Board Thread:Consensus Track/@comment-4984687-20150326211251/@comment-1738746-20150402143909

I'm not a fan of changing the system, but if it did change I still think current staff & admins should have the final say and if they disagree we just need to deal with it, which I get the feeling from this kind of community that they won't. I say this because I've been in situations were the community riots hard for a certain member to become staff for all the wrong reasons and the staff know that it's for all the wrong reasons and deny it, and it results in a rift in the community; community vs staff.

Elaboration on "all the wrong reasons": it has to be said, but some users are very 'talented' at getting people on their side i.e. manipulative. They can round up a crowd behind them to support a cause that is ultimately damaging to the community, and I absolutely hate crowd-mentally type situations. If you don't understand what I mean, please research the term "group polarisation" which comes from psychology. My other reasons why is because people really have no idea what it's like being an admin or staff member. We all think we have an idea but it's never going to be quite there, I can assure you. That's why I prefer admins promoting other admins; admins already in work know what it really takes to be an admin, something we don't know, so they're in the best position to pick a new staff member. On top of this, you're all crying that we have a lack of staff members, but the admins have said we're still running fine and that there's no need. I trust the admins, especially the ones we have now as they're doing an amazing job handling this place.

Crowds of people who don't know any better but think they know everything are extremely dangerous, and situations where anyone (who fits the requirements) can apply and the community can then vote WILL result in a rift between community and staff. That's why I'm very opposed to this idea.