An MCM Overhaul.

[Cal]

It is no secret that the opinion towards MCM has been on a downward spiral.

I would like to say the public opinion on MCM really started to downturn around the time Glove publicly announced his quitting the market. Prior to that it seems as though people were expressing that the market seemed to be stagnating and failing. However this did not turn negative until around Glove's exit.

The Causes
MC-Market is a forum of creators, not managed by creators. This discrepancy causes a difference in ideals in how the site should be run. Most people on the site use it as a platform for their services, however when the system is not supportive of that, they will grow angry and eventually, disappear.

Support
In it's current state, MCM will not run itself without human oversight. When the people that moderate and administrate the site are not moderating the platform, then any rules that are in place do not matter. There have been numerous cases of users on MCM such as myself experience ticket wait times of weeks. For a site that is filled to the brim with very competent, high skilled, and well spoken individuals already familiar with the rules and terms of the site, you would expect the platform to have no trouble expanding it's team or replacing those that aren't meeting the demand. These delays on a platform receiving the revenue of MCM and on the scale of MCM are unacceptable.

Scam Reports
I acknowledge that MCM has hired a new scam resolver, however seeing as he hasn't been on since Monday (posting this on Wednesday https://gyazo.com/a8a78bb311a2d07a4d6c75af20d8f601) and his counterpart has posted a grand total of twice since last Thursday at the time of writing this. These delays make the single most important principle of any transaction, trust, an unreliable. Scam Reports not only help bring peace of mind to those doing deals, but they allow those who get caught in scams, more often new members (the main source of MCM's revenue[Ads and ranks]) to have a way to fight against those who pull these scams. Scamming is inevitable, but with proper moderation, it can at least null some of the impact of it, impact which is being felt by the community very heavily currently.

Change is overrated
If there is one thing MC-Market administration is really good at, it's maintaining the status quo. Going through the previous 10 announcements, the notable changes to the platform have been (in objective descending order)
1) Various Staff Position Changes
2) A new theme
3) Business accounts
4) Forum reorganization
All of these changes are so minor, that you likely forgot about most of them, and this is where the problem arises. Though staff will be quick to say "we've still been increasing members at X rate." there comes a point where this stagnation of the forum will lead to a less interested and thereby less active userbase. The members in the shoutbox today are not the same members that were in the shoutbox 2 months ago. This is indicative of the nature of MCM, many members fading into obscurity due to it's being unable to retain interest. This is a failure of a system, and it will only be increased with the new problems arising.

The Solution
The major problems with the site are able to be fixed with relative ease. Despite the site administrators best efforts to maintain the status quo, a large change in needed. MC-Market's team needs an overhaul. The root of the overwhelming majority of these issues stem from the moderators and administrators of the site. The staff of MC-Market need new members, with fresh ideas, coming from a more diverse background. MCM needs to hit this growing mob of those growing weary of the failing system head on. Whatever you are trying to do now is not working. An ideological shift is needed, not brothers of current staff with no knowledge of the platform, not chatmods with no real impact on the site, real change is needed, or MC-Market will be facing a mob much bigger than it's current small but loud minority.

Please leave your feedback below.

 

[Cal]

Lol mcm has been on a downward spiral for a hell of a long time.

I wouldn’t say Glove’s extraction from the market, which I hadn’t even heard of until now, has had anything to do with it.

He wasn't the, cause that is clear, it is a correlation. It is just a good land-marker in time for the shift as their feelings into the public eye. It was approximately 3 weeks ago since it seems you did not know. That is when I can best say the public opinion properly started to dive.

 

[Dann]

Things have needing sorting since Christmas, Around there I was having to wait over a month for support requests and have had to wait over a month again after that, We've recently pulled our advertising from the site for these exact issues listed above and quite frankly at this point - I'm unsure if Mick actually cares about the site as much as some users are lead to believe, What does he actually do for the site? He has previously said to me that he doesn't actually do support requests, even the ones that require a higher permission he leaves for Justis and even so, When for example the site did have downtime It took a few hours to negotiate a few extra days of ad time of which the site then was offline for the next week after those were credited.

I'm pretty sure that the site started the downward spiral after Mick took over the site from Bosny, Just the effects of Mick taking over and the lack of new ideas and development are only really effecting the site now.

 

[Kegan]

MC-Market needs to change. It has all gone downhill, I made a support request about 2 months ago and I am still waiting for a response. Things need to change or I see MC-Market shutting down in the future.

 

[Grace.]

This is true. The staff team tries to deny it. They make coments such as "we've hired new mods" and we have a new scam resolver, etc. However, while this may be true, for the most part they are simply denying the truth. MCM is dying. It needs a major overhaul, and not by people such as Mick & Justin, etc. The problem with getting people who are experienced with MCM and are reputable, is that for that, they must have been part of the community for a long time.

----

What does that mean? Most people that have been on mcm are more than likely they are tired of it. Most of the major "players" on MCM, aswell of the staff team have been part of the community for far too long. They are bored of it. Farmers rotate their crops every year. If they don't the field becomes bad and the crop doesn't grow well. The same thing needs to happen with MCM.

-----

MCM needs new staff , MCM needs a new aproach. MCM needs to invest in a major re-working of the entire forums and host a massive advertising campaign.

 

[Ally]

MCM really started to downturn around the time Glove publicly announced his quitting the

No. It was when staff members became inactive and when people stopped giving a shit. That can happen at any time over time, it just so happened that a lot of people stopped a while ago -- not even when Glove left.

 

[Cal]

This is true. The staff team tries to deny it. They make coments such as "we've hired new mods" and we have a new scam resolver, etc. However, while this may be true, for the most part they are simply denying the truth. MCM is dying. It needs a major overhaul, and not by people such as Mick & Justin, etc. MCM needs new staff , MCM needs a new aproach. MCM needs to invest in a major re-working of the entire forums and host a massive advertising campaign.

I don't believe a "Massive advertising campaign" is necessary, MCM is not in need of a surge in members, what we need is reformation to keep it's current userbase active without driving it into the floor.

Mick, MCM Administration, Everyone.
This thread has received 14 agrees in 30 minutes. This is an undeniable epidemic, major change is needed. These quite frankly pathetic attempts to make "improvements" to the site have failed. Change is scary, but it is a fact of life if you would like to maintain this platform and the rewards associated with it. Do not ignore this, this is too big of an opprotunity for you to let go to waste.

No. It was when staff members became inactive and when people stopped giving a shit. That can happen at any time over time, it just so happened that a lot of people stopped a while ago -- not even when Glove left.

He wasn't the, cause that is clear, it is a correlation. It is just a good land-marker in time for the shift as their feelings into the public eye. It was approximately 3 weeks ago since it seems you did not know. That is when I can best say the public opinion properly started to dive.

 

[Grace.]

I don't believe a "Massive advertising campaign" is necessary, MCM is not in need of a surge in members, what we need is reformation to keep it's current userbase active without driving it into the floor.

Mick, MCM Administration, Everyone.
This thread has received 14 agrees in 30 minutes. This is an undeniable epidemic, major change is needed. These quite frankly pathetic attempts to make "improvements" to the site have failed. Change is scary, but it is a fact of life if you would like to maintain this platform and the rewards associated with it. Do not ignore this, this is too big of an opprotunity for you to let go to waste.

Added some stuff to my post.

 

[Ambrosia]

This is just going to be denied regardless of anything. Just because of some ridiculous reason.

 

[Skye]

I'm going to be flat out honest, I can fully agree with you upon every level. We need more staff to deal with the forums, and we need more ideas. You have my full support, now let us just hope you have the current staff team's.

 

[Kram]

I agree with this thread but I have 1 problem and that's not with the idea itself.
It's been suggested so many times to get more staff and scam resolvers. The scam resolver part I personally feel that the 2 scam resolvers + Justis R being a temporary one is doing very good at this moment.
It's been suggested so much that I believe Mick and Justis have both agreed that they need more staff. They said that process of getting a new staff member is difficult as they need to make good picks and agree on them (I believe that's what they said but I can't say for sure).
While the thread itself was amazingly well written in my opinion, it doesn't really suggest a better method of finding new staff members. So I'm not sure how exactly the suggestion helps when I believe it's already been acknowledged. (Please correct me if I'm wrong in that)

 

[Justis]

MC-Market is a forum of creators, not managed by creators.

For a site that is filled to the brim with very competent, high skilled, and well spoken individuals already familiar with the rules and terms of the site

Every member of the current staff team (besides Lion) was selected from active members of the community, creators just like you, just like me. I've halted my development services, the reason I joined this forum, in order to be your admin for the sole purpose of providing you more of my time.

The most competent, professional, and trustworthy individuals from our community of creators are chosen to join the staff team(besides Lion, no offense Lion); and everywhere I turn, I see users calling for their demotion and replacement.
Replacement with whom?

The moment a member of the community becomes a member of the staff team as well, community perspective of that person hits the decline, they become the problem hurting the community which they are quickly no longer considered a part of.
Then it's demote them and replace them with someone better all over again.

The true problem is there's nobody better, not in the long term. Contrary to your implications.
Yes, in the short term adding new staff, more can get done, but at even greater costs as time reveals the flaws with the individuals chosen. Just as it has revealed flaws in every staff member who's had the chance to have the pressure and light shone on them for long enough of a time.
Most of this community is comprised of teenagers, teenagers that hardly know themselves let alone how to perform to the standards that a business of MC-Market's size, complexities, and responsibilities requires and demands. Recognize that there isn't a single person on MC-Market who knows everything about MC-Market.
Anyone who is competent, professional, knowledgable, understanding and patient enough to deal with this community, and has the time to do so, would be far more successful investing their time elsewhere, and they do; because they're wise enough to recognize that fact.

There's no perfect candidates, so we're left with a pool of potential crises instead; and left to try and decide which potential crisis is worth adding to the staff team because if we don't then we're understaffed.

I see people claiming "I could have all the scam reports done in a day", and "If I was on the staff team, support would be under 24 hours every day"; and truly, that is simply a combination of ignorance and arrogance.
I too, want the very best for MC-Market, and I struggle every day to devote 9-12+ hours of that day just sitting at a table with my computer performing needed functions as your staff member. (13h42m total the past 24 hours, just being active on site, no development stuff either)
I won't pretend it isn't insulting to have that time, all of the experience leading up till now, and the genuine devotion I have to this community degraded to such a degree that people would blow off fulfilling the staff role on here to the community's satisfaction as so "easy" and offhand, and the members of our team just as easily replaceable.

The current staff team is completely and utterly imperfect.
This is an indisputable fact.
And we are without a doubt, understaffed.

However, look around you and see all of the "harmless and amazing staff candidates", and realize that your perspective of them will change entirely after they've been given the power to ban you and the people you hate, and what they do with that power, determined by them and their life situations, repeatedly and in a million different ways, over time.

MC-Market is too large and depended on for too much for the staff team to continue to function how it is currently functioning.
Without a doubt. I agree.
However, the same thing applies in reverse.
We are too large and depended on for too much to "make changes" because there are problems.
We must make changes to solve those problems.

There was only one sentence in your entire post where you actually made specific what changes you wanted:

The staff of MC-Market need new members, with fresh ideas, coming from a more diverse background.

And though I agree that MC-Market's staff team needs changes.
Simply "new members with fresh ideas coming from diverse background", I'm afraid, is not a solution.

The community we have to choose staff from have 100% access to suggestion threads.
Take a look at suggestion threads and all the individuals producing so called "fresh ideas". Is this all that's required to be a staff member?
Take a look at the staff team's current backgrounds, graphics artists/designers, a plugin developer, two setups specialists, a cs:go and texture pack guy, two builders, and Mick, who's dipped his fingers in just about everything.

Fresh ideas is just a throwaway term you included, staff having ideas that are fresh won't solve our problems.
Diversity in the staff team is already present, and this has not resolved our problems.
I've explained above why we don't need new staff, we need more reliable and competent staff, and why it is not as simple as you've repeatedly stated that solving MC-Market's current dilemma is.

MC-Market may be a community of blockgame inclined teenagers, but it should not be run as though it is. We are a business with real, heavy, complex, and consistent responsibilities to our users which only grows as our community does.
The problem of this paradox cannot possibly be overstated.

By absolutely no means am I saying that nothing should be done; because that would be utterly false and I would disagree with such a statement wholeheartedly as well. I too look forward to severe improvements.
What I am doing, is I am informing you of why it hasn't already been done; and why MC-Market's specific situation makes it is so immeasurably difficult to ensure that when these decisions are made, it is done in confidence, and is the correct one.
That is all this reply is intended to do.

 

[Aekalix]

Every member of the current staff team (besides Lion) was selected from active members of the community, creators just like you, just like me. I've halted my development services, the reason I joined this forum, in order to be your admin for the sole purpose of providing you more of my time.

The most competent, professional, and trustworthy individuals from our community of creators are chosen to join the staff team(besides Lion, no offense Lion); and everywhere I turn, I see users calling for their demotion and replacement.
Replacement with whom?

The moment a member of the community becomes a member of the staff team as well, community perspective of that person hits the decline, they become the problem hurting the community which they are quickly no longer considered a part of.
Then it's demote them and replace them with someone better all over again.

The true problem is there's nobody better, not in the long term. Contrary to your implications.
Yes, in the short term adding new staff, more can get done, but at even greater costs as time reveals the flaws with the individuals chosen. Just as it has revealed flaws in every staff member who's had the chance to have the pressure and light shone on them for long enough of a time.
Most of this community is comprised of teenagers, teenagers that hardly know themselves let alone how to perform to the standards that a business of MC-Market's size, complexities, and responsibilities requires and demands. Recognize that there isn't a single person on MC-Market who knows everything about MC-Market.
Anyone who is competent, professional, knowledgable, understanding and patient enough to deal with this community, and has the time to do so, would be far more successful investing their time elsewhere, and they do; because they're wise enough to recognize that fact.

There's no perfect candidates, so we're left with a pool of potential crises instead; and left to try and decide which potential crisis is worth adding to the staff team because if we don't then we're understaffed.

I see people claiming "I could have all the scam reports done in a day", and "If I was on the staff team, support would be under 24 hours every day"; and truly, that is simply a combination of ignorance and arrogance.
I too, want the very best for MC-Market, and I struggle every day to devote 9-12+ hours of that day just sitting at a table with my computer performing needed functions as your staff member. (11h29m today so far, just being active on site, no development stuff either)
I won't pretend it isn't insulting to have that time, all of the experience leading up till now, and the genuine devotion I have to this community degraded to such a degree that people would blow off fulfilling the staff role on here to the community's satisfaction as so "easy" and offhand, and the members of our team just as easily replaceable.

The current staff team is completely and utterly imperfect.
This is an indisputable fact.
And we are without a doubt, understaffed.

However, look around you and see all of the "harmless and amazing staff candidates", and realize that your perspective of them will change entirely after they've been given the power to ban you and the people you hate, and what they do with that power, determined by them and their life situations, repeatedly and in a million different ways, over time.

MC-Market is too large and depended on for too much for the staff team to continue to function how it is currently functioning.
Without a doubt. I agree.
However, the same thing applies in reverse.
We are too large and depended on for too much to "make changes" because there are problems.
We must make changes to solve those problems.

There was only one sentence in your entire post where you actually made specific what changes you wanted:


And though I agree that MC-Market's staff team needs changes.
Simply "new members with fresh ideas coming from diverse background", I'm afraid, is not a solution.

The community we have to choose staff from have 100% access to suggestion threads.
Take a look at suggestion threads and all the individuals producing so called "fresh ideas". Is this all that's required to be a staff member?
Take a look at the staff team's current backgrounds, graphics artists/designers, a plugin developer, two setups specialists, a cs:go and texture pack guy, two builders, and Mick, who's dipped his fingers in just about everything.

Fresh ideas is just a throwaway term you included, staff having ideas that are fresh won't solve our problems.
Diversity in the staff team is already present, and this has not resolved our problems.
I've explained above why we don't need new staff, we need more reliable and competent staff, and why it is not as simple as you've repeatedly stated that solving MC-Market's current dilemma is.

MC-Market may be a community of blockgame inclined teenagers, but it should not be run as though it is. We are a business with real, heavy, complex, and consistent responsibilities to our users which only grows as our community does.
The problem of this paradox cannot possibly be overstated.

By absolutely no means am I saying that nothing should be done; because that would be utterly false and I would disagree with such a statement wholeheartedly as well. I too look forward to severe improvements.
What I am doing, is I am informing you of why it hasn't already been done; and why MC-Market's specific situation makes it is so immeasurably difficult to ensure that when these decisions are made, it is done in confidence, and is the correct one.
That is all this reply is intended to do.

This might be harsh but the more time passes the more I ignore the massive 'explaining' posts by either you or Mick (none of the other staff have ever even attempted...) since it all feels like the same excuse over and over. Meanwhile, we are still where we were ages ago. People are just fed up with all the excuses thrown at them. There are way larger forums who seem to do an excellent job, what makes McM so different than the other forums that we and you cannot do the same?

 

[Justis]

This might be harsh but the more time passes the more I ignore the massive 'explaining' posts by either you or Mick (none of the other staff have ever even attempted...) since it all feels like the same excuse over and over. Meanwhile, we are still where we were ages ago. People are just fed up with all the excuses thrown at them. There are way larger forums who seem to do an excellent job, what makes McM so different than the other forums that we and you cannot do the same?

First and foremost because I am not doing enough.
But also because our options for staff are people who would ignore someone's long and passionate messages; instead of people that MC-Market needs.

 

[Aekalix]

First and foremost because I am not doing enough.
But also because our options for staff are people who would ignore someone's long and passionate messages; instead of people that MC-Market needs.

I should have added tempted to the to ignore part. I always hope for a positive change. But every time I see such a long 'passionated' post I dot down a few bullet points I think it will contain. For this one I had:

* Staff is 'hard' to find with the same old excuse.
* Other priorities, thus we cannot do the overhaul.
* No new staff is actually needed.

I could check 2 out of the 3; Some people may appreciate you put such a passionate response but it's always the same old stuff. Just because you work hard does not mean you are getting more done. Because we know all the excuses out of the McM-Staff Textbook

But also because our options for staff are people who would ignore someone's long and passionate messages; instead of people that MC-Market needs.

Never knew McM needed people that make ludicrous remarks.