand up and be the representative for the voice of lower staff members, and I’m not going to put my tail between my legs after doing so.

[size=15px]Allow me to start my parlous letter by discussing one of the more well known issues at hand, the slipshod promotions of Senior Operators. Starting with current Senior Operator kurrepted98989’s promotion, I request to know the reasoning behind her promotion. Her promotion as a staff member was discussed by lower staff to be too fast, and upset many. Another reason this upset many was due to the fact that kurrepted98989 lacked the skills needed to be a Senior Operator, such as knowledge of commands, leadership, or authority. The main reasoning for her promotion, as thought by lower staff, is to be her friendship with Shadowmeire628. An example of this lack of knowledge can be displayed at the destruction of the creative worlds spawn by kurrepted98989 by misuse of a world edit command. (Citing _andy, Liam599 as witnesses). In which no form of reprimands were given to kurrepted98989 as a result of this. The only actions taken to repair this were from Hard24get and Liam599 through the use of World Edit. No reason has been given for the promotion of kurrepted98989, nor has no reason been provided for the lack of punishment towards the World Edit destruction.
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Once more I bring up the topic of negligent promotions when I ask for the reasoning behind DuckGyvers promotion. Whilst DuckGyver obtains a larger knowledge of commands, there are others that knew more than him. This promotion is a grand example of negligence among higher staff, as through nameless sources, his promotion only lasted ten hours before being prematurely promoted by kurrepted98989. ten hours is not enough time for their to be a full discussion of someones qualification as a Senior Operator. This promotion sparked the same amount of outrage in the lower staff, but once again no one spoke up. Hard24get asked the question about what qualities DuckGyver had over other, more active staff members, yet no answer was given. However, the conclusion between lower staff has been that DuckGyver received his promotion due to his acquaintanceship with kurrepted98989. This promotion is thought to be undeserved and only exists due to this friendship, an unfair advantage to say the least.

[size=15px]I, Hard24get, speak for myself on this paragraph. The promotion of Sacredeathflame is the only promotion that I can actually agree with. Mainly due to the, unproven idea, that my suggestion is actually the reasoning behind his promotion. I spoke with many Senior Operators after DuckGyvers promotion, asking the question “What does DuckGyver have that other players such as Sacreddeathflame, Cherryred, Italianchild, or Ymbninjakiller have?” Of course, I received no answer to this. However not soon after, a strange post appeared in the Deleted Posts thread from Shadowmiere628 about the promotion of Sacreddeathflame. This doesn’t offer much to this letter, but I’m adding it because I want to point out that I think Sacreddeathflames promotion only exists due to the negative responses that DuckGyvers promotion received.

[size=15px]Back to the collective voice, I ask that the Senior Staffs evaluate what they really do for the server. Lower staff believe that the position of Senior Operator should be given to certain staff members that withhold talents or skills that the server can benefit from, or at least offer leadership to lower staff members. However right now, the following staff members offer nothing to benefit the server (per the opinion of lower staff members). DuckGyver, Kurrepted98989, Shadowmeire628, and to an extent Ouhai_Ruby. Fatso12321 and Kyle8910 help by managing Feed The Beast, Johnlh97 helps by running server side things and helps with Pixelmon, as well as paying for the Feed The Beast server. Liam599 plays fair on the server, and behaves as a positive role model and leader towards players. Sacreddeathflame is hard to describe, however his promotion was fair as Sacreddeathflame has extensive knowledge of Pixelmon, Feed The Beast, and the main server.[size=1em]

Once again, I would like to point out that I, Hard24get, have been speaking not as myself, but as the collective voice of lower staff members in this letter.

Thank you, The lower staff of Project City Build.

#2

…Wat?

All I can say is that…no clue who the collective voice is, because it sure doesn’t include me. Just saying, Hard, if you don’t see the merit in some of our staff having high ranks, it doesn’t mean nobody sees it. :confused:

#3

All I’ve done is take what was said in a TeamSpeak group conversation and put it into a format for discussion. I don’t believe you were involved in the conversation, but a fair bit of Staff who play frequently did participate in it.

#4

Righty then.

Kurry was promoted as she’s fucking good with people. She may not have the best knowledge of commands, but she’s much more willing to learn than a lot of staff are. Hell, I don’t know how button warps work for example. I asked Ouhai once, lost interest, because I’m a lazy fuck. Kurry however spent a long ass time on the server at one point trying to help out a member to get an OOMS shop working (something that, again, I also don’t know), using instructions she’d got from Ouhai and Google. As for world edit fuck ups… heh… heh heh heh. Not going to even get started on that, as we know what I’d say. About multiple fuck ups from someone. A lot of wood. (Also, I crashed the server recently with world edit too, just sayin’. So, that mean I should be demoted.)

Ducky - Me and Shad had discussed him and put his name forward before even talking to Kurry. Sure, Kurry made the thread in the admin board, but Shad was planning on doing that himself anyway. Literally everyone I know on the server that plays frequently likes Ducky. He’s extremely helpful, always willing to lend a hand to members with any problems, knows a decent amount of commands etc etc etc. He fit’s Sop. Kurry being friends with him had literally nothing to do with it at all.

You threw these names in there too: Sacreddeathflame, Cherryred, Italianchild, or Ymbninjakiller for Sop.

Sacred - is sop. Had already been suggested at the same time that Duck was suggested (who, I might add, had nothing negative in his Sop thread, so your point there is entirely wrong too.)
Cherry - has been suggested and discussed, but obviously I can’t go into detail on that.
Italianchild and Ymbninjakiller - Not hugely active (that I see, could be timezones), they both disappear for a while, and don’t post on the forums much, if at all. They’re both always preoccupied with their own builds when on the server. I love 'em both, but they don’t fit Sop as much as others do at the moment.

As for “useless Sops” Shad does a fuck ton that you don’t see. He’s the hardass when others won’t be, and gets shit done. Always makes good input in admin board on discussions. Ouhai does the same as me pretty much, but is more active, so feel free to switch me and him around in that list of yours. Kurry and Duck, see above.

tl;dr: Sorry hard, you’re just going to have to deal with the butthurt. If any of the current Sops are ever to be demoted, then the admins may as well demote me too as they do just as much if not more than me. But wait, they won’t be demoted unless they really fuck up.

#5

Well, before this gets moved to the staff board, I’d just like to point some stuff out.

You being here longer than someone else does not entitle you to a promotion over them, if that is your attitude, it is most likely the very reason you are not getting promoted. What’s viewed on for promotions is the person’s skills and personality. Commands can be learned over a short period of time. Changing your attitude takes years.

If possible, I’d like to see who these other staff are. Not that I’m doubting you that you speak for a group, I just feel that they’re doing their situation no favours by hiding behind you. It would be far more mature to just come out and say what’s on your mind.

#6

<------ Has Evolved into Demi Nek.

#7

Hey, somebody’s gotta be the resident hardass. Otherwise who’s gonna actually pay heed to the rules?

#8
Starting with current Senior Operator kurrepted98989's promotion, I request to know the reasoning behind her promotion.

This will not be discussed in public forums. Possibly the staff boards. Most likely a private PM.

kurrepted98989 lacked the skills needed to be a Senior Operator, such as knowledge of commands, leadership, or authority.

Kurry knows all the commands needed. She is a good leader and does show authority.

An example of this lack of knowledge can be displayed at the destruction of the creative worlds spawn by kurrepted98989 by misuse of a world edit command.

You’re one to talk about misuse of worldedit. You had about 5 chances with it before any punishment was given. That was her 1st fuck up.

Once more I bring up the topic of negligent promotions when I ask for the reasoning behind DuckGyvers promotion. Whilst DuckGyver obtains a larger knowledge of commands, there are others that knew more than him.

Knowledge is not the only factor involved in choosing a SOP. You of all people should know this.

This promotion is a grand example of negligence among higher staff, as through nameless sources, his promotion only lasted ten hours before being prematurely promoted by kurrepted98989. ten hours is not enough time for their to be a full discussion of someones qualification as a Senior Operator.

There was indeed a mistake in the promotion of Ducky/Guibo. Shit happens. People fuck up. Move on and get over it.

This promotion sparked the same amount of outrage in the lower staff, but once again no one spoke up. Hard24get asked the question about what qualities DuckGyver had over other, more active staff members, yet no answer was given. However, the conclusion between lower staff has been that DuckGyver received his promotion due to his acquaintanceship with kurrepted98989. This promotion is thought to be undeserved and only exists due to this friendship, an unfair advantage to say the least.

Once again, the promotion will not be discussed here. Possibly the staff boards. Most likely a PM.
What I will say is that we have never and will never promote anyone to SOP because of friendships, nor will we prevent a promotion because we don’t get along with a player.

I spoke with many Senior Operators after DuckGyvers promotion, asking the question "What does DuckGyver have that other players such as Sacreddeathflame, Cherryred, Italianchild, or Ymbninjakiller have?" Of course, I received no answer to this.

You never asked me this, and once again I will not say anything here other than activity.

I think Sacreddeathflames promotion only exists due to the negative responses that DuckGyvers promotion received.

This is just untrue. As soon as talk of any promotion to SOP was mentioned, we threw names around. I will say that Ducky, Sacred, Cherry, Jet, Ital, Hard, Meta and even Zak was discussed.

However right now, the following staff members offer nothing to benefit the server (per the opinion of lower staff members). DuckGyver, Kurrepted98989, Shadowmeire628, and to an extent Ouhai_Ruby.

Ducky hasn’t had a chance to do anything yet. Shad and myself run all the competitions and minigames. You also can not, I repeat, can NOT say that one of us ‘plays fair, behaves as a positive role model and leader towards players’ while the rest of us don’t.
Sorry, but we don’t have any reason to run absolutely everything by everyone, because either you don’t need to know or you won’t care. Stuff has changed, and we all do stuff to help out.
I am actually offended that my name was put up there. I have done more for this server than a lot of you know.

#9

this is a rant

the simple fact of the matter is the the people that have been promoted are positive and helpfull people on the server, and we need all we can get at this point. after beeing on theis server off and on for years now i can say that it is better to have lots of great people who still need to learn a few commands (becouse nobody know everything right away) then two or three sinor staff that can only focus on a few things. its not a fact of friends promoting friends its a fact that the server is growing as it always has been and we need more good people to control the influx of new members. so what if they dont know a few ccommands or they mess up a few times trying to learn those commands? nobody is perfict. (take my spelling for example :stuck_out_tongue: sorry)

p.s. i agree ouhai. i remember when u got mod status way back when. and you have done so much to help this server grow and make it a positive place to have fun sense then. its almost a little sinfull saying that you and staff like you “offer nothing of benifit to the server” becouse without staff like you this server would tank in a week.

end rant.

just my perspective on the issue. not ment to be hatefull but kinda sounds that way sorry.

#10

Hot damn. I’m put on blast here.

Well, I’d like to first off focus on the whole Shad, Ruby, Liam, or Guibo and myself not fulfilling our rank. I’d like to point out that honestly, without all of the people named, this server would probably be dead. We’re constantly on, fixing shit for people, helping new comers, and getting shit squared away as we should. My question here, aside for the awesome technical shit you do for the server, what do YOU do on the server itself, involving yourself in the community. Don’t get me wrong, you are fucking awesome at coding, and I am seriously in constant awe and jealousy over the shit you can pull, but what can non-staff and new players say about you? Not much. You ask any members on the server about any of us, they have something to tell you. I’m not trying to turn this into a popularity match, because that’s not what it comes down to. We literally barely play Minecraft anymore, we all aimlessly fly around chatting with players and fixing their issues and helping out people. Yeah, that’s our job as staff, but we actually do it because we want to make this server prosper.

Now, on to the next point. Yeah, I was definitely awarded SOP WAYYYY faster than I ever intended. I didn’t ask for it. I was willing to wait the full length of time it took to get it; which I was told was approximately 3 years. My SOP promotion came as much as a surprise to me as it did to everyone. I don’t see what you hate about me so much to literally hold such a weird grudge over me. And oh, WE fuck up. REALLY? Fucking reaaaallly? Should we bring up the diamond issue while were at it? Butletsnotdothatandbeadultsaboutit. I fucking left out 1 thing out of a code. 1 FUCKING THING. And that’s what caused my OH SO horrible WE fuck-up. The best part about this? I was helping out a player editing something in Creative. Not even for myself, you know, building entire cities and shit. IN SURVIVAL. But once again, LET’S NOT GO THERE, RIGHT?

My fuck up with Guibo’s promotion was obviously a giant fail on my part. Clearly. For me to get a message from Fatso being all like, dude, WTF? Obviously, I fucked up. I already admitted to that, and apologized for it, and went about it the mature way, and admitted I was wrong. Mistakes are only human. Now, to bring up your picks for SOP; 2 of them are inactive, others for reasons that have been spoken about elsewhere. Ask Ruby as stated above. I’ve never even had any negative thing to say about you, and you’ve literally been drilling me up the ass since I ever got into staff. I don’t know what I personally did to piss in your Cheerio’s, but you need to seriously re-evaluate your grudges. Like, I am not your enemy here… I’ve done nothing but praised you since I’ve been here, and literally always welcome you in genuinely nicely and make it a point to actually try and get to know you. And then you fucking shit on me. Thanks man, appreciate it. At least that shit’s warm. If you feel like I need to be demoted, please feel free to make a demotion thread. Hell, even make it so that members can vote since our community apparently doesn’t feel like I fulfill my duty as SOP. With that;
/ShayyFUCKINGout

#11

The only think that I have to say to this is that one of the largest flaws that I see in our system at PCB is that it seems as if a small period of high activity is more valuable than a large period of moderate activity. Keep in mind overall the same amount of time has been put in. Personally, it seems as if some of us older staff who have been here, seem to be forgotten while we quietly and (sometimes) un-glamorously do the jobs given to us as the staff rank. Now don’t take this as me saying that other staff have not put in time and effort and don’t deserve the positions that they have obtained, because they have and most definitely do deserve it, just that maybe some older staff members have sometimes been forgotten about.

This is not meant as to be directed at absolutely anyone, just an overall thought based on some years of experience on this server.

#12

First of all I want to say that it was very brave of you to risk everything for a subject you felt passionate about.

I honestly think Kurry is a good staff. She knows the balance between having fun and being serious. I will admit she got sop rather quickly. However that isn’t her fault. Don’t be mad at her for that. To be fair,
How many of us would say “I don’t want SOP because I have only been on for 255 days.”? We all make mistakes. I cant think of a staff member who didn’t mess up once. I have messed up. You have. So has Kurry.

I was a little shocked about Guibos promotion because I thought he was leaving. However, I have seen him online after getting the rank and he does a good job in my opinion.

Shadow does a lot for the server. He likes TNT but you can’t blame him. XD

Ouhai is the sop I see the most. He is always flying around checking on everyone.

Everyone has a different role in the community. Hard can code super well! That is amazing!
Kurry is good with people and has a positive relationship with almost everyone in the community. Ouhai always helps correct errors and is always helping those who need help. Guibo is very good with all sorts of commands. Shadow is good with TNT. Ahaha he can also give helpful advice how to handle a situation.

We promote people for reasons. It isn’t like Kurry alone chose to promote Guibo it was a majority.
Differences aside we all are here to make the server a better place.

#13

Ah Hard, always the unpopular one… You know we really did discuss making you SOP again.

Anyway, I do think it’s good to put this out in the open. As you said, stuff in the higher boards are not seen by most so those under it do not see the reasoning or thought put into such decisions. I get why decisions come as a complete surprise to many. Even I was surprised by Kurry’s promotion because I did not know her at all. I can’t argue there because I practically abandoned the main server.

I’m sorry for giving the negative impression on SOP+ actions. We need ta post more in the announcement board whenever something is decided. Even including the general reasoning for the decision.

#14

For me I understand exactly what Hard is saying, I also respect that you actually made the post.

I have heard complaints myself before so the truth is there are many people who feel dissatisfied with who currently has which rank. Personally, from what I’ve heard, the don’t see fault in just SOP+ but most of the staff ranks. I’ve heard complaints about people getting special treatment because of their friends time and time again. To be honest these complaints have been circulating a long time.

Complaints have increased and I have to say there are a lot about Kurry, perhaps they target her because she has made mistakes but I can also see Kurry is very good with other people and most of her mistakes were made towards that start of SOP+ promotion. We shows that people can learn quickly.

I agree that the amount time on here shouldn’t be the factor of who gets promoted but lately I feel like promotions are happening to fast and only to a few. I am not against it in the case of some people as I felt Ducky would make a great staff member when he first applied for Mod.

The biggest issue I see in the staff is not the skill level and knowledge of commands, that can be taught easily, but it is the maturity, willingness to learn and ability to effectively interact with the other players online. For this reason there are definitely staff that need to be looked at, but my opinion is that this is not only SOP+ but all staff.

There are so many that seem to rant and start arguments does this suggest that we promoted the wrong people? I find there is always a time and a place to rant like now because now we’ve got the ball rolling and can have a serious discussion about it.

That’s pretty much all there is to it but there are a lot of lower ranks currently unsatisfied with the ranks so I don’t see this as rant some of things Hard said are true some of them aren’t we need to seriously look at what is making the lower ranks unhappy

#15

I figured I might post the message I sent when SOPs asked me if I would be interested for the position:

Hey Shadow! I was indeed wondering why some people were congratulating me yesterday! It seems someone has made a slight mistake... um um I guess my response is some sort of application and that it will be posted on your thread to be seen by all of you. Well first thing first, whatever the outcome of all this, it is really an honour for you guys to even consider me for this position. I never thought I would reach this level of trust in our community. It makes me really happy! I had never set for myself the objective of obtaining SOP. So it all comes, (or rather came yesterday) as a big surprise. If you guys believe I would be fit for the position, that I have the skills and knowledge required for this, than by all means I'm super up for it! I'm always up for a challenge and I would give it the best I can! I don't really have concerns about being able to handle the position as I have spent a lot of time with SOPs, mainly Kurry. (too much in my opinion ) So I generally know what this position is about, on the server and on the forums, and what are the duties involved. My main concern is rather the reactions of other staff members. I am generally in good terms with everyone, but I know this could create a bit of jealousy. My prime concern, rather than my own advancement, is the good harmony of our staff. So I hope this won't create any tensions. However, I know my character and I am generally good at appeasing these kind of situations. + I don't have a rub it in your face attitude, or at least I try! So yes, there you go! If you guys think I can do it than I'm really up for it! Yes yes yes! But at this point, I'm ecstatic at the fact that you even considered me! So good luck voting guys! And I'm off for lunch!

My prime concern, rather than my own advancement, is the good harmony of our staff.

I genuinely don’t feel like I deserve anything! All I want is for the server to run smoothly. For me that’s all that matters.
Some of you guys take this waaaay to seriously, as if it was your political career!

Jealousy, bitterness and these kind of rants poison our staff. And maybe that’s why you guys are not SOP. You’re all about “me me me”, rather than PCB PCB PCB!

I always keep my word. For me, the good harmony of staff is more important than my rank. So I’ll let you guys vote on it.

If you feel that me being an SOP well hinder your ability to moderate the server adequately, than vote for a demotion. I really don’t want this to create chaos.

But when voting, do ask yourself this: If I got SOP, would I be willing to loose it to make the server better? To restore the harmony?

If the answer is NO, than don’t search any further. That’s why you’re not an SOP. Because you think about yourself before the server.

#16
I don't know what I personally did to piss in your Cheerio's
I will never not <3 that phrase. Ahahahaha

As for people ranking up fast, that’s down to the system we have. People can apply when they want, and if they’re seen to fit the rank by staff and the only negative is “it’s a bit soon” they’re likely to get it anyway as that’s only a very minor negative.

We’re staff for a reason, to make these decisions that people may not always agree with. If we undid every decision, or ran it past trusted and members first, this place would quickly go to shit as you can never please everyone.

#17

As Abraham Lincoln said: “You can please some of the people some of the time, all of the people some of the time, or some of the people all of the time. But you can never please all of the people all of the time.”

#18

I think it would be a good idea to maybe run sop promotions through trusted, or at least the more senior trusted so that sop promotions wont just be based on the options of a few people.

#19

No disrespect, but I feel that such a decision is too great for trusted to decide upon.

In my opinion, Senior Ops should of course have their own private discussion, yet in addition, a discussion should be held on the staff board, in which Senior Ops should take into consideration the opinion of junior staff.

Ultimately, the decision should be left to Senior Staff.

#20

Only problem with that is that it’s only the Senior Staff, that know what being Senior Staff is like. Asking Ops and mods, they won’t be able to gauge whether or not certain members would be suitable. I mean no disrespect by this, all our staff do a brilliant job, but you literally can’t tell what being a sop is like, until you’re actually a sop.