It's been a long running joke that KHV is dead. I used to think that was right. I realize now it wasn't ever dead all those years ago, but it is now. I've been a member on this website for over a decade. I first met some of my closest friends here and I still keep in touch with some them to this day. I've gotten banned, unbanned, I've seen it all and I know there are those that are not my fans because of my history. I joined as a teenager. Immature, emotional. Adolescent in ever sense of the term.. This site used to be important to me, and I guess it still is to an extent if I'm back here writing this post. However, I think I need to clarify some things and discuss what made things enjoyable here when I first joined, why it is no longer fun to be here, and how I think things should be fixed. This may be a little lengthy, so please bear with me. I was a teen when I first joined. A lot of us were really young when we did join. It was fun to post here. There was a lot of activity early on thanks to KH2 and things got very personal in very public posts and in MSN Messenger chats. Because a lot of members were young at the time, that was just par for the course. It wasn't called KH-Drama for nothing. I think a lot of the fun at the time really stemmed from that. There were plenty of rivalries and backstabbings, 4chan was a pervasive link throughout it all too and influenced many members to behaving in that fashion. I remember that CtR was the person who introduced me to the site as well. She was admin at the time, so that really set the tone for the site as a whole. The fun was in the toxicity. And I won't shy away from the fact that I was a part of that. I contributed to it and while I'm not proud of that, I was also teenager growing up in a broken home and I wanted to belong to something, even if that meant being a negative person because, well, everyone else was doing it. And here's why it's no longer enjoyable to be here. That toxicity never went away. However, I think that toxicity that has been pervasive throughout KHV's history has been challenged with a toxicity in the name of some moral crusade. I'm not saying we need to go back to the old days where people could be jerks to one another, the opposite in fact, but there are people who are in staff and outside of it who are acting on their ego and behaving as if there is some power struggle they must win. I think those people are genuinely convinced that they are attempting to save this website. And that leads to the same sort of toxicity and the same sort of attitude that really is just making things worse. And like any toxic material, that's just going to eat away at whatever's left here. So here's my proposal. I doubt this will be popular, but I think that there needs to be a complete overhaul to the staff of the website. This is for two reasons. One, is the toxicity I mention earlier. Two, is the focus is not on creating good content but instead on being morally superior. Kingdom Hearts 3 is on the cusp of release. If the site is to not only survive, but thrive, this is the time to make some big time changes. Bring in people who will create interesting content like they did a decade ago. Let's become a greater source for Kingdom Hearts media, and beyond even. Bring in people who are knowledgeable about video games and fans of this franchise so they can build a better website so we, the fans, can have an enjoyable place to discuss, interact with, and enjoy Kingdom Hearts on a meaningful level.
I know what you mean, but at the same time I can't entirely agree. I was in elementary school when I joined KHV, and now I'm in University. I haven't always made the best decisions (because really what teenager does), but over the course of the past year or so, I've come to know better. I think I was a good Reporter, but when it came to Moderating I don't think I had the capacity to do it. I hadn't needed to "run" anything before, and even though as a Moderator you have the rest of the staff team to back you up, for certain things it does feel like it's up to you. And to be honest, if we were looking at 1-2 years ago, I probably would entirely agree with everything your saying. I myself have contributed to my fair share of constant situations. And now I have my own community, my own Discord server, and I didn't realize how bad I felt or how sorry I was for how bad of a job I did until I looked on past mistakes and got better. My Discord isn't as big as KHV, it has 500 members and maybe 100-150 active people. Hunter and I as Owners, 1 Admin, 5 Moderators, 30 Contributors (Patrons), and the rest are regular members. Quickly I realized I wasn't as good as running events as I thought I was, that I maybe wasn't moderating like I should have been, and that if I wanted to keep my community alive I was going to really fight for it and change how I looked at things. Working with the police helped with that a lot because we were told how to resolve conflicts peacefully and all that jazz. I'm glad to say we've only really had to ban 7 people, and I think out of 500 that's a pretty good score. Banned for exactly what you said - toxicity, starting drama, thinking that there's some sort of revolution to be won whether that's staff against the members, or members against the staff. We've had our fair share of raids because of angry people, posting links on somewhere like 4Chan where 40 or 50 people will flood in. But instead of "blaming" the people who got banned per say, we changed the system. If people said the rules were unclear and that led them to break the rules, instead of blaming them for that rule break, we edited the rules. If people said something wrong, we'd try to explain to them why it was wrong first, and then if they agreed and didn't do it again wouldn't give any punishment. Instead of just swinging a hammer down on people (which I had enjoyed doing), we tried to listen to people and go from there. Because the people who said the rules were unclear never broke rules again after that. The people who said something inappropriate now knew it was wrong. The people who were starting drama with other people because they were upset about something else going on in their life, we gave them a chat where we could better listen to them and resolve the conflict. The only people who have really been "banned" were unsaveable - that they were hurting the community more then we could justify to try to help them. And so I know what you mean by moral crusade. I think that most people are well meaning, and their reasons for acting out aren't necessarily because they're trolling or because they're trying to cause trouble. That there's something deeper going on that's the route of the issue. That "I am doing what is entirely right" or "they are doing what is entirely wrong" doesn't really work as a moderator. I don't think a single person has gotten banned from the community in the time that I've been here, wasn't liked by everyone, but made a couple mistakes, or had a bad day, or something like that. I don't really know where I'm going with this, but I do understand what you're saying. In terms of an entire staff overall - I don't know. I think there are staff members (not to name drop or anything), like Marushi who deeply care for this website more then anything else, and don't deserve that sort of treatment. I do agree with the content thing, though. No offense to the reporters or anything, but putting up the KH3 news was a little slow and I had to go get it from KHInsider (sorry, I know I'm a traitor), and I'm sure there are a lot of YouTubers (not to name names but uh, like me) who would be willing to make content for the site. We may want to consider things to be a little more like the Kingdom Hearts Amino, where it's the members creating the content and the Staff just pinning it on the front page, so everything is community based. Because through Amino, members are the ones who are reporting on the news, or making the theories etc etc, but then they get their stuff featured and what not. I don't think it should just be up to the Staff to report on everything, or run cool events or polls. We're all very creative people and I'm sure that we all have something to contribute that could be showcased using the website. I'm sorry if this post was a mess, I didn't want to edit too much cause I wanted everything to be the least about of manufactured as possible.
I'll address the elephant in the room and say this thread may have unintentionally (or intentionally) thrown shade at people who don't really deserve it
There's probably more perspective I can offer on this, but idk how much I can say at liberty. I do question how beneficial replacing everyone would be? Outside of 3 people I can think of, the majority of the current staff haven't had their positions for long -- half of them have only had theirs for a little over a year. I'd argue that a good measure of performance would be this second year to see how, now that they've really had time to get adjusted to the role on top of their offline schedule, how they do w/ knowing their limits. Frankly, and this is how I feel about B's thread too, I think a more streamlined suggestion instead of scattered threads would be a system for members to evaluate staff (maybe a form or something), so we can offer feedback, they read it, talk amongst themselves, and get back to the members with a plan of improvement or smth based on said reviews in the Feedback section so there's more visible accountability for them on the membersm end. I think adding more moderation roles is a good step to diversifying the work load and getting people to do work in areas that weren't up to snuff before, and I'm curious where they're going with that next. I also think hiring more people would be good, but I can see why they may be holding off considering there could be more roles they want to add/want to get a better idea of how the new roles work in tandem with the more traditional structuring of staff.
Before I begin I just want to say that having this thread in the Spam Zone wasn't Ben's fault. XD It was originally posted in the Community News and Projects section, and it had to be moved as it triggered the automatic announcements on various other channels, and somehow ended up moved here. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ So yeah that one isn't Ben's fault. XD As for addressing the post itself, a good bulk of what I have to say can be found in this post, as far as the staff overhaul goes. Because you're right that we need to overhaul the staff section, and some of the steps we've taken towards that are outlined in the post. Now to address the issue of the 'moral crusade' toxicity. Speaking frankly, I agree with you on that as well. Yes, it's important to create a safe place for people of all walks of life to convene, and yes, on KHV we have a zero tolerance bully policy. We do need to ensure that our rules are enforced and the site is a welcoming, open place for people to post without fear of being harassed. But that goes both ways, imo. To bring up a recent example, no, people can't attack other members with racial slurs or insensitive comments. But likewise people shouldn't be attacked for using a common expression, not directed towards anyone at all, that has an outdated and rather insensitive word in it. imo, harassment is harassment, no matter what side of the fence you're on, and for anyone to use the name of tolerance as a tool with which to attack others is only detrimental to the very ideals they're trying to protect. You also say you feel it to be a power struggle, that people seem to be acting on their ego in an attempt to 'win.' I, again, must say I agree with you in most cases. It feels to me as if there are those on this site who are trying to prove something, either to themselves or to others, idk. They're trying to prove they're above the rest, they're trying to prove they're better than the other members of this site, and so have been putting those members down to further raise themselves above them. And this, to me, is just as bad as anything those members might have said to 'deserve' it. I've seen this issue for a long time now, where people tend to feel like they can do whatever they want as long as they believe they have 'right' on their side. But things aren't always in black and white, and sometimes people who think they're doing what's best for the site are only hurting it more by their actions. I think it would behoove us all to be a little more thoughtful towards what we're saying, who we're saying it to, and if it's actually justified or if we're only causing trouble. And again, this isn't to say that we should just let people do or say whatever they want. There are definitely some things that no one should be allowed to get away with saying or doing, and it's not wrong to report members or to call people out when they cross a line. But while doing so, we need to be careful that we really are justreporting them or bringing something to their attention, and that we don't go too far and actually make them feel attacked.
