Customer Service

[barneygale]

Reposting this old thread for some of the younger staffers who might not have read it. All credit to Ludeman84.

 

Customer service...

 

...that is the most important aspect of our role on staff. You're here as a moderator because our servers need volunteers to serve the community - working with players and behind the scenes to keep the servers running smoothly. We hope that you enjoy the experience, but also that you realize the responsibility involved.

Excerpt from Survival chat last weekend:
http://paste.thezomg.com/7060/86701021/
(names of non-staff removed, as this isn't about them)

Folks - this is unacceptable. For us to display such a lack of professionalism - in public chat, no less, where multiple players asked for the arguing to stop - reflects poorly on the entire staff and the servers as a whole. People can be and have been demodded for displaying this kind of behavior, especially if this persists.

You are expected to be courteous and respectful to all players, even if you feel they are not reciprocating. We expect a certain standard of conduct from our staff in serving players and dealing with each other - this should have been made very clear to you when you were first added as a mod. If there is a situation that you don't feel you can handle, defuse the conflict by deferring to an admin or another moderator. It's better to log out for a bit than to lose your temper. If you're feeling stressed or burned out by moderator duties, we're happy to temporarily remove your mod powers, at your request, to give you a chance to take a break. We'll be more than happy to re-enable them whenever you're ready.

If you're having difficulty dealing with a particular player or group, don't go it alone! Ask your colleagues for help, as help and advice are always available. Please use these resources to help provide the best possible experience for our users. Let's not have a repeat of this incident.

One more point - keep these arguments with players OUT of public chat. If you have a prolonged issue to sort out with a player, move it to /msgs, or IRC, or Mumble, or wherever you need to to go. It is your obligation to stop this, however that has to be done. Talk to just the people who are involved and get it resolved, don't drag the entire server into it by hashing it out in global chat.

Thanks for listening, and thank you for all the time you invest into making this a great community. I hope that if we all keep this in mind as we volunteer on the servers, the community as a whole will grow stronger. If you have any questions please come find a head admin, we'd be happy to talk to you about it.