Counter Strike Confederation

Why do you want to become an Admin?

Because I don't feel the job has been done to the level the players expect and they often feel their player elected representatives do not respect their opinions I fell I could bring a new wave of this representation as I think accountability of the admins is extremely important and all of our thoughts on matters should be public as we are elected by the very people that often feel neglected by you.

What prior experience do you have that you believe will help you as an Admin?

I have been in this league for a while and have talked to and listened to its players I think time has shown that truly seems to be the only experience that matters for the role.

What things do you hope to implement, reinforce, or remove as an Admin.

I would like to implement more accountability for the admins as they are player elected.

I think decisions that affect the league should be able to be much more expedited when supported by the tiers it impacts or the league as a whole and when decisions are made or not admins opinions and votes should be made not only available but presented to the public to allow public discourse and review. 

Any confusion should be instantly clarified and if viewed negatively or seen as a lack on the side of the admins ""last minute prem pfa->fa maneuver"" not only should admins being willing to accept that although they may have followed the rules they still did not meet the expectations of the players therefore, steps should be taken and promised publicly to assure that it does not occur in the future. 

I think adding something like admin fire side chats where admins answer questions. Serious discussions posts should have an avenue to be submitted and then be voted on by the broader community just to give an official channel that way serious discussions has an actual official pathway that is public and open to the community it impacts.

(edited)

@UPS | ComradSniper 🏆🏆

What is your understanding of what goes on behind the scenes for admins?

What ideas or goals, if any, do you have with regards to the premiere tier?

Define “implement more accountability for the admins” Could you clarify how you would implement your 3rd paragraph regarding immediate negative feedback on rulings?

Hi ComradSniper, please correct me if I am mistaken but it seems that communication and communal decision making/referendum style policy implementation is a large initiative for your campaign. What do you see as the perfect balance between admin making the decision as they are the typically most informed individual and having a decision be presented to the community for a vote/deliberation? Best of luck, Comrad! (edited)

Have you ever considered positions such as Rules Committee Representative? I feel like some of your concerns of lack of representation is in reference to rules and not admins. If I am mistaken, please feel free to explain further. I know you are aware that the Admins were not the ones who chose which PFAs were moving and the timeline explanation was also addressed by Homer, as PFA conversions are a numbers-based decision with the help of admins for reaching out to players and converting them in CORE. Have you chosen to ignore this information or perhaps you missed it as discussions relating to this kinda got buried by other stuff. With this, you could likely propose and address some of this via Rule Committee as mentioned above. (I can link the form to submit Rule Changes Proposals if needed as well - I am not sure some people know it exists so just let me know.) We have done Admin Town Halls during combines during the past 2(?) seasons where players, staff, and spectators are able to ask any questions they have about the league and whatnot. I am assuming you would just like to see these happen more often?

I'll be honest, one of the things that I have seen a lot of admins run on is accountability and transparency. No one ever (in my time here) has actually followed up with it. It's become a buzzword that people use to get elected and then throw out the window as soon as they win. My question is twofold. First, what makes you different, why should we expect accountability and transparency being made a priority by you as opposed to the other candidates? Second, like it or not, you'll be on a team with some of the current admins. Some of them and some of the others running for election/re-election do not place a priority on admin accountability/transparency. How will you make sure that, even if hindered by your fellow admins, you still make sure this practice is followed not just for yourself but for our admin team as a whole?

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Do you think bending to help one tier is a slippery slope?? And if you don’t then what stops Elite players to ask for different days if they play on the same IM teams that premier players do? What would be your answer to Elite tier wanting autonomy of their tiers schedule??

I plan on responding to all of the current questions before tomorrow morning I will also be on at 7:30 tonight in channel to talk about any questions or just hangout until I have esea at 9

ATO | Assass1n

What is your understanding of what goes on behind the scenes for admins?

So to start this answer I'm going to use the general points scraps mentioned which would be facilitating elections, participating as a body in RC, make various decisions for the league (GMs, tiers, discord changes, etc), determine funds necessary for the season for fundraising to be able to afford the season, and oversee committees I think this is just a great baseline as I feel it would be inevitable I would miss something in my own description anyways as with such a broadly reaching role you can always find more ways to expand specifically on what admins can and will do. However, when looking at the role of admin for me I feel the best thing you can do as a player elected position with so much oversight is bridge the gap of any behind the scenes work whether specifically admin related or in the committees to the broader community because when decisions are made in this league players will typically look to the admins for answers even if and when it was not purely an admin decision so I think often the role of an admin should be to coordinate the awesome behind the scenes work of everyone in csc to the entire community to facilitate understanding of what is being done and why when questioned (edited)

djtl

What ideas or goals, if any, do you have with regards to the premiere tier?

I think one of the most important things for prem in my eyes as someone who competed in it is getting the tier back to at least 8 teams, in my eyes however, this is more of a requirement than a goal for the health of the tier. I think idea wise the tier should be involved in a discussion of what is going to go on for the next season as the amount of players going from this season to next in the tier is already lower than in past seasons and with a decent amount of multiple season players feeling burnt-out or dejected from how the last season went we should look to increase player retention through an increase in player importance where players feel like their opinions are heard. I think the idea of having a more esea friendly date for the tier is a good one as I see the long term goal of the tier trending upwards in skill to players that would more often be impacted by schedule conflicts while still hopefully being available to those who do not play esea. I think premier is an extreme of the league where it has a lot of problems and needs its hand held to thrive.

ATL | RedondO 🏆

Define “implement more accountability for the admins” Could you clarify how you would implement your 3rd paragraph regarding immediate negative feedback on rulings?

To define the first part I feel more of what admins do and think should be public I think admin updates was a good start but was not followed up on and I think it should be even a step further with admins having to justify their votes publicly to the broader community. I think a major problem with the ability of the league to hold admins accountable is the lack of understanding in what it is they do or get accomplished to the average player. With the average player basing their votes in reelections of admins on how much "stuff" they have heard the admin has done with no specific inkling of whether that admin has tried to follow up on what they ran on this can be both a positive or negative as maybe an admin did not get as much done but with a more open and transparent system you can see they held true to what they were elected on thus telling those voters how they should vote to get specific issues they want addressed in the next election. In our current system people run on their popularity promising a bunch of different things that they will try to do but we currently have no way of knowing if they attempted to get these things done during their term thus when they run for reelection its only word of mouth and trust.

ATL | RedondO 🏆

Define “implement more accountability for the admins” Could you clarify how you would implement your 3rd paragraph regarding immediate negative feedback on rulings?

Can you specify your question a bit sorry just like grab me the specific quote because some of it is very similar and I want to make sure I answer your question in its entirety

WET | sletong

Hi ComradSniper, please correct me if I am mistaken but it seems that communication and communal decision making/referendum style policy implementation is a large initiative for your campaign. What do you see as the perfect balance between admin making the decision as they are the typically most informed individual and having a decision be presented to the community for a vote/deliberation? Best of luck, Comrad! (edited)

I think typically admins are the most broadly informed as they oversee all committees however when looking at specific things its important to lean on the specialists in that area typically your committee heads and their members as they have far greater understanding of their niche. Example being no one should push a numbers related decision without consulting Homer, an events decision without consulting Crazy or a tech decision without Nightfury etc. This is all to say these people are resources for the admins in their decision making on top of admins already being voted by the players to make decisions regarding the league. However, this does not mean that admins are infallible they can make decisions that may seem like a solution to them but to the general populace of the league is interpreted as a negative. When this occurs a formal review should be brought up in which players can place votes on the continued implementation or cancelation of the decision. This should be included in with a formal pathway for serious suggestions ideas to be implemented where the community can see where in the process their ideas are allowing for a more fluid transfer of ideas where players can actively see their ideas move along the chain of implementation. I think a good start would be the formal pathway for serious suggestions where in players could theoretically have a enough thumbs up on an idea and then it gets put in front of the proper people whether Admins or a particular committee where it undergoes a quick screening in which any shot down would be explained in their reasoning. (edited)

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NAN | GREG0ROVITCH 🏆

I'll be honest, one of the things that I have seen a lot of admins run on is accountability and transparency. No one ever (in my time here) has actually followed up with it. It's become a buzzword that people use to get elected and then throw out the window as soon as they win. My question is twofold. First, what makes you different, why should we expect accountability and transparency being made a priority by you as opposed to the other candidates? Second, like it or not, you'll be on a team with some of the current admins. Some of them and some of the others running for election/re-election do not place a priority on admin accountability/transparency. How will you make sure that, even if hindered by your fellow admins, you still make sure this practice is followed not just for yourself but for our admin team as a whole?

I've been around a similar amount of time and have seen much of the same which is the primary reason at this stage that I am running. I feel like I can no longer just sit back and play as the frustrations with the admins that my friends, acquaintances and myself feel have only grown the longer we stay in this league watching admins get reelected when I see waves of people complain about their performance while others get elected and quickly phase themselves away from positions of importance in this league once they complete their terms has grown tiresome. I understand the job is hard and nuanced but there is simply no excuse for the workings of our player elected admins to not be more open and public to understand what is going on. When admins are continuously elected on the grounds of accountability and transparency their is obviously a problem with our current system we need to know why it is these things do not change whether it be a lack of emphasis once elected or a stonewall being placed around those candidates. Any frustration I feel is not directed at any person in particular instead at the failing of a seemingly democratic system that fails to be accountable to those who vote in it whether it be our current rules or individuals to me does not matter simply that their is change. I think the thing that makes me different when related to other candidates may not be that much as its not an uncommon opinion however, I am fully willing to die on my hill its not a question of "well is transparency the right move" it is quite literally to me the only move that should happen the whole system fails to work when people are not able to be publicly accountable when they are voted on to get certain things done. (edited)

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UPS | ComradSniper 🏆🏆

I've been around a similar amount of time and have seen much of the same which is the primary reason at this stage that I am running. I feel like I can no longer just sit back and play as the frustrations with the admins that my friends, acquaintances and myself feel have only grown the longer we stay in this league watching admins get reelected when I see waves of people complain about their performance while others get elected and quickly phase themselves away from positions of importance in this league once they complete their terms has grown tiresome. I understand the job is hard and nuanced but there is simply no excuse for the workings of our player elected admins to not be more open and public to understand what is going on. When admins are continuously elected on the grounds of accountability and transparency their is obviously a problem with our current system we need to know why it is these things do not change whether it be a lack of emphasis once elected or a stonewall being placed around those candidates. Any frustration I feel is not directed at any person in particular instead at the failing of a seemingly democratic system that fails to be accountable to those who vote in it whether it be our current rules or individuals to me does not matter simply that their is change. I think the thing that makes me different when related to other candidates may not be that much as its not an uncommon opinion however, I am fully willing to die on my hill its not a question of "well is transparency the right move" it is quite literally to me the only move that should happen the whole system fails to work when people are not able to be publicly accountable when they are voted on to get certain things done. (edited)

So in the presence of being accountable screenshot this, post it in general, make it your desktop background if I am elected and after 1 season the players do not think I have done all I can to create a more transparent and open league with accountability for admins I will resign fully without hesitation or argument and I will never run again. (edited)

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BS | SABRiNA++ 🏆

Do you think bending to help one tier is a slippery slope?? And if you don’t then what stops Elite players to ask for different days if they play on the same IM teams that premier players do? What would be your answer to Elite tier wanting autonomy of their tiers schedule??

The problem is not bending the knee to one tier instead its the principle of bending to the players if 80% of elite need the league moved than it should be its as simple as that this league is a living entity however, that problem would be specific and if an IM player is in elite they should probably be numbers reported and moved up

Hey comrade, a few questions that stem from your responses. You talk about not pushing committee related decisions without consulting the committee/ch. Are you looking to expand the scope of admins to make committee level decisions? You mention our rules when talking about frustration with lack of accountability. What changes regarding rules would you like to see? And similar to the first question, are you looking to change RC in any way from the admin position? And lastly you talk about admins justifying their votes to the broader community. Could you give some examples of decisions from the past season or two that you would have liked to see justified in that way?

I disagree with your answer to the second question regarding experience. In my experience in CSC and in life, I have found that being involved in the day to day is really important to understanding how an entity works. Having this understanding is fundamental to trying to change or improve the entity. To piggyback off of scraps' question, have you worked with staff in CSC or maybe even on another team/org in an operational capacity? Can you talk about that? (edited)

What are some things you enjoy about CSC? What would you advise to players who have been discouraged by their CSC experience?

Will you be continuing to play CSC as a player if you are elected admin? Do you think you’ll be able to effectively balance your time across CSC as a player, CSC as an admin, your ESEA team and your personal life?

scraps

Have you ever considered positions such as Rules Committee Representative? I feel like some of your concerns of lack of representation is in reference to rules and not admins. If I am mistaken, please feel free to explain further. I know you are aware that the Admins were not the ones who chose which PFAs were moving and the timeline explanation was also addressed by Homer, as PFA conversions are a numbers-based decision with the help of admins for reaching out to players and converting them in CORE. Have you chosen to ignore this information or perhaps you missed it as discussions relating to this kinda got buried by other stuff. With this, you could likely propose and address some of this via Rule Committee as mentioned above. (I can link the form to submit Rule Changes Proposals if needed as well - I am not sure some people know it exists so just let me know.) We have done Admin Town Halls during combines during the past 2(?) seasons where players, staff, and spectators are able to ask any questions they have about the league and whatnot. I am assuming you would just like to see these happen more often?

I would say although there may be rules I don't particularly agree with as everyone probably has at least one (sharp and spaghetti dog for example) but more so the implementation and way they are perceived I feel there is often a lack of communication from the backend work of the league and the people it serves. I personally see this as a failure on the admins as although not every situation may be their responsibility the principles start at the top which is the admins. In relation to the situation you mention I did not choose to ignore anything the admins knew a change was going to happen one that would have a deep impact on playoffs and although not specifically their choice it was something that could have been mentioned. Something like that is small but its a common occurrence and adds up. I would say most people don't typically know about the rule changes proposals so that may need to be better advertised or revamped I also think that Admin Town Halls should have their frequency increased to better fit the pacing of the season. I think one before during or after combines fits well but a mid season and playoff townhall would be good additions for the league as a whole

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PFA | yeti2

Hey comrade, a few questions that stem from your responses. You talk about not pushing committee related decisions without consulting the committee/ch. Are you looking to expand the scope of admins to make committee level decisions? You mention our rules when talking about frustration with lack of accountability. What changes regarding rules would you like to see? And similar to the first question, are you looking to change RC in any way from the admin position? And lastly you talk about admins justifying their votes to the broader community. Could you give some examples of decisions from the past season or two that you would have liked to see justified in that way?

To answer your first statement if this is in response to my statement about committee heads being resources for admins that was me misspeaking a bit I don't think any one position particularly needs more power. And I do not plan on pushing to take any decision making away from the committees. If this doesn't fit what you wanted I'd be willing to elaborate more specifically

PFA | yeti2

Hey comrade, a few questions that stem from your responses. You talk about not pushing committee related decisions without consulting the committee/ch. Are you looking to expand the scope of admins to make committee level decisions? You mention our rules when talking about frustration with lack of accountability. What changes regarding rules would you like to see? And similar to the first question, are you looking to change RC in any way from the admin position? And lastly you talk about admins justifying their votes to the broader community. Could you give some examples of decisions from the past season or two that you would have liked to see justified in that way?

In response to the second part I don't really have specific issues with a rule in particular or anything its more so how they are implemented or when applied and there is frustration the lack of explanation that tends to come from the admins whom I view to be responsible for those types of interactions. (edited)

PFA | yeti2

Hey comrade, a few questions that stem from your responses. You talk about not pushing committee related decisions without consulting the committee/ch. Are you looking to expand the scope of admins to make committee level decisions? You mention our rules when talking about frustration with lack of accountability. What changes regarding rules would you like to see? And similar to the first question, are you looking to change RC in any way from the admin position? And lastly you talk about admins justifying their votes to the broader community. Could you give some examples of decisions from the past season or two that you would have liked to see justified in that way?

Finally for the third to me its not even about a specific example but the simple fact that this is how it should be players should be able to follow along and see what they voted for. Information and communication from the admins is very inconsistent specifically the Admin Updates channel has been dead and often when there are concerns questions are answered in random channels and swept away by the general chatter of the league. So I think a more thorough and standardized communication on decisions would be a good solution.

UPS | ComradSniper 🏆🏆

I would say although there may be rules I don't particularly agree with as everyone probably has at least one (sharp and spaghetti dog for example) but more so the implementation and way they are perceived I feel there is often a lack of communication from the backend work of the league and the people it serves. I personally see this as a failure on the admins as although not every situation may be their responsibility the principles start at the top which is the admins. In relation to the situation you mention I did not choose to ignore anything the admins knew a change was going to happen one that would have a deep impact on playoffs and although not specifically their choice it was something that could have been mentioned. Something like that is small but its a common occurrence and adds up. I would say most people don't typically know about the rule changes proposals so that may need to be better advertised or revamped I also think that Admin Town Halls should have their frequency increased to better fit the pacing of the season. I think one before during or after combines fits well but a mid season and playoff townhall would be good additions for the league as a whole

I do want to clarify that there is a difference between Behavior Guidelines (facilitated by the mods) and League Rules (facilitated by Rules Committee which consists of Committee Heads (or their respective assigned member), a GM Representative, 2 voting Admins, and multiple Player Representatives (the amount of Player Reps changes based on how many people apply - this past season we had 4 Player Reps) Admins are a very small fraction of the totals RC body. Player Representatives are a signficant part in comparison. As for moderation guidelines - comments, questions, and concerns can always be brought up in a moderation ticket. Or for both moderation and RC things, people can always ask questions in #help . (edited)

8:58 PM

Just because Admins are the "top of the chain" in most peoples eyes, you must understand that Admins arent dictators. Certain subsets of members are in charge of different things and Admins are here to support those tasks and step in when necessary without grossly overstepping.

8:58 PM

Its a balancing act

I literally don't want to change rules

Well, based on some of your complaints, you could be proposing rule changes (or behavior guidelines changes since you specifically cited something that is a moderation issue, not a RC issue)- unless you don't ultimately care about working towards changes

I would like to say this no longer feels productive, I feel as though you are intentionally ignoring my response in an attempt to push a narrative especially with the end of your last statement. I may be wrong but this is no longer a discussion as you are just saying the same thing to me over and over which is not productive I respect that you may feel that way but I have gone in depth on my opinions and the fact that the changes I want to see are admins holding responsibility for their actions and decisions in a transparent and public venue for all players to see which is why I want to be admin. I would be willing to continue talking about this but for the time being this simply feels in bad faith.

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HG | mutant

I disagree with your answer to the second question regarding experience. In my experience in CSC and in life, I have found that being involved in the day to day is really important to understanding how an entity works. Having this understanding is fundamental to trying to change or improve the entity. To piggyback off of scraps' question, have you worked with staff in CSC or maybe even on another team/org in an operational capacity? Can you talk about that? (edited)

I feel this is more of an opinion as I do not particularly think experience should be the end all be all in this type of setting. However, I am willing to understand your personal concern so outside of being a part of the community I am friends with a lot of people in positions within the league I have also had pseudo roster control in csc for the past 2 seasons and have had roster control for my IM team for the past 4 seasons. When understanding the inner workings of the league I have no doubts I would be able to manage as I have a good amount of managerial experience this spring I will be graduating with two business administration degrees in I hope this helps and alleviates any concerns you may have.

Myself and others feel it is important that people understand the differences in the roles - my intentions are that not only applicants understand the differences in the roles, but that they also understand that certain changes can only be made through certain avenues. It is important to identify things that you or others have issues with, but it is even more important to know what to do next with those thoughts. Specific issues you have identified very much could be adjusted via rules proposals or moderation proposals. Nothing is bad faith about ensuring people not only understand the position they are looking to take on but also understand the various avenues they can go through to accomplish various changes.

HG | mutant

What are some things you enjoy about CSC? What would you advise to players who have been discouraged by their CSC experience?

I think the best part of csc is bringing an environment where you can hangout with your friends and tying into being competitive whether that being trying to win a title with the boys or me shit talking Crazy because I love him I think it adds a lot to counterstrike for me personally. When it comes to discouraged players I think its important they do stay in the league if they still have any care for it as they can try to implement change whether it be staying in a committee only role until the problems are solved or playing some ten mans and doing PFA for a season to reset

scraps

Myself and others feel it is important that people understand the differences in the roles - my intentions are that not only applicants understand the differences in the roles, but that they also understand that certain changes can only be made through certain avenues. It is important to identify things that you or others have issues with, but it is even more important to know what to do next with those thoughts. Specific issues you have identified very much could be adjusted via rules proposals or moderation proposals. Nothing is bad faith about ensuring people not only understand the position they are looking to take on but also understand the various avenues they can go through to accomplish various changes.

I simply feel becoming an admin is the best avenue to doing the things I intend to do feel free to derive whatever meaning you want from my responses as all others will also do

COW | MrFailology

Will you be continuing to play CSC as a player if you are elected admin? Do you think you’ll be able to effectively balance your time across CSC as a player, CSC as an admin, your ESEA team and your personal life?

I genuinely think this is the hardest part of being admin for anyone. I will say I have thought about it and my initial thought is that it is doable, I intend to still play csc but I will be willing to give something up when the commitment runs, out but so long as I have committed to doing any of the about I will do it until completion.

Through my experience as an arbiter, there seems to be a variety of views on how different staff groups and player groups view arbiters. I understand no individual has the ability to dictate or define what that role is, but what do you see the role of Arbiters as? Do you see the high turnover rate of arbiters as an issue? Do you want to see any changes to that role?

The focus in a lot of Admin elections tends to land on transparency or major changes the candidates want to see. That said, you would be joining a group with a trajectory they have been working towards for a season(+) and would need to work with them for any changes around that. What current projects or actions do you want to encourage and help with that the current admin team is working on? What is one idea or project of yours do you think the current team would help you with?

djtl

Through my experience as an arbiter, there seems to be a variety of views on how different staff groups and player groups view arbiters. I understand no individual has the ability to dictate or define what that role is, but what do you see the role of Arbiters as? Do you see the high turnover rate of arbiters as an issue? Do you want to see any changes to that role?

I see the role of arbiter similar to that of the supreme court in that its a review court to make sure things are fair and interpreted properly without bias I do think they should be completely independent to better accomplish their jobs effectively. I do see a high turnover rate in the role that is supposed to be an unbiased reviewer as worrisome as their must be a cause but the problem of whether its the work causing burnout or other factors I am personally unsure but the opinions of arbiter definitely need to be addressed on the subject. I personally think change for the role would not be the worst as if something is pushed to an unbiased reviewer I think they should have power over the issue once it comes into their realm.

djtl

The focus in a lot of Admin elections tends to land on transparency or major changes the candidates want to see. That said, you would be joining a group with a trajectory they have been working towards for a season(+) and would need to work with them for any changes around that. What current projects or actions do you want to encourage and help with that the current admin team is working on? What is one idea or project of yours do you think the current team would help you with?

I don't feel particularly comfortable answering this confidently as someone with no staff access I would have an extremely hard time trying to tell you any projects the admins are working on at the moment let alone know enough about them to have any significant interest

When did you sign up to run?? Before or after the ping about low count? (I think I know)

BS | SABRiNA++ 🏆

When did you sign up to run?? Before or after the ping about low count? (I think I know)

I was signed up before the ping I've been committed to the idea of running for a while now as all my 4 am ten manners know

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I can also confirm he mentioned he was thinking of running to me back in march. Definitely not an impulse move.

He was set on it for a while, just wanted to ask question to everyone for records sake

Do you have any ideas on how to recruit more players to the league? Would need someone to fact check me but it seems like our main strategy is Reddit.

Aybaer 🏆

Do you have any ideas on how to recruit more players to the league? Would need someone to fact check me but it seems like our main strategy is Reddit.

I'm personally not sure about the current forms but I think building a twitter following would be nice. I am unsure on the numbers for this but having a csc retakes where a message displays in the chat about the league could be good as well it would no only be fun for current players but retake servers get a lot of random traffic and could grab us a decent number of players. I think reaching out to individual creators could also be a good idea smaller creators may even do it for free as the traction they get from our user base would boost their channel and vice versa. I do think reaching the esea community would also be a good step but I'm not sure how we broach that market as they would likely not be willing to support a substitute product.

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what qualities do you possess that will further the league that other candidates do not have in your opinion?

I am running on something very simple and integral to the league that I think the players deserve so I think my personality will help a lot as I am not going to be pushed over on the issue and will be an absolute pest about it until its done. I am also very straightforward and honest some people may not like what I have to say but I will tell it how it is.

12:13 AM

I am also outside the common group of staff so I bring a very different perspective. I am still a player and often play in ten mans with players across many tiers I like to think that helps me understand the position of wanting change in the admins and intend to keep that with me if I win. (edited)

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