[Salty]

Damn its crazy dude, it seems like...what crackbone called out staff for not being accountable, what Salty said and took blame for calling out those problems months ago and now this was true after all! Damn that's UNBELIEVABLE!

These problems were there ever since i started playing, I've seen biased stuff everywhere not only in game but on discord aswell, the amount of times staff pull a blind eye just because they like that person is just surreal. Start acknowledging these problems, and start working on the solutions. 
____________________________________________________________________________________________

Based on what I've read here, it seems to suggest there is a hivemind that has THRIVED in PH. Need some more proof other than this thread? Look no futher than here. Now albeit I didn't handle it professionally initially, you can still clearly see a "hivemind" mindset that forms; they don't like someone's opinion so they attack the individual and put words in said individual's mouth that were never stated. This isn't okay, and it's something that should be addressed. I've heard many people make comments like "PH Staff is a cult" and it's not just people who don't play PH; due to confidentiality I will not leak my sources, but I can assure you it's people who are regular players on the PH server.

[lacer]

I hope the irony of an admin who approved last year's toxicity bans not acting on an actual hivemind because some of it happened outside of the community isn't lost on anyone here

[Salty]

Also it seems than rather than trying to even attempt to say you'll make an effort to change it, it's just given up to "oh that'll never change it'll always be an issue." So what, you're just accepting that your server is moderated by a clique, the very thing that "Addressing Toxicity in the Community" attempted to get rid of despite there being absolutely ZERO legit evidence, whereas here it's quite clear there is in fact a hivemind?

[JesseTheUndeadCowboy]

The negativity and everyone assuming stuff needs to stop one way or another. If you don’t know what is going about a person do not make it your job to spread rumors based on just what people say. Just because a person say something doesn’t mean it’s true. This is the internet, people lie to each other all the time which is sad but the truth. Do not believe everything you hear. This kinda of stuff is really getting annoying at this point because it seems almost anything is believed here. I have been noticing a lot of issues like that over the last couple of months and it needs to stop. Action needs to be taken to stop people from spreading rumors about people that can seriously damage their reputation. We come on here to play games and have fun, not to spread rumors and info about players that may not be 100 percent true. I’m sorry if this is coming of as hostile but from what I read so far and seem similar issues myself happen it really is a problem that needs fixed. People also needs to realize they are talking to real people with real feelings and real problems just like any other human being in the world. I’m sorry if anyone takes any offense to anything I say. I understand this is the internet and people will say what they want, but they need to be held accountable for spreading rumors and causing issues for other players. Please, something needs to be done about these issues that have been happening. Anyway. I’m sorry for everyone else who’s time here in the community has not been enjoyable due to these issues and I sincerely hope that one day these issues will be solved and people will start to be held accountable. Also I’m sorry for the long message but hopefully I explained how I felt about it well enough. Also I kinda agree with what salty said. DO NOT give up on solving the issue, that will not help anything.

[Battons]

What angers me is people using addressing toxicity to validate their opinions, what was done to laced tdawg and I was unjust without warning. This is different. Making forums posts like this only further the issue because now this group you've claimed to exist might actually start banding together. Like anyone else they will feel attacked and you could just say "they should have talked to me" and I can tell you first hand they won't. This should have been something handled in private.

[JesseTheUndeadCowboy]

What angers me is people using addressing toxicity to validate their opinions, what was done to laced tdawg and I was unjust without warning. This is different. Making forums posts like this only further the issue because now this group you've claimed to exist might actually start banding together. Like anyone else they will feel attacked and you could just say "they should have talked to me" and I can tell you first hand they won't. This should have been something handled in private.

Battons I think they tried handling it in private but it probably didn’t work. Hence why she made the post. At least that’s what I think happened.

[Pixie Soldier]

So I will try my best and cover everything but there is a lot to go over.

Applications

There is always going to be an element of personal opinion on applications depending on interactions. However opinions are formed in lots of different ways, interactions on the discord, forums and the server are all taken into account. Just because a person has not been on the server with someone a lot does not mean that they have no valid opinion on the matter. 

I also want to make it clear that not all application replies are public, if a person does not want to reply on the forum they often will forward their reply to an Admin. So just because an application has lots of +1s does not mean that those are all the votes. Often people do not want to get backlash from replying negatively so they will make one of three choices, lie about how they feel to fit in, not comment at all or they send their opinion privately. Personally I don't send my replies to Fish as I would rather be upfront about my opinion, even if I'm the only one saying it. 

People who I -1 have often come to me and asked me why I did it or wanted to know what to do better and I was happy to explain it to them and see if we could understand each other better, they didn't take it personally. Also keep in mind that in the past we have had people become staff who were given a chance but let us down a lot. We don't want that, we want good staff members that will make this sever better and who are ready for the position.

We are suggesting that the requirements for comments on applications be reworked in order to prevent comments such as above from hindering individuals who show promise while applying for staff. 

I'm not sure what exactly you mean by this? Do you mean that a person has to have spent a certain amount of time on server? Or with the individual person? This would be extremely difficult to manage. If that is the case then any positive comments which come from players outside of PH or who have not spent time with that person would have to be moderated too. It works both ways. 

Opinions

I find it quite interesting that you bring this up when there have been occasions that everyone has been guilty of this, not just a select few, there have been ideas discussed in our staff discord that you have given your opinion on quite negatively. I think we are all entitled to our opinion and how those opinions are perceived vary too. A person may have not intended their opinion to come across that way but others may have perceived it to be harshly negative. It is very difficult to read tone in text and everyone communicates differently. I also think that the word 'temper' is a strong one in this incidence, I've seen plenty of discussion and yes some negative opinions I've never seen anyone lose their temper. 

Reputations

I was on server for the incident that you brought up. It was quite a busy night, a lot going on in the server and several staff members were in a VC on the main dinks discord. You joined the server a little after us and yes you messaged admin chat and said 'this person and this person are friends they may be ghosting' (not an exact quote) I then replied and said we knew and were already recording them. I thought that it had been put into admin chat but to be honest it was a bit crazy that night and most of the staff were in the vc so it was hard to remember what had been said when and where. You also were not happy that you had killed yourself to watch them when you were told that another staff member was already dead and recording the potential ghoster. It did come across that you were angry about it, when it was a very simple thing. It's not the first time you have come across like that. 

I'm not saying you were, I'm saying it comes across that way. I'll also give you an example from me. Pauling commented on my staff app that she found me to be aggressive and unapproachable, I was surprised as I'd not been told that before, but after talking with her and us both getting to know one another on the sever and in discord , we understood each other better. 

Sometimes all it takes is a bit of effort on both sides. If you don't interact with people how will they ever get to know you or form a better opinion of you?! I get that you feel there are cliques here and I know that I tend to keep my circle small. There are some very good reasons for that which I will not get into. I have tried lately to spend some time in the VC on both the staff discord and the main discord although I haven't been around as much lately due to some personal stuff. 


The incident

I am not really going to go into this as it is mainly a personal issue that needs to stay out of the community. It may involve members of the staff team, but its been a long standing personal issue that should not be discussed here. I appeal to all those involved to settle this privately and not to bring in into the community. I couldn't care less what drama goes on in people's personal discords unless it affects the server. You cannot like everyone, and the more people that get thrown into the mix as the team grows the more dynamic of the group changes. You have to deal with people you don't like in real life all the time. So what if someone doesn't like you or you don't like them. It has nothing to do with staffing. 


I do understand that you and perhaps others are not happy but like Fish said we very recently had a 3hr staff meeting to iron these things out, that would have been a good opportunity to discuss this. I feel that opening it up to the forum for the whole community to see opens up a can of worms and people that should not be involved will involve themselves and make unhelpful comments. Fish also said at the end of that meeting that if other issues arose that we could have a meeting again as it did seemed productive. I feel that this could have been handled better within the team.

[lacer]

What angers me is people using addressing toxicity to validate their opinions, what was done to laced tdawg and I was unjust without warning. This is different. Making forums posts like this only further the issue because now this group you've claimed to exist might actually start banding together. Like anyone else they will feel attacked and you could just say "they should have talked to me" and I can tell you first hand they won't. This should have been something handled in private.

There's not much else that can be done besides making a forum post addressing these issues, if the claims of upper staff sitting on their hands are indeed true. Why would you want to be anywhere near people who constantly shit on you and spread nasty rumors?

also little fun fact for the rest of the class: the addressing toxicity people weren't a clique until we were banned, and 2 of them weren't even friends with most of us at the time (free halfdemonlink tho)

[Battons]

There's not much else that can be done besides making a forum post addressing these issues, if the claims of upper staff sitting on their hands are indeed true. Why would you want to be anywhere near people who constantly shit on you and spread nasty rumors?

Fair enough I just wasn't aware of any of these problems till now I ment it should have been brought up in staff discord first and maybe it was but I was unaware.

[dong]

I'll pitch in my two cents I presume. 

1) This was a personal issue that was kept outside of the community until people wanted to run their mouths and spread it onto here. TTT people even know about that now. Person in question made it no big secret.

2) A clash of ideals is something that any staff team here is bound to have. Whether or not everyone can handle criticism and learn from it is another thing though.

3) To be a team you have to be able to: coexist, have some of the same ideas and or goals, or simply be working together for a common purpose. If you are not compatible you cannot be a team, it is that simple. So I believe that is what Starling was meaning whenever she said it really isn't a "team" to her.

4) I'm going to preface this by saying no Fish this is not directed at you or anyone who else holds an upper staff position, this is more or less a justification to an answer for what Battons said an hour ago.

    You can only do some much in private, most of that is depending on how receptive BOTH sides are to the engagement, but clearly it wasn't two ways in this case I guess. Going public with things is a good way to shed light on a topic not known by many, or it will help push an agenda. Whether that's right or wrong is up in the air. It is pretty common to see things "swept under the rug" and only get handled due to the publicity.


Also lets leave Link locked up pls and ty.