hi, mods! asking here since comments are screened and other folks could probably benefit from this info as well: since you ask how many hours applicants would be willing to commit to mod duties per day/week, can you give us an idea of what that time commitment looks like on average right now? thanks!
There are a number of variables that make it hard to be specific about that, but we can definitely give you a rundown on what can be expected! Hold tight until tomorrow and we'll go into more detail--the mods that are on right now are occupied with getting some things done before bedtime (alas these mortal shells), be we will get back to you on this.
hey all! just popping in here to give my own 5 cents as a mod for the past couple years. things vary from individual, but overall it's about a couple hours a week to just keep the heartbeat of the game going- approving plots, faq things, etc- then more or less depending on the time of month/plot going on.
for most plots one or two of us 'heads' it up, with everyone else there to help read it over and give feedback. so if you're doing a major plot- like say CnC 2020- it can be 5-10ish hours for the lead to get it all together, and then a couple extra hours from everyone else to help fine tune it
whiphand
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: Heya! Replying here from my account instead of the mod one since I'm going to share some of my personal mod experience as well as general info
Thanks for waiting — sorry it took longer than expected for a reply! It's a little difficult to estimate an exact time figure, since there are a number of variables and expanding the mod team would also change this, but we can try and give a better sense of what to expect.
The beginning of the month is the busiest since we've got apps to vote on and process. Following that, we have the swear-in event, which can be player-run but we assume will be on us unless a player approaches us with an idea.
And if there's a mod-run plot, obviously we have to plan and write that as well, and be on hand to answer player questions. All these items are the most time/writing intensive.
Other monthly tasks that take up a bit less time are prepping the test drive (since we try to add at least a couple new prompts each month but can reuse older ones) and the Majority Report (though we may be revamping that in some form).
Mods also have some overlapping duties with the helpstaff, but depending how on the ball they are (often very) they may beat us to the punch — there have been months where I finished voting/processing apps and went to add accepted players who had commented to the registration page and found that it had already been taken care of.
And then more sporadically are things like responding to comment to the FAQ, plotting and mod contact pages. Those can be quiet for days or we can get ten at once. Very occasionally we'll have scheduled mod meetings on Discord,
but that's usually for when we need to have all of us putting our heads together and making decisions about important things at a particular time. Aside from that, we use private plurks for ongoing chat about things that need doing.
Looking at ballpark figures, I'd estimate that during apps week, I'll commonly spend an hour a day on apps, sometimes two if I'm really trying to get through them as quick as possible and there is work on them to be done (since we sometimes have to wait on revisions or enough votes for processing),
but if I have other time commitments and don't get much stuff done on a particular time, that's fine, I just jump back into apps tomorrow. And outside of apps time, an average week might have me doing mod work 3-4 days week, but some of those days might be very light and some might have a bullet pointed to-do list.
In my experience, aside from the tasks that take place on predetermined, recurring dates, it is fairly easy to break mod tasks down into smaller pieces as an alternative to blocking off large chunks of time to Get Stuff Done (though that can happen, depending on the size of the to-do list.)
Coming in this morning to note that plurk hid all of Stacey's comments from me last night, I didn't mean to retread some of the same ground so I guess that's another reason for more mods: when one of them can't see shit.
thanks for the explanation! I'm trying to wrap my head around how tasks are currently divided between the team, in terms of will you be able to cover for a fellow co-mod if required
That's a general query about flexibility, I think—level of comfort with stepping in to help out with something that may not be under your usual purview if someone gets hit by a bus.
okay that's helpful thanks! I guess I'm asking if certain tasks are specifically given to individual mods, or if there's like, a shared checklist of tasks that the team tackles collectively (a bit like how you mention sometimes the helpstaff get to something first) in kind of a first person available does the thing kind of way
items like answering FAQ questions, approving power updates etc (generally, the things that can come in at any time) are done as people are available, vs. the Majority Report, which has always been done by one mod (+ player submissions)
and then there are the rolling items--if Stacey is writing the swear-in on a given month and gets sucked through a portal into the mirror dimension, that was her task but the swear-in's still got to get done.
Swinging in to note that we've added an official note to the hiring post that it's okay to ask us questions about the process here or on the mod contact page if you have questions!
so the current set-up allows for individuals on the team who don't feel confident in one area (say, writing up the majority report) to put their efforts into something more their wheelhouse, (idk, pure admin stuff) and that's OK
Yes, it's okay. We appreciate flexibility, since we don't want anyone (including new mods) to feel like the pressure is all on them to be responsible for a particular thing, but I'd say it's very true that we've got different strengths, and it's not a situation where Everything Must Be Divided Equally Or Else.
will you be able to cover for a fellow co-mod if requiredu gotta