Meh,
Any system that is put into place is going to be awful
Its not just down to your application anyways when you apply. So why not just do away with them.

Staff can just ask the people they think they are suitable to be a staff member. That means they are active because they are being recommended, not being chosen as best of a potential bad bunch .
Mean activity and being nice and being helpful actually means something as you will be judged by your ingam activity, not about what you write down on a application.
If they dont want to be staff, they can still gracefully decline.

Though that system is also flawed as favoritism can never be taken away.

So Meh

 

Staff applications should be treated as job applications. You have to convince the owner of this server to let you on staff. No format, no nonsense. Just someone explaining why he thinks he should get staff, and a subsequent interview.

 

I actually... Kind of agree with this. I would rather see people be offered staff for who they were without filing an application. Granted as mission said there would be flaws, such as public opinion not being on their application, but I've seen it too many times in the past where people would just act nice and try to look good while they're app was up, then as soon as they get accepted or don't get it, they just simply go back to being their real self. Not to mention how many people just look off of other applications then just rephrase the answers. Plus as many people have brought up: the applications that get posted are what we can choose from. That could be 50 of the worst people on the server applying for staff, and we would almost have to resort to choosing some of them because those are the only people we can choose from to bring on. I feel like it would be better if staff came up with who should be brought on, give their reasons why, then they go down the list of final people they chose if they would like to be on staff. That way there's no being fake, and people can just play the game as it is, and if staff think they would be good on staff, they would be asked. As simple as that. People shouldn't have to apply for staff, it should be earned for however you play the game.

 

The problem with getting approached is peer pressure. There are many people who will likely say "yes" even when they never had the intention to apply for staff. Those are not people you want on staff, because they are not reliable. They do not WANT to be staff, they only get staff because the opportunity allows them to, or because they have difficulty saying "no". (There are many of those)

 

Having a Server Admin or higher come to you saying that I like the way you help the community and act over the months you hav been on the server, and we'd like you to be on the staff tam.
Would give anyone confidence to know that they would do a good job, hence why they would say yes most likely.
I see no problem with that and actually gives the people who are asked a confidence boost.

Right now the people who have their apps open for a few months are getting the opposite of that confidence boost, as they clearly know they are doing something wrong to not be picked, but dont actually have a definitive answer to what that actually is. Sure they get user feedback, but users dont know exactly what the staff team is looking for.

 

You're not refuting my point, you know. But it's a fact that when confronted with such a question most people would say yes, regardless of whether they ever intended to get staff or not. And the ones that don't ever intended to get staff are unlikely to be good, loyal staffmembers.

Comparing it with the current situation is silly. I believe both the current system and the "getting approached" system are equally terrible.

Staff applications should be treated as job applications. The applicant has to write a (concise) letter explaining their motives for wanting to get staff, and after that the owner will interview the person. (mostly just to get a read on their personality and how they would function within the current team)
Yes, this is a lot of work, but the staff team is the foundation of a good server, and it's worth it to have a top quality team.

On-top of this there need to be clear guidelines for staff to abide by. This lowers the requirements for being moderator because it isn't leaving much open to interpretation. This means regular moderators don't need high requirements and it's easier to have a larger amount of them, without impacting the integrity of the team.

 

I disagree with this for a number of reasons, but i will go tell them to the wall next to me, its a decent listener.