A former staff member, which will remain nameless, recently stepped down and said he disliked tRIUNE and I and one of the reasons was because of the staff quota. I'd like to take a few minutes to explain why we have a staff quota and why it's not as big of a deal as what some people think.

The staff quota is used to make sure the current staff members are actively doing work on the site. In the past we've had many staff members who would literally go months without doing anything and they'd sometimes even go weeks without visiting the site. It's not fair for someone to be a staff member and do nothing and receive the benefits of a staff member when someone else who wants to be a staff member can't be a staff member because there's currently too many staff members.

The quota isn't really high. 200 CP a month is no big deal at all (especially with the CP multipliers) and some members manage to achieve that in a single day. All we really expect out of the staff is that they invest around 10 hours a month into their position which is around 2 hours a week.

We're incredibly lenient about the staff quota. We usually wait until a user misses their quota a few months in a row before we demote them and if a user communicates with us with a good reason why they might miss their monthly quota, we're completely understanding about it.

Staff : I just thought you guys should know about this in case you guys see anyone complaining about the staff quota or vizzed in general. Would be great if you guys stuck up for tRIUNE, myself and the site

Oh dear....I didn't think that, uh....he would tell you that straight on....um, well this is surprise. And a shock for me because. I don't wanna tell.
*Hides*

Great explanation!

It's only natural you want some kind of quality assurance regarding the staff of your website, making sure they don't just laze around.

Davideo7 : Yeah, I've always seen the quota as exactly how you described it. I've never had problems with the quota before, and even now that I don't specifically have a 'staff job' (my role of Minecraft Staff doesn't give me CP) I'm still making over 200 CP per month. I'm really not sure why this would be an issue, unless the nameless user completely misunderstood the reason behind the quota.

Btw, of course I stand up for ya. The quota absolutely makes sense, so I'm more than happy to explain (or defend) it and you guys to people who don't understand it's reasoning or why it needs to exist.

I absolutely agree with the quota and don't understand why anyone would ever complain about it.  I think 'someone' was complaining because they don't think staff should be motivated by a quota and instead by a love for their work.

I'm proud to say I think all the current staff not only ENJOY their work, but get the benefit of CP and Viz for their time devoted to improving this place.  Without a quota, we'd definitely have a few people hanging around just for the title, and that's not the impression I want visitors and site users to have!  Vizzed is an interactive community that strives towards perfection and engaging people into feeling like a part of something.

Don't change a thing!  That goes for tRIUNE, Davideo7, and every staff member.

(Really... I'm sure some of us spend FAR more than 10 hours a month doing FAR less productive things...)

I agree with David that the quota is not a big deal at all considering the time that users spend on the site. If staff do their work, it shouldn't take too much time, so there shouldn't be any reason to believe that it's unfair.

Singelli : Being motivated by "love for their work" has never worked in the past. Between this forum and my previous forums, I've been in charge of a forum for 12+ years now and from my experience, that doesn't work. It works for some but not many.

Eniitan : Technically it's your responsibility as a staff member to report those things. You don't have to report things like that publicly but it should at least be reported in some way.

zanderlex : Plus no one is forcing a user to be a staff member. It's kinda silly that anyone would complain, especially since they can simply step down. If they want to contribute to the site without having a quota then they can do so as a regular user.

mrfe : I appreciate it, it's always great to have staff members who are willing to stick up for the site. We've had far too many staff members in the past not stick up for the site or even trash talk it and its staff.

I never had a problem with the quota since I started and hopefully It will last until I can no longer type a walkthrough with my own hands. Speaking of, I'm ready to deliver something special this month. A way to celebrate the PC section

Anyway, when you are staff here on Vizzed, the quota is something you must deal with. It's something I accepted since I started that job. I understand that some people can't deal with it, that's their opinion and I respect that. But, like you said, things that belong to the past now don't have to happen once again. Again, I wouldn't be what I am in Vizzed without this staff position. I'm not the most famous member here (but it seems legit since I've never been so popular at school ha ha xD ), though it has been the way to open my mind, talk to people and break that shell I had in the past when I first came to this website, once and for all. And that, I'm so grateful to a lot of people

To be honest very few dislike the quota. We applied knowing that to expect.

The quota lets us know that we're being active enough with our roles. If we spend any significant amount of time doing our staff work, it's easy to gain double or even triple the quota.

If anything, I don't see the quota as a restraint so much as I see it as more freedom. We don't have to question whether we're being active enough because it's clear cut.

There are members who like to complain a lot, and when such members complain it's good to take it with a grain of salt.

Ragequitting from Staff... Anyway, I don't think the monthly quota should be a problem for anyone. For sure, playing the games "against the clock" because you have a Guide to write can lead some people to dislike the position. 

Also, I don't think I get to spend 2 hours a week at the site, because I just need to do my job, and that can be done without being here extended periods of time. In all honesty, I just log in daily to see the news, if I have any notifications or if any threads I'm interested in have new replies, and post replies myself when needed, like now. I like what I'm doing in more ways than one, and even without a monthly quota I would still post a Guide each month. I just hope I'm not a rarity, and there's more staff like me currently hired.

Davideo7 : "If they want to contribute to the site without having a quota then they can do so as a regular user"

I've been thinking about this, and the ARticle Writer role is basically obsolete now isn't it?

Davideo7 : Its a funny story he um...profiled me to do with this actually. And so when I saw this thread that, you did I was surprised that's why. :/

Personally, I think this is a great thread, the reason why, the Monthly Quota makes sure the Staffs are in fact active, and by my experience from being a mod on here & being a Mod and Admin on other forums in the past, That every forum on the internet (not just Vizzed) has some kind of Monthly Quota, some might be more and others might be less than what Vizzed offers. The reason why we in fact have a Monthly Quota, so we can keep active staff members on here, because if we didn't, then we would have the same Admins, same Global Mods, same Local Mods, and same Site Staffs we had in 2005/06, and that can mean a lot of problems to the site since 90% of them is inactive or banned.

So, this is why we need a Monthly Quota, no matter if you like the idea or not, it's there for a reason.

Makes sense. Lord knows how many mods back in the day (including myself at one point) were really inactive. Like, really inactive. A quota of that sort is perfectly acceptable. It's not like "you must ban this many members" or "delete this amount of threads in a month to remain a mod." As a former Global, I can get completely behind the quota

Am ok with the quota and understand why it exist

To be honest, staff members having a quota is simply common sense. (To me at least). I mean... the staff has to be obligated to do something (or try to do something) to help the site. It's literally like the meaning of being a "staff" member. And obviously, I agree with everything David said in his post. 

If someone can't handle the quota, they can always step down or ask David/tRIUNE if they can try out another role...

Wow, I never even know something like this existed on this website. I would say that Vizzed's monthly quota is very lenient compared to the ones that I've heard and seen from other websites. That really sucks if one cannot handle their responsibilities especially with that set of rules. I can name other people who deserve to be staff members in this website but yet it's sad to hear that some staff members are slacking off or not taking their role seriously under lenient rules. Seriously though, if one cannot handle the role of being part of staff, one should step down or compromise somehow. No need to make everything such a big deal especially to everyone who isn't even involved in the situation or trying to have a good time on Vizzed but get turned off by stuff like this. 

I honestly don't see anything wrong with the staff quota. It's quite easy, and I have achieved triple the quota in a single day. I totally understand you when you say that you're extremely lenient about the staff quota. I also completely understand why it's there. If a staff member did almost nothing, would they really be a staff member?

Glad to see so much support from the staff (and even an ex-staff member). Thank you all

Laian : That's awesome, glad to hear that users plan to do stuff for the newly added PC games

You may not be the most famous users on the site but your one of the more respected users.

EideticMemory : It's hard for me to not listen to complaints though, I value the opinions of everyone and I try to go out of my way to please as many users as I possibly can. I guess maybe I do care too much about what people think, it drives me insane knowing that someone doesn't like me because I hate having enemies and I hate making enemies.

EX Palen : I have no problem with a guide taking 2 months or even 3 months to write, as long as it shows that it took that long to write. Also, as we discussed in a different thread, a guide can be broken down into different types of guides if it's going to be that large.

zanderlex : The Article Writer position isn't obsolete, I still would like to have at least 1 staff member actively writing articles. We still have staff members with Review Writing and Guide Writing roles even though anyone can write those.

tornadocam : Yeah it really bothered me that someone said they disliked tRIUNE because he does the 2nd most for the site and invests a lot of hours. Both him and I can get overwhelmed with our positions and do tend to get stressed but we stick with it because of how many users are benefiting from our time invested. The fact that someone would dislike us after all that we've done for this community, that kind hurts. I suffer from wrist and shoulder pains after long hours and sometimes even neck pains but I fight through it because I don't want to let the community down.

IgorBird122 : Yeah in the past my forums went through phases where they lacked activity (going days within a post even) and that probably has a lot to due with the staff at the time. A forum needs a good and active staff to succeed.

Rasenganfan2 : That means a lot coming from you since you've been around and have experienced the site before quota and after the quota. Even the greatest staff members eventually get lazy, too busy or forget about their position and they themselves sometimes don't even realize how inactive they've become but the staff quota is a good reminder and motivator.

mohammedroxx3 : If a staff member didn't have responsibilities then nothing would separate them from a non staff member. In this case, the responsibility is to fulfill the monthly requirement which is the staff quota. So you pretty much are correct in saying that.