Quite frankly the people complaining about support here really lack the necessary empathy to understand the other side: What it's like to do your best to help as much people as possible as a volunteer. That's what it boils down to in my opinion and yes, I do think I have enough experience in this type of work to be able to make that statement
It's sad, but try not to let it get to you.
I would post some suggestions that might alleviate the issues but it's not my place, nor do I think that would make you feel better in the short run.
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Nice written you are a man of letters, but that's the internet..there will always be unthankful haters.
I worked for a online game support a while ago too...so i know exactly the feelings..i quite, because it was not worth the trouble and my time and to deal with all this unthankful ppl and haters.
Of course there are also a lot of nice ppl, but at the end you need a big mental shield.
So i don*t know what you want to tell us... the haters will not stop being ungrateful and the ppl who understand and thank the support staff will still feel great love for the moderators.
I for myself thank the staff for all their hard work... but that should every user do..no need to post it here.
TL;TR Thanks for the hard work to all of the staff, but this shouldn't be necessary to write. :)
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While I can't speak for others, I don't think it was the negativity that reduced my time spent here, though it certainly didn't help. The positive feedback outweighed the negative, on the whole.
But it's just a never ending grind. Every time you thought you made progress, something would happen and a whole new flood of tickets came in. It was also more difficult to manage and we had less Support at the time.
Then I realized that I came here because I loved video games, and I wasn't playing video games anymore because I was spending all my time "working" here. I do enough of that at my actual work :)
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Sounds very similar to stories I've heard from teachers, police, firemen, defense lawyers. And they get paid for doing their jobs.
They nearly all go into it for the right reasons, with certain optimistic ideals, high expectations that they'll be able to help people... and slowly but surely the feeling of pointlessness creeps in. There will occasionally be incidents where you're just doing what you believe is the honest best thing to do and you get crucified over it.
Despite 99% of the community being friendly and not rule-breakers, you spend 99% of your time dealing with the 1% who are not friendly and who don't obey (or even understand) the rules. Gradually the cynicism takes over and you start to see it as an "us versus them" thing, or just start assuming the worst about people. And it. Never. Stops. There are always more of them out there.
It is often a thankless job (can't reply to a closed support ticket to say "thank you!") but I hope whoever's left will still be able to hold on to those ideals, fight off the cynicism, and know that they really are making a positive difference and helping to maintain order and trust between givers and winners.
Also: thanks. :)
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This makes a lot more sense, thanks for sharing your perspective on the matter.
Edit: typo
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Mods have always been the ultimate best in everything they have handled for me!
The fact they are volunteers is simply awesome!
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Last I heard it was just a hiatus for Jade.
Miss cult, lokonopa, Lina, Kaitlyn, wbarton,,, When I was more active I had some interesting conversations with them.
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o wow lol he even changed his profile pic to a frozen from that green eye. 3 years ago too w0wz0rs
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Maybe it is time to change the mod scheme... So many (still) want to help... So few actually can.
The hate in this forum is a general problem that comes from a few well known names here.
Half of the good people that I know left after this community became toxic for everyone. That's a general problem.
Considering how things are now, leave is not an option... it is just a consequence.
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I want to thank the MOD every time they close a ticket from me but i can't because the ticket is closed and i won't annoy them by re-open it just to thanks them.
So... :
A BIG THANK YOU TO ALL MOD :)
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This is why we can't have nice things.
On the other hand, a lot of people appreciate the hard work mods put into the site, some people lack empathy and feel entitled I guess.
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Never had any problems with mods and from my 5-6 tickets that I've had in all of my time on SG were solved! Thank you mods for doing wonderful work for us! <3
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Should come as no surprise indeed. Moderators (of any internet community, not just here on SG) need to be honest-to-goodness altruists, becaue if they expect any sort of special treatment or gratitude, they're gonna be disappointed.
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oh, mods get lots of "special" treatment. Just too bad it's the wrong kind of special treatment
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I see this same type of post in every online community. Mods are the backbone, but they take the brunt of complaints. It's a thankless job, and, quite frankly, an underappreciated role. Even the users who appreciate mods rarely express their appreciation.
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Some people just like to be negative, and to complain, and to be selfish, and to create drama. And of course, those folks tend to be louder than those of us who are just trying to get on with our day quietly.
While it's nice to think that reading a well-written, well-thought out post like this might actually convince some of the more negative people to change their ways...I suspect it's probably wishful thinking.
EDIT: might as well take this opportunity to thank the mods/support members. I've only opened a few tickets in my time here, but all of them have been handled timely and professionally*.
*Which is ironic since mods do this in their spare time!
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Mod lives matter!
Personally, I've always recognized what you guys do for the community. The worst I think I've ever said was, "Should it take this long?" Or something along those lines when asking for a reroll. My only wish is that there were more of you, but alas that is a double edged sword in and of itself...
Either way, keep doing what you're doing, I'll always treat you guys with respect and I hope you treat me with the same!
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the ones with most ethic and morals are the ones getting burned out and leaving, i wonder why.
now we wait for the classic overly dramatic reply about "vinegar trolls and acidic bullies being toxic to the proverbial community"
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know what they getting into when they become support
Yeah it's the catch-22 of moderation: good moderators are generally the ones who don't want to become moderators.
https://pew.tube/user/janedoe/UDqwvWw 👀
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good moderators are generally the ones who don't want to become moderators.
Indeed, that's so true.
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Yes, thanks to all the mods who have taken care of some of my tickets over the years - CJ, Pete, Ronix, Jatan, Fyan, Sleepy, Bobo, Keo, Tempete, and Delta. I'd thank you, too, Khalaq, but for some reason you've never done a single ticket of mine in 3 years. shrug
I don't always agree with them (and I don't have a problem saying so), and I think they could do better, but I appreciate what they do.
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I was a steam game hub mod for around two years, I know this feeling all too well.
Doing that completely ruined my interest in the game I did the moderating for as well as my attitude towards the developers, and cost me the majority of friends I had at the time due to repeated attacks against them by people I temp or perma banned from the hub.
I liked helping, but it was so not worth it. Moderating changed me, and not for the better.
Plus Valve's mod tools are diabolically crappy now thanks to the few indie devs that abused the post edit function. No joke, if someone offers you a hub mod spot the half-assed tools you'll be working with make it an exercise in frustration pretty early on.
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Vocal minorities... such catastrophic forces they can be.
Know that the majority of us love the site and (often silently, I'm afraid) appreciate all that you all do here! I haven't even replied in any of those new point system adjustment / auto-join warning threads of cg's, but I absolutely love the changes!
That said, it has been a while since we've had a mod appreciation thread around here, so I welcome yours (morose as it is)! :)
Thank you all for volunteering your time! Though you've chosen a hard path, you absolutely make this site better!
Maybe cg needs to start having mandatory vacations where mods are required to take a three month break every year or something, where they can still see admin infos and reply in any admin forum areas, but can't actually moderate anything.
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Moderation is inherently a thankless, often tough job. Rule breakers want to blame mods for punishments rather than their own lack of following the rules, and some of them are very nasty about it. I've thought about modding for different websites, but never applied since it seems like a lot of work and having a potential target on your accounts for jerks to lob hate.
For any mods that are leaving because they have real world obligations, I wish them the best. For any mods who are leaving because of constant abuse, I hope that your time as a mod wasn't all dark and you have some pleasant memories to look back on. To both groups (and current mods), thanks for your hard work.
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So let's incentivize the position. Give mods a small slice of that Patreon $$$$.
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The meat grinder which is SteamGifts Moderation continues to take it's toll. Those Mods who have the most experience, the most dedication, the most exemplary work ethic, the most love for this site, they are the ones most likely to burn out and leave. I am not talking about those Mods who have been abrasive and difficult to deal with in the past. I am talking about those who were truly a blessing to this site. Those who served the Community well and sunk so much time and energy into making this site a great place to hang out. With the love these individuals had for all of us, what could possibly drive them away?
It was us.
Quite frankly, we have been toxic and abusive toward our Moderators. We complain about what they're not doing. We complain about what they are doing. We complain about how they should be doing things our way, and then when they actually do things our way, we complain about how it should have been done better. We spam Support with tickets and then complain about a lack of responsiveness. When a Mod requests something of us, we argue endlessly and then complain about delays. We pester the Mods at all hours of the day, posting abuse and demands for attention on their Steam walls. We complain about them, insult them, and libel them in the forum and discussion sections. Some of us even go so far as to gang up on them with friends, perhaps because it is easier to bully someone when you have help. Is it any wonder that such behavior takes it toll on the Support Staff?
Our Moderators are volunteers. A handful of them serve thousands of SG users. They take time out of their day to serve the SG Community in exchange for virtually nothing in return. They do this because they want to help make SG a better place to be. For every person who shows gratitude, however, there are perhaps twenty or thirty telling the Mods what horrible people they are and that they should just leave. There is a long list of Mods and Supports who finally reached the point where they could not handle the hate anymore and did exactly that. They left. Some of SG's most well-known members have also called it quits. These were people who were regular contributors and a positive influence on the site, and now they are gone.
So, I have to ask the question. What have we gained with all the hate? What benefit has been achieved by spreading misery? Instead of sharing the best of ourselves, we have chosen to share the worst. Instead of building people up, we have been busy tearing them down. If we are so concerned about what a miserable world we live in, why have we striven so ardently to make things as bad as possible? That is a question each of us must answer for him or herself.
Life is difficult enough without allowing Hate a home in our hearts.
P.S.(I use "us" and "we" because I am part of the SG Community. While I may not have taken part in some of the things others have done, I bear responsibility for my own failures in being as helpful or as positive as I might have been. It is up to me to improve myself.)
P.P.S.(Thanks to all of you who have expressed support. I have edited the OP's title for clarity should this thread continue to be necro'd.)
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