Happy Canada Day, everyo- Huh? What do you mean it's "about the new staff members"? Can we get a double check on that? Ugh, fine.. let's talk about
that then.
Buncha maple haters 'round here, I swear...
Seriously though, as people here will no doubt have noticed, getting a new Boss isn't the only change in ranks that's taken place on the msg. board since April. For one thing, the honorary Retired group was created and said rank was awarded to Heinz for his vital contributions to CEONSS as its founder and admin for over 4 years. For another, my former colleague and brother in g.mod arms, lilalurl, no longer holds that title, as life presented him with new challenges and he hasn't been able to contribute here for awhile. What's common with both these changes is that they were made not in the spirit of demoting or tucking away people who've played a material administrative role in the server's past so that they wouldn't now be in the way or anything like that. I mean, hell, were lila someday to renew his interest in UT and start participating here again, in all likelihood we'd gladly consider having him back on active duty, considering his keen eye for detail and extensive bug-hunting experience in the mapping department. Back to the main point though, the aim was to implement a staff restructuring that would more accurately convey to the community what the
actively involved members of the admin team now are. Once that was done, and Cat familiarized himself with the server's various management aspects, the next order of business was to fill the g.mod and 3rd ingame admin vacancies. Thus the new staff expansion round.
It's doubtful that anyone in the team expected it to turn that way going in, but I think it's accurate to say now that this process was probably the most involved and thorough vetting we've ever held. All told, after examining in parallel reviews for the two spots the numerous facets of the personalities, skills and contributions of over a dozen nominees, which went on for pretty much the entire month of June, ultimately the best indication that we truly picked the right people for these jobs IMO was that both decisions ended up being unanimous among the 5 of us. So let's talk about our two new inductees then.
Funky's been a dedicated regular for awhile now, ingame and here, and whether we're talking about social interaction with other players, sportsmanship or skill, the contributions of his presence have been undoubtedly positive. What's more, his clan background (hope I'm not misremembering his intro post here) should definitely be an asset with the deputies' routine work of looking for any potential troublemakers of all sorts, and will allow him to more easily distinguish between actually suspicious behaviours and reported false positives. It also helps that he's
not an old fart the youngest IA we've ever had on board
.
After successfully organizing the first LAN party between server regulars in her own house (!) and now spearheading discussions about the next one, as well as helping take CEONSS through a player growth period I can only characterize as "viral" since late last year, I believe Ema's ever-expanding bona fides in terms of her community contributions here speak for themselves. Doesn't hurt that she's a well-rounded server regular herself either, of course
.
If ingame admins are the more rigid walls that help keep the community's proverbial "container" in the shape the Boss has envisioned for it by preventing spillovers and things going overboard, to my mind the GMs' purpose is to be the glue that keeps a community together and fosters its growth over time by taking into account the members' differing viewpoints and preferences, and advising the Boss on how best to improve the server across the various management areas falling within our remit: community management, content evaluation and update, drafting new policies, external promotion, tech issues or anything else.
With the skill set, dedication and consideration Ema has displayed since she got here, there's no doubt in my mind she'll be of great help in accomplishing just that. Just like me, you can expect Ema to have a say on all those aforementioned facets of the server's operation, and, just like me, Ema will probably develop her own specialization at some point on an area she feels more drawn toward over the rest and be the expert there; while I don't yet know what exactly that area will be (although I could hazard a guess based on her previous contributions ^^), I'll be excited to see her grow into her own, fully formed g.mod here nonetheless, and be willing to help her in any way I can to that end too.
It also bears mentioning that up 'till now, all 7 CEONSS staff members have been guys, and the sheer, shall we say, sausagefest nature of the situation wasn't exactly lost on us even before the vetting began. Finally introducing a female voice to that mix is IMO as important as it is healthy for ensuring the server maintains a fresh and pluralistic perspective, so we're certainly glad that's now happened. And just like there were more than 1 ladies present in our list of nominees this time, so we hope the case will be again in the next staff expansion cycle too.
So those are our two new staffers! Just like those above, I too would like to thank you both, Ema and Funky, for volunteering your time n' services to help keep CEONSS humming along, and wish you the best of luck keeping your respectively coloured banhammers free of oddly shaped chunks (yes, folks, they
both have one; do keep that in mind
).
As a parting nightmarish thought, I'll leave you with this: consider how this german server's managing team that was originally made up of one german and a greek has transitioned into one whose active staff is now half from the UK, including its leader! And I bet they think their devious plan is coming along just fine too! Well, I, for one, won't stand for it! I simply refuse to acknowledge this development, nor am I willing to entertain any discussion about the comparative advantages of a constitutional monarchy over tea or anything of the sort! The best way to resist is with a stiff upper lip, people! Remember, just keep calm and ...ah, bugger!
Oh, and Happy Canada Day everyone
!
(More ppl who can forcechange maps 
)