Honorary Badge Holders

Most of you reading this will hopefully know that we have a Staff Tree. The Black Badge holders own the site and those staff holding badges other than Black all help to run it. We do so in in different capacities, and you will see from the Staff Tree how the different sections are divided up.

When a poster starts out as a new Green Badge holder on staff, they have been admitted onto the staff for two reasons:

• we feel we can trust them, so as to include them in discussions on matters necessary to administer the site; and
  
• they are competent in their own chosen field.

In this way, we try to eliminate trolls.

The Green Badge holder is a probationary position in the vast majority of cases, because we hope 'the Greens' (as they are fondly known), will work hard enough to earn promotion, in order to become a Blue Badge holder, as their second foot on the ladder to climb the Staff Tree.

The Blue Badge holders are the people who often run the site on a day-to-day basis, in whatever capacity they hold: they often have the advantage of being comparatively fresh from the forums, so they can see what needs to be done from a poster's perspective, and often 'know' the site posters from their associations with them, when they were not on staff. As such, Blue Badge holders have input into the promotion process of Green Badge holders and they mostly administer the 'Trending' section. They will have acquired extra Rights, as a result of their promotion. Many Blue Badge holders are happy to stay in this position, since they have recognition, and want to pour their main effort into other aspects of their gaming. e.g. by casting.

The administration of each section on the Staff Tree is led by an Orange Badge holder. These staff members are key to the successful running of the site. If they are successful, their section will reflect their efforts, not only in their choice of staff who work with them, but also in the response of the site posters to their section's efforts. And in places which you cannot see, 'the Lead Oranges' (as we shorten it) also have decisive input into future promotions and demotions, both for Blue and Green staff (in their sections and without), as well as contributing ideas and their views to future content for the site. e.g. tourneys.

Fully-fledged Coders are badged to Red and they, together with Red Admin, draw the strings together.

Black Admin consist mainly of those who created this site for COH2, but it is perfectly possible for a poster to rise all the way up the Staff Tree and achieve Black Badge rank, as Janne252 has demonstrated.


While the history of the site and its workings are probably familiar to many of you, what you will not know is the problem which had to be resolved when active staff, who contributed hours of work and many ideas, decided to step down from the plate of leading an Orange section. Up until now, they either had to go backwards from a Lead Orange role to a Blue role (sometimes active/sometimes inactive), or leave staff altogether. This was for many reasons plainly unsatisfactory. In effect, we were haemorrhaging the views of too many mature, influential posters, who could still have something to contribute about the site's aims and policy, albeit on a less regular basis.

This has led us to the decision to create a new strata on staff: the Honorary Badge holder.



We have started from the base that the posters who hold this badge are esteemed former members of staff who worked as an Orange leader, or higher. They are people upon whom the Black Badge holders could rely, and they come in many shapes and sizes. But above all, they are staff whom we could trust, and still do trust, to contribute their ideas at the level of Orange badge holder. As such, you may hardly ever see them on the open forums in future, since most, if not all, are in semi-retirement. They may not hold Rights which other active badge holders need to run the forums e.g. cloaking posts, or locking threads. Honorary Badge holders exist in a non-executive advisory capacity, in order to contribute to policy discussions with Lead Oranges and the Admin as they wish, and so you may not often see their input on the open forums.

However, an Honorary Badge holder will also be able to deputise temporarily for a Lead Orange, if that Lead Orange needs a brief absence from the forums e.g. for exams, holidays or family issues. This will never usually go beyond one month, since we have no wish to stop the natural progression of a suitable Blue Badge holder from ascending to permanent Lead Orange status. If such a brief swap occurs between a Lead Orange and any Honorary Badge holder, you will see the swap notified on the Staff Tree thread, when the Lead Orange goes to Honorary Badge, and vice versa.

If an Honorary Badge holder wants to return to regular staff work on the forums, they will usually be reverted to a Blue Badge status, in order to reacquire Rights which they need to edit Guides, Newsposts etc . A swap between a Lead Orange and an Honorary Badge holder for a temporary period does not guarantee that the Lead Orange in question will be necessarily a permanent Honorary Badge holder if they retire.

All Honorary Badge holders are appointed at the sole discretion of the Black Badge administrators, who may pick whomever they want from inside staff or without, and they may consult with whomever they wish in order to achieve that aim. The initial list has been drawn from former Red Admin and some former Lead Oranges who are now inactive, but this list may extend in future to include any poster whom the Black Badge holders wish to honor.

Conclusion

I hope that this Newsletter clarifies for all of you how the staff works and why we are introducing the new strata of Honorary Badge holder. We do take site responsibilities seriously, and we do highly value those who have constructively contributed to forum issues in the past.

For those who may now be thinking : 'how do I join the staff?' The answer is straightforward:

• We may have contacted you by PM, because we like the style of your posting, in the section which we see. But we do not spot everybody!; or
  
• You feel you have something to contribute? Please apply by PM to the Lead Orange of the section you would like to be considered for. All applications will be given a considered response; or
  
• you are a former member of staff who resigned honorably because the state of the game disillusioned you, for instance, or you left staff because you could not find enough time to work on staff, but now you have enough spare time to contribute again.

To end this Newspost, those on Staff, or thinking of joining Staff, who may think:


Your refrain can now be revised! You can see we value experience and we can now reward it. Your own career paths on COH2.ORG will not be blocked by the Honorary Badge award, which simply acknowledges the support and hard work of those Staff who previously carried the banner valiantly!