Regarding the MH staff

[Karma’s Hat 3107]

Lately me and various other regulars ( whom I hope voice their support for immediate action and add to the discussion ) have been thinking that there's a problem, and that is the severe lack of participation in forum activities in part of some of the staff members. It's pretty much widely acknowledged all around that especially a bulk of the blue ( and the late green, whom were subsequently and justly culled ) mods are notoriously inactive when it comes to interacting with much of the community.

 

It's true that I have no idea what goes on behind the scenes and what are the contributions of each one there, but I do believe that actual "moderating" is far from being the only job of a staff member. A member of the staff should have a proactive approach to the forums; interacting with the members, making topics and creating discussions as often as possible and not just once or twice a month when the mood is right. The benefits of this approach for example have been seen in the review and general sections. If Zess and CAT5 wouldn't have made all the topics and discussions there that they have I bet nobody would have and the general section would still be pretty much dead. 

 

I think the forum would benefit a lot from updating the staff roster with users who are in the loop of the current goings in the Japanese music scene, and imporantly the said users should be known by the people and the people should know them. I bet many newcomers who registered in the late 2012, early 2013 have no clue who these people are and I can't really blame them, seeing as some of the staff rarely post anything that classifies as a contribution. 

 

And I'm not trying to come off as hostile, but I really think this forum has seen a surge of activity as of late ( some people would very much disagree with me though ) and I think that we should capitalize on that with a new, active and participating staff. There should be as little inactivity as possible and most definately zero people that clearly stick around just because they're friends. A mod status should be for those who are absolutely dedicated and if the time comes when they cannot live up to their duties, they should resign without a second thought. 

 

edit: I urge everyone to say either yay or nay below. There needs to be some discussion about this because this is what people complain about all the time. 

 

Everyone, and I mean everyone has complained about the forum being dead at one point. I honestly think that a staff that is right there in the middle of everything is the best way to engage this problem. While I also realise that you might be hesitant to do a revamp after the failure of the green mods, culling the one or two that are certainly solely dead weight right now and replacing them with new ones wouldn't hurt.  

 

edit2: To address another concern that was voiced: The user and mod apathy. 

 

It may be a convenient excuse for staff members and users alike to free themselves of the burden of contributing just because "What does it matter when nobody else won't do anything either". That's reasonable, why would anyone post when nobody else does? 

 

I feel this concern can be directly addressed with a proactive, enthusiastic and most importantly of all, in the loop staff. What makes or breaks any content creator and site on the web is quality and consistency. The amount of good coming from a staff that brings life to where there isn't should be obvious for anyone. One or two mods can't do that alone, it needs to be the whole team. 

 

These changes need to be done swiftly and throughout with zero compromise or months long discussions between the administration.  I think it's necessary that the amount of new blood is large is enough to reinvigorate the staff and forum.

[Guest Magatsu]

^ this

 

 

I'm already for a long time at this board. I've chatted a lot with members, I did fight a lot with members (lol). And I've watched this forum. and now days everyday almost 24/7.

 

But I still don't simple know, who is who and who is doing what, and who is doing nothing.

That's what kinda insterst me.

 

 

For me the only active and good Staff are, ZESS, Ito, SAI and CAT5.

Kai is just the owner but as owner he really almost never appear. and his girlfriend is admin too (why?, why can't they use both 1 ADMIN account, why can't she just be user? nobody knows her)

 

Also if users come with new ideas, the ADMINS also ZESS are often defending the "user" idea. so that it won't happen at all. because they come up with big lists why it's not a good idea.

We still have transcodes (we can't ban them), we still have a obcure DL forum, not everyone use "tags" (I totally hate to tag).

Also some nice tutorials about stuffs are now days difficult to find more topics need to be pinned.

It also doesn't feel like MODs listen if someone write down over here what's really serious.

 

I've heard that CAT5 had some nice ideas but that the "team, or someone of the team, didn't like it, or kinda not wanted to try out"

 

the team need to stay open for new things. they just should try it out. you always can change it back.

And also the mods who are not active should move their ass. and otherwise they just should "say" "I don't have time for it".

 

There is someting more what I miss.

The heart for running this forum. to come up with cool new ideas, to add those ideas...just more fun things. or something.

Also the new MH website thing for introduce bands it's dead too.

(>_<)

 

This forum need new people in dah team who stand for this forum and make things really happen and true.

 

 

But what also wonders me.

Who should be the next mod?

Style, Dispo, me, Whirling, Linh, Allisap, Slsr, Jigsaw.........................?

 

EDIT;

I would also love to help out the TEAM somehow.

 

 

And also the STAFF should not be afraid for changes. just change things. it's needed!

this forum need to grow, members should also be happy.

So come one! don't be afraid to make changes!

[Slsr 207]

Well I agree with this somewhat, even if I won't blame staff only for lack of discussion and activity in forums for instance, not like they are only people who can open topics and initiate discussion etc. But regardless for who you want to blame for it is true forum isn't all that active that it could be currently, so people who actually would initiate discussion would surely be helpful in many ways and therefore some change would indeed be welcome.

Edited October 7, 2013 by Slsr

[Karma’s Hat 3107]

While it sounds a bit silly, I believe that arbitrary colors and titles help to take some people one step further when it comes to activity. So if someone doesn't seem like the world's best user at the moment, it doesn't mean that they wouldn't change after being granted modship. Obviously a new sexy staff wouldn't be found over night, but that's what discussion is for.

[Peace Heavy mk II 7200]

RIP the green mods tbh

[WhirlingBlack 1043]

I agree with this topic, I've at lengths discussed the problems I've seen and experienced as a user of this site with several other regulars. From the POV of a user, it seems that a few members of the staff, namely Zess, CAT and sai, seems to carry up the large majority of the duties associated with being a moderator/admin, while the contributions of the rest can be seen as sporadic at best. 

 

It seems like some members of the staff stay purely on past merits, good graces, nepotism, etc. and I think this is an issue that must be taken into consideration; If you don't have the proper time to invest in working on the site, should you really hold a position of power? If someone is consistantly so busy with real life that they can't put down a couple of hours a week at least (in my opinion a couple of hours per day would be preferable), they should be asking themselves what they really bring to the site. The administration should make a regular review of the moderators performance and if they don't make the cut, they should be relieved of duty immidately. Inefficient members of the administration should also consider giving up their positions to people more suitable for the task.

 

This place needs a shake up, and I'm not convinced that the current staff line up is up to the task. If the whole team showed the same dedication that the previously mentioned people do most of the time, then this place would most likely be heading towards major improvement, not just in activity and administration, but also in terms of order.

 

Finally, perhaps a bit controversial as its just a theory, but, I've heard several good suggestions come from certain mods and admins I've talked to, but fact seems that the majority is too busy clinging to status quo out of sheer laziness that none or very few have been implemented successfully. 

[stylelover 1086]

i guess stuff like how to change the forum would rather belong into the thread magatsu  created, but im just going to include it to this post , as it somehow belongs to modteam changes too (you need to have some ideas too after all.)

 

many regulars (at least chat regulars) talked about this situation for a while. its a fact that the forum is less populated than it was before , so we wondered why and talked about the whole situation a lot in the chat recently. but stuff like that belongs in the open or nothing gets changed at all. i also hope that people might join this discussion.

 

General thoughts about responsibilites and the modteam:

 

Like dispo said, the most important thing about a modteam that they are 1) active active active and 2) actually interested in the stuff the forum offers and 3) actually interested to be part of the community.

Sadly i dont see any of these things in the current modteam. there are exceptions of course , but im not going to say any positive or negative examples as that wouldnt be fair to anyone of the current mod team.

 

To get a little bit more detailed.

 

1) Lately i refer to mh as a lawfree place. you rarely see any mods and wrong topics or stuff like that sometimes stay on the site for a few days or they just dont get discovered at all. So thats where the first point comes in: a mod/admin team should actually be active and not just hope for the best and be kinda idle all the time. again as dispo said i dont know whats going on behind the doors, but i was a mod myself in the past( im going to say a bit about that too later on) and theres not so much stuff "backstage" to actually justify the common abscene of mods on here.its not the users job to report any single wrong thing in the forum. of
course its nice to report something if you see it, but in a ideal situation the mods themselve would see stuff and correct it .

 

2) that leads me to my second point: you need to be interested in the stuff thats posted here to actually be able to properly do you rmodwork. not being interested in most of the news and downloads posted here AND being lazy or away is the worst combination possible. again: in a ideal situation or rather in a must be situation the mods actually need to be interested in visual kei /jrock /the news / kpop / whatever to be able to mod properly.  its ok if one moves away from vk or anything offered here, but then you are just not fit to be a mod on a forum about that stuff anymore. imo a mods job is not just moving topics/locking threads. its also to be highly dedicated and interested in what the site is about, to take part in discussions and be a part of the community. and thats what my third point is about. one shouldnt be a mod just to ensure "law", one should be a mod because he/she LOVES to be on this site and LOVES the stuff the site is about. its just sad and cant be justified if a mod has like 5 posts in two months.

 

and to actually reach that goal the mod team (and/or possible new mods) needs to be reviewed. that leads me to a bit of my own mod story and why i left the "team". it wasnt a team at all in the past.

when i joined the mod team back in tainted world days it was actually more or less a team. everyone was fairly active and you could b e sure that if you wouldnt be able to look into the forum for lets say two days, someone else would be there for sure. that changed someday. sooner or later i found myself doing most of the stuff myself as some of the staff was just suddenly away and others lacked interest in the forum. that quickly lead to my removal of the team, because i just dont want to look over everything all the time , even though i really love this forum(im part of it for 6 years or so now). but a team is a team and not one single person and the others can lay back and hope that no one registers on the site.

meaning: a mod team should consist of people that actually care about the forum and want to increase the community AND actually being interested in the stuff thats most common in here. ideally a team should be mixed with people that like different things (vk, jrock, jpop, kpop, other stuff) .

 

of course things can stay like they are now, but the forum is slowly dying and it will die out sooner or later. im going to talk more about that in the second section, but atm theres no real reason to join mh. i chat with people yes, but i can just add them all to skype and it would be the same.

and thats the point: a mod team should be a good role model and actually be interested to be a part of the community.

 

now theres maybe the question who should be a mod: thats something that should be discussed later on , IF this might actually change something. i for myself would be willing to join, BUT it depends on how much the team changes and if i can actually say "yes this is a team of people who are active", because no one can change something alone.

 

 

changes for the forum, current situation, what to do?

 

first im just going to repeat something i said on the chat some days ago about the current situation: monochrome heaven as it is right now is just another blogspot site. sounds kinda stupid? maybe but if you take a closer look its not exactly far fetched. currently the only really active stuff on the site are 1) the chat 2) dl section 3) news section. lets see what a random vk blogspot offers me: news and downloads on one site and most of the time a chatbox on the sidebar. sounds exactly the same.

 

so that relates to the activity of the forum: if you visit this forum for the first time (maybe even coming from a blogspot because you saw that many downloads come from here) you actualyl see that its not different at all, so why contribute to the forum at all? seems kinda useless.

 

and thats the one most important thing right now: ACTVITY. especially in other existing categories or in new forums. because if things stay like that than monochrome heaven is just another blogspot. nothing else.

 

so what could be changed about that? for me its out of the question that we need to look into things beyond visual kei /j-rock. imo it wouldnt hurt to be a little bit more open to other asian stuff as k-pop/rock and maybe even other stuff like dramas. we had a bigger music section a while ago and imo it worked quite well (own forums for western and korean music for example) i think it was all migrated into the general music section in an attempt to make the forum slimmer. imo that kinda failed, as the general music section is a huge mess right now and if you are interested in korean music for example its kinda impossible to see whats in the section.

 

its not going to hurt anyone if we try to get people from other genres over here. its not like the vk section is going to decrease just because we have a kpop section and not just a general music section.

ideally people might even check other sections if they are active, but one can also just stay away from it. not like anyone forces you to be part of every single section here.

 

alright thats it from my side. if i can think of anything else to change the forum im going to add it

 

 

[Delkmiroph 1649]

I agree totally with dispo, I think that all users should help with something on community...

 

the donate should be announced the cost real to keep the site, show the value on site how much was donated to encourage members to donate (any amount) in each month.

 

I don't know if this my idea is wrong, but try do changes is necessary to growth of the site.

[TheBistroButcher666 228]

ARITHMETICA FOR MOD!

 

As my first act as moderator I will ban all IPs associated with blogs such as Visual Scandal and somethingsomething I'd have to get Kai to do it :C

 

Anyway, I digress. 

 

It is noticeable when topics get posted in the wrong section and sit there for several days before being moved or never moved at all like this one. I think what could help is consolidating the forum some more. I know there was some recent consolidation but honeslty, I'm mostly just talking about merging the Artist sub forum with the Japanese General Topic sub forum. The artist sub forum is mostly inactive anyway and it would help those topics get noticed more by people if all together in just one general section for Japanese music.

 

I am not the most active member myself but I know that in the past there had been projects like creating an English language wiki/archive that would put JAME to shame. Unfortunate that never came to be because honestly, if MH wants to be something more. MH will need to offer more than just download links. Big words, not a lot I can do to help except give Kai monies.

 

Also fix the mobile site so I can actually see replies to status update posts :C I'm mostly posting from my phone and I can't ever see dat shit. I FEEL SO LEFT OUT D:<

[Champ213 1858]

Well, I for one have no problem with reshuffling the staff team and adding more active people to it. We had several recruitments drives in the past. The main problem: many of those people that we thought would be best suited for the job simply didn't apply. And another recurring problem we had that we recruited mods we thought were good for the job - but after a few weeks they stopped doing stuff, so we had to look for new ones.

 

 

Let's face it: being a mod is not a glamorous task at all. It's actually very tedious, with most of the work done behind the scenes. For year after year I have been doing the jrock contests at the end of each year, which was a lot of work for relatively little results. There don't really seem to be that many people that want to do that kind of stuff for a longer time.

 

It can also be somewhat of a stressful task. You may have to piss off people. Maybe people you actually like. I know I pissed off a lot of people in all the years as staff here, by repremanding or banning them. Including people I used to get along well before.

 

The fact that you have to go around pissing off people by locking their threads, giving them warning for breaking rules etc. also makes it increasingly difficult to use the site as a normal "user" - people will look at you differently. That is something potential staff members should be aware of - you will get hate for actually enforcing the rules. In my experience many people simply weren't willing to that. They wanted to be part of the community - not punish members from it.

[inartistic 1151]

ARITHMETICA FOR MOD!

 

[Danao 759]

I totally agree with most of the stuff said here

 

I didn't came to the chat since a long time now, but what style said is true, I'm pretty sure we already talked about the modteam when I saw still going to the chat, and it was many months ago.

 

I just browse randomly the forum, and days after days it's clear that some mods (by mods I mean moderators and admins) are just ghosts, you hardly see them posting stuff (in the news/ general discussion / whatever section) so yea imo a shuffle should be done

And as far as the shuffle is concerned, I can't agree more with style, it HAS TO BE someone that loves what's inside the forum, how can someone want to do his modjob if he/she doesn't like it at all ?

it would be impossible, he/she would not even come to the forum as there's nothing interesting for him/her, or maybe once a week

 

It also needs to be someone active on the forum, you can't just put a ghost in the mod team and saying "I introduce you the new super duper great mod xxxxx", Users needs to know him/her so that they feel safer and optimists about what will happen with MH after his/her arrival

Honestly If you put someone completely unknown, for me it would just be "okay they asked for a new mod, so he applied, he got recruited, and he will disappear again in the mist of time"

be careful of who you will recruit, cause you can't change people's nature, some people do seem like they could become good mods, but if they lack of interest on what's here, or are lazy, or never post anything etc etc, that won't change, or maybe it will change for 2 weeks (because of glory obvs)

 

And as far as "who the new mod is going to be" I think some people clearly have what a mod needs, interests in VK, JPOP, KPOP, Whatever, I'm pretty sure it won't be hard to find them (and you already found one 5 posts above mine)

 

Anyway I understand that mods lose interest in what's inside the forum, and then you don't come on it anymore, but then why staying as a mod ? it's not like it's the most glorious thing in life, to become a mod on a forum

 

I think I finished °-° I'll keep an eye on what's here, that's an interesting topic, and I hope people will give their opinion insead of just dl'ing and close the forum

[sai 868]

The main problem that we've had with hiring new people who seemed very enthusiastic and active at that time is that basically all of them dropped off the face of the planet after around 6 months. They stopped doing their work completely and hardly even logged on without giving us a notice that they were in fact busy. When it comes to staff members, the problem isn't that we've got too few, just the fact that a part of them doesn't have the time to be here (which I have my own opinion about but which I'm not going to state here for obvious reasons). Finding enthusiastic candidates for this role won't be hard, but all we can do is give them trial runs and hope they won't disappear after about a year or so.

 

We're willing to give it a try, but the attempts in the past (and especially the green mod-project) have not been very successful, so you might understand that there's a bit of scepticism from our part on this solution.

 

I agree about the whole "showing your face more"-thing. Posting a couple of times or opening new threads is not something that takes a lot of time, so everyone on the staff could do this.

 

However, there is only so much we can do. We can start threads and continue discussions, but when other members don't participate there's hardly anything we can do to encourage it apart from that. So basically it's an arm for a leg. We can promise to be more active on the board, the users agree to help the threads stay alive.

[WhirlingBlack 1043]

Sai and champ brings up legitimate things, It's really important that one understands that being a moderator isn't just some kind of "status boost" and more of a job that needs doing. People need to be able to not consider personal relationships with the people involved, be able to put down lots of their time into the site and try their best to keep it vital, healthy, and constantly improving.

 

With that said, I'd like to announce my candidacy for the team, as I feel like I can do all of these things and have a lot to bring to the management of this site. If anyone on the admin or moderating team would like to discuss the application with me, feel free to PM.

[Umi_Niwa 31]

I believe it would be a good idea to recruit mods for a certain period of time. I think it will solve the problem of inactivity in the forum at least somewhat, since nobody or at least not everybody can be equally available for this and well, people lose interest at some point. I agree though, that an active site requires participation of both sides.

[nick 10212]

There is a small weakness in the current mod team from my perspective not mentioning what being said above. None of them live in Asia which means there will be no mods active for 24/7 or at least in Asian daytime. Sometimes I see a misplaced topic or something that is not right on MH (including my own mistakes), but I can't report it to the mod team immediately.

[Karma’s Hat 3107]

The main problem that we've had with hiring new people who seemed very enthusiastic and active at that time is that basically all of them dropped off the face of the planet after around 6 months. They stopped doing their work completely and hardly even logged on without giving us a notice that they were in fact busy. When it comes to staff members, the problem isn't that we've got too few, just the fact that a part of them doesn't have the time to be here (which I have my own opinion about but which I'm not going to state here for obvious reasons). Finding enthusiastic candidates for this role won't be hard, but all we can do is give them trial runs and hope they won't disappear after about a year or so.

 

We're willing to give it a try, but the attempts in the past (and especially the green mod-project) have not been very successful, so you might understand that there's a bit of scepticism from our part on this solution.

 

I agree about the whole "showing your face more"-thing. Posting a couple of times or opening new threads is not something that takes a lot of time, so everyone on the staff could do this.

 

However, there is only so much we can do. We can start threads and continue discussions, but when other members don't participate there's hardly anything we can do to encourage it apart from that. So basically it's an arm for a leg. We can promise to be more active on the board, the users agree to help the threads stay alive.

 

Indeed the trial run is a must, but it should also apply to all existing staff members as well ( I would go as far as to say that they've run their trial course a long, long time ago ). Your numbers are more than enough, so what needs to happen is getting rid of fat and replacing that with those who seem more apt for the job. It won't do that this whole thing culminates into another green mods disaster, where the existing staff members, whom seem out of the loop from the daily happenings of this very music scene and this community, seemingly try to off the workload to a bunch of former regulars who soon grow tired of the whole thing. I honestly think that if there's even one rotten apple of slacking and apathy in the barrel, the infection spreads. For example, presumably two of the staff have not seen this topic yet despite it being up for almost 24 hours, and one of the them hasn't even logged in since 4.10 for christ sake. I know I'm probably just saying what has been said between the lines before, but I wan't to make this 100% clear with no misunderstandings.

 

With that said, I'm also up for candidacy ( which is not the reason I made this topic I assure you ) while vouching for Stylelover and Whirlingblack, and all of us hang out here practically 24/7.

[WhirlingBlack 1043]

I agree with Dispos previous post, the staff is only as good as its weakest link - As long as there's some who do nothing or next to nothing it will reflect poorly upon the whole institution, and the hard working ones might grow discontent if they keep trying and their opinions either get shot down because its "too much work", or simply are never even considered because people aren't around, not to mention feeling like the entire workload is unjustly put onto them.  I know that both previous and current staff members have expressed this frustration to me, and it shows that it really is a serious issue to address.

[Cupcakes 55]

Yay

[Rize 1593]

Just posting my thoughts in this topic as well.

 

As everyone has already said, I think there is a chance needed for a change.

From what I've read so far is that there are worries about new moderators joining and then leaving within ~6 months?

Well ok, it happened before, but it doesn't mean to give up on that... right?

 

Anyways, for what I've noticed is there's some lack in acitivity, that's for sure.

 

For example take my discography kameleo post in the DL section.

My topic turned out into a whole discussion and whatever before there was actually putting a ''stop'' in it.

When the whole discussion stuff was sort of ''forgotten'', some days later there was a warning post, posted by a moderator in the topic after the whole discussion was stopped already...

 

Well, I'm very happy for the fact that there has been taken action in my topic I really am!

But even so, it took some days before it was actually seen/noticed.

 

And for the newer members, I'm sure they don't even know most of the moderators, or even seen them active or talked to them before.

Wouldn't that make the newer members hesitate for trying to make contact if they have any questions?

Like for the introduction section, when new members post their introduction there should at least be a post from a moderator (or more, that would even be better) to welcome them with open arms!   It does happen, sometimes, but just too less.

 

Okay, it might be not a such big deal, about this, but even so, it might be possible to make these users more active as well, instead of joining, saying nothing, going straight for the downloads and then leave.. ? >> It's my suggestion for making some parts on the forum more lively.

 

If there are any needs for help, I wouldn't mind to give you a helping hand.

[sai 868]

^ Most of the post was actually directed to the fight that had ensued between Biopanda and freundin a few days later, but that's irrelevant and it probably sounds like I mean to be defensive so lol sorry if it does seem that way. Apologies for the late intervention from my part.

 

Also Linh, you do make a valid point. I too have stanned for at least one staff member to post a welcome to new members in their respective threads and that went well for a while, until recently. I must say I myself haven't participated in it either lately, but as most of the regulars already I am currently very busy with my studies and therefore can be on the board less than usual. I would argue we have the report button for most situations (so that at least one of the staff members will see it), but for situations that people need to contact staff members directly it would come in handy if they knew who to contact in order to get a swift reply.

 

I understand why inactive staff members annoy you, so if it's not too much to ask I would like to ask you guys what you define as "inactive" if you have to put it shortly. Is it the amount of posting, the time online, the interacting with the community, or a mix of the three? As far as I can deduce, it's mostly the lack of posting/discussion on the staff's part, so if that is not correct please notify me of this. I want to make sure we understand eachother well so that we can solve this as effectively as possible.

 

I do also agree that if we're hiring someone new (the staff is still discussing this) that it should be someone who is in the loop with the current scene (that's why we hired Yasupon back in the day). I personally still have some artists within the VK scene that I do enjoy, but I do think we need someone who is more familiar with the needs of the younger members. But I'm not going to say or promise anything, because this is my opinion and does not reflect the general look of the staff or the current discussion at hand.

[Peace Heavy mk II 7200]

Somewhat unrelated, but if Trombe has mod powers, why doesn't she have a special colored name? I mean, she's practically 50% of the reason why this forum is still alive.

[WhirlingBlack 1043]

In my opinion its a mix of the three, since its kind of related, the staff who has the least online hours are also the ones who (in the public eye) has contributed the least to the forum, of course, even if one of them had had 100+ days of online time it still wouldn't count for anything if they weren't actually doing something.

[Gaz 1097]

i'm some kind of newbie here, but for the past 6 months i've only seen few mods/admins that were actually doing their job. couple times i even thought that i may get a warning point or something. so i can't decide which m-h i do prefer: lawless or lawful, lol

but yeah, i would like to see wb or dispo as the mods. they are fair people and if they're aiming to be a mods, i'm sure they know what to do and what they can contribute to this community

[TheBistroButcher666 228]

In my opinion its a mix of the three, since its kind of related, the staff who has the least online hours are also the ones who (in the public eye) has contributed the least to the forum, of course, even if one of them had had 100+ days of online time it still wouldn't count for anything if they weren't actually doing something.

Kai and Champs do a lot of backend under the hood stuff a lot of us don't see. Champ also hosts a lot of Turntable shindigs which wouldn't count towards activity.

Basically I don't think looking at their total hours of activity could properly Guage how active a mod is.