Myself, koolness234, and CheapCheep have worked over the last few months to re-imagine our team in order to ensure that it is working best for you all.
We personally recognize that due to the schedules and circumstances of the current moderators, that a change to the moderation structure has been needed. These changes have been driven by a sincere desire to keep the website going strong for those of you who enjoy Tengaged.
In June, I made a blog surveying the community about potential moderation candidates and to inquire about what the community wanted with respect to a moderator. We have tried our best to listen to your feedback. This, balanced with the input of myself, CheapCheep, koolness234, and randomize, we have selected two additional moderators to join the team.
New Additions to the Moderation Team
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Let's meet the two new additions to the team:
KrisStory: Kris has been someone that has been dedicated to Tengaged and its success for quite some time now. The current moderation (and myself in particular) have worked really close with Kris on a number of occasions, particularly in relation to the planning and executing of special events on Tengaged. Kris has a great outlook and optimism about how we can improve Tengaged as moderators, and I am personally really excited to continue to work with him in this new role.
SeongWoo: Matheus is someone that we have heard a lot about from our non-English speaking Tengaged community. We received a number of recommendations that suggested we include him as a moderator, and we have listened! With his addition, we now finally have a moderator that is able to represent the members of Tengaged who primarily speak Portuguese, which has been difficult to do with the three current moderators largely only speaking English. We are very excited to bring him onto the team, as we believe he brings a new form of expertise to the team that is not currently there, especially with his role as a designer and more advanced understandings of that area of Tengaged (an understanding that does not currently exist within our current moderation team).
In discussion with randomize, and in order to ensure that the proper functioning of our moderation team, there will be a re-vamped "tiered" moderation system. It will streamline our responsibilities and ensure a more effective way to moderate, while also working to integrate the new moderators as they learn the specifics of their role and responsibilities.
๐ ๐ข๐ซ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐๐ข๐๐ซ - ๐๐จ๐๐๐ซ๐๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ฌ: This first tier consists of the current moderators ( brandonpinzu, CheapCheep & koolness234). Because of the experience of current moderators and their in-depth knowledge of the moderation panel, they will primarily serve to provide guidance, mentorship, and support to the newer additions to the moderation team.
๐๐๐๐จ๐ง๐ ๐๐ข๐๐ซ - ๐๐ฎ๐ง๐ข๐จ๐ซ ๐๐จ๐๐๐ซ๐๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ฌ: The "new" tier will consist of KrisStory & SeongWoo, who will serve as Junior Moderators. They are the new additions to the moderation team, but will bring a fresh perspective to help keep Tengaged safe and enjoyable. They will work closely with the first-tear Moderators and rely on their experience, particularly in the early stages of them taking on their roles.
The Junior Moderators will have slightly altered powers than the rest of us to ensure a proper transition and overall approach to moderation. This may (and is likely to) change over time. Their role as a "Junior Moderator" does not necessarily mean that they are unable to act alone. In fact, I don't anticipate you all will notice a difference between the two tiers. It will mostly just be something that operates on our end, so don't worry too much about it.
Because of the additions to the moderation team, there will likely be changes that come in the coming days in relation to how we do things. All we ask is for your patience during this time as we transition two new moderators and navigate working with 5 moderators total. Overall, I expect nothing but improvements to the moderation team to come from these additions, so I consider this very exciting!
As always, if you have any questions, please let us know.