The Decisions on Ranking

[Blackie]

So, there's been some drama about the decisions on ranking in Cepheus.

The staff stands by their right to final decision and regardless, Wolfie and Rowtag will remain in the Admiral position.

However,
There has been some issues with the second and third place rankings. We as staff want to know if our members are unhappy with our decisions, in order to help OSA flow as smoothly as possible. So, please take the time to let us know how you feel with the poll.

Sincerely,
The OSA staff

[leo]

have there been O.o
i was in second so whats being going on and whats been said ... im now lost

[ϟĦÅУḎ€]

Well to put it SHORTLY:

Everyone was in a bad mood and a bunch of people feel that it was unfair (which, in hindsight, they have a point with) so we're debating again in the staffer's cafe.

Nothing to worry about. c:

[&! R H E A]

All right, so I wasn't here much yesterday, but I learned a bit from reading the cbox archives (didn't go all the way though). This is what I understand regarding the controversy: Nyth, you feel that your position in 3rd place is unjust because we took your mod app into consideration and you feel you should've gotten a higher place. Caes, I've heard you agree. Anything else entailing to this, please fill me in.

I also just want to say, before I dive into this, nobody likes drama. I know for a fact that Shay despises drama, haha. The crazy things going on in OOC take away from the fun of the RP, which is what this site is supposed to be about, and I don't think I'll quite be able to rest until this matter is resolved. So, please, let's all just try to sort this out ASAp, and please, be mature about it. I don't want anyone here, staff or members, to get riled up. Because getting riled up just makes other people riled up, and well then, hell, we're not able to decide anything when people are like that.

So stay calm, and we'll get this figured out, awright?

I want to hear how everyone it concerns--staff, nyth, other members who disagree with our choices, just other members who applied for admiral, whatever--feels about this first, and then we can do something about it. And I also just want to say that the staff's decision on this is final, so please don't argue about the turn out after we have sorted it out. Keep in mind that we are trying to see how everyone, how our members, feel about this and not just blindly saying "Okay, here's how it is. Deal with it." We're taking your input, allowing it to perhaps change our decisions, and helping us to make better decisions on future applications.


Now, here's what I have to say about my own personal opinion.

We were having a bit of a discrepancy on how well the potential admirals actually fit Cepheus. Despite their morals, the Cepheus are generally very aggressive. They hold honor high in their own pack, but they are sometimes savage towards other packs and, towards their packmates, can be rude, but all in good spirit and brother/sisterhood. In our decision, we looked for a wolf who displayed these Cephian qualities, while still having an air of uniqueness (as in, having something else to the character besides having him just be a complete Cepheus drone.) Rowtag was our top choice because he displayed these qualities. He fit the Cepheus. He was still unique, though, because I still felt that he had more of his own personality besides an ordinary Cepheus "aggressive to other packs, has a lot of honor," and I liked his power as well. Firey, as a Cepheus wolf should be. But I liked how he couldn't just breathe fire (that would be boring), he lit himself on fire. Personally, I'm sold on Rowtag, I think he was deserving of the position.

Now, my personal runner-ups for the position were Triple Eight and Fenrir. TE also matched up Cephian qualities quite well. Fenrir, from his app, I thought he was a bit nice for an admiral, though I liked how he was emotionally unstable--that was his "unique" selling point for me there. But Nyth clarified that his opinion of "innocent" was very narrow--suggesting that other pack wolves were not "innocent," as might be customary for a Cepheus admiral to think--and Blackie reported that in RPing with Fenrir, he did come across as a good candidate.

So why did Fenrir get 3rd?

We wanted everyone to be happy. Nyth was a sure-fire candidate for mod, she certainly displayed the qualities required to be a moderator. Lucifer, Caes's wolf, was our next choice for admiral after those three, we thought that we could make both Nyth and Caes happy by giving Caes 2nd and Nyth the mod spot. We wouldn't have done such a thing if it was 1st place vs 2nd place in question, but since we'd already decided that Rowtag had 1st, we thought it wouldn't have mattered so much.

Looking back, I, personally, think that it was a mistake because Nyth was undeserving of 3rd and it did upset her--even Caes agreed that Fenrir demanded a higher spot. For this, I apologize to you, Nyth, and I would like to see if we lot of us could cooperate and make a new arrangement.

I want to see how everyone feels about this first, though, and I want to know what you guys think we should do about it. If either of you two in 2nd place feel that you would be okay with switching your place with Nyth, then go for it. If not, that's fine, I don't blame ya, we'll just figure something else out, then.

[Blackie]

Ahem. *takes turn at the podium*

Please know that there is nothing personal to anything we say. We love you all and want things to settle back down. So, we shall tear back the veil of confidentiality, eh?

As you may (or may not, because you don't really care. XD) know, we (the staff) had come to something of a... deadlock, when it came to choosing second and third.

There was no question of who was first - Wolfie and Rowtag won unanimously. It was the other roles that were in question. We debated, bounced pros and cons of each character back and forth. One of the reasons it took as long as it did to choose was because we couldn't seem to reach an agreement.

And so, without us seeing any other option, we turned to the Mod application.

Yes, I and ALL of us staff know that we said we would not use the mod applications to influence our decision. And it was our mistake that we didn't inform everyone that it had come into play. As Rhea and Shay and I have ALL said, it wasn't even supposed to be a deciding factor. It never occurred to us until we reached said deadlock. None of us could agree on who should go where.

I will be the first to say, was it the wrong, unfair thing to do? I don't know. But I do know that it was unfair to take it into account without informing those applying. And for that, I apologize on behalf of the OSA staff. To be honest, we didn't think it was that big of a deal. But that is not an excuse, and in the future, we will make sure to disclose any new developments that come into play, should the staff reach another wall in choosing.

And now you'll get to see how we were deadlocked.

Rhea's personal choices were Triple-Eight (Leo) and Fenrir (Nyth) for second/runner-up. I chose Fenrir and Lucifer - Nyth's and Caesar's characters, respectively. I was hesitant at first about Fenrir's description, but after roleplaying with Nyth I found the character to be more than suitable for a high-level position in Cepheus. As we said, Rowtag ran with first place, but Nyth and Fenrir garnered a great deal of respect from me, based on a (lovely) roleplaying session(s) between Fenrir and my wolf Sior.

Why did Fenrir get passed to third?

Because we took the mod account into consideration; that's the only reason. While this in and of itself was not necessarily the wrong thing to do, as I said: what was wrong was that we didn't inform you all. At the time, we ended up operating under the assumption that Nyth would take a mod spot and Lucifer/Caesar would have second. This compromise took pieces of each of the staff's arguments, put them into play, and (we thought) would allow everyone to be satisfied.

Shay may or may not decide not to be in this debate any longer, and if she is not, then it will be up to me and Rhea to decide this further.

This conflict is different than if just one person had a problem with our decision. The fact that a larger number of people are... let's say, unsettled, points to something larger. So, me and Rhea would like to work this out as quickly and as fairly as possible.

And let me go back to what my decision was before we ended up taking the mod account into consideration: My personal choices for runner up still stand with Fenrir and Lucifer, and I believe it would also be unfair to Nyth not to give Fenrir a higher position.I am sorry for this, Nyth, and like Rhea, I really hope you'll help work something out with us.

I have an idea about how this might be settled another way if we end up in deadlock once more, but I need to check with Rhea. Rest assured this is NOT another conspiracy. Just need to make sure it's not a dumb idea before I go spewing it around.

And, by all means, if anyone has a suggestion to end all this depression and let us get back into the HOLIDAY SPIRIT, please suggest it!

Now, to make you happy again, here's a picture of a kitten and a puppy snuggling:

[[ w o l f i e ]]

Well, I don't really have much of an opinion on this subject. I guess I really don't have an opinion because I almost feel it doesn't or shouldn't involve me. But if it comes down to re-deciding on the second and third positions, I'd be glad to put in my input, if needed.

Being a staff member on various sites over the years doesn't make me knowledgeable about all of this, but I feel like including my little "What would Wolfie do?" kind of situation. Since you, the staff, has said that basically Rowtag already had the position of first and the real arguing came down to second and third positions, I feel that next time something like this happens, to possibly send a PM to the winner (which I guess would be myself in this situation) and ask them if they would like to include their own input?

I just feel like if it were to ever come down to a debate about a ranking lower than the Alpha position, the top position of a pack, that that top position could quite possibly help the deciding factor by giving their own input and adding another opinion which could sway the deciding factor. I think it's especially important to get the "top dog's" input because they're the one who ultimately is going to end up bossing the ranks around. Though in this case were the winner is supposed to be a surprise, maybe instead of asking the winner (because you want to surprise them) then ask an outside source, maybe a friend or just a member that didn't apply.

I'm not judging (: I feel like you guys thought was the right thing to do at the moment and for that I respect you. Especially since you probably didn't want to delay a couple more days when members had been expressing their excitement over the results and when they would be announced.

This is just me putting my two cents in with some opinions on how this may run more smoothly in future situations. Hope it helped, guys!