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Sydno

Volunteers
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Posts posted by Sydno

  1. What do you expect from xat exactly?

     

    I like the idea and I support a revamp of verified / tribute but I dont think xat is able to save all chats, especially when even official chats with a close support and help in prizes struggle themselves.

     

    Also hosting events would bring people to some chats but not to all chats.

     

    I repeat, I think more chats should be verified and that we must get in touch with popular chat owners to discuss it, but I dont think xat can do anything on a micro level. xat can do marketting on a macro level to bring in new users and keep old ones but then it's up to chat owners to do their best with their own ideas.

     

    The best we can do is just list somewhere verified / popular chats and what they are about. And I am not sure this by itself will bring more users.

    • Award 5
  2. 1 hour ago, Sephiroth said:

    Let things remain as they have been for decades, and consider adding 2-3 active volunteers through the same methods as before—simple, transparent, allowing the admin to choose based on merit

    You should know that new volunteers are being selected by current volunteers, while Admin only stamp (or deny) the decision and push it live. And so far, we have only been allowed to ask for new volunteers if there is a need in OST. And there currently is no need for help in OST. At some point one could argue we are even too many.

     

    You have idealised a way of how things work but this is far from the truth.

    1 hour ago, Sephiroth said:

    If new volunteers are placed on the same level as the existing ones, who will make decisions and how?

    Make what decisions ?

     

    We currently make NO decision at all. And when we want to make one, its often ignored or see as too big of a change.

     

    There is a hidden hierarchy right now where volunteers have barely any power besides doing ticket.

     

    That said, I agree its up to Admin to change it. But right now, the perceived hierarchy is not the real one and unless there is a big bang, I dont see Admin relying on us more than they currently do. You should realise that as a contributor. Do you think your opinion as a contributor have had an actual impact on the website besides validating chat manager changes or chat redirect recently? Its no different for volunteers. We have no more impact than contributors, besides answering tickets.

     

    EDIT : the worse part is that because of confidentiality, we are mostly forbidden to share all of these feelings and the actual behind the scenes. If we did, all the culture you cherish would already fall apart.

    • Award 4
    • Like 1
  3. Thank you for all these questions Crow. I thought of some of them before posting but did not want to dive into some technical details, un less this is the direction we look forward to. Here are short answers that come to my mind right now. Again, this is proof of concept, feel free to derive or make it better.

     

    1) This change implies Admin change the way they work too. If they dont, then it is useless. If they do change, the idea is still useful because as of right now everything is dealt with on case by case basis with individuals that do not communicate between themselves. This change brings efficiency and transparency, ie better understanding of bigger picture.

     

    2) There will always be leaks. That being said, most of current leaks are between contributors and chat managers, or testers. If they are all included in the group, then its just sharing collective information.

     

    3) We have to draw the line somewhere. Being chat manager is often underwhelmed and it makes sense to involve them more. Then again, this can be thought out. I used to make table of users being staff on several chats. Despite them not being managers, they could have a place too.

     

    4) I dont know. Would you rather be a happy few within a group that decides of nothing, or part of a large group that actually has an impact? If we want collective/ community work, it makes sense to bring more people in. We could also setup rotations to avoid internal fights and / or have a better communication together.

     

    5) Then just change who gets Verified or what is Verified. I was never in found with having a blue pawn. A small verified badge is enough and draw less attentions. I dont think there will be more scam either. Within the past 5 years, there was only 3-5 attempts of scam from official chat staff (0 from contributors, 0 from chat managers, 1-2 from wiki).

     

    6) we cant depend on that but If they have an important place within chats, we MUST listen to them. Find them on chats If they dont use forum. This will be the leader responsibility. Forum activity will not be required, it is a criteria among others and subject to the leader and or seniors of each group to decide. 

     

    7) No idea. Either we draw clear lines to determine the groups, either we allow application. This can be thought out collectively.

     

    8) If this is an issue for you, then its never worth changing anything. At my work, we recently changed some processes. We had to rewrite ~150 pages of documentation, and it was worth the change because it is way clearer now.

     

    9) Users will understand slowly but surely. Contrary to what one may think, they are quick to understand changes if changes make sense. Impersonation will likely be the same. Not more or less. We are a tiny community and we know each other well.

     

    10) Historically you are right but with no change comes the slow end of xat. If we want fresh ideas or changes, we need fresh system. I am personally not afraid to "loose" some sort of privilege or position If this implies to better work collectively and for xat. By your logic again, no change is ever worth.

     

    11) Does anyone actually check Hall of Fame ? Do we even remember all of vols listed there? Thats just life, even some leaders are forgotten, what matters for me is what we do today. And anyway, we could make a dedicated old section for old ticket vols and a new one for new vols.

     

    12) This is what it means yes. To be honest, there is no rational reason that ticket volunteers are more important than chat managers. All of that is just historical. There are special access needed for ticket vols but this is what seniors of that group of work would involve. Seniors do tickets and have higher accesses while contributors do wiki or user support, or have access to a simplified OST dedicated with Help stuff with no personal info of users. Again, this can be thought of too.

    • Award 1
    • Like 1
  4. I have been quite pessimistic in my previous message but I also want to share hope, positivity and fresh ideas. Everything I share here are ideas I discussed with other volunteers or contributors or Admin that never were implemented or were left unanswered. I strongly wish, if most users like these ideas, that this thread can change everything.

     

    I think volunteers team should be expanded a lot and include experienced users with a strong history, eg:

    - all current volunteers

    - all current contributors

    - all official chat managers

    - all or some tribute chat managers

    - all wiki editors

    - all devs and acknowledged testers

     

    I think all these users (30-40 approximately as of today) should get the chance to help and contribute in different group of work:

    - OST and users support (wiki)

    - xat Development (technical and marketting)

    - Official & Tribute chats Governance

    - Community management (including social networks and events hosting)

    - other areas I may have missed

     

    The volunteers would have different level of access for each group of work:

    - read only, can see and understand how decisions are made but not contribute directly

    - contributor, has a vote within the group of work, can suggest ideas and needs to contribute

    - senior, few (~between 2 and 4) most experienced users within the group of work, that have the best knowledge within the group or work and whose opinion should be listened

    - leader, for the unique most experienced user of the group of work

     

    There should a few rules for that to work :

    - leaders must have access to Admin attention and ears, and must forward the group of work decisions to them for final approval

    - every single volunteer would have access to the different group of work as reader, to understand the bigger picture and learn from each other experience 

    - no volunteer should be senior+ on more than 2 group of works so decision making is spread and seniors can dedicate their time to the group of work

    - no volunteer should be leader of 2 or more group of work (as per supra reasons)

    - leaders must have regular, collective and individual discussions with all the group of work contributors to make sure the group is inclusive and everyone feel listened

    - leaders should have a dedicate group of discussion between themselves to resolve conflict in good intelligence and to share information properly

    - logs of group of work decisions should be published monthly, like the current contributors logs

     

    This is just a proof of concept and I am sure this can be improved. This will strengthen communication and transparency for users and also between this large group of volunteers.

    This will make more people feel emotionally rewarded and generate more creativity, enthusiasm, dedication and understanding of decisions.

    • Award 4
    • Like 7
  5. 1 hour ago, Page said:

    I didn't make a topic about it, precisely because I didn't get an answer and support on these questions. (sry)

    Because you didn't get private support, you refuse to bring something to a group?

     

    If everyone was thinking the same, no one would ever do or say anything.

     

    It's easy to say that and put it so it's others fault, but this isn't right up until you try (general wording, not against you specifically).

     

    Junyor, you (and anyone here) can PM me a list of tribute chat you think are inactive and I will forward it to the group. But as you said, if none has brought it yet to the group, it may mean none will actually have a clue on what to do, or will vote randomly.

  6. 8 hours ago, BaByGiRL said:

    How can one justify removing a semi-active tribute chat while keeping other official chats active, that show less or even zero acitvity compared to the tribute chats?

    In fact, many Official chats were removed within the last months/years, much more than Tribute chats.

     

    The reason for this is that we (volunteers) monitor more closely the activity and purpose of official chats, as they are owned by xat.

     

    We do not monitor the tribute chats the same way because they are not owned by xat and are simply "contracted" by a few rules. As said above, we rather rely on users / contributors telling us when they think a chat is inactive, and yes, we were not asked to review inactive tribute in the past months.

     

    Note the green indicator is mainly handled by wiki editors, and it is green by default, up until someone marks it inactive.

    • Done! 1
  7. In fact, 1,000 xats is a huge benefit for users if you compare to what was done before.

     

    If you wanted a short name swap between users before, you needed someone to release the shortname by deleting the account, asking for it to be released on sale and repaying the entire name at xat cost (range from 1000 xats to 10,000+ in worst cases).

     

    Now, you have a single process at a unique and small cost.

     

    • Award 4
    • Huh? 1
    • Like 5
  8. Just now, Steven said:

    Someone with more knowledge than me would have to step in here, but I can't imagine that a user's notes about someone is legally classified as personal data? Good question, though. I am not sure.

    I think this can be argued but overall, free notes are considered personal data. The reason for this is that you can store personal data within free notes if you wish and without asking user.

     

    The general rule with free notes is that you are not allowed to store / note down personal data or anything that could be held agains a user (gender, religion, etc). Users are also definitely entitled to request any note that was written about them.

     

    My worry is that xat cannot prevent staff members, whether it's on an official chat or not, from not putting down whatever they wish on notes. I personally find it too risky given GDPR constraints.

    • Award 2
    • Cool 1
  9. 4 hours ago, Fori said:

    And how were the winners chosen at random? I never understood. There is no transparency in this contest, great chaos and a hidden way of drawing the winners. It is my opinion there should have been transparency in drawing the winners with an impartial jury of several people.(applause)(applause)

    Jury of people sounds more impartial to you than a computer randomizer?

     

    I have used an excel file to draw the results using ALEA function. I made it so that the probability you have to win equals your number of tickets divided by the total number of tickets (it was 260 if you ask). If you had 10 tickets, you had 10/260 ~ 3.8% chance to win. If you had only 1 ticket, you had 0.38% to win.

     

    If a user wins more than 1 time, I redraw another winner.

  10. STOOOOOOP!

     

    Blackfriday is over and now is time to stop the count and draw the winners!

     

    Before doing so, I would like to reward the most loyal and active contestants: the ones who participated to all actions.

     

    The following users have participated to all actions and where granted 3 bonus tickets each:

    Cryy, ELDONABEEE, fromotherside, Dinamite99, Anny2201, GabitoLeyenda,  Zandy, LLXhuneyLL, WwachrafwW, Yarlietthe, Ciix and iiiDaysiii.

     

    Please note the draw will still be random, you have more chances to mean but that does not mean you are guaranteed to win!

     

    Before the draw, I would also like to thank all of you who participated. I have counted 92 contestants for a total of 260 tickets given out.

     

    Now may the luckiests win! Results will be posted within a couple hours.

    • Award 2
    • Thanks 1
    • Cool 1
    • Meh 1
    • Done! 1
    • Like 7
  11. Let's move on another action! :D

     

    I am happy to say there are over 80 contestants in our blackfriday celebration. This shows how xat is more alive than ever! Thanks for your dedication and your appreciation of Trade family!

     

    New action will also be for 2 tickets during the first 24h. If you post after 24 hours, you will still receive 1 ticket but not more.

     

    Answer the following question: What is your favourite xat blackfriday event and why?

    • Award 3
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  12. The event is over since yesterday. Winners have been announced and you cannot submit new entries.                                                                                                                                                     

     

     

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             W5WsRcW.png

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