October-November Staff Crisis

The October-November Staff Crisis was a prolonged crisis within the Staff team from October to November 2024.

Background

For years, there had been disagreements between Card0, flutters and Andi on the direction of the server, with flutteres and Andi often criticising Card0 on many of his decisions, sometimes joined by other Staff. On many occassions, Card0 would back down or come to a compromise, with things usually being resolved relatively quickly. Despite their disagreements, when Card0 announced his stepback, he would designate flutters as his de-facto successor, with the plan for them to lead day to day operations of the server.

October

However, this would change in October as within Staff, a concern had been raised by Boba on the status of underage moderators in the university-graduated channel. While that channel was not a 18+ NSFW channel, the nature of having minors in a channel designated for adults made Boba uncomfortable, who pitched it to Card0 IRL who sent it in Staff. This then caused a heated debate between flutters and Andi, with both members clashing over the status of minors, with Thoth agreeing with the proposed change, while Saera disagreed. As Boba initially raised the concern due to Saera texting in the channel for uni advice, flutters would threaten all u18 staff members with demotion if they continued to use the channel, which led to Andi clamping back hard, forcing other Staff like Zt to step in and calm the situation. At the time, Card0 was outside so he didn't see the message sent by flutters, and simply urged a message of calm before going back to IRL activities. In the end, no poll was made in regards to the proposed change.

After the incident, Andi, with Card0 still upholding flutters as his designated successor (not helped by the fact that Card0 had not made it too clear on the exact arrangements of his step back), began to become more dissatisfied with his leadership. Saera would also come to agree, having aligned more with Andi over the course of her term as mod.

November

While the situation in Staff may have remained cool in other times, October-November also marked a shift for the page and server with multiple warnings as well as a shift in the server's activity, though for the latter this had been a trend for a few months. On November 16th, following another argument between flutters and Andi, Andi and Saera began to believe that the server simply wasn't growing, and that massive reform was needed, which included better disciplinary communications, clearer moderation guidelines, as well as less bias overall. The conversation then split into two conflicting approaches to reform. as Saera began drafting a highly formal "resolution" with clauses and amendment procedures inspired by MUN while others offered more direct suggestions like targeting an older demographic, making the vice+ channel a space for mature topics, and introducing mandatory introductions. Card0, disagreeing with this bureaucratic approach, argued wtih June to keep things simple, which caused significant tension. There were also discussions about thinking about how big the server needed to be, with Andi and Saera thinking that the server had grown too big with some Staff feeling alienated from some members in the community. Another reform, later included, involved stricter citizen entry requirements. With Andi and Saera seeing that only older members remained the most active, three proposals were later made:

1. Reform the server and make it appeal to a wider range of people.
2. Define an age group to target and appeal to them only.
3. Make the server into a smaller close friends server

Although most Staff including Card0 agreed with the first option and the bulk of the reforms, the second option was seen as more controversial, with the third being immediately vetoed by Card0 as a no-go, though Saera and Andi did propose minimising the server significantly if the member growth of the server continued to decline. This caused a lot of arguing between the two, with many other Staff on the sidelines, with Card0 criticising the over-formality of the reforms, while Andi and to an extent, Saera, criticising Card0's leadership as holding the server back. Andi also increasingly believed Card0 should move on from the server, which was somewhat echoed by Saera. While Card0 had accused them of sidelining him, this was neither fully true or false, as while they were to some extent unintentionally sidelining him, it was neither unified nor coordinated.

Other Staff also voiced their views, with Tuck agreeing with most of the reforms save for the formal language, while Zt pointed out that the server had an issue with cliques, and Salami arguing that while the reforms were a step in the right direction, the over-formality was not ideal. Boba would later comment on the reforms, agreeing with Salami on the concepts, but also pointing out how many of the reforms were too formal.

Aftermath

Card0 moved quickly in the days after the resignations, having been caught off guard by the speed of the collapse but not by its possibility, knowing for years that the tension between his leadership style, flutters' impulsiveness, and Andi's mindset was unsustainable. Within a week of the crisis he was already reaching out to potential replacements. He spoke to Astra first, then Greentea. He asked them if they were willing to take on Admin roles, knowing that they would be inheriting a staff team that was demoralized and a community that was unsettled. Both said yes. He then reached out to Syntax, Joyce, and others who would fill the Moderator ranks. The promotions were put to community polls in the late November.

In the end, some of the proposed reforms were never carried out due to the resignation of Andi, and later flutters (Saera would be promoted to temporary Admin until her own resignation in January). Any proposal to downsize the server or priotise older members was never carried out. However reforms to #introductions as well as later reforms in 2025 by Salami over the rules would be passed. The moderation guidelines were clarified, with an emphasis on communication before action. Meanwhile, the 24-hour buffer for controversial cases, which had been one of June's ideas before her resolution was scrapped, was informally adopted as a best practice even though it was never written into any formal document.

By February 2025 the staff team had stabilized and so did the community, as the newer Staff settled into their roles while non-staff members simply saw this period as having some tension, and a massive leadership shift, followed by relative normality.

This, alongside the Christie and March 2021 Incidents, were cited by Card0 as the three times that the community could have fallen apart.