What makes admins decide what reports to handle first and what reports to "ignore"?

[Kappaurel]

Hello! 

 

I'm opening this discussion topic to try and establish a peaceful conversation in which maybe we can get some answers from Staff Management or... someone who knows about this. The question being: What makes admins decide what reports to handle first and what reports to "ignore"? (By ignore I mean letting be for a long time span, of course reports are never ignored and admins end up handling them)

 

It is obvious our staff team works hard without getting paid, and we should be thankful to them, but we all see that some reports get taken and handled instantly, while others take... weeks and weeks!

 

Let's have a look at the report page:

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We got some reports that date back to May 15, that being over three weeks ago... but then we have reports being handled rather quickly, just some of the most obvious examples:

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Both of them being handled within 6 hours of them being posted!

 

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Or these ones taken on the very same day (can't check hours though)

 

Now, as I said, this thread is just to see if we can get some insight on which situations get handled faster and why. Admins work hard and some reports are actual bibles, so props to them for handling those for us. 

 

Is it a matter of what rule is broken? (Like, Common Courtesy takes priority over DM or PG?)

Is it a matter of what report looks easier to handle? (In terms of how lengthy they are?)

Is it a matter of who is the reporting / reported party? (In terms of, maybe faction leaders or something getting priority?)

Is it a matter of what ranks admins need to handle certain stuff? (Maybe only X admin rank can handle X situations?)

 

Are there any guidelines in the admin team for that? Or just admins pick and choose reports as they want? It would be amazing to know more! Thank you.

 

PD: Pls try and not derail and keep it peaceful or this is getting locked, archived and the key thrown away. Staff Management and Management as a whole has always shown an admirable transparency when asked about these things! 

 

Edited June 6, 2022 by Kappaurel

[Unity]

Easy. Some reports require going through logs to get more evidence. Which in turn requires higher level admins to go through it. While other reports are very clear cut and the evidence speaks for itself and can be resolved quickly.

[Wuhtah]

As majority of the staff team is PD - I tend to try to pick up PD-related reports to prevent bias (not saying any administrators are biased, players seem to think so sometimes!) which means - yes, I probably ignore older reports.

 

Same goes with property reports. If I see someone with a property-related report that is going through a regular player report, I will pick this up as well.

 

Normal reports I tend not to pick up as much since I do have tons of subteam work that keeps me busier than a regular admin. 

 

Hope this insight helps you from my perspective. 

[Late]

If I was an admin, I would just pick the easiest reports to deal with.

This is probably why I am not an admin.

 

[Pillsbury]

I'll answer the main questions you bolded at the bottom;

 

1. Is it a matter of what rule is broken? (Like, Common Courtesy takes priority over DM or PG?) (Question)
   1. For some admins, I imagine yes. As we are all human, some of us naturally get a bit more anxiety handling massive reports where five hundred players are staring at you because they want you to make a precedent that is rule changing and RP changing for everyone. Generally speaking however, most admins don't care what report they take or not. (Answer from Pillsbury)
2. Is it a matter of what report looks easier to handle? (In terms of how lengthy they are?) (Question)
   1. As I said above, for some? Probably. I refuse to sit here and breath down admins necks however when this is not a *job* and we are all volunteers here helping the community. I work forty+ hours a week and so does a lot of our admins. Some work from home, some don't come home for three/four days at a time. Some want to help out, but also don't have a weeks worth of time to focus on the report. I know that's somewhat of a half answer, but it's the truth of it. I assure you I'm not the first nor last to say after a long day of work, I don't want to sit here and be raged at by a bunch of people who don't know how to be civil or just accept taking an L at times. For a lot of admins it feels like a second job when the first one? They are sitting being raged at by a bunch of angry customers, and then they come here, login game, get spammed with reports, and goto sleep and repeat. (Answer from Pillsbury)
3. Is it a matter of who is the reporting / reported party? (In terms of, maybe faction leaders or something getting priority?) (Question)
   1. This is 99% of the time the issue with most reports. We have a very lengthy & strict policy about bias/what reports certain admins can take if they have a potential for bias. And this isn't *all* on the admin team. A Manager just the other day was told he was bias because he was in the faction of another party, but yet ruled with the person saying he was bias (shocker that the Manager wasn't biased). For example, a member of the 102nd 54th West Street East Ave Killas Gang who is an admin, cannot take that report until a certain amount of time has passed. And even then, when and if they decide to accept the report? They have a very strict procedure they have to follow in regards of what actions they may take. This is why a lot of PD/SD reports take a while. A lot of our admins are PD/SD frankly, and we have no plan anytime soon telling them to leave a faction to be an admin. If need be and if this isn't a good enough answer, I can get snippets of the admin policy. (Answer from Pillsbury)
4. Is it a matter of what ranks admins need to handle certain stuff? (Maybe only X admin rank can handle X situations?) (Question)
   1. Yes and no. Some admins can't take certain refund requests/asset transfers as only Senior Admins can handle certain requests. Only Level Two Admins for example, can handle most refund/asset requests in general. Level One's cannot (TA+L1 have the same rank in-game for reference). Trial Admins for example, cannot take any RP reports alone (or player v player reports) and can only take "simple" admin reports. (Answer from Pillsbury)
5. Are there any guidelines in the admin team for that? Or just admins pick and choose reports as they want? It would be amazing to know more! Thank you. (Question)
   
   Not at the moment. If you want my honesty? We are working on getting more procedures up about reports. It's not only you that is frustrated overall. Forum Reports have always been an issue that you pointed out and we are trying to fix it, same with in-game reports. However when I was first given the position first of Head of Admins, my main "duties" at the time? Was generally Staff Reports. Staff Management in all has only been "opened" for a year. We are a very new subteam that use to be only privately led by two higher ups (at the time). In January-April of 2021, Management at the time hired the first three "general staff management" which was Odin, Fenrir & Myself. Fenrir ended up resigning, we hired Wally and then Jonesy. Only until mid-late 2021 did we actually "open" Staff Management for Administrators to apply for.. In which we got our hands on CXN (for like two days, then he went to Head of LFM), Pepper (who stayed), Bjork (who stayed), Groz (who returned). We then opened again and received Adv, Zani & Sharvit recently. In all reality, Staff Management has within the past six months, fully staffed ourselves when previously we were only a "tight knit" team of three. The three of us at the time (Odin, Wally & Myself) were really only stuck on doing Staff Reports/Reviews. We simply had no time until the past few months to actually "spread our wings" and help make the Staff Team strive. So our generalized priorities have changed significantly over the past six to eight months.
   
   Once we brought in Pepper, I had him more or less focus on making a "family" out of the Staff Team. When I took over, the Staff Team was divided for a bit honestly. It wasn't for a decently long time that we had such a switchup in Management. It was actually extremely rare, and still is, that a new Manager gets promoted and one leaves. We are usually here for a few years. My first priority when gaining the position of Head of Admins/Staff (as a Manager) and after having Pepper/Bjork be brought in, was to fundamentally make the Staff Team "whole" and to assure that from the second you are hired, until the day you retire, that you felt welcomed, and felt like this wasn't a "job". Our Staff Team is no good and won't function without having our Staff feeling morally good. And that goes with any job or any position anywhere in the world. If you have a lack of motivation or morale, a workplace will simply not function. We can talk about reports not being done all we want, but if the Staff aren't motivated are feeling good when doing these? They will never get done. Simply put, I believe we did a good job with bringing motivation back to a key point in the Staff Team, things are actually becoming much smoother in regards to reports being handled then they ever were before (to stay on topic). Yes, it is noticeable that we lack in certain areas, but if we go back a year ago, we didn't have the mass load of players, reports or guidelines we do now that keep things in check.
   
   Within the past five months, Odin, Wally, Pepper, Bjork & Myself have made it our goals to continue to press down on activity standards, create new guidelines, create new motivation techniques, and make sure reports are being handled on a timely & efficient manner. Currently standing, we don't have any guidelines that specifically state "You have to do this report first" - however, I won't lie and say we haven't drafted ideas to see what our Developers could do to help with these issues. Our Forum Reports for example for the past month have moved at a constant and steady pace. Admins are dealing with their Forum Reports and they are being handled in a timely manner. How did we fix that? We sat and listened to both players & Admins about how none of us want to read five pages of reports. We took the advice, we made policy on it, and before you know it? There is a Forum Report being taken & concluded on a daily basis. 
   
   I hope you understand that I cannot give you a "direct answer" to all of this. As I honestly don't know the answer to all the questions. Every admin is different and has their own thought process. I assure you though, I'm not trying to cut edges and bushes to give you a half assed answer with respect. Management, Staff Management & the Staff Team in a whole all care about reports being handled, however, we have to take one step at a time to make sure all the work we have all done in the past year does not goto waste, no matter the team or position you are in.
   
   We are always looking for more Staff, we hire almost every month for a reason. We have a lot of players who love to crap on Staff for not doing things in a "timely" manner, but yet they haven't put a Staff App in once nor care to actually help out the cause (not saying that's OP's problem, it's a general statement to everyone that reads this). But yet, love to twist and try to critique every Staff Member that we have in "what they would do would be better" or "these admins don't know what they are doing" (well here's the hint, join the team then and be apart of the solution because screaming does nothing - had to be a bit blunt here to get my point across, it's simply impossible with fancy words). We only have like.. forty something Admins? With a community that's a bit over two hundred thousand total.. So yeah.. The majority of us all have jobs and lives outside of this game as-well. I personally work forty+ hours a week and then come here and try to keep the Staff Team progressively moving. We need active staff that are willing to grind on the game and assist in doing reports. 

With respect,
Pillsbury

@Kappaurel

[Kappaurel]

@Pillsbury that's an answer way better than I expected even! I am sure we all appreciate knowing a bit more about what goes on in the staff! 

 

Thank you!