Hello there my fellow contributor, throughout this wiki’s history, the way in which the staff team has been run has depended on the leadership style of its various Head Bureaucrats/Leaders, however since the way in which the staff team is managed has changed significantly over the last couple of years, I (Big the cat 10) have decided to create this page to clarify how the staff team is currently run and to clear up any misconceptions about how it is run. On this page, you will learn about how staff members are recruited, the benefits staff members receive from being in their roles, how the staff team is currently managed and how staff misconduct and inactivity is dealt with.
How Staff Members are Recruited/Promoted
Currently there are two ways staff members can be recruited/promoted. The best way is to go on the Promotion Requests page and nominate yourself or another user for a position as long as long as you or said other user meet all the Compulsory Requirements for the position in question and the maximum required number of users in that position at once hasn’t already been reached (the requirements for the various positions and the maximum required number of users for each role can be found on the Staff Info and Requirements page). The Head Bureaucrat can also pick out users and offer them promotions on their message walls (or via Discord DMs) from time to time as well if they feel that said users would do good in a particular position.
Before a user has their promotion request responded to (in the case of them applying for a position on the Promotion Requests page) or is offered a promotion (in the case of the Head Bureaucrat offering them a promotion), a discussion will take place between the Bureaucrats and Admins on the wiki’s Staff Discord Server about whether or not said user should be promoted based on their behaviour and experience and if they vote in favour of the user being promoted, their promotion request will be approved of, or they will given a promotion offer. If not, their promotion request will be denied, or they will not be given the promotion offer.
Benefits Staff Members Recieve
Being a staff member offers a number of benefits, such as allowing them to have their own custom font which they can apply for on this thread. Staff members can also request to have their own nickname that appears as a tag next their username like how Commander Ghost’s ‘Commander of Ghost’ nickname tag appears next to his name in the screenshot below. Staff members who are interested in having their own nickname can request one on this thread.
Depending on how well they do their job, staff members also receive a considerable amount of respect for being in their position as members of the community are grateful for the work they put in to keep the wiki organised and civil.
Doing a good job in a particular role may result in a staff member being offered a promotion by the Head Bureaucrat with the approval of the other Admins and Bureaucrats, or if said staff member is a Admin or Bureaucrat and they significantly stand out in a positive way compared to the other Admins and Bureaucrats, they may be offered the chance to become a Deputy Head Bureaucrat, or even the next Head Bureaucrat when the current Head Bureaucrat leaves the wiki or steps down from their position.
How the Staff Team is Managed
The staff team (and the wiki as a whole) is led and managed by the Head Bureaucrat who is chosen by the previous Head Bureaucrat when they leave the wiki or step down from their position (they can also be chosen in advance). The Head Bureaucrat is responsible for carrying out contribution checks on the other Bureaucrats and Admins where they make sure they are following the Staff Rules and Guidelines, the regular Rules and Guidelines and carrying out contributions relating to their roles on a semi-consistent basis.
Below the Head Bureaucrat, are the Head Bureaucrat Heir (currently Shadow7615),the two Deputy Head Bureaucrats (currently Withersoul 235 and Commander Ghost) and the Overseer Admin (currently SoMaShadow). The Deputy Head Bureaucrats and the Overseer Admin (along with the Head Bureaucrat and the Head Bureaucrat Heir) carry out contribution checks every couple of months to ensure that the staff members under their supervision are following the Staff Rules and Guidelines, the regular Rules and Guidelines and carrying out contributions relating to their roles on a semi-consistent basis. To clarify, SoMa is responsible for overseeing all Rollbacks and some of the Content Mods, with Ghost being responsible for overseeing all Discussion Mods whilst the Wither is responsible for overseeing the remaining Content Mods.
The Head Bureaucrat Heir is the member of staff (usually a current Bureaucrat or highly experienced Admin) chosen by the current Head Bureaucrat to one day succeed them in the position. The HB Heir is mentored by the current Head Bureaucrat and will usually take charge of the wiki during periods of time where the current Head Bureaucrat is away on holiday, or unavailable. The Head Bureaucrat Heir is responsible for overseeing the majority of Admins, whilst the Head Bureaucrat oversees all Bureaucrats and the remaining Admins.
As mentioned previously, all DBF staff members who have Discord accounts are part of the DBF Staff Server where they discuss wiki activity, new rules and guidelines as well as staff promotions and demotions. The Head Bureaucrat and Deputy Head Bureaucrats also discuss the results of their staff contributions checks on the Staff Server. Any staff members who don’t have Discord accounts will be contacted via message wall about any important staff updates.
Lastly, the Bureaucrats and Admins are in contact with the wiki’s FANDOM Wiki Manager (currently Tagaziel) who serves as the personal link between the FANDOM Staff (who are in charge of running the FANDOM Wiki network) and the DBF community. If there are any staff-related issues that are beyond the control of the Head Bureaucrat or the other Bureaucrats, Tagaziel will be contacted so that either he or the FANDOM Staff can try and resolve said issues.
How Staff Misconduct and Inactivity is Dealt With
While all staff members are bound to make mistakes at some point in their careers, there are inevitably going to be some staff members who repeatedly behave in a way that violates the Staff Rules and Guidelines or the regular Rules and Guidelines. The wiki’s Bureaucrat and Admin team will take precautions to ensure that any users promoted to a staff position are mature enough for their role, but this does not always prevent immature or even ‘corrupt’ staff members from emerging from time to time.
Depending on the severity of their offences, staff members will usually be given multiple Warnings and chances to improve their behaviour, however if a staff member is found to be giving out death threats to other users, vandalising pages with intent or is a sockpuppet of a blocked user, they will most likely be demoted straight away due to the severity of said offences. If a staff member is demoted, it will be done with the consent of the Bureaucrat and Admin team and said staff member will be informed of their demotion by either their supervisor or the Head Bureaucrat.
In the case of a misbehaving/‘corrupt’ Bureaucrat (who cannot be demoted by any other regular staff members except themselves), a thread will be made regarding said Bureaucrat’s behaviour where the community will be asked to vote on whether or not said staff member should be demoted. If the community vote in favour of the Bureaucrat’s demotion, the FANDOM Staff team will be informed and will demote said Bureaucrat. If the community vote against the Bureaucrat’s demotion, the FANDOM Staff team will not demote said individual, as doing so would be against the will of the community and thus a compromise would need to be made between said Bureaucrat and the rest of the staff team in order for stability to return to the wiki. If said Bureaucrat was found to be trying to close/remove the thread or sabotage the votes in any way, this information would be passed onto to the FANDOM Staff team who would likely demote the Bureaucrat straight away as a result of their behaviour.
Another reason for staff demotions is inactivity. If a staff member starts shirking their duties without informing their supervisor or the Head Bureaucrat of their inactivity beforehand (e.g. as a result of school or work), this will be picked up on when the staff contribution checks are carried out every couple of months. The inactive staff members will then be questioned about the reasons for their lack of activity (in case their supervisor or the Head Bureaucrat needs to take said reasons into account when conducting contributions checks on them in the future) and told to try and increase the number of contributions relating to their position. If said staff member continues to shirk their duties after being given multiple chances to increase the number of staff-related contributions they have, they will then be demoted by their supervisor or the Head Bureaucrat with the approval of the Bureaucrat and Admin team.
Finally, according to the Staff Rules and Guidelines, if a staff member becomes completely inactive (i.e. they suddenly stop contributing to the wiki entirely and responding to Discord messages if they have a Discord account) for more than 3 months, they will be informed that their position will be removed if they do not resume their activity and if they are still inactive after 4 months, they will then be demoted with the approval of the Bureaucrat and Admin team. In the case of a Bureaucrat not being active for a significant amount of time and them showing no interest in returning to the wiki, the FANDOM Staff team will be contacted and said Bureaucrat will be demoted.