+1
The staff team is a group of volunteers who gives up their time to make the server a better place for nothing in return. Even though the SAs rarely demote for inactivity, I personally would feel like a terrible staff member if I wasn't putting in my hours (Which is why I resigned). If we had 2-3 hours as the requirement we'd have more people being able to stay on staff and staff members wouldn't feel pressured to give up so much time.

@Bashdash100 @SimsElemental have opinions on this I believe.

 

As far as I understand they are lenient about the 3-4 hours/day so this isn't really needed

 

It's actually pretty reasonable as it is, it just sounds harsh, the 3 hours isn't like a punch card time slot thing, it's more like a basic guideline, like if you don't think you could usually put 3 or almost 3 hours most days then you probably aren't the best candidate but as far as actual real life stuff coming up and varying schedules and being understanding about that the system is already perfectly great about that.

As far as changing it in the staff guidelines (keeping in mind they are just as they say, guidelines not absolute limits already by definition) I don't think it should be changed. I think 3 hours is a perfect basic guideline of how much anyone should be here ideally and lowering that while keeping the flexibility wouldn't be a good mix, I don't think. I'd rather have a flexible 3 hour guideline than a strict timed 2 hour daily requirement or something and if we have a flexible 2 hour guideline then we will end up with people who often spend less than 2 hours a day average and I don't think that's enough.

 

When it comes to your math... It doesn't make much sense. Not only do some people do school and work fulltime (work being 40 hours a week), but the recommended sleep is a lot closer to 7-8.5 hours. Things like homework often aren't done every day of the week, either. And people eat and drink while they are at school and work. (Also not sure how someone needs 21 hours a week for homework unless they are overloaded on university credits or taking way too many HS AP courses.)

Although I don't fully disagree with the suggestion, I don't agree with it based on the math. The average person simply doesn't use up that much time.

IMHO if Staff times change, it should be based on rank. The lower the Staff rank, the less required time. As you go up in ranks, you are expected to do more, which should mean you are expected to be on longer. (This also opens up the opportunity for people to accept and deny being promoted.)

Base Moderators should only need quarter time (8-12 hours a week), Super's half time (15-21 hours a week), etc. At some point it caps, because I don't think SAs and higher need 40 hours a week. Only other requirement being that Staff members can spread their weekly time out through a minimum of 4 or 5 days, rather than expected to be on every day.

Considering how lax and unchecked Staff activity seems to be, I think something along those lines would be an easy change that would be a good mood booster for Staff.

 

+1
I resigned partly due to my inactivity, and with school as busy as it is, plus sports/after school sessions, there is no way in which I could spend 3 hours or more online each day, unless I stayed up till midnight to fulfill this.
If they were lowered, I think more people would apply and I think it would benefit everyone.
I know there's always the 'you're never on' argument- so if the higher ups are stricter on times then this would go away, people who don't even spend an hour, hour and a half moderating each day would just be kicked off the team.

 

meh, doesnt really need to be a set time if im honest.
As long as staff members dont take the mick, then it should be fine.

+1

 

Definitely agreed. No one ends up being on that much anyway. I want to see something like this:
Mods: 1-2 hours per day (7-14/week)
SuperMods: 2-3 hours per day (14-21/week)
GameAdmins: 3-4 hours per day (21-28/week)
ServerAdmins: 4-6 hours per day (28-42/week)

 

This is quite possibly the simplest way to put it. As long as the staff member regularly does their duties I see no issue.

 

Just saying school is only 5 days, and then weekends staff members have much more time to play on ECC. Requirements should be lowered for weekdays but remain the same for weekends IMO.

 

I kind of agree, maybe it should be put down to like 2 hours minimum

+1

Ps. If this gets added I'm going to apply for mod

 

3-4 hours is quite the commitment for nothing in return.

I agree with everything icondigi said, including 1-2 hours per day. Most staff members go to school, and most have jobs to deal with. I remember the requirement used to be 2 hours per day, but I guess they put it up to 3-4 for some reason.

I might even apply if this is implemented lol.

 

The whole post is moot. Far as ive understood it the staff dont clock in and out, they arent being forced to stay online at all or anything like that really. 3-4 hours a day is whats asked of them but not strictly enforced or anything like that, staff rarely if ever gets in trouble or demoted for not being able to be online to much.

I think its fine as it is, it lets people know what is expected of them when they apply for staff. Not being able to handle the time online is a good reason to not apply for staff. They are not being paid in anyway that i know of for their time so i believe that is why its not enforced. I used to offline be a volunteer firefighter (basically meant i didnt get paid) we still came in and did our duty when we were needed but if other things in life such as work or school got in the way of that, those were our first priorities. The system here is similar to that.

Removing this would mean more people admittedly above would apply for staff positions, those same people wouldnt be able to by their own admonition be able to handle the hours of being a staff member which would mean a decline in quality of the staff. We already have some gaps in staff especially late night/early morning and this could cause that to grow.

-1 from me, not that your proposal is bad and it likely comes from a good place but it is fairly constantly suggested over the years and more than likely has had considerable thought already put into it.

 

-1

I am going to give my blunt opinion on this. A person cannot successfully complete school (to the best of their ability) as well as work a job, socialise with their peers, spend time with their family and moderate a Minecraft server. Decisions have to be made regarding which activities are most important to the individual. Having said that I do not believe that the minimum staff online time of 3-4 hours is asking too much. If this number was decreased I fear that staff standards would be compromised. Priorities and requirements of life should be met before considering to become a moderator. There are no minimum requirements for regular users so I would suggest those who cannot meet the staff requirements do not apply. Opportunity Cost.

 

After a discussion with the other SA's, we've decided that we'll reduce the required online time for Moderators to 2 hours a day. This is fairly reasonable and hopefully will allow us to see more dedicated players able to join the team.

P.S. We know that there are certain issues with staff activity, which is why we're keeping a far better eye on staff activity, and have started actively reviewing staff's recent online time. Hopefully in the near future this won't be an issue.

Accepted.