AAA - Ask an Admin Anything (About the Site)

[MinkyBear]

2.Are there any steps to encourage new members to stick around more? All I see is people who give a friendly greeting to the newer members and ask a couple of questions, and thats pretty much it. It could be just inviting them into things and making them feel welcome, or is there more to it.

I'm a newish member and one of the reasons I don't really post here despite being interested is because when I log on there's just more threads about problems with the site, not very inviting
also there's not a lot of good discussion happening in the boards it just doesn't interest me. probably to do with everyone leaving

[★ Panda ★]

1. Is the number of ACTIVE staff members currently hindering the staff/site any? I feel as if the lack (IMO) of active staff members has brought down the site in ways. But I just want to know your opinion on it.

In my opinion, yes. There's definetly been a decline in the amount of time it takes to respond to problems. Some reports have stayed open for days, especially as of late with all of us starting school. We definitely need more active staff and I think we're all on board with the idea. We just really don't want to open applications yet, since it'd be unfair to do so while we're trying to work on so many other problems (and the application thread needs to be re-written, a lot of you have requested that and it's something we want to do)

2.Are there any steps to encourage new members to stick around more? All I see is people who give a friendly greeting to the newer members and ask a couple of questions, and thats pretty much it. It could be just inviting them into things and making them feel welcome, or is there more to it.

I have no idea; if I knew the answer, I'd be trying it myself
I agree, we could all stand to invite people to things more, especially newer members. I'm gonna be the Unpopular Staff Member and say these cliques are becoming a problem. Its easy to see how people can feel left out, even with the welcoming ones. New members may be afraid to ask to join, or just feel  overall left out, and end up leaving. I'm glad everyone is able to have fun and make friends, but sometimes you hae to think about how it looks to other people. Its not super easy to just try and join a friend group, especially in a place like this.

I also think the other boards could use more content, like Minky said. We need to do something about the spam board (meaning the Staff needs to get tougher about it and you guys need to post in other places) AND try to migrate discussion elsewhere. I'm sure these issues that keep popping are distracting, and would even guess that some people only stick around to see more unfold (thus not contributing anything). And yes, constant threads like this I'm sure are not inviting to new members.

[Teapot]

As one of the older non-staff members on this site (or so it feels), I feel I should ask something that's been on my mind for a while now.

What is your stance on non-staff mediation, and will it change?

The reason I ask this is because over the recent events, the people I've personally seen harmed the most were the people who stepped in and tried to calm things down - simply because they've been misinterpreted by both sides and attacked unfairly as a result.

[Serix]

Starting off, I suppose I wanna throw my two cents in and say that I as well, don't know what the issues were, but not knowing IMO is a good thing, meaning that the staff is doing their job, doing it discreetly and behind the scenes.  As for a "popular" group of people banning/getting upset and leaving, I did not get a chance to know the group/people who were involved so I don't wish to throw out my opinion on the matter for the banning and all that. 

As someone who found out about FT nearly 6 years starting this year, when I first joined, I did not have a problem with a single member, nor do I remember seeing any conflicts with the staff or members. By the time I left because of schooling reasons, I had thoroughly enjoyed my time here on FT.

I came back as of recently because I loved the community, I loved having a well-moderated forum where it's PG-13 and members can talk and have fun and meet other furs.  I came back because I loved this website and all that it has done for its members and for myself and I want to help out any way possible.

I suppose I'm only seeing it from one side of the story, but from what I can tell, I think the moderators are doing their job, fairly and justly.  This isn't a site where you get paid to work and maintain it, you put your own free time into it and devote a lot of man hours running it among other Mods and Admins as well, and for that I respect them.  I trust that what theyre saying is true, that they delegate and handle the situations professionally and it seems like they get a lot of flack, no matter how they handle the situation.  Mods and Admins deserve as much respect you or I do (Normally) If you had a problem with someone in IRL, you wouldn't just call them out on it and stay mad while trying to talk and work on the situation, the same applys here and I think many forget that these are actual people, not just words on a screen.  I believe that if you are involved or a friend was involved in a quarrel, that you either privately message and discuss this with the Moderators/people involved maturely, or you let it go, don't show any resentment on the decision, and move on. 
This is a site for HELPING furs into the community, giving them a place where they can feel welcomed and have a good time. 
Understand, there are a lot of teens, young and old on this website, all coming from different backgrounds and environments.  There should be no public shaming or call outs, not on this forum.

To reiterate, I love being here, I love seeing everyone happy and getting along, thats why we're here, to make friends.  When I came back after a long hiatus, I was welcomed back, felt welcomed back and I got myself involved in topics and threads all over as much as I could.
In regards to the "cliques" and the like, (I'll use the recent "Lunar Empire, Eclipse and Solar Rebellion" groups as an example).  Now I dont know if you'd label that as a clique or not, but how it started was spontaneous.  I had no idea what was going on and why, but it was fun, it still is fun, and in regards to the groups, I have ALWAYS, ALWAYS posted and made a point that EVERYONE was allowed to join, to have fun and be a part of our silly little groups.  Some people call it a fad, I just call it fun.  This is all in good fun and no one should feel left out.  I started my little art project and stated too, that regardless of if you thought the groups going on were silly or not or not involved in it at all, that I wanted everyone in it and to drop a description/ref sheet so I could do a community project for everyone to enjoy.  That offer still stands and I make it a point to go and try to get involved with different topics and threads and also involve everyone so they dont feel left out.
A majority of the people on here would be more than happy to listen and to talk to anyone about any problems they have, do not feel left out, I see so many people post and say that they will listen and that they care, and thats what I love about this site.

I suppose moving on to an actual question I have, I see that many people are saying that the Spam boards are just getting a little crazy and how inactive other boards are.  Ive noticed in General chatter, a lot of the threads started there get moved TO the spam board.  So I suppose the question I have is, "What qualifys as "General Chatter" to not be moved to the spam board"?

Thanks everyone, members and Admins/Mods for all your efforts to keeping this site alive.  It is appreciated.

[Raccoaster]

Why is it that when you edit your profile the personal text is above your custom title but when you view a profile the custom title is on top? I noticed this one time and it's something I can never unsee.

[Lance]

What is your stance on non-staff mediation, and will it change?

Not the old admin you directed it at, but I hope I'll do.

We obviously cannot be on the forum 24/7 and even when we are on the site, despite our best efforts things will fly under our individual radars. So if you see someone breaking a rule or liken to that, first course of action can always be to hit the report button in the corner of every post made. However, in the cases that you are referring to, where someone has stepped in and gotten flamed in response to trying to stop things, the person is okay to step in and we appreciate the help.

That being said, we are here to try and take the flaming from stepping in so you guys should never have to.
It's kind of a complicated response that I guess boils down to: "We would rather you let us deal with it, but you will not get in trouble if you're still being respectful"

I suppose moving on to an actual question I have, I see that many people are saying that the Spam boards are just getting a little crazy and how inactive other boards are.  Ive noticed in General chatter, a lot of the threads started there get moved TO the spam board.  So I suppose the question I have is, "What qualifys as "General Chatter" to not be moved to the spam board"?

Once again a tricky response, because something can start off as a General Chatter subject, but devolve into something that belongs more in Spam. It's really a case-by-case basis. But as a rule of thumb, if there's legitimate conversation to be had about the topic it can go in General or some other board. If it's meant to make posts for the sake of making posts, it can go in Spam. If you ever want a second opinion, feel free to message a staff for help! Also, I appreciate the kind words.

Why is it that when you edit your profile the personal text is above your custom title but when you view a profile the custom title is on top? I noticed this one time and it's something I can never unsee.

I'm not sure to be honest, it's always just been that way and I've just worked around it on the off chance I change my profile at all. Which is once in a blue moon, as I'm sure some people have noticed.

[Big Boss]

If this seems agitatory or anything of the sort, please forgive me. I make a habit of asking this question after causing a fair bit of conflict in a previous forum due to...issues I had with a staff member.
I am aware that staff members have had disciplinary action taken against them, does/did that include bans of any sort? I don't need specifics of course, just a yes or no and I'll be satisfied.

[★ Panda ★]

I suppose moving on to an actual question I have, I see that many people are saying that the Spam boards are just getting a little crazy and how inactive other boards are.  Ive noticed in General chatter, a lot of the threads started there get moved TO the spam board.  So I suppose the question I have is, "What qualifys as "General Chatter" to not be moved to the spam board"?

Once again a tricky response, because something can start off as a General Chatter subject, but devolve into something that belongs more in Spam. It's really a case-by-case basis. But as a rule of thumb, if there's legitimate conversation to be had about the topic it can go in General or some other board. If it's meant to make posts for the sake of making posts, it can go in Spam. If you ever want a second opinion, feel free to message a staff for help! Also, I appreciate the kind words.

Just re-iterating the part about a topic starting off as General and then getting moved to Spam.
I think this happens more than you'd think; I've seen a lot of good topics end up in Spam because people don't want to put in the necessary discussion. "Take this quiz" threads are good examples of this. There was one about personality types that I hated to move to Spam, because that's a topic for endless discussion (and something I'm personally interested in and would have loved to discuss). But instead of discussing, people were simply posting their results, which is what qualified it as Spam. Honestly, even the thread about mince pies I wanted to put in General to facilitate discussion (since they're part of a lot of people's tradtions and stuff) but I knew it'd quickly turn into Spam.

So, I guess it can be a 2-part effort. We can try to let things stay in General a little longer, as long as everyone else makes an effort to have an actual discussion. Because not only does an overactive Spam board turn members away, but it increases our server load and thus how much money it costs to maintain the site.

I hope we can do this, because I'd like to try and get things fixed before dishing out Spam bans (which are overdue from last month).

I am aware that staff members have had disciplinary action taken against them, does/did that include bans of any sort? I don't need specifics of course, just a yes or no and I'll be satisfied.

Regarding this situation, yes.

In past situations, also yes (I'm assuming, I wasn't around for any of them but I've heard the stories). We don't put ourselves above any sort of disciplinary action...and if it seems like we do, we urge people to contact us about it.

[Flora]

I have a question but I don't want it to come out wrong... I don't want people to think I don't like them. That's not the case at all. It just might be a slightly sensitive subject I guess..?

[Lance]

I have a question but I don't want it to come out wrong... I don't want people to think I don't like them. That's not the case at all. It just might be a slightly sensitive subject I guess..?

Go for it!

[Flora]

Okay so... first thing I'd like to say is that I don't know every detail about recent things that happened, so I am not blaming anyone. I am just curious.
I just have to ask: Do some of the staff have the power to ban a person they don't like, even if the person never actually did anything against the rules/didn't do anything major that actually deserves a ban? Because if that has happened before, I personally suggest it should stop. If a few staff members have a problem with another person, they shouldn't just ban them for their own personal dislike of them. They should talk it out. Especially if the person didn't do anything that major on the site in the first place.
Also, I don't want to sound like I am accusing anyone. I love this site and everyone on it. So I don't want any of this to come out wrong. If it seems like I am blaming anyone, I'm sorry. I don't want to offend anyone, I am just asking a question and saying my suggestion.
If some of the staff members would actually do that, it's not nice. I understand that the forum is owned by the admins and staff so they have the right to do what they want, but it doesn't seem very welcoming if they are allowed to ban anyone they don't like for small personal reasons. If someone has had a bad argument with the member in the past, the should talk it out or ask another person for advice. Don't hold a grudge. Hate doesn't help anyone.

I want to apologize again if this offends anyone. Again, I am not accusing anybody. I am just asking if this has happened before (if you're allowed to tell me) and if so, why it was allowed.
Please don't hate me

[flurry]

Any plans to improve that debate/discussion board? I think things get too fired up there sometimes.

Maybe more rules like no ad hominem attacks. Plus useful info like fallacies and stuff. I think a lot of debate boards have things in place to stop arguments going out of hand.

Also maybe we could encourage peaceful discussion on the topics, those who want non debate style discussion could add that to the thread title.
plus sometimes we need a middle ground on certain topics, especially sensitive ones, maybe some would need to be avoided all together.

[Flora]

Any plans to improve that debate/discussion board? I think things get too fired up there sometimes.

Maybe more rules like no ad hominem attacks. Plus useful info like fallacies and stuff. I think a lot of debate boards have things in place to stop arguments going out of hand.

Also maybe we could encourage peaceful discussion on the topics, those who want non debate style discussion could add that to the thread title.
plus sometimes we need a middle ground on certain topics, especially sensitive ones, maybe some would need to be avoided all together.

I agree, sometimes it can get out of hand. It's not usually on purpose, but we all have strong opinions about something.

[★ Panda ★]

Flora- the short answer is no, that is absolutely not allowed to happen and has never happened.
The staff has a whole secret section of boards that we use to discuss everything. Every action is discussed and recorded (along with the record system the forum software has, such as ban logs). Things as seemingly minor as post edits and locks are discussed and logged. Bans are, of course, probably the thing discussed most in-depth (next to staff applications)

So yes, while its technically POSSIBLE for that to happen, it absolutely would not fly here. Our staff are chosen based on their ability to remain unbiased, among other things. If there was any sort of indication they have a vendetta against a member, they would either not become staff in the first place, or get their privileges taken away. In the uncommon event a grudge is inevitable (exes or whatever), they are mature enough to stay out of the discussion process.

So, no, nobody here has banned someone just because we dont like them and nobody ever will. Its not the first time we've been accused of doing that, and I suspect its the reason some people are so angry. But theres not really a way to prove we dont have a bias, unfortunately. Just one of those things that involves trust and taking our word.

[Lance]

I just have to ask: Do some of the staff have the power to ban a person they don't like, even if the person never actually did anything against the rules/didn't do anything major that actually deserves a ban?

The only people who are actually able to issue out a ban are the Admins. How well a person deals with bias is part of the application process to become staff. Personalities clash, but we've been fortunate enough that any time someone has a problem with a member, they almost always recognize it and someone else will step in with any disciplinary actions/leading the discussion. We do work with an unsaid style of checks and balances

Any plans to improve that debate/discussion board? I think things get too fired up there sometimes.

There are actually changes that we are working on, to implement into the Debate board. As for the attacks, personal attacks have never been allowed and are always justified reasons for reports. However the want to find middle ground is up to the persons' involved with the debate, so we only encourage everyone to try and see the other side's point of view and not be so set in your own ways.

[lion dude]

What we have on log for his ban note is different (not sure if that's edited or what the deal is??? ETA guess it didn't go through? It should have been there, I'll take the fall for that). There's that, and then a second part saying there's no chance for appeal currently, which is also why there's no info listed.

And then I just re-iterate what i said above. Everyone else you're talking to already has open lines of communication with us. So we never thought to put emails. That is usually the case, though (there were a couple people during the ban that we DID list emails for, for example).

Also, its worth noting that there's a character limit for notes. We literally can't list specific examples. 99% of the time, people know exactly what they've done. When they don't, they contact us, and we explain. I'm not sure if that character limit is something we can lift in the system, but I'll check it out.

The ban note is not edited, all ban notes recieved barely give information, here is a different ban note:

I think it's highly stupid that you would design a ban note with a character limit. Contact details should've been mandatory from the get go and if you thought that the notes had enough detail, you clearly have done a bad job at checking up on vital stuff.

I spent a bit of time gathering information, physically finding down those banned and getting as much information as possible.
One thing I want to point out is, is that you always explain yourselves whenever someone calls you guys out, yet you wont allow banned members have their chance to explain, you're too trigger happy on the ban hammer. People are often left to be banned without warning. I'll take a friend of mine, as you can see in the ban note I posted earlier, it shows that he was banned for "continued toxic behaivour and insulting other members", however he was given zero indication on what specifically he had done wrong, and he could have probably avoided such as harse ban if he had a chance to explain. This doesn't just go for him, this goes for quite a few people too that got banned. Some people were banned just for being associated with the "bad eggs". Another point about members contacting you is that staff blocked banned members from other places such as FA etc. meaning that contact is nearly impossible.

Another point is that an ex-staff member had spoke of a board, hidden to public and regular members, in which the board contained a large amount of threads about individual members on this site, either talking about their posts or just straight up making fun of them.

I want to mention about the recommendations people offer and you saying that you're taking them into consideration except no one sees light on anything. This is a repeat thing. All that has happened is you saying "we'll take it into account" yet nothing?? You may say you're working on it, but no offense you're slow to act on this. As if you don't care about the survival of the site. Not to mention you're doing a terrible job at keeping members staying on the site, which I don't think the staff can complain about as not listening and actually acting on suggestions is what is causing people to lose all faith in the staff team.

I would like your response to each of these points, as it took a quite a bit of effort to dig up this.

[Lance]

The only person that was here when the site was created was Meadow, and even then I don't believe she had any control over the ban system. How the ban ban system works is default within the forum's architecture and we've not had a problem with it before now. Not with the notes that we've sent, nor with fitting in contact information where applicable.

I find it really amusing that you call us trigger happy with bans when the group ban and few recent bans were the only ones that had happened for a month or two prior to the incidents. Every single ban that we have dropped has been due to concrete evidence mixed with past behavior, or an escalation of behavior that became extreme quickly enough that we felt a ban was the best option. None of us take joy in banning people, a lot of times some of the people banned are a friend to at least one staff member and it's always upsetting.

As for the blocking of banned members, I can't speak for everyone, but I know that my block button is one of the most underused buttons on any of my site profiles. However as stated before, behavior that resulted in the ban may have caused a potential friend on staff to be upset with or hurt by the person, resulting in them blocking them due to personal health, and as such may require the person to look for other staff members to contact.

The board you are referring to does exist, but not in the sense that you are talking about. It's where the discussions about disciplinary action take place, there is no mocking of members in those threads as it is strictly moderated to remain respectful.

As for the suggestions not being implemented, we never shot down the ideas, and we will probably return to this thread in the future to reflect more on what's being discussed here. Some stuff takes a while to be implemented because despite us wishing we could be on here constantly to keep the flow of things going, we all have school and work and social lives that we must devote time to as well. Not to mention if someone gets overwhelmed in their life we come to a standstill, as we want a unanimous vote on any new policies or website mechanics.

I would encourage you to ask your friends who were banned about the content of their posts pre-ban and/or any potential conversations that they had with staff before their bans.

[lion dude]

-snip-

First off i would like to apologise if this comes off as hostile.

But After talking with a few of the banned members and seeing their evidence I see so signs if blackmail against any members nor were they ever contacted by staff about this. If anything you all used the voice of one against the voices of others, and the voice you used was one of your friends. You listened to them over the others who have never once gotten a warning and one who had never had any "malicious intent" on the site.
You all even banned one of their friends simply because you thought that they were posting about you all when in reality they were posting a rant about their life. From what I'm hearing that member never got a warning either, how is that fair? How is this supposed to make other members feel safe when they can't even post a rant about their life if they are associated with certain people? What about giving everyone a chance to explain themselves? If you all get to explain yourself while others make judgement why couldn't they? Because one of your friends were being "blackmailed" when in reality they had their off site behaviour reported?

What about the members that have tried contacting you all and never got a reply? One of them tells us they've been waiting over a month for a reply from you. Others are telling us that they've been banned, blocked and removed on multiple sites. How do you expect members to trust you all when you do things like this and come up with excuses for your behaviours? I apologise if this may seem like an attack but these are all questions that have me up at night. If you all get the chance to make excuses for your actions, why don't you give others the chance to explain theirs? Is it simply because the color of your paws mean you get to and they don't? This includes those that have been banned, you didn't listen to any. Only your friends and now they all have to watch as you do things they can't simply because you're able too.
How come an aggressive and toxic homophobic was given warnings and second chances while these people weren't? What makes them any different, you all use the "we're only human"phrase to excuse yourself from your behaviours... So why not them...? Why not talk to them, get their side of the story? Please these people are just like you and some want answers but will never be able to get them because they don't have the luxury you all have. Would you please just give a few a chance? You're human and so are they we all have our moments where anger takes over, you all have done some horrible things while angry or not yourself so do they. Why not listen to some and talk to them?

If you don't want to reply to this in the thread than you can send me a message. But one of them wants to have a formal and mature conversation with one of you admins. She seems sincere

[★ Panda ★]

[ETA: More elegant reply now that I'm on my actual computer]
I have given my email to said members about 12 times now. No email.
panda@furryteens.org Whoever wants to email me is free to.

I'm pretty curious about who supposedly we have blocked. Also, "removing" is a broad term since, we actually have no obligation to watch members on FA and such, or even have them on Skype. I personally try to keep everyone added for reasons like this, but again, we literally don't have to. We actually prefer to do business through email as Skype has proven to be a problem. I have one, maybe two former members blocked on Twitter, and that's because they were spamming me. If they were trying to be constructive, I wouldn't have blocked them; but instead, I would get notifications at work of them spamming me with useless, sometimes rude stuff. Note that this was Twitter only (FB too as the same happened there), and they could have (and did) contact me through email at any time. I think we have the right to not want actual spam, but I guess that's just me. I do not have ANYONE from here blocked on Skype, FA, or anywhere else.

The person you're referring to (if it's who I think it is) I considered a friend, however I don't anymore because she hurt me PERSONALLY. We are still allowed to have feelings. However, this does not hinder my ability to remain neutral during her side of the story (which, again, hasn't come). And if it did, I certainly would step away in order to remain unbiased.

I would like you to consider that you're hearing a different version of things. Because, unless an email got lost, we have not been contacted by anyone who was banned. And we certainly have NOT denied any sort of communication.

Thank you.

[Lance]

What Icee says about contact is true for me also. I have been approached by another staff saying that banned persons would like to talk, to which I have added the person; they have not accepted my add yet however, and another instance I was asked for my email, to which I quickly responded and still have received nothing on the email either.

I have a single contact on an IM client who I didn't think to message after a situation was resolved, then they messaged me the other day and I just got back to them. This was due to me forgetting to respond or being stupidly busy when I did remember.

Once again though. If these persons want to talk about their bans, they can contact me directly either by my skype, LanceThyla where I know I have nothing but spam bots blocked, or on email at lancifur@live.com .

Edit: Right now it seems like all of these banned persons are acting like they don't know why they got banned, and this isn't the case at all. Every single person that you've indirectly brought up is an intelligent enough person who was fully aware of what they were doing/involved with. I know this for a fact, after having seen them on the forum for a while.

That being said, I still welcome each and every single one of them to message me personally to discuss their punishments and I will treat them with all the respect that I would with any current staff or non staff member.

Skype-  LanceThyla
Email-   Lancifur@live.com
Telegram- Lancifur