I have been thinking about this for quite some time but I believe its about time I gave voice to my thoughts. The rights of the members have been used wrongly for quite a long time, I'm referring to these rights:
[Only admins are allowed to see this link]

Now, what made me think like this? Well, Mushami=Current Elcubo and Sage have formed a group, the current Mushami is also a part of this group and they are trying to monopolize everything. They agree with one another and disagree from everyone else, specially Elcubo. Regardless, I haven't seen many constructive results from these rules rather its being used for personal benefits. Let's put an end to all of this.

I think all of the power should be moved to the hands of the staffers. I have been around many forums and I have never seen something like this, without these member rights those forums are getting along just fine so I'm sure this one will as well. I think this should be decided among all of us, once we agree, if we agree, I suggest that Udarsha steps in, makes a global announcement about this and that's that. No one is allowed to argue or question it.

If however, a member sometimes finds a creative idea, they can post it in the suggestions section and the staffers can decide whether its good enough or not, no more polls and no more voting.

I've thought about this from time to time. The members really won't be happy and staff may get a lot of hate, but hey, it's a suggestion.

The thing is, one thing I've wanted to make sure is that no staff get power-hungry and all, me included. Members need to have that way out or the ability to get rid of a bad staffer. That is what I really like about this site: no staff can get cliquey and start doing things for their own benefit. I have been on sites where staff do everything and members are constantly tortured by cliquey staff who are the all-powerful and can do what they like.

Rather than botching the entire Member Rights, as I see some are very, very useful like bans, thread masters, and even some polls and voting, we should perhaps try something else. In fact, even us as staff can go and make a poll to take down something that had gone through the previous month or whatever.

One thing I also think staff need to do is crack down on /our/ responsibilities for enforcing all of this. As you can see, only ONE poll is permitted to be created from an active member. Unless it is on behalf of the staff or something such as in the case of boards, skins, bans, staff, etc. Besides, nominating staff, leaders, and more is fun. I really don't think we need to take down member rights, but maybe start enforcing them better.

I don't worry too much about Elcubo and Sage. Every site has a troublemaker or two, and right now the staff and unstaff(like Luke and Ana) outnumber them, so we can easily outvote them if need be. But it is a LOT of work to run a site like this with just staff and no polls, voting, etc.

Another idea I had is nominating someone to help enforce Active Members. This could just be a Community Mod job or something, but these people keep an eye on every active member, make sure they are on the list, and keep track of their one poll, nominations, or whatever. What if we had a board especially for active members that no one was allowed to create or post in unless they were on the AML or were staff with a necessary point? It might make it easier to sort through instead of that messy feedback board where /everything/ is put in. In this board we can also have one locked, staff-moderated post where we list each member and keep track of which months they were on the AML, what they suggested, who they nominated, and the like.

One person who might be good for this task is Luke if it is too much for Com Mods(which it might be.). It is NOT a staff position and we can tell him that. But he is active enough to be able to help watch this board and edit that main post.

What do you think?

Main point: Crack down on members and what they do with their powers. Staff should probably have the authority to take away their member powers if they are abusing them. (ex. trying to demote a staffer because they didn't get the tier they wanted, etc.).

I think you both make valid points, but I think I like Yuki's idea much better. Still gives them rights, but not lets then run away with it all. I also think Luke is fit for the spot if he'll take it. He seems to spend enough time here when he can. We do need to better keep tabs on what each active member does and make sure that if a member starts a poll or whatnot that they are on the list. Good suggestion Yuki.

If we start enforcing rules more strictly, Elcubo is going to just make another poll about altering the rules. If we try to tell him he's trying to do a wrong thing, he'll make a thread about mod power abuse. Member rights are something not many are concerned about from what I have seen. Thread master is the only rule in my opinion that should remain unaltered, the rest shouldn't exist at all.

I don't think that removing rights will make more work for all of us instead it'll reduce quite a bit of the work load, we won't have to worry about those useless suggestions any more. Though once in a week is fine, but I think even after something is voted on by all of them it'll be to the staffers discretion whether or not it should be implemented, just so to prevent applying anything that's beneficial to a little group.

As for giving Luke a task such as this will only make things more difficult for us. I have encountered Luke's puzzling intellect quite a few times, though I don't say that I have a gift for explaining things but I am not below average in that regard either; despite that fact I have to explain everything to him more than once. You know what I'm implying here? It's difficult to work with him, so giving him any responsibility just because he's active here, you won't have my vote for that.

This poll is a product of my personal experiences from the suggestions sections; ever since I've joined I've been looking at it, the flaming, the spamming, the unnecessary long discussion about a system alteration or just some poll about how one was op, or how a mod is abusing power. How many suggestions have been productive so far? While I've been here, I haven't seen many. This section has always been a headache and a tool for those who seek control. So I'd worry about Elcubo and Sage because that's what they are trying to do, shape things according to their desire, alter main plots to their liking, designing systems that better suits their op skills. Whatever they suggest, in the long run they use it quite efficiently for their own benefit. So I request that the both of you rethink this.

Edit: The reason that I left was because of these rights in one or the other. How members have no respect for mods and some even feel that there is no need for mods was really discouraging. Hey I don't ask for thanks or anything in return, I like helping people out and I want this forum to grow because this is the forum where I learned about role playing, this is also the forum where I made my first ever PC and this is also the forum that made me a staff member, not once but twice. I hope that clarifies my feelings for the forum; my only belief is that all of us deserve respect at the very least.

I don't know about you guys but I'm not getting it. I give reasons, I explain my logic and I do my best to help out in anyway I can but members say my reasons are unreasonable, logic is illogical and we're not entirely needed on here. So that's why I want this reason for their arrogance eliminated, I ask for complete power shift to the staff members.

Udarsha is kind of trying to run a democracy at the moment but that really isn't helping, dictatorship is the better option in my opinion. Forget power abuse, forget member rights; haven't you seen how many active and contributing members have left because of this? Anamist, Daemon, I left because of it too and now I'm thinking I made a mistake by coming back.

Members rights should be erased. Never liked it.

I support Epi.

Dre Cadis Jaegerjaquez wrote:Members rights should be erased. Never liked it.

I support Epi.

Ty Udarsha. Yuki, Pallus I urge you to rethink it, Eden-kun I'd like you to give your input as well because its needed. I also request that this should not be prolonged, lets try and conclude this discussion as soon as possible, I feel it won't be long when Elcubo will be making another complaint thread about power abuse; this time I want his attempt to go useless and it be made an example for all those who think of doing things like it.

I have previously stated my opinions on voting in past topics, so I won't beat you all to death with it. While I do believe that it has potential to be useful, it is being abused. Polling is being used quite nearly as a scapegoat now for members, and I am not liking it at all. Polling was initially introduced to give members more say in what the site has to offer, and I believe that we staff still want to somewhat hold onto that, but as of right now, members are taking advantage of it. It is actually pretty funny that none of us staff use the polling! If we used it, we could show an example of how polls should actually be used. I still believe polling should be used to implement really big, important stuff and I also believe that it should still be used for nominations for leadership tiers and ranks 'n such.

However, as it stands now, staff are mostly being walked all over because we gave members too much power. This scenario is the exact reason I did not approve of it from the beginning. I knew this would happen. Instead of giving members so much power, we the staff can ourselves post up important stuff in Suggestions for people to post on and give their thoughts. I run a forum of my own that went stale simply because I didn't have a good, large enough, active staff team to approve everything in a decent period of time. HOWEVER, it was staff-run! There were never such issues like this. In fact, every single member was considerate, they posted suggestions and asked for staff to consider it. Primarily I would post up stuff for people to give their thoughts on and work to get it implemented! It's much much easier that way in so very many ways and it is far more controlled. This way staff have the power of final ruling AND members still have a say in stuff regarding the forum as a whole and RP.

Regarding plot, I believe that should remain in the hands of the memberbase. The memberbase drives the plot forward and if they want to decide to take a different route with it then I believe they should very much be allowed to! My favorite part about Bleach Story is that everyone wants to plot. It's awesome, and I think that is this forum's strongest point!

Overall, polling has gotten very, very out of hand and it really needs to get handled.

So the majority favors my suggestion; three yes votes and two no votes. So then keeping in mind the suggestions provided by Eden,Pallus and Yuki, I believe we should keep a few rules intact:

The Power to Nominate
See someone you think would be an excellent leader? Maybe you feel a friend you've been rping with you be a good mission mod. Every member has the power to nominate another player for leadership positions and staff positions.

The Responsibility of Nominating
Because leadership and staff positions require nominations, it us up to the members themselves to ensure people deserving of the positions are the ones who get them. Be on the look out for exemplary rpers and consider others aside from just yourself.

The Power to be Thread Master
This is a unique aspect of the rp here and more can be learned here. The short explanation is that as the thread master you become like a DM. You are able to use NPCs freely to help guide the mini-plot of your individual threads and have the power to make others edit or delete their posts should they mess things up.

The Responsibility of Thread Master
No body likes to play with a jerk or be forced to play by another persons rules if they aren't fair. If you abuse your position as thread master and upset your fellow rpers, people will stop rping with you. Simple as that. So try not to use it to purely benefit yourself and don't even think about using it to get an advantage in a fight. These kinds of things will find you on the blacklist of other rpers very quickly.

The Power to Organize
Members are allowed to start and organize their own events. Tournaments, posting games, and "filler arc" plotlines. You can create these at will in the "Member Events" section and manage them however you like. You can even offer prizes if you possess a rare artifact or title IC. But you may not offer a prize that you do not have in your possession.

The Responsibility of Organizing
If you start a tournament, and an argument starts, it's up to you to settle it. If you offer a prize, you are responsible for delivering that prize. We can't force you if you offer services such as character drawings if you're an artist. But we can make you give things up if you offer something IC. If you fail to deliver a prize, people will stat to distrust you and likely avoid your events in the future. You're also responsible for any work related to these events. The only things staff has to do for you is lock threads.

I believe these mean no harm, and they should be continued. The one's to be disposed off are:

The Power of Voting
Once a month, you are allowed to start a poll of your own to change an aspect of the forum. See a flaw in one of our systems? Offer an alternative. Have a plot idea? Write it up and pitch it to everyone. The forum is then allowed to vote on the issue. Using the most recent activity check as a judge, the majority vote wins. If the vote is in your favor, an Enforcer will contact you and begin discussing how and when the idea can be implemented(We cant just make radical change overnight. Especially if we just finished changing some other things! You may be asked to wait a month or two for activity to stabilize but you will be given a definite date).

The Responsibility of Voting
Because your vote has power, you a responsible for the results of every poll whether you vote or not so long as you are aware of it. What this means is that if a change gets made that you don't like and you didn't bother to vote against it, you don't really have the right to complain. The most you can do is use up your own months poll to offer an even better alternative and hope the other members vote for it.

So now those suggestion polls, those complaint polls and prolonged flaming discussions will be taken care of. That doesn't however solve the power issue, some sort of rule should be made that gives mods enough power. Some sort of rules should be made that solves this, rules that give mods more authority. For example,

Community Mods
These are staff members who's responsibilities fall under the realm of ensuring the community sticks together and welcomes new members. They are the guides who help bring members together and encourage group role play as opposed to going solo. Their powers and responsibilities in addition to their general staff powers are the following:

-Holding Activity Checks
-Welcoming New Members
-Regulating Discussions and Preventing/Ending Flame Wars
-Holding and Regulating Non-Plot Events Such As Tournament

You wan't community mods to end flame wars? yeah sure, I'd do that but when I tell people to calm down in the cbox I'm the one they end up making fun of or they just completely ignore me. What can I do about that hmmm let's see, nothing, nada.

Enforcers
These are staff members who truly wish to serve the forum. The name may sound oppressive, however they enforce the will of the members. These staff members hold polls, start discussions, and ensure the politics of the forum stay clean and uncorrupted. Their powers and responsibilities in addition to their general staff powers are the following:

-Changing Usernames
-Changing User Permissions
-Banning Troublemakers
-Starting and Closing Polls
-Ensure Poll Results Are Enforced

Banning troublemakers right? oh no, you enforcers can't do that. You would actually need a poll before that, then everyone has to vote and then someone gets banned. Now that voting is out of the picture, what happens now? Will you be doing insta bans? I for one think that enforcers should be given that power: insta bans. That's the only way enforcers would be more respected and sadly, feared. As it is the only thing that people will mostly find worthy of respect.

After these things have been addressed, I think Udarsha should make the announcement.

Now that I read further into it, I agree with Epizon and Eden. We should keep nomination, organizing, and thread-masters, but scrap voting. I believe that suggestions CAN be made and staff can consider member ideas. I also believe that the plot should be in the hands of the 'memberbase', lol.

I also agree with Epizon that I have noticed members just ignore staff and yell at you when you do your job ending flaming, handling rulebreaks, etc. I once gave Elcubo a big long warning in a public thread and locked it, as he says he 'prefers things to be public'. Then I get yelled at for mod abuse.

Another thing I think we should do is implement the rules of Mod Respect and Mini-Modding-ban. Note that members CAN openly disagree with staff and don't have to be friends. But unless they give blatant bullying/disrespect as they would to another member, should they get in trouble. I was on a forum once, my first roleplay forum that also made me staff. But if ONE thing ticked off a staff member that was not quite bullying or blatant disrespect, that person was banned.

I also believe that bans should be voted on by staff. Having one staffer ban a member for said rulebreak might be wrong, as it could be bias or overlooked.

Mini-modding is when a member tells another member they broke a rule. I see this a lot here with godmoding, powerplaying, rudeness, etc. Unless it is on YOUR thread and you are the thread master, should you mini-mod. Does this make sense? I have seen sooooo many arguments break out in the last few months because someone godmoded, PMed member about it, and started drama. This should just be banned and Enforcers should handle rulebreaks. For public, minor rulebreaks, or flaming, a Community Mod could potentially handle it. I can personally write you all a 'how to handle ___ rulebreak' thread, and Com Mods can be trained in handling reports and rulebreaks properly and level-headed. I was given a long training on my first forum with over 100k members in taking care of all sorts of rulebreaks. I'm well-experienced.

So that's it. I believe that Udarsha should make an announcement for removing this and give all the reasons why as stated in this thread. Maybe he should post what he plans to say here first, though, before PMing it? Just so we all can see, approve, and possibly change something. I will make a thread introducing the new rules if you all agree.