In Defense of Server Staff - Why We Abuse The "Inadequate Staff" Moniker

We've all been there so often that we don't even have to picture it - we go to our logs channels, and find that, to our surprise, a staff member has left our server. There's a few feelings that get tossed around for a few seconds - surprise, disappointment, and exasperation, to name a few - and then we typically go to a safety server with our proof and report them.

However, what does this actually accomplish for anyone? We get a bit of revenge satisfaction out of "giving them what they deserve", and, in return, that staff member loses all of the fun of being staff because of one disappointed server owner. It becomes exponentially worse when Inadequate Staff get bundled into the ban lists that these servers publish - now they're being banned from servers entirely!

While we're on the topic, by the way, what's with our deeming users "inadequate"? That's a power that none of us, regardless of server size or experience, have the privilege of having. We do not possess all the necessary information to deem someone inadequate, especially on a communication platform made for fun collaboration. You don't often know the reason someone leaves without resigning - what if their account got temporarily disabled? What if they were going through some private personal knowledge (NB: they are NOT required to tell you "personal reasons", regardless of staff policy), or they were needing to step back from something that had too much of a grasp on their life?

My primary point is this - no matter the argument of "well, we do it like this in real life", staff are not obligated to tell you their resignation reasoning, tell you they're resigning at all, or (worst of all) wait for you to approve of their resignation. Let's go through each of these one at a time, shall we?

(NB: "Blacklist", unless explicitly defined, implies a network blacklist or ban from multiple servers or multiple staff teams.)

Leaving Without Reason

This is perfectly logical in a lot of ways that are not typically understood by server owners who tend to make a corporation out of their server. Let's take the case of digital addiction - a phenomenon that can be read into more extensively here - where frequent internet users find that they are compulsively using the internet as a means of satisfying addiction. The best cure for some addictions? Cold turkey. Now, this gives the staff a choice with two wrong answers: be an inactive member of staff, get fired, and lose their reputation, or leave without resigning (because, once more, they are not obligated to tell you as something as simple as that may set them off) and risk being reported and, you guessed it, losing their reputation.

The simple response to someone leaving your server without reason is that of the following sequence of events:

1. Recognize the staff member has left.
2. Politely message them asking, without expecting an answer, if they're okay and if they'd like to talk about why they left.
3. Reassigning duties, finding new staff, and so on.

That's all there is to it folks! No need to report them, no need to blacklist them, etc. You are, of course, obligated to blacklist them from your staff team as it's your server, but remember that the internet is one large game of telephone - what was the actual reason they provided may be skewed by you when you report it. No one is ever obligated to give you a reason (unless they are paid or have signed a legally binding contract stating they must) for their resignation. It isn't a professional look, that's for sure, but it is still very valid.

Why do I recommend what you deem to be a lax course of action? Well, what if that staff member has overcome their personal issues, commitments, or otherwise and wants to return as a staff member at many servers, only to find they're completely blacklisted across the board with no appeal? You've now gone and stripped the fun out of the platform they loved, because of a desire to play God with someone's reputation - and I personally will never have any sympathy for that kind of move.

Sometimes staff members also leave without resigning to immediately escape a set of toxic management members - while this is a systemic issue that is not immediately resolvable, this can also create complications for members who wish to leave ASAP. These toxic management staff can now dictate the entire future of a staff member in a click of a Send Message button and that is in no way fair to these normal people. We all go through struggles, personal realignments, and relationship breakdowns - that should never give you the power to deem someone inadequate.

I will reinforce this idea again - it is perfectly okay to locally blacklist them from your staff team. However, it is entirely unfair to deem them a terrible and unhireable staff member because of one incident. In doing something like that, you tarnish the reputation of a staff member based on one simple view of their behavior that may have been an unlucky occurrence for them.

Leaving Without "Adequate" Reason

Preface: The validity of one's resignation reason is not yours to assess. Everyone has different reasons for what they do in life, and at least where I'm from, in the workplace there is no rule regarding this as well as that would be a blatantly obvious violation of workplace harassment rules as per Human Resources.

Users should never be required to provide what you deem an adequate reason to resign - for example, during any one of my struggles with Persistent Depressive Disorder, I would never in a million years confide in people on the internet over my mental illness. I would never come within 50 feet of Discord if someone deemed that inadequate - proof that your toxic staff policies can, in fact, drive people away from the community or platform as a whole.

Leaving the onus of an adequate reason on staff members makes the staff member feel that they are being judged persistently and are not a coworker but an underling. Instead of treating them like an equal staff member, you make them feel like you are contractually binding them to their work for you, and leaving the fate of their advancement or resignation in your hands. Even if you do get your staff members to sign a legally binding contract, they should never have a stipulation of a requirement to provide you with "valid" reasoning. If they want to leave, they can.

To remedy this? Sympathize with your staff. Allow them to take breaks - and offer them breaks as opposed to resignation - and, if they may choose to leave, ensure that they are allowed to leave for whatever reason, from "I just don't like it" to "I am experiencing conflicts with my personal commitments". This gives freedom of choice back to your staff members, and will overall increase retention instead of trashing your reputation into a state of toxicity.

Approval of Resignation

Okay, this is a non-negotiable in the eyes of every staff member - please, for the love of all things, do not make it a mandatory rule to have all resignations approved. This is not a thing in real workplaces, and if it is, I highly advise you leave your current workplace. This is something I have a zero tolerance for - no one is obligated to remain in a staff team until (assuming it ever gets approved) their resignation is approved. This implies that you have sole predatory control over their career at your server, which is highly inefficient for you and highly toxic for them to have to witness.

Let's just think about it this way - you go through a major traumatic event. You feel absolutely no motivation to do anything anymore and, while this may be a temporary incident, you are certain you want to resign to make sure you don't hold up a spot for other potential staff members. This, right here, is an honorable excuse to leave the team.

You present this to your management staff, under the guise of "personal reasons" (as you're entitled to do). Then, for some reason, your resignation gets denied with the reason "Please provide a more specific reason." You're likely left stunned as you now have to explain a traumatic event in your life to a bunch of internet people you likely have never met, to leave a volunteer position you likely aren't contractually bound to.

This can be an extremely harrowing experience for some people - a natural part of the trauma acceptance process is a long period where we deny or ignore the event that happened. As well as this, it makes you look like that manager that goes "oh, I'm so sorry xyz died - but can you still make it for 3 today?"

The remedy for this particular occurrence should be obvious - don't do it. Allow staff to resign on their own free will and accord, without a concern for the particular details that they may not want to share. They are not obligated to provide a "valid" reason, and you are not entitled to one regardless of what staff rules you write.

But why?

To be a manager or server owner is a position that comes with something that applies in all scenarios - prepare for the worst case scenario.

As far as risk management goes, there are three certainties in life - death, taxes, and the worst case. By not preparing for the worst case scenario, you are leaving your server liable to reports from staff who have felt uncomfortable, harassed into an answer, et cetera. Along with this, you cannot guarantee that the subjective interpretation of your rules will be the same with every staff manager, and as such the rules should be as easily to understand as possible and as accommodating as possible.

Along with this, most people aren't prepared to handle this the same way that people claim real workplaces handle it, because the reality is real workplaces do not handle problems this way. If I wanted to, I could resign at the drop of a hat from my workplace, without prior notice, and without approval. Now, it is not professional, but in terms of not giving notice / not having my resignations approved, I can confirm that this often doesn't matter. I resigned due to cognitive differences at two businesses, without pre-approval and with same-day departure, and I still have glowing references from my bosses.

The key to this good staff-manager connection is not the means of resignation, but rather promoting a positive work environment and cherishing your staff while they're here. Staff should not ever feel a pressure to resign because of the proverbial tightrope that their resignation balances on - there should not be a fear of resignation due to personal reasons or a wish to just leave servers for the time being.

Now, I'm not gonna sit here and tell you what to do, I'm just simply offering remedies to arguments that you may have in the future. Staff do not want to feel chained to their servers just because they are staff there - the reality is arguments happen and staff may leave your server to take a break from the conflict. They should not be added to universal ban lists just because their emotions took hold of them.

I leave you with this - next time you feel a stressor in your life that makes you want to step away from your server and pass ownership off, make sure you understand that, if the roles were reversed, your staff rules may in all likelihood make you a staff member that can be deemed "inadequate." Consider the humanity behind the screen, and understand that universally banning a staff member for leaving without resigning or other reasons may be more damaging to your than the member.