Staff Positions

As of currently, April 23, 2013, this page is a work in progress, and does not reflect current policy. Anything written here is subject to change for the time being. This message will be removed when this is no longer the case.

There are a variety of positions and duties attached to those positions to govern and operate BDI on an ongoing basis. Some will bear visible status in the channel or on the forums, for better recognition by players for support questions, help, or setting expertise.

Common Goals

Being a BDI Operator means you will improve on and uphold the common goals of the channel:

• We will protect the channel and its patrons from attack, be it spammer, troll or malicious player.
• We will strive to provide an environment that is welcoming to everyone who seeks it out, both in the IC and OOC channels, and we will ensure that this environment allows for everyone to have fun while gaming.
• We will strive for a channel where the newbie may feel welcome, comfortable and assisted when learning to be a better roleplayer and we will provide resources for them to learn from.
• We will foster a sense of community within our channel by treating each member with respect.
• We will put our channel's future above pettiness and personal issues, and work together to see the channel and the art of FFRP flourish.
• We will not stymie the setting's growth with over protection, allowing some change to occur and will seek to encourage the development of our evolving world.

Operators who cannot uphold these guiding principles should not bear an @, and will be removed.

Current Staff

• Administrators: Nymphetamine (Margo), Kylus
• Operators: Suzthulhu
• Storytellers: Luemnus, Nicci
• Reporters: Verianne
• Setting Nerds: Allie, Stygian (Dan), Karras (Stu)

Volunteer

Volunteers are BDI's weekend warriors; these are players that are generous with their time, and commit to short term projects as is needed. All of their work is done on an at will basis, meaning that a volunteer has no real requirement for continued contribution, or any real responsibilities outside of their current projects. Volunteers are welcomed to come and go with impunity, and can work on their projects when they have time available. If deadlines are required to be met, operators will make this clear at the outset of a project, and will keep volunteers on whatever schedule was predetermined.

All volunteers are considered equal, unless a leader is needed for a given project.

If a volunteer needs to stop work on a project before completion, they should inform an Op, so that the project can be delegated elsewhere.

Volunteers should be:

• Creative
• Focused
• Communicative
• Able to work well with others
• Able to take constructive criticism
• Able to adhere to whatever structure is given, as well as follow the appropriate Style Guide

Reporter

Reporters are people who work primarily on the Rumor Mill posts on the forums. They have special access on the forums, allowing them to post new threads to the Rumor Mill forum. They also have access to a staff-only area of the forums where they are free to plan the next edition of the Rumor Mill, ask questions, and brainstorm with others.

Reporters should have strong writing skills, the ability to work autonomously when necessary, a good imagination and an eye for detail. They should be able to follow guidelines and templates for the Rumor Mill, as well as adhere to a basic posting schedule of at least once a month. Greater frequency is always appreciated, depending on in character activities and news stories available. Reporters are given a good deal of freedom regarding their articles, and do not need to be pre-approved by an operator before they are able to post.

Reporters should be:

• Creative
• Strong writers
• Capable of meeting loose deadlines
• Semi-autonomous

Storyteller

Storytellers are like the Game/Dungeon Masters of BDI, and are given the autonomy to run story lines, events, random events or encounters at their own discretion without prior approval. These are long time members of the BDI community, who are in good standing and trusted by the ops to adhere to basic, loose guidelines regarding their plans to execute in channel. They are enabled to act without constant op supervision, but are required to keep the ops and other storytellers up to date regarding the current events of their plots on the forums.

Due to the nature of a storyteller's job, most storytellers are exceedingly imaginative. Being flexible and thus able to respond to the players unexpected responses is a must; GM'ing is largely for the players' experience, rather than the GM's. Storytellers are strong writers who can read and respond quickly, as well as change details on the fly as is necessary to adjust to players' actions. )

Storytellers should be:

• Imaginative and creative
• Strong comprehensive readers
• Strong writers who can respond quickly
• Able to change their plots based on the players' response, actions or failures
• Able to work on a team when necessary
• Patient
• Communicative regarding:
  • Operator support as back up GMs, topic changes, OOC and IC announcements, etc
  • Players who have questions about the current story line or event

Setting Nerd

Setting nerds are considered the "experts" of the BDI setting. Whether they were there during the setting's creation, or they have spent countless hours pouring over the site to learn about it, these people are extremely knowledgeable about the BDI world. If they do not know the information required, they probably have a good idea of where to find it, or if it simply doesn't exist. Given their extensive knowledge, they are often times consulted by the ops, contributors working on setting pieces, and players looking to craft story lines.

Due to their open door policy, setting nerds are marked both on the forums (with currently a green name and staff title) and in the channel (with a +voice symbol in all BDI channels). They are recognized and trusted by the operators to present the channel's setting and information to new and veteran players as required.

Setting nerds should be:

• Knowledgeable about the setting
• Communicative
• Willing and able to help any who asks

Operator

Operators are the most visible members of staff and speak with authority in areas of the BDI channel and site. They are responsible for the day to day maintenance of the channel and/or site, and charged with the protection of both against spam, vandalism and other abuse. Operators are also responsible for the continuation of the channel, upholding the rules and policies in all areas, protecting its legacy and are expected to participate in regular play. They are given moderator access in all areas of the channel and site, as well as have access to nearly all areas of the forums.

As the most conspicuous representatives of the channel, ops are expected to be on good behavior at all times, not only within the BDI community, but elsewhere in the greater DarkMyst community, such as in #RPG-Hub and during the Multiverse event DarkMyst hosts semi annually. Ops should show the following characteristics:

• Leadership skills
• Strong communication skills
• Ability to adhere to guidelines
• Ability to work within a team
• Ability to work autonomously
• Patience
• Able to perform in a professional manner
• Desire to protect and further the spirit and legacy of BDI
• Desire to contribute to whatever work needs to be done
• Basic understanding of their preferred IRC client
• Willingness to learn:
  • How to use the Eggdrop botnet in BDI (setting and removing bans, RPing, changing and setting the weather, etc)
  • Rules & Policies that govern BDI
  • Operator policy

Operators are also expected to contribute equally to the staff work load, and to pick up the slack from volunteers as the need arises.

Administrator

An Administrator is an Operator who has administrator rights to the various areas of the channel, site, semi-defunct mailing list, and bots. Administrators will be few and far between, and given access to various "back end" areas of the site and channel with the intention of maintenance and ensuring the smooth operation of all parts of BDI. As some of the admin passwords are shared, you must be trusted by the other Administrators, and will need to spend a good deal of time as an Operator before becoming an Administrator. Due to the risk of unintentional corruption or damage by someone unskilled or uneducated, an Administrator needs to be familiar with the following:

• Content Management Software we use on the site:
  • MediaWiki
  • Wordpress
  • phpBB
• Basic IRC commands & channel modes
• DarkMyst's services
• Eggdrop commands

Some understanding of web design principles and code will go a long way in tweaking the CSS, PHP, HTML and Javascript used on the site. Administrators should be comfortable working in these environments, or willing to learn and educate themselves. Scripting in Eggdrop TCL is always a massive plus.

Administrators should be able to work autonomously to fix minor or technical problems on the site or channel. Major changes to setting content or guides, templates, site design, color schemes, skins, etc must be decided on as a group, and should not be carried out without a consensus. All custom changes made to the hard code of the site must be documented in the case of an update breaking them. There is a thread on the Administrator forums for this, and Administrators are expected to use it.

It should be noted that access to the site's cPanel and FTP, and the shells on which the bots are hosted may still be restricted to their respective owners, ie: Kylus or Nymphetamine.

Lead Admin

This position is basically the same as an Administrator, and holds all of the same access to all areas of the channel and site as an Administrator. However, the Lead Admin will be responsible for guiding the growth of the channel, and the organization and delegation of other staff members. Subject to all of the same rules as a regular player and other members of staff, the Lead Admin should have leadership and communication skills, and a staunch dedication to the channel and its continuation as a whole. There should ultimately only be one person holding the position of Lead Admin at a time, to avoid conflict. It is the Head Admin's responsibility to mediate staff disputes or problems as they arise, and to enforce staff rules when needed.