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New Declass Team Member Needed: Nominations


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8 hours ago, Janus DarkFox said:

1. I've seen patterns of preference observing all members, some do definitely more of one thing that the other.  That being said, I like to Proofread more than anything else, this the the quickest task to perform, with a few giant exceptions.  I have a weakness to Declassing Chat threads.  Members may also prefer to perform a batch of tasks once in a while, or a task every few days of a week.  Otherwise I can do all DT Tasks, I haven't tried DT Reports or the batch move of Admod/Report threats into Declass Forum yet.

 

2. This is a replacement after a member stepped down.  We like to keep the number at 5, usually because it is a magic number, if all are doing something at once, the Backlog moves pretty quickly.  We are still finding ways to incentivise DT tasking and at some point I'd like to revise the minimum work load for the sake of the Backlog.

 

3. Proofing is my favourite at the moment, I've developed a knack for scanning and reading missed Declass errors and adjust the Index accordingly.  It also means Logging the finished Thread into the Admod Archive, this leaves a permanent link in that subforum and thread for everyone to see.  It's become quite enjoyable to me.

 

4. Communication, nothing much direct unless it's official PM's or DT/Admod/All staff policy discussions or any mini-DT projects discussions which is rare for me at least.  On occasions, if a task is problematic, like an information heavy many pages threads with many chat logs etc, are communicated between DT staff as these may need multiple passes of Declass and Proofread.  There's a thread dedicated to DT questions for communications as well.

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13 hours ago, Iam9man 🐧 said:

Thank you 😊

 

1. Do most of the current team have preferences / specialisms or do you all tend to do all DT tasks?

2. Why recruit a 6th member for the team now (or is this a replacement)?

3. What is your favourite part of the role?

4. How much do you tend to communicate and engage with other staff?

1) Most of the current team does all essential DT tasks (PMing, Declassing, Proofreading), with preferences showing through up the most when lives are busy. I do think everyone ends up with preferences but in general the teammates I've worked with have been really good about doing all tasks rather than solely sticking to specializations.
Having everyone be capable and willing of doing everything has worked well with our number; it tends to make it possible for your preferred task to be available more often without waiting on a single person who does X (i.e. if you prefer to proofread but help declass while you don't have something to proof, then another member with a proofreading preference is likely to do the same because they can see you're working on threads too, allowing you to trade threads at the proofing stage so you each get to proof a lot if desired).


2) As Janus mentioned, it's to replace someone who is leaving DT.


3) I vary between Proofreading and Declassing being my favorite everyday tasks. I'd lean towards saying Declass, but I've been consistently catching chat threads one after another lately. :P I like proofing because I enjoy the routine of reading and catching/fixing mistakes, where as declassing is interesting because you see the raw thread, patterns within Admods or Policy overtime, and see in detail how/why specific situations were handled the way that they were.


4) Not a lot unless you want to. DT functions largely independently due to our tasks, so we don't regularly communicate with the other staff outside of our Quarterly Report that we post. I'll occasionally contribute to a policy discussion (say, 3-4 threads a year) or help staff find relevant previous policy links (none of which is required for you to do). That said, there are a couple friendly open-to-all-staff threads where I like to pop in and contribute sometimes if I have free time, but I've largely stuck to official communication with other staff. Among DT, we talk more often but it ebbs and flows. We have a communication thread for internal questions that we also use for short chats sometimes.

 

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19 minutes ago, Cimmerian said:

1) Most of the current team does all essential DT tasks (PMing, Declassing, Proofreading), with preferences showing through up the most when lives are busy. I do think everyone ends up with preferences but in general the teammates I've worked with have been really good about doing all tasks rather than solely sticking to specializations.
Having everyone be capable and willing of doing everything has worked well with our number; it tends to make it possible for your preferred task to be available more often without waiting on a single person who does X (i.e. if you prefer to proofread but help declass while you don't have something to proof, then another member with a proofreading preference is likely to do the same because they can see you're working on threads too, allowing you to trade threads at the proofing stage so you each get to proof a lot if desired).


2) As Janus mentioned, it's to replace someone who is leaving DT.


3) I vary between Proofreading and Declassing being my favorite everyday tasks. I'd lean towards saying Declass, but I've been consistently catching chat threads one after another lately. :P I like proofing because I enjoy the routine of reading and catching/fixing mistakes, where as declassing is interesting because you see the raw thread, patterns within Admods or Policy overtime, and see in detail how/why specific situations were handled the way that they were.


4) Not a lot unless you want to. DT functions largely independently due to our tasks, so we don't regularly communicate with the other staff outside of our Quarterly Report that we post. I'll occasionally contribute to a policy discussion (say, 3-4 threads a year) or help staff find relevant previous policy links (none of which is required for you to do). That said, there are a couple friendly open-to-all-staff threads where I like to pop in and contribute sometimes if I have free time, but I've largely stuck to official communication with other staff. Among DT, we talk more often but it ebbs and flows. We have a communication thread for internal questions that we also use for short chats sometimes.

 

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Thank you @Janus DarkFox & @Cimmerian, that’s a helpful insight into the role 😊

 

I’ve got one final question for you:

 

Do you feel becoming staff has affected how you interact with others on public threads and/or how often you browse them or join the discussions?

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@Kimmie. this is one of those positions that doesn't really have any power, in my opinion. As far as my understanding is, it's more data processing and crunching, and lots of editing, if that helps at all.

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11 hours ago, firebird8 said:

I've been a member for 12 years, but I've been active recently for a couple of months. How would you look at that?

I am sure you'd be allowed to run, assuming you meet the other criteria as well.

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Janus the Fox
11 hours ago, Kimmie. said:

What do a regular work session look like? 

EDIT :

And can different times zones be a problem when communicating between other DTs?

 

EDIT 2:

If you don't communicate that much how do you know who those what? 

Every task is logged, either a thread is titled in brackets like (declass by... or PMed by.... with a date when a declass is proofed and ready for Admod Archive.

 

Each task session can take little time, depends on how big the task you’re going for.  You make the work session your own, this is communicated by labelling a thread in its title in braces as (declass it by..., pms by... with a date or proofing by... and a date if necessary), that’s most of the communication.

 

Timezones are never a problem because any communications are left open, well into many days or weeks.  DT to DT communications are never really tight for timings like an Admod Role Call or the 24 hours a Report is kept open, any DT can witness but not contribute toward official Admod Threads unless invited or DT specific.

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Janus the Fox
10 hours ago, Iam9man 🐧 said:

Thank you @Janus DarkFox & @Cimmerian, that’s a helpful insight into the role 😊

 

I’ve got one final question for you:

 

Do you feel becoming staff has affected how you interact with others on public threads and/or how often you browse them or join the discussions?

No affect I don’t think. I contribute to threads as I normally would.  Could say being on the team may have improved my openness of myself across the site I’m my own ways. 

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12 hours ago, Kimmie. said:

How do a regular work session look like? 
 

EDIT :

And can different times zones be a problem when communicating between other DTs?

 

EDIT 2:

If you don't communicate that much how do you know who those what?

Sorry I didn't get to this yesterday!

 

Sessions:

Spoiler

 

It really varies per person and based on how often you plan to work but here are some examples (a single bullet could be a session for a person, it could be more than one of these, or it could be a mix of all of these):

-Proofreading 3+ threads to make sure all the names & sensitive information are removed and removing them if they're missed, then moving the completed thread to the public Admod Archives area.

-Declassing several threads; fixing titles, removing names, most links, going through and limiting chat logs to relevant sections, and noting this information elsewhere. Then posting your completed threads to a specific DT thread.

-Reading through 3+ threads that need PMs, checking who might need to be messaged by looking them up, comparing against who does/doesn't want to be messaged, and then sending out PMs to anyone the thread is about if needed. (For this one you'd later go back and note if they did or didn't want their name included in the thread.)

 

I'd set aside at least an hour or hour and a half for about three threads as an idea of time once you get used to the work, but it can go faster or slower depending on individual thread needs.

 

 

Time Zones:

Most of what we need to talk to other DT about isn't time sensitive, so time zones haven't been a problem. It's actually been sort of amusing or useful at times because you can go to bed after having proofed 10 threads, so that there are none left, and then wake up to find that many more ready to proof sometimes, etc.

 

The most difficult part about time zones is while training a new DT at the beginning if there are questions or things we need to have them watch more carefully because there can be a delay there for information exchange. We've done mostly US and European time zones so far and it's worked out just fine though.

 

If you don't communicate that much how do you know who those what?

Janus already mentioned the labeling we do to keep track of who is doing what if it's in-progress.

We also created a thread to list the threads that are done and ready for proofreading so they don't get lost in the mix, and which may note other important things (policy threads that might need to wait 6 months to be declassed, the date of our next Quarterly Report, and if anyone's going to be out for several weeks) to help us keep track of what is going on.

 

10 hours ago, Iam9man 🐧 said:

I’ve got one final question for you:

 

Do you feel becoming staff has affected how you interact with others on public threads and/or how often you browse them or join the discussions?

It doesn't affect how often I browse but I'd say yes it can affect how I interact in certain types of threads or conversations (the more contentious threads or if I have an opinion that I know isn't liked); normal or chatting threads haven't been affected. I watch my wording more carefully in those specific circumstances because staff conduct rules* can be vague and I feel like you could get in trouble and lose your position for certain controversial comments if there is a possible way your comment could be misconstrued. I'm not saying it will be handled that way, but that's the impression I've had, and so it has affected my willingness to post to discussions I'd like to sometimes. Unless that is a concern, you can largely post as you have in our position and I've otherwise interacted as normal.

 

*(As a side note, when I joined DT I knew Admods had conduct rules but I'd only ever heard of it in relation to the Admin and Moderators positions-- and since those were the disciplinary jobs I figured they had their own specific conduct rules which would make sense. I thought that since PT/DT were not disciplinary jobs that they were held to member standards (aka don't break the ToS) plus a "be professional and polite in official interactions with members" rule and that misunderstanding is likely why I feel the position has affected how I interact in specific scenarios.)

 

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Okay thanks @Cimmerian i think I have everything i need now to make my decision if I should keep running or not. 

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Cheshire-Cat

I tend do mostly declass threads, with the occasional PM's or proofreading. Although I will admit to hating chat threads because they often seem to take forever! Personally I usually declass in batches because of my work. I may not do anything for a bit but then I'll spend a day where I sit down and do a load in one go. Unlike being a mod you don't have to be on every day.

As for it affecting how you see others, because of where we are in the backlog (2015) a lot of the members being discussed aren't around any more, or aren't as active, so I find it doesn't really affect much.

 

In terms of keeping on top of things, we have a DT forum where all the threads we are currently working towards are stored, these tend to be moved across from admods in batches of a few months at a time when we get down to one page of threads left. We then have a thread where we post the threads that have been declassed and need proofreading, a thread where we have the DT rules, along with a list of members who have said they either always want to be redacted, or never want to be redacted. We have a thread for questions and communication, and a thread for early declass requests (there isn't many of these). Policy threads get declassed asap unless they need to wait 6 months due to discussing a member, other than that we just work through the backlog. Some threads are unmovable for various reasons and these are usually stored in a special forum. If we need to discuss something specific we may start a PM between declass members so it doesn't get lost in any other discussions. Other than that we don't get involved in admods stuff unless it involves DT or is open to all staff, although we can view ongoing discussions, just not participate. 

 

It can be a bit challenging at first too learn the rules, and how to do everything right, but once you have the hang of it it isn't too bad. The team are friendly though and if you have any questions people are always willing to answer them. 

 

17 hours ago, firebird8 said:

I've been a member for 12 years, but I've been active recently for a couple of months. How would you look at that?

When I joined DT I'd been back on AVEN for less than a month after an 8 year hiatus so as long as you're planning to be around to do the work I can't see it being an issue.

 

 

 

Like the other DT have said, if anyone is thinking of running and has any questions please ask, and feel free to PM me any questions about running, or what we do. And good luck to everyone who does decide to run. It's a great step to being an admod if that's your long term plan, or a great way to give back to the forum if you don't have the time needed to get on daily like admods have to. (Plus its a good way to remind yourself of the ToS!)

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I have come to the decision that I will not be running anymore i am taking back my beanie from the ring. 

 

The elections are bringing the worst out of me. And after i have heard that parts of the job includes things that I am not comfortable with. 

I don't want that kind of power to be able to see what regular members can't, it feels wrong to me. I just can't do it with a good conscience. 

 

If there was a job where you didn't have access to anything more than what a regular member have i would be interested. 

 

I am really sorry. 

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Just now, Kimmie. said:

I have come to the decision that I will not be running anymore i am taking back my beanie from the ring. 

 

The elections are bringing the worst out of me. And after i have heard that parts of the job includes things that I am not comfortable with. 

I don't want that kind of power to be able to see what regular members can't feels wrong to me. I just can't do it with a good conscience. 

 

If there was a job where you didn't have access to anything more than what a regular member have i would be interested. 

Sorry to hear that, but I’m glad you’ve asked questions and thought it through.

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4 minutes ago, Kimmie. said:

If there was a job where you didn't have access to anything more than what a regular member have i would be interested. 

Maybe helping with the AVENues magazine? You’d only get access to a forum for AVENues team discussions, tasks, ideas, etc but there’s no sensitive information, so practically no more than a regular member can see, especially as content then gets published in the magazine for all to see.

 

(Appreciate this is off topic, but may be relevant for anyone considering ways of getting more involved with AVEN 😊)

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scarletlatitude

@Kimmie. let me know if you're interested in AVENues :) 

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2 minutes ago, scarletlatitude said:

@Kimmie. let me know if you're interested in AVENues :) 

Sounds promising,  i can't really write though 😄 

We should maybe take this somewhere else so we don't derail this thread anymore. 

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Janus the Fox

I log and audit a small e-mail Q&A Project here, it’s like answering Q&A Forum but a little more official but a much slower pace compared to what comes in Asexual Q&A.

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...I'm not going to deny, I'm really tempted. 👀

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23 minutes ago, OptimisticPessimist said:

@Lee ✧ DO IT. 

😂 We'll see. I don't know if I'm ready to become a team member again. Past experiences are making me hesitate.

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I guess the one thing I really have to ask DT is this: What is your job satisfaction at the moment? How is the workload? Is the stress tenuous? Because I'm in a really good place, mentally, and I want to make sure that something silly as this doesn't ruin that for me. That's kind of what happened last time.

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34 minutes ago, Lee ✧ said:

I guess the one thing I really have to ask DT is this: What is your job satisfaction at the moment? How is the workload? Is the stress tenuous? Because I'm in a really good place, mentally, and I want to make sure that something silly as this doesn't ruin that for me. That's kind of what happened last time.

Totally understandable. At the very moment, I still enjoy what I do but I'm a little frustrated with some of the specific threads I've been handling and I'm not thrilled with how much I've gotten done as a result. Those threads that take me the most amount of time during a time frame where I haven't had larger blocks of free time to do them, so I don't feel like I've gotten as much done as I usually aim for and I like to be making a larger dent in the backlog.

 

The workload can vary by week depending on what you have time for. A couple hours per week or a thread/task per day is the ideal, with more always being appreciated but not mandatory. We've been in a bit of a slow cycle recently with many of our lives getting crazy at the same time (which is unusual), so I know we'd appreciate someone who might have a little more consistent free time.

 

Stress is light, mostly coming from what you hold yourself accountable for and how you feel if you're not meeting that. There can be some mild stress from frustration with certain threads, sometimes team habit clashes, or having to handle unusual situations, but usually these are minor/rare.

Team dynamic wise: we usually have little to no internal drama because we've mostly been composed of low-drama, level-headed, and flexible individuals.

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Janus the Fox
2 hours ago, Lee ✧ said:

I guess the one thing I really have to ask DT is this: What is your job satisfaction at the moment? How is the workload? Is the stress tenuous? Because I'm in a really good place, mentally, and I want to make sure that something silly as this doesn't ruin that for me. That's kind of what happened last time.

Good job satisfaction for me I feel, the workload is pretty variable day to day, anyone can take on as much or as little as necessary, the stress if often the stress put on yourself with the work, rather than the work causing the stress.

 

1 hour ago, Cimmerian said:

We've been in a bit of a slow cycle recently with many of our lives getting crazy at the same time (which is unusual), so I know we'd appreciate someone who might have a little more consistent free time. 

Yeah on quiet weeks, it sometimes feel I'm on my own lol, which is rare thus is life.  I did bring up a suggestion to increase the monthly contribution to a weekly one, possibly to utilize the Staff Role Call to make sure we are here, maybe our own role call with a 1 week time-frame to message within it once every month or so.  3 is a magic number, 3 weekly active members all contributing something gets the backlog moving, 5 is the perfect number if one of the 3 is less available, the other can take on more where the other is less available.

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Actually...I'm sorry, but I'm backing out, too. I kind of want to rejoin the AVEN team again, and I've always been interested in Declass, but I started thinking about all of the time I spent wasting away in the backroom, and I don't want to do that again. It's not to discourage anyone interested in running; it's just that my real life has become more important to me than my online one. I have things and people I treasure that I want to put first. I'm sorry, everyone.

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It's no problem, @Lee ✧. It's just awesome that you thought about it. :cake: Glad to see you again!! Definitely take care of your awesome IRL first and foremost. : ) 

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I wish everyone running could join the Declass team; it'd probably help cut a dent in the years' worth of backlog.

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Cheshire-Cat
2 hours ago, InquisitivePhilosopher said:

I wish everyone running could join the Declass team; it'd probably help cut a dent in the years' worth of backlog.

As much as in some ways it would be lovely to have a massive team that could make a huge dent in the backlog in reality it would just make things harder to manage.

 

However, I'd like to wish you all luck, and for any who aren't successfull this time please do apply again if roles come up in the future.

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