1) People have felt that staff are too arrogant, or power hungry, or just shut other people out. This is a fair response and feeling. There is something to consider that we haven't discussed before (and I'm not sure people are aware of it):
When we are organizing a game, we are not everyone's friend. This does not mean that we strive to be exclusive, it means that we cannot be you friend first, we have to be Staff. This means sending people away when they have lice, and dealing with the (sometimes harsh) discussions about wellness. Are these people's actions appropriate, etc?
Are other people who want to run workshops willing to take on that responsibility? It can be very stressing at times. Are they willing to put the good of the community and westfinder before their personal feelings, their friends, and even personal opinions? Sometimes we have to be harsh about these things, and its not fun at all.
(However, if other people helped to run workshops and the Staff did the organizing and channeling focus, this problem wouldn't come up as much. But it would still be there.)
2) Um, I forgot this one too. Give me a minute to remember (sorry!)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
...I'm gonna comment: I don't think having to be harsh about lice or other wellness concerns is outside the realm of a friend. Really, friends SHOULD be concerned about this sort of thing, and...I dunno, but I know I'm perfectly willing to say "if you do this unsafe thing, I won't hang out with you.", and I don't think "you can't do that unsafe thing here( which may, in fact, be 'interacting while having lice')" is that big a step that it no longer falls under the friend heading. That said, I can see how it would be stressful, and having someone designated to say that sort of thing would be a good idea if you're not comfortable with it, and as long as what exactly I'm supposed object to is made clear, I'd be happy to do it, though you probably have people who are gonna run workshops and are ALSO willing to do that.
ReplyDeleteI really hope that people are willing to be serious about these things. I guess I mean that the priority is not to be everyone's friend, but to keep things running, and some people could construe that as the leaders acting negatively. I'm glad you see that differently.
ReplyDelete~Hillary
I'm confused, how exactly does running workshops put someone into the staff realm of dealing with the hard things to say?
ReplyDeleteIts has more to do with wellness. There are times when the staff have to be strict, like, "You have lice, you need to leave." or "You're not pulling your blows enough. If this keeps up you should sit out a round of CTF" or "Its inappropriate for you guys to be shirtless in the park." and such.
ReplyDeleteAnd sometimes its just, you can't be having lots of conversations with your best friends, or greeting everyone as they come to a workshop with a flying hug.
~Hillary
what my personal interpretation (as correct or incorrect as it may be) of the statement "People have felt that staff are too arrogant, or power hungry, or just shut other people out" is this scenario: at many CTFs, community members have had ideas about what to do or how to do it, and Staff have either ignored them or just shot their ideas down. this is what I think of when i see this. sometimes, staff have also had a certain air of superiority about them, which the community seems to encourage. this is not super-common, nor does it occur in all staff, but it does occur.
ReplyDelete--fully expecting to be argued with, David
Agreed, David. Also, it's one thing for staff to not be everyone's friend, and quite another to shut people out, be rude or angry to/at them, and the like.
ReplyDeleteStaff do have an air of superiority around them from time to time. It's sad, but true. They do shut people out and shoot their ideas down. We don't like it, but it has happened, and still does sometimes. Chalking it up to "We can't be everyone's friend" just serves to ignore the issue, and doesn't help to fix it in the slightest.
At every pre-CTF hanging-out-at-the-rock from now on, I'm going to take suggestions for CTF-variants!
ReplyDeleteBecause variants invented by staff are not, in fact, necessarily better than those invented by anyone else.
GREAT IDEA TOM!!!!
ReplyDelete