What Dusty said. If it's too easy for players to access a staff member's profile, we get a silly amount of meaningless PMs to filter through.

If a player seriously does have a problem that requires assistance, they will take the time to find and contact an online staff member using the staff contacts sign. It really is the best system to use.  

I was gonna say if a player really has something important to say then they will look for an online staff to message; but Xavier already did so I'll say it too.  

Posted by Sicx

http://shsuonline.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/feedback.png (Unsupported image host)

this.  

How does finding a name with the sign help? Even if you have the list of current admins that's not going to show you which ones are online is it? I think having a menu option to see which admin or GP is online would be great but I can see since it was pointed out that it would bring a whole bunch of unwanted spam to the admins. Couldn't they just have the admins block somebody who is sending spam for like 24hrs or longer and a notice that they where blocked for sending spam. maybe that would keep the spam down.

However I remember from other threads that where started about the same topic (admins taking long periods of time to respond) that there is not always a lot of admins or gps on at times to handle the volume of reports. It seems like the player count has been up since Graaloween and went up again slightly with the release of the railroad system so wouldn't more players being online mean there would be a need for more admins/gp's?

I do have one question about this I wanted to ask in the forums: If some one was to be chat/lag/hack blocking at a tower and was reported while being on a guild tag How likely or what would it take for that guild to get penalized as in resetting of guild stats for that individuals actions? You know its an obvious noob account made for blocking when they have next to no stats and they are taunting you while blocking which is an obvious sign they are doing it on purpose and know what they are doing. I'm not saying blocking is right I know it gets done a lot maybe not as much as it used to but It's kind of dumb to be blocking while on a guilds tag because your opening the door for your guild to get reset.  

You could always use feedback to ask for help though...  

Posted by Dusty

I don't see the problem. GPs relay issues to me all the time from PMs they get from players.

The problem is that when players can easily PM staff, they like to spam the **** out of them. I don't care if you're GP, dev or admin. No one should have to fish through multiple PMs every couple of seconds that are just BS.

Or make a system where players can only send a single PM per staff until the staff replies back, or can send one every 5-10 minutes.  

Posted by ufoburan

How does finding a name with the sign help? Even if you have the list of current admins that's not going to show you which ones are online is it? I think having a menu option to see which admin or GP is online would be great but I can see since it was pointed out that it would bring a whole bunch of unwanted spam to the admins. Couldn't they just have the admins block somebody who is sending spam for like 24hrs or longer and a notice that they where blocked for sending spam. maybe that would keep the spam down.

However I remember from other threads that where started about the same topic (admins taking long periods of time to respond) that there is not always a lot of admins or gps on at times to handle the volume of reports. It seems like the player count has been up since Graaloween and went up again slightly with the release of the railroad system so wouldn't more players being online mean there would be a need for more admins/gp's?

I do have one question about this I wanted to ask in the forums: If some one was to be chat/lag/hack blocking at a tower and was reported while being on a guild tag How likely or what would it take for that guild to get penalized as in resetting of guild stats for that individuals actions? You know its an obvious noob account made for blocking when they have next to no stats and they are taunting you while blocking which is an obvious sign they are doing it on purpose and know what they are doing. I'm not saying blocking is right I know it gets done a lot maybe not as much as it used to but It's kind of dumb to be blocking while on a guilds tag because your opening the door for your guild to get reset.

Yeah I agree on this. And sometimes during the trivia. I type the admin name and they won't show up for some reason. So you have to add them as your friend.  

Posted by Vladdy

Or make a system where players can only send a single PM per staff until the staff replies back, or can send one every 5-10 minutes.

This is not a terrible idea...

Until you actually look at it in a real-life perspective like this:
2,300+ Players online.
Everyone of them can see you're an admin, and that you are online...
So you run into the risk of taking on 2,300+ PMs....

Simply put: There are scripted functions (feedbacks, reports), and assuming the staff team is quality, those reports will get fielded or sent to whomever is capable of addressing the issue.

At least that has been my experience on both events.  

Posted by Torankusu

This is not a terrible idea...

Until you actually look at it in a real-life perspective like this:
2,300+ Players online.
Everyone of them can see you're an admin, and that you are online...
So you run into the risk of taking on 2,300+ PMs....

Simply put: There are scripted functions (feedbacks, reports), and assuming the staff team is quality, those reports will get fielded or sent to whomever is capable of addressing the issue.

At least that has been my experience on both events.

Rarely would any staff receive over 2,300 PMs from over 2,300 different players. Also, not everyone would have the same staff added on their friend list, or in fact would know the staff. Most importantly, this isn't real life so why take this into real-life perspective. The ratio of 2300/2500ish online players contacting the exact same staff is absurd.  

Posted by Vladdy

Rarely would any staff receive over 2,300 PMs from over 2,300 different players. Also, not everyone would have the same staff added on their friend list, or in fact would know the staff. Most importantly, this isn't real life so why take this into real-life perspective. The ratio of 2300/2500ish online players contacting the exact same staff is absurd.

I'd be overstepping my boundaries by asking you to participate in being an active developer or admin on an iOS server, but it would allow you to insert your foot into your mouth with these comments...  

Posted by Torankusu

I'd be overstepping my boundaries by asking you to participate in being an active developer or admin on an iOS server, but it would allow you to insert your foot into your mouth with these comments...

Not that I would want to defend or even agree with Vlad but he's right in what he is stating. Just becuase there are 2300 players on doesn't mean they would all be pming the same admin at the same time. Just because the player count says 2300+ doesn't mean every single player is active at the time,and are trying to spam or complain about the same thing.

I can see there are and would be lots of times when there are 100's of pm's,feedback,or reported players in short spans of time. With only several or a hand full of admins on at a time to address them is gonna lead to long periods of time before the problem can be dealt with,end up ignored,or just never gotten to.

They would probably have to double or more the amount of current gp's to handle the volume of issues coming from a growing player count in a timely manor,and I just don't see them doing that.  

I'm just gonna say that the only classic admin who has ever responded to my reports/problems is Albus, who helped me transfer my account
Not one of the guys who has sexually harassed me on Classic was ever banned within a few hours of playing, and there are 9 year olds playing classic. I am concerned about their safety - *********s can easily persuade kids to send 'dirty pics' to them, and tell them their personal details. Classic is the perfect place for *********s to pick up underaged girls and boys. It is rated 4+ (Someone change this), the staff don't do much about them, and there are going to be lots of children there as it is colourful, easy to play, and is a generally attractive looking game. They can easily blend in with all the "looking for sexy girls/guys to trade pics with" and "kik me at 10yearoldgirl12345".
Talking about those people, it's all very well and legal, but it's sending out the wrong message about classic. I think most people here see classic as the dating/hooking up/sexting server, and those classic players who are "looking for sexy girls/guys to trade pics with" can also influence other people to do the same thing under pressure or interest, and it's so easy to do too.

I just went off topic, my apologies.I just needed to let that out.
I don't mean to bash on the staff or anyone in particular but you have a lot to improve on.
It's all very well to change the way how you, the staff, see the game, but if the players don't recognise any difference, there is no difference at all.  

1. create dummy admin accounts (fake)
2. make them so when someone sends them a pm they get an automatic reply like the one you get when someone is offline. Have a couple pre determined responses.
“I will look into that right away”
“Let me drop what I’m doing so I can help you”
“That’s why I’m here, to serve your needs”
3. problem solved
4. lol  

To prevent spam admins maybe you could only pm an admin every 5-10 mins , if he replayed he would have an option to temporarily disable this rule so he can have a nice and fast repose and then more to the next person