Viraith's Interview

1) How would you plan to use your previous experience in the community in the position of moderator?

	I’ve learned throughout my time here in the Mario Kart Community two things: there are many people, and each individual person is unique in their own way. What I mean is that people react to like situations in different ways. With that being said I’d keep that in mind, make sure that I keep my composure and patience when dealing with users, and most importantly act in a way that would appeal to everyone to the best of my ability. Now I know that there’s no way to please everyone when it comes to making decisions, but there are certainly ways to not completely drop a bomb on those who didn’t get their way by talking it out and not neglecting the fact that there may be some who are not satisfied with the service that they have been provided.  I would always try my best to make sure that all problems have been solved in the fairest way possible.

2) What is one thing about the community or the site that concerns you the most? If so, is there a way you can resolve that concern and what are the steps you could take to fix it?

	In all honesty, I feel that the staff has done an excellent job over the course of my stay at MKBoards. I know that I have gone to a number of different moderators and administrators and all have been extremely helpful and polite and patient with my questions and requests. To answer the question, nothing concerns me, but what I plan to do and offer the community is the same excellent service I was given as a forum user. To accomplish this I will keep my composure all throughout my duties as well as remain patient with not only the users but my fellow staff members as well.

3) What does motivation, dedication, and passion mean to you?

	They are all key characteristics to have when being a staff member, but not just limited to that. You need all three in order to be a successful moderator. Motivation means to have the desire to do your job, do it well, and do it every day. Dedication ties into that by devoting yourself to maintain those qualities, and taking the time to do your job and do it well. Passion is the most important, simply put, it means that you like what you are doing. To have passion means that you are motivated to do your job, and that you are dedicated to what you do. You take pride in your work, how you go about it, and wake up every day happy with what you do.

4) What is the appropriate course of action to handle a sudden problem?

	The most important thing to be conscious of is to not panic and to stay calm. Keeping composure is very important to handling these types of problems because they can be very stressful. Depending on the problem, you should check and see who else is online (staff) to see if anyone can assist you in handling things. However, if it is a decision that you can make on your own, take your time, think through with what you are doing, and even then, personally I would always double check with another staff member to make sure things are being handled properly.

5) Now, take the above but with a catch: The opinion of the whole staff is needed but action must be taken immediately (only staff member online is you). What are the steps you'll take to handle it?

	This is a tough situation for any individual to be in. However, overstepping your powers is strictly a violation of the code of conduct for staff, and even if I were to make any sort of decision it would not be something major or permanent. My biggest priority is to contact other staff members in every possible way, then I would work on delaying the consequences of waiting to handle the problem. But not by any means would I attempt to make a final decision on my own.

6) Someone who you are not on good terms with creates a problematic thread that instigates drama. What action do you take (if any)?
Every user is to be treated equally and fairly.

	The way I would handle any and all drama on a thread would include:

	1.	Watch over the thread to see if the users solve the conflict on their own. While I believe that sometimes it is smart to “nip drama in the bud” I would always give the involved persons a chance to conclude the drama (in a proper fashion of course).
	2.	If the drama does indeed get out of hand, I would post a message warning the involved persons to stop what they are doing. I am a fan of staying neutral, I will not take sides. If there is drama my job is to prevent it, not point fingers.
	3.	If it continues and it is obvious as to who is starting it, I would remove that person from the thread via a thread lock or a thread ban (assuming the owner of the thread requests a ban). Any further actions such as forum warnings and bans would be discussed with the rest of the staff.

7) Someone in your clan asks you if a user that is hiding their online status on the forums is online. Do you give them that information?

	As stated in question six I would treat all individuals the same. With that being said the answer is a strict and firm no.

8) In the event that you have a problem with another staff member, how do you solve it?

	Depending on the problem I would most likely personal message them in a non-aggressive manner. I would never attack a staff member, I would solve any and all conflicts in a constructive way and focus on the topic at matter. They are not my enemy, and I would be more than happy to help any single one of them as I would hope that they would be willing to help me.

9) Back in your time as a CSL league admin, you allowed Cobra to use item spy. Can you address this and why you allowed him to?

	For those who aren’t aware, this was back in CSL’s second season (Winter 2015). I was very new to administrating the league still, or even being on a staff for that matter. CSL Administrator was my very first staff position in the community. It is also worth mentioning that I was and am still very new here, I didn’t start warring and interacting with everyone until late 2013. With that being said, even then I was still learning. I will state now that I know I was wrong, in fact I did not even bother defending myself on the threads that were discussing the matter because I knew I had messed up and was ashamed. While it isn’t as important as what I am going to tell you in a minute, it is also worth mentioning that I was under the impression that Cobra would not be able to use it to his advantage while playing the war. That does not add up with what happened and with what was said between the two of us obviously, and that is because I completely misunderstood what was going on. Nonetheless, that is still a mistake, and from that I have learned a lot since:

	First off, I learned a lot about teamwork that day. KD came to me soon after the war and talked to me about it telling me that I should have talked with the other staff members before making a decision like that. I completely agree with this because they would have slapped some sense into me and chances are there was probably at least one person who knew a thing or two about item spy and know to stop Cobra from doing it. I was very unfamiliar with how the program worked, and like I said, my mind processed the information in a way that made it seem like it would not violate the competitive integrity the league has.

	Second, and lastly, I learned about power. I learned how much one decision can impact an entire community, a league, everything. I know now that each and every decision has its consequences, and that everything is to be taken seriously. Two brains are better than one when it comes to decision making, and that when you are given the power to make those decisions it is best to take your time and think things through with your fellow staff members. They are there for a reason, and it wasn’t until then I realized that. Before then, the council only had four members, and I was the only active one. I had also been the only administrator up until the switch over to MKBoards, I was used to an environment where I made the decisions alone. Now, look at the WL staff we see today. Managers, separation of powers, it all makes sense as to why they have adapted their hierarchy. Teamwork is a necessity when working on a staff for this reason, and I built a sense of teamwork and check and balance in later seasons as a council member in a council of seven or more individuals.
I could go on and on with this question, but I encourage anyone reading this to ask questions if they have any; especially for this one. It was my biggest mistake as a CSL staff member, and believe me, I still think about it today and make sure to not let things like that happen again.

10) In CSL season 6, you were a council member. However, several staff members say that you were often showing bias and did not give input unless it was about your team. Can you address this and why that happened?

	I personally think people jumped the gun on me in this one, however I can see why they thought that and there is some truth behind it. Prior to season 6 I was incredibly active, I was a huge part in re-writing the entire rule set from scratch and participating in meetings. Season 6 eventually started and so did other things, specifically soccer (I do not play anymore so it would not have an effect on my activity today). I participated in less and less meetings and discussions, and eventually, yes, I only did participate in a discussion involving my team. Yes, one discussion. Season 6 finals, Charged Brigade Gold vs. Relapse featuring Jeff’s conditionals. Any other discussions involving my team I did not take part in because I was never around. This one, I was only around because my teammates caught my attention. Getting removed from council after the season was a right decision, I was not active enough obviously, and after the coincidence of me only participating in the discussion involving finals I definitely see why. However, there was no bias in my reasoning for the way I thought. You can date all the way back to when Confirmed Conditionals were used, my position on conditionals has always been the same. If a player can prove his or her legitimacy, then I do not think a penalty is necessary. I can see why people disagreed with my stance, since it was finals, but that is not important. Again, I can see why it seemed like I was being biased, but my stance on the matter has always been the same.
I advise anyone reading this to ask questions if they have any for this one as well since there is a good amount of background information needed to understand what happened. I’ll finish this question off with I always will own up to my mistakes as I did in question nine, but I do not believe that I was biased towards my team.

11) What did you learn throughout time of being a CSL staff member?

	I answered this question for the most part in number nine, but if I had to add any finishing touches I would say that what I wrote in my application is all from what I have learned from being a CSL staff member. My skills and traits have all been because of my time as a league administrator, council member, or even a division administrator. I am well spread out in terms of experience, and I offer and plan to use that to be the best moderator I can possibly be.
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Thank you for reading. Any questions or comments just post them in my interview channel and I will address them as soon as possible.
-Viraith