This is a proposal to consolidate multiple redundant casual chats in staffchat into one channel.
As of writing, there are currently four casual conversation channels within the larger SCP Staff Server.
- #staff-casual-js (open to JS+)
- #staff-casual (open to OS+)
- #adcap-casual (open to current and former admins, team captains and vice captains)
- #admin-casual-chat (open to current and retired admins)
There are also many casual chats in individual Team discords.
The authors of this proposal - Rounderhouse,
thedeadlymoose,
aismallard, and
Pedagon - feel that this kind of chat stratification has had severe negative effects on staff’s ability to function. Casual chats have by far caused the most serious problems. Therefore, we propose the elimination of (almost) all casual chats which are not open to JS+:
- #staff-casual-js would become the primary casual chat, and renamed accordingly (perhaps to #casual-chatter).
- #staff-casual would be removed and permanently archived.
- #adcap-casual would be removed and permanently archived.
- #admin-casual will likely be renamed. (This point may not need a vote.)
- All casual chats in Team Discords would be open to JS+, unless the Team Discord itself is not open to JS+. This may be addressed again at a later date.
Hierarchical casual chats create a clique culture, where everyone wants to be ‘in the club’, and the clubs are gated in part by promotions, and in part by some accidental social engineering.
When a hierarchical clique is prioritized in a team structure, then loyalty to that clique matters most. Promotions become paradoxically near-impossible to achieve and absolutely vital to achieve, because it’s not work that gets you anywhere – it’s social climbing. Whether by blending in with the wallpaper, or by making yourself impossible to ignore. We’re all a little guilty of this.
Further, these cliques encourage staff to separate themselves into factions. They encourage staff in different cliques to struggle to see the perspectives of others; they encourage junior staff to be overloaded and burnt out. They isolate staff groups, leading them to make poorly informed decisions. They lead to misinformation spreading and power being abused or misused.
Looking around, it’s not difficult to see. We may all have different examples, but we all have examples.
The hierarchy is also just really not beneficial or necessary - one casual chat can do a lot for an organization to foster unity, friendliness, and cooperation, but several different ones actually work against it, particularly when we’re already dealing with inter-layer communication and cooperation issues.
Beyond general principles, here is specific reasoning for eliminating most casual chats. / for merging together the casual chats.
- Why get rid of #staff-casual?:
- Junior Staff are already allowed into #staff-discussion. That’s where the lion’s share of matters involving all staff take place. Therefore, it doesn’t make sense to exclude JS from the primary casual chat.
- OS+ staff are encouraged to discuss official staff business and rub shoulders with the people making up the new crop of staff. Yet, they’re encouraged not to socialize casually with JS. This doesn’t make sense.
- The divide also incorrectly implies that JS are part of “the lower ranks” or general “grunt work” (as opposed to being in training with a specific team), and that they are in some way fundamentally different from OS (typically less valuable and more expected to be burned out)..
- This also interferes significantly with JS training (and ability to get promoted).
- Some have argued to keep a casual chat for OS+ staff only, because JS (who are only vetted by a single Captain) cannot be trusted to keep sensitive personal information secret. However, this argument has never been backed up; the vast majority of harmful information leaks have come through OS, Mods, and Admins. Additionally, the OS+ casual chat is not intended for sensitive material.
- Otherwise, it’s unclear why OS+ staff would specifically need a place to talk casually in a place where JS are not allowed. What benefit does that exclusivity bring? We have been able to identify no benefits, but many harms.
- Why get rid of #adcap-casual?
- Adcap itself began as a casual channel. It was originally meant as a #no-mic type channel when team captains and admins had monthly meetings. The channel then evolved into its own layer of staffchat-within-staffchat, and added a casual channel, which cemented it as a clique – an unapproved, unaccountable power base where largely well-intentioned captains & admins would unintentionally but severely break down staff accountability structures and communication. Adcap has mostly been dissolved as a decision-making staff body, but having its own casual channel was part of how it became a clique, and only exists because adcap was once a clique. This alone is reason to retire the channel.
- Staff have run continually into the problem of policy being discussed in adcap, lower staff being unaware of it, and problems ensuing, Reforms have since been put in place to make Adcap strictly a location for coordination, which is undercut by having its own casual chat.
- #adcap-casual is simply an exclusive social club with its purpose simply being to socialize with other people in Adcap. Reforms aside, this channel will still naturally push administrators and captains (and their selected vice captains) towards again becoming an insular, exclusive, elevated social clique, which everyone – most especially admins & captains – would like to avoid.
- Why get rid of #admin-casual? (We’re not.)
- Admin-casual technically isn’t even a casual chat; The channel exists so that current admins have a place where they can consult with retired admins, as retired admins do not have access to active admin discussion. (It was named this way to try to fit in with the existing casual chats paradigm.)
- The authors of this proposal feel that “admin casual” should be renamed to reflect its operational purpose: as a knowledge base for administration and a place for retired admins to privately discuss sensitive or personal matters, and secondarily encouraging retired admins to remain in Staff Discord so that any staff member may ping them.
- After this proposal is posted, the admins involved in this proposal will ask the full administrator team to approve this suggestion. If approved, the existing “admin-casual” channel will be renamed to “retired-admins”. If not approved by admins by the end of discussion, this issue will be brought back to this thread for staff discussion and consideration for a staff vote.
Hierarchical casual channels have presented severe issues for staff work in the past. Until recently, the impact they’ve had has been largely unspoken – attributed to other sources, or one or two bad actors. But after extensive discussion and investigation, the authors of the proposal agree that hierarchical casual channels, and adcap’s casual channel in particular, have resulted in massive, wide-reaching damage to the legitimacy of staff and the community’s trust in us – and to staff’s trust in each other, as well as our ability to work with each other.
Cutting down casual channels won’t fix everything, but it absolutely will help.
Ultimately, Staff Chat is the place to coordinate staff matters. It’s the place to manage and maintain the SCP wiki, and serve our community. Its structure should be built to help us better serve our community. Right now, it’s not. Let’s fix that.
O5 mirror: http://05command.wikidot.com/forum/t-14469551/discussion-culling-staffchat-casual-chats#post-5192216
