Application Questions

[Comrade]

I'm not sure if I shouldve posted on the actual thread or here, so feel free to lock.

I'm not sure to apply yet, or even if I want to. But I have some specific questions. Such as, would recent warnings go into account of your chances of becoming a moderator? Even warnings at all. I've never been suspended, however over the past years on CS I've received multiple warnings, and one super recently.

Also do other mods/admins give feedback on whose becoming a mod? I believe I have a bad rep with one particular mod, so would they alone ruin my chances?

[AquilaFuga]

The effect of warnings on your chances isn't a black-and-white matter. There's no way to say 'if you get a warning for ___ and it happened ____ days/months/years ago, then it definitely will/will not affect you'.

Each applicant is judged on a case-by-case basis. Obviously, someone with no warnings may look more desirable, but old warnings or ones which were relatively minor may well be overlooked almost entirely. There are staff members/GHs who've been hired who have had past warnings (myself included).

The only way to ensure that you definitely have no chance, is to stop yourself from applying - nobody can tell you whether you will or won't get a position for definite, but regardless of your position, there's no harm done in applying if you genuinely want to help out and have learnt from those warnings.

The moderators will give feedback and opinions on applications where relevant, but ultimately the choice of who is hired is down to the admins.

[Comrade]

I feel like that still brittles down my chances. I'm sure even minor warnings go a long way, cause they seemingly hire veteran members with basically clean slates. And everyone can be bias, so I definitely know that I'm not even in question just judged by that certain mod. I feel that if youre strict and can grammatically word a sentence, youre eligible. I dont want to say its "rigged" but its certainly not off of random



unrelated, you dont have to read:
I'm not saying youre mean/strict, cause in fact youre very helpful, but I'm tired of being fenced in. I know its your job to enforce the rules of CS, but I'm getting warnings for rules I didnt even know existed. I feel like I cant be myself (and maybe thats the point of a family site?) and thats not a good thing. It makes me not want to log on everyday, it makes me want to stop sending $$ every 2 weeks. Idk, theres more serious things to worry about then me accidentally giving out my age to 4 people (like underground trading and multiple accounts, because I see it so often). I guess I'm just tired of wearing my muzzle

[Shian]

The applications are for General Helpers, who have nothing to do with applying board warnings or enforcing the rules of CS.
If you feel you can't be yourself on here and feel 'muzzled', then maybe a staff position is not for you. You're right that it's not a random choice. It's those who fit the criteria right on the application page:

If you know a lot about how Chicken Smoothie works, and if you like making new friends and helping people learn new things, then this might be the perfect role for you. General Helpers welcome new members to the site, share advice, and answer questions from members about how the website works.

Unlike other staff, General Helpers don't have any special powers or abilities to edit things on the site or in the forum. They are just regular members like you, who happen to have joined an official helpers club. General Helpers' names are a different color so that they're easy for other members to find if they have any questions about the site. Please note General Helpers do not moderate in the forum or discipline other members.

This role is available to members of any age.

A General Helper needs to do these tasks regularly:

Visit the "CS Help, Suggestions, and Problems" board and answer anything you can help with
Visit the Introductions board and welcome new members to the site
Help out whenever you stumble across people having problems in the forum
Be friendly and approachable for members who need help or advice on CS
Help members who've sent questions to the official Help System. (These are not visible to regular members.)


We are looking for members who:

Always treat other players with respect, and have not had any issues with arguments, bullying, or fighting.
Are always happy to help other players, even if it involves explaining the same things over and over
Are very active in the forum, posting often, and always with a friendly and positive attitude towards other players
Will remain calm even when players are being rude or disrespectful. You should never respond with anger or insults.
Know a lot about CS, including knowing the rules, how to edit your profile, how to set up trade settings, how to post in the forum or use the oekaki, etc.

I feel that if youre strict and can grammatically word a sentence, youre eligible.

Being able to express yourself so you're understood is a basic part of the job. How would you feel if you had a question and you didn't understand the answer or there were so many grammar and spelling errors that you couldn't even read it? Wouldn't you wonder why this person was picked up as a helper if they can't even communicate properly?

[Shinryu]

If you are curious about the process behind staff reviewing the applications, then I can recommend reading Atwood's post here.

The process of judging applications is not random, and should not be. Staff look at the applicants' account history to assess their personality and their behavior on the site.
One thing that is important to keep in mind is that members of the team are supposed to know the site rules. That includes rules that are a bit more specific, and rules that only apply to certain boards.
Even GHs, who don't have anything to do with giving out warnings, need to know about the rules because often members will have questions about them, and we can't be giving them wrong answers that will lead them to trouble.

You are correct in saying that multiple accounts are a worse offense than stating your age. And as such, when staff judge the applications, they will absolutely take the severity of a warning into account.

Like Aquila, I am someone who made it onto the team despite a minor warning. Veteran members don't always have a clean slate (after all, we had a lot more time to mess up), but there is a difference between a member of say, 6 years who got a warning 5 years ago, and a member of 2 years who got one a year ago. In both cases, the person got the warning at roughly the same time after joining - but the older player has still been without further warnings for 5 whole years in which they accumulated account history to prove that they have learned to stick to the rules and been a positive influence on the community.
Similarly, someone who got multiple warnings spread out over many years will be noted as someone who struggled with, and in the case of recent warning/s, still struggles with the rules despite having been active for so long - and not knowing the rules is a negative for someone trying out for a staff role.

A minor warning has a negative impact on your chances, but it can be overcome if it is old and there are enough positive things that make up for it. Staff can't afford to simply take chances.

"Being who you are" always has limitations when you are in a space with lots of other people. Just like society has rules you need to follow (both laws and cultural rules), our community has them, too. Some of the rules exist for the protection of our members, especially the younger ones, whereas others are meant to ensure everyone gets along.
By becoming part of the team, users are put into a position where they become role models to the community. And whether we're talking about an online community or an offline one, this means that sometimes, "being yourself" comes second to doing your job.
It's part of acting professional - sometimes you have to swallow your feelings and opinions and take a neutral stance, sometimes you can't just do what you want.
By choosing to accept a role on the team, you agree to certain limitations.

[nickjr]

(Last edited 2.5 hours after the timestamp)

Gonna make some relevant but side comments here:

1) Remember that no one can tell who has been warned except for moderators. "Seemingly clean slates"--"seemingly" is a good word to use here. Our staff members are great but we don't know what minor (or major but SUPER old, but this is highly unlikely since major warnings are major) warnings they've received in the past. Their slates may not be clean, but regular members don't know, because they've done their best to polish and shine their slates (and the admins recognize their efforts).

2) The rules are tricky to learn OTL A lot of us have also struggled with them.

3) Completely seconding what ZEL said about how being your personal self comes after being your professional self. This is the norm throughout the world both online and offline. Unfortunately, for people in positions of power, they have to be professional first. Only after that can they try to squeeze in a bit of their own personality. And only in private can they really be theirselves. I'm speaking from experience as a guild leader in another game, and we can find many examples of people or corporations trying to school their words (public relations, right)

4) It's true that some of us aren't suited for staff roles. I'm not saying that's the case for you; just saying that it's not as odd as it sounds. I'm not suited for a staff role. I have an abrasive personality and low patience levels. I'm also extremely awkward and tend to make people uncomfortable by saying things that apparently are not socially acceptable (but not socially unacceptable--e.g. i tend to forget that people don't like talking about human waste in public, for whatever reason, but apparently it's not forbidden or something... just super awkward) On top of that, I don't have enough time IRL for staff duties lol

Basically the only redeeming quality I have is that I am extremely good at following instructions. In fact I'm so good that I will not assume anything and I will clarify every possibly ambiguous thing, to the annoyance of other people lol

5) Despite what I said in 4, I still try to help people when I can. I've lived in this forum (Help/Suggestions) since 2013. I've helped a lot of people despite not being a GH. The benefits of this are that I can help when I want to help (if you ask me to welcome newbies, I will run into a cave and hide there for forever because I prefer to talk at people and I really don't want to talk to people; also note that my PMs are turned off) and that I can still sorta be myself. The only downsides I see to not being a GH are that you get no access to the help ticket system and you might not be able to reach as many members in need of help. But you can totally still take on any and all of the other GH duties without being a GH.