Counter Strike Confederation

Why do you want to become an Admin?

I've never wanted to become an admin and still don't. I can't continue to run the numbers committee if I become an admin and I don't want to put myself in the uncomfortable position that would come with the spot. I didn't think once about applying until the deadline was extended. However, I'm not confident in the next admin team being adequate to keep the league steadily progressing like I've felt it has been the past couple seasons, so I will do anything I can to keep things rolling. I genuinely hope I am wrong and can drop out of the election when public discussions start, but I see myself as one of the more qualified possible admin candidates and will shift my focus if that would be best for CSC.

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

I joined CSC for Season 3, played 3 seasons as a full-time player, took a break for Season 6, then returned as a PFA for Seasons 7 and 8 before stepping back when I became numbers committee head, so I've seen a majority of the ups and downs the league has gone through. My playing experience has also been varied to an extent, as I played my first season in the minor tier (there were only two tiers back then WOW), and have played in higher tiers the rest of my time while also juggling ESEA and CSC for a season.

I joined the numbers committee after it formally started at the end of Season 7 because I felt the league was in a bad spot and wanted to do anything I could to help CSC succeed, and I have been the committee head since Season 9. As the numbers committee head, I've also been in the rules committee. I have a good understanding of how the league operates, as numbers is pretty intertwined with a lot of the league's functions.

My professional experience in data science definitely applies much more directly to the numbers committee, but the communication skills I've learned through my work experience translates to the admin position.

(edited)

6:12 PM

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

I don't have many specific ideas to implement as admin because I've been focused more on numbers things recently, and I honestly think admins have been doing a good job in most areas the past couple seasons. I think communication has been an issue at times, but I've seen admins work to remedy those issues as they come up. The admin-updates channel could potentially be used more similar to how RC uses the official-changes channel to officially acknowledge concerns brought up by the community, even if a meeting in VC doesn't happen. I think working to make premier a better experience for players should be an immediate focus. For numbers, I've looked to turn combines from the current bad experience for new premier players to something actually fun, because combines are supposed to be super exciting for players and normally is for other tiers. For admins (this is not my idea but I want to show my support for it), I think discussing an alternate schedule for premier along with increased flexibility for rescheduling is a must. The schedule should allow players to work around ESEA for CSC rather than essentially forcing players to work around CSC for ESEA.

I would like admins to continue to be hands-off from committees and simply provide a guiding hand (and a fire extinguisher when something breaks). In my experience with numbers, admins have allowed the committee to handle itself while taking some of the burden off me to communicate with other parts of the league (i.e. GMs). It gives me confidence in what I'm doing when admins are clearly confident in me. CSC is blessed to have so many talented and driven volunteers, and admins should be there to help facilitate the incredible things we've seen from the past few seasons.

Anything else you would like to add?

I've been extremely frustrated and burnt out from this place in the past, and it's led me to act in ways I hate to look back on at times, so I'd like to apologize to anyone who has unfortunately dealt with that in the past.

CSC has given me so much. I love everyone who has volunteered their time and effort to make this an incredible community. Even if you just play and have a good time, that adds to the atmosphere. Thanks for being great, love y'all.

@Homer 🏆🏆

Out of curiosity, is there a specific core issue or aspect that you can disclose in which you don't feel confident the next admin team can do? As an extension to that, how would your expertise fit in with the need. Best of luck Homer!!

Do you plan on continue running now that you see who else is running?

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

What are your ideas for making premier combines fun, in your words?

WET | sletong

Out of curiosity, is there a specific core issue or aspect that you can disclose in which you don't feel confident the next admin team can do? As an extension to that, how would your expertise fit in with the need. Best of luck Homer!!

I'm going to give some context on the timeline of everything to help explain my answer: I was originally a member of the backer pool and was completely focused on numbers. When I saw the "limited number of applications" as it was later worded, I asked to be removed from the backer pool out of frustration. The next morning, the notice went out about the application deadline being extended, and I filled mine out that night. I was the most hands-on member of the numbers committee during Season 8 even before becoming the committee head, so the number of jokes about a single admin carrying the entire team that season would indicate that I know first-hand how easy it is for everything to get slowed down from admin incompetency. It was a nightmare, and I'm grateful for the admin who stepped up that season. I don't want to feel like the work I put into CSC is going to waste, and I felt very strongly that it would have been this season based on the limited number of candidates going into the election initially. Before the application was re-opened, I was contemplating whether I wanted to stick around CSC at all. Hopefully that explains why I didn't feel confident. To answer your follow-up question, I feel that familiarity and experience with the different aspects of the league are the biggest differentiators when it comes to "qualifications" for the admin position. As I explained in my application, I have been around the league for a very long time and have been very involved the past three seasons, but especially the past two seasons as the numbers committee head and a member of the rules committee.

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ATO | Assass1n

Do you plan on continue running now that you see who else is running?

I am definitely going to continue running in this election. I don't mean to slight any other candidates by continuing, because experience is not required to have good ideas and a good mindset to run CSC. Also, with the backer pool setup, anybody who makes it to the election is at least driven enough to put in work. Ultimately, however, I feel that having a large amount of experience in an elevated role in CSC is a massive benefit to jumping into the position.

djtl

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

I think the two largest reasons behind the problems in premier are scheduling conflicts with ESEA and the initial combine experience. For context, we had 61 projected premier players when we met to lock in the tiers for the season, and we ended up with 35 players drafted in premier for Season 10, which included a few players promoted by their GMs before the draft. I'm going to talk about the scheduling issue in this answer and then the combine issue in my response to RedondO. In my opinion, the schedule in premier has to be adjusted to allow players to work around their ESEA schedules to make CSC matches fit. The specific idea I've heard and am currently on board with came from yetiF, which is to replace the Tuesday-Thursday schedule with a once-a-week schedule. Not only would this remove one potential overlap with ESEA default days, but it would also allow for more flexibility when it comes to rescheduling CSC matches. The current rule allows matches to be rescheduled to before the original scheduled date and time or any time up to 11:59PM of the next match day except for that match day's normal match time. No matter what, I would like to get opinions from ESEA players on this before the season and get feedback after the season regardless of if an alternate schedule is implemented.

ATL | RedondO 🏆

What are your ideas for making premier combines fun, in your words?

This is a numbers solution specifically, but since I am implementing a potential solution I mentioned it in my application. Here's the rundown: A lot of new premier players tune out of the league right away, and I can't blame them based on the typical premier combine experience. In Season 10, premier had less than 20 combine games played, which is nowhere near any other tier. There were 20 players who played at least 20 combine games this season. The mentality of premier players is definitely a contributing factor to this, but I think being forced to sit in queue for 45 minutes because you missed joining the queue on your first night and then not even getting into a game at all because a few players left after the first one is an awful experience and would send people away. The biggest problem has been the inflexibility of numbers which doesn't allow for queues to be merged to get more games started. I've been working on the fix for that and just need to integrate it into the current system before it's ready to go for this next season.

My main question is what happens to da numbies if no homie in da numbies isforme

My biggest worry is that all of the effort that you have put into numbers falls flat because of someone else (not only competency wise, but also trust wise which is most important to me) not being able to fill those shoes. You've done an exceptional job in numbers and I know I can always rely on your work and dedication to that. I dont question whether you would do well in admin or not because I know your work ethic. Additonally, if you were to become admin, what would happen to some of the goal projects that you have in mind for numbers processes? (edited)

scraps

My main question is what happens to da numbies if no homie in da numbies isforme

My biggest worry is that all of the effort that you have put into numbers falls flat because of someone else (not only competency wise, but also trust wise which is most important to me) not being able to fill those shoes. You've done an exceptional job in numbers and I know I can always rely on your work and dedication to that. I dont question whether you would do well in admin or not because I know your work ethic. Additonally, if you were to become admin, what would happen to some of the goal projects that you have in mind for numbers processes? (edited)

This was definitely the hardest part about my decision to run. I've mentioned my excitement for where things are headed with numbers to you at some point last month if I'm remembering correctly, so obviously the timing of this makes me sad. I know numbers is where I'm supposed to be. As it pertains to trust, you and I both understand more than most why that is so important for the numbers head position specifically, which is why I spent so much of Season 9 working on guardrails for the system. I think the guardrails I've been able to implement so far are a good start, but there is definitely more work to do on that front. I've at least got the next steps written down and would pass along what I have to whoever takes over. I think some of the biggest steps forward in terms of integrity have already been put in place with the manuals log and the overall updated manuals process. I can at least be around to keep an eye on what's going on to prevent any abuse that isn't already covered by what we've got in place. As it pertains to competency, I think I've made some progress on making myself replaceable within numbers but it's not where I would ideally like it to be. I started working very recently on properly documenting my code as well as all the different processes in both public documentation and a private reference sheet. I've ramped up on that since filling out my admin application and am going to power through it before the election concludes in the event I do get elected. Don't tell my boss please and thank you. I think it would take a bit of time for whoever takes over to get up to speed, but I would still be around to answer questions. I also feel good enough about the current system (with the S11 improvements being worked on) that tweaking what is already there as necessary rather than making large changes will keep things afloat at least. Given we just finished the most competitively balanced season in CSC history (hopefully I will release this metric soon, still trying to figure out how to best present it lol), I think the league experience won't suffer in the short-term. For your second question, I think you're referencing some of the ideas I've mentioned to you that I'll call my personal pipe dreams LOL, but if I'm wrong on that please correct me. A lot of those ideas are longer-term projects that I could hopefully return to numbers to work on or at least pass along to whoever runs the show in the future. Ultimately, I won't let anything get lost completely. I am way too much of a nerd to be content with the basic systems in place, so if I'm not working on that stuff I will be thinking about it.

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??

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??

Dealing with the specific needs of a tier is exactly what we should be doing overall; that's not a negative. I specifically mentioned getting opinions from ESEA players in part to acknowledge that other tiers also have players in ESEA. We need to do a better job of tracking ESEA via actually handling ESEA accounts correctly during signups so we can gauge how large of an issue it could be in other tiers. If another tier such as elite has a large problem as well, I would be in favor of dealing with that rather than forcing players to try to work around CSC to make room for the league they actually paid to compete in. However, from the data we can look at it's very clear that premier has a much larger issue than other tiers with regards to subs. For reference, the number of subs per match this past season in each tier were roughly:

premier: 1.306
elite: 0.756
challenger: 0.664
contender: 0.402
prospect: 0.28

Along with the data I referenced earlier about premier going from 61 projected premier players when offseason transactions opened to 35 drafted premier players this season, it seems very clear to me that premier cannot move forward without addressing the scheduling conflict with ESEA in some way. There is a balancing act though. In general, I think the current schedule is beneficial for players getting their first team experience because it somewhat simulates the same scheduling as ESEA (obviously ESEA has more flexibility but the general idea of two matches a week is the same). Not everyone plays ESEA even at higher tiers of CSC, and for some the Tuesday-Thursday schedule might work better. I'm certainly not set on any particular change because player opinions and staff considerations need to be taken into account, but I don't see an issue with following players' leads on this when feasible because the status quo in premier is guaranteed to lead us to having the same discussion about removing the tier for the 4th season in a row.

maybe it's just me but seeing you have all this information and knowledge just makes me think you should stay numbers head (in a good way)

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1:14 PM

so I guess my question might be something like "why should I want you to be admin if I think you're invaluable to numbers?"

FA | ZyraReflex

so I guess my question might be something like "why should I want you to be admin if I think you're invaluable to numbers?"

This might seem like a weird answer for someone running in an election, but I think it makes sense given what I've said so far. If you think there are three other candidates that are qualified and better fit for the admin position, you should vote for them. Like I've said, I would much rather continue to run numbers. I just didn't feel confident in the lack of initial candidates and don't feel confident enough in this current batch of candidates to drop out. I'm just sick of wasted admin spots. I would feel a bit better if the community thinks three other candidates are qualified enough and better fit for the position than I am, and I hope that if I'm not elected that anyone I'm not currently confident in can prove me wrong through their admin term. I don't see myself as invaluable to numbers. I went into my reasoning on that in my answer to scraps in my paragraph about the competency of whoever would take over. I'll summarize that paragraph by saying that my knowledge of the numbers system wouldn't be lost as I could still answer questions that come up, and I feel that the current systems in place are or will be documented well enough by the end of the election to keep things running somewhat smooth in the future.

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With you stating that you've been frustrated and burnt out of csc in the past. Does it worry you that taking on a role such as admin might bring those feelings of frustration and burnout back in force with a 2 season term? (PS send me down to elite before you leave numbies please. I'll send a plethora of chicken sandwiches)

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GAS | Crazy

With you stating that you've been frustrated and burnt out of csc in the past. Does it worry you that taking on a role such as admin might bring those feelings of frustration and burnout back in force with a 2 season term? (PS send me down to elite before you leave numbies please. I'll send a plethora of chicken sandwiches)

For context, my frustrations/burnout from CSC were mainly from Season 8's lack of activity from most of the groups I was directly working with, and it felt heightened by personal stuff I had to deal with last year. Both my personal situation and my CSC situation have changed for the better in the two seasons since then. If the amount of work I've put into numbers over the past two seasons didn't break me, I think the admin role couldn't be much worse. Also, I'm cooking chicken sandwiches for my parents tonight to prove that I've perfected the art of the chicken sammie. Nobody can bribe me anymore. Good luck in super premier, buddy.

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

Non serious question: Hey homer do you think your memory problems will affect your ability to be admin since you asked for a reminder here? Serious question: given that you have been a driving force in numbers do you think it'll be difficult for you to take a step back and let the committee go down whatever path it starts without you?

HG | mutant

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

For your first question, I'll answer from my past playing perspective and my current staff perspective. I was very close to moving on from CS when I found CSC (solo q MM very fun), and that first team CS experience hooked me. The welcoming atmosphere and that gateway into team-based CS makes CSC special in my opinion. Now that I've removed myself from playing, I get my enjoyment out of making progress in my work on numbers and ultimately seeing the effects it has on the league. Seeing super competitive tiers makes me proud even if GMs have to make it work around the misplacements we let through. For your second question, I would first say we need to listen to the discouraged people as much as anyone, which is hard given the understandable first response for a lot of people is to just leave. I think some of the disconnect came from not being explicit enough about not everyone making a team in advertising, some of it has come from our attempts to balance the tier player counts leading to a larger than desired FA pool, and some of it can come from individual experiences. Ultimately, I would hope anyone who has been discouraged can see the overall experience of the league and take the next season as a new opportunity, and I think that staff being as direct as possible about fixing the issues that I just brought up should be an encouraging sign.

COW | Saunce

Non serious question: Hey homer do you think your memory problems will affect your ability to be admin since you asked for a reminder here? Serious question: given that you have been a driving force in numbers do you think it'll be difficult for you to take a step back and let the committee go down whatever path it starts without you?

My organizational skills are slowly coming together I swear, but thanks for the reminder :) I definitely won't try to give a bullshit response to this one. It wasn't easy to decide to run because of my position in numbers, and I wouldn't be able to sit completely unaware of what numbers is up to in the future. However, I have complete faith in the members of the committee as it stands right now, so while I would always be interested in what's going on, there's no question in my mind that the committee will go in a good direction whether I'm driving or not.

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I suppose I could have edited out the first question to something like best slaw for a chicken sammie but I appreciate the response for both

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I've never wanted to become an admin and still don't... I don't want to put myself in the uncomfortable position that would come with the spot. I didn't think once about applying until the deadline was extended. However, I'm not confident in the next admin team being adequate to keep the league steadily progressing

When I saw the "limited number of applications" as it was later worded, I asked to be removed from the backer pool out of frustration.

With these responses I feel like there's a lot of emotions involved surrounding your decision making. How can you assure us as players that you will not up and leave the admin position when things don't go your way or say, something happens that you vehemently disagree with but the majority of admins support?

FA | kowalskey 🏆🏆

I've never wanted to become an admin and still don't... I don't want to put myself in the uncomfortable position that would come with the spot. I didn't think once about applying until the deadline was extended. However, I'm not confident in the next admin team being adequate to keep the league steadily progressing

When I saw the "limited number of applications" as it was later worded, I asked to be removed from the backer pool out of frustration.

With these responses I feel like there's a lot of emotions involved surrounding your decision making. How can you assure us as players that you will not up and leave the admin position when things don't go your way or say, something happens that you vehemently disagree with but the majority of admins support?

In regards to my emotions being a factor in my decision-making: My worry about the league led me to reach out to every committee head looking for members and ultimately led me to apply to join the numbers committee. My worry about where the numbers committee was at led me to run for the numbers head position. Yes, my emotions have driven me in the past and are driving my decision to run for admin, but they've only pushed me further into the league because ultimately I care too much about CSC to let it falter or stagnate without trying to help the situation. I always try to be as open and honest as possible about my emotions to help make other people comfortable with sharing their own; that's all those words are an indication of. In regards to how I would handle disagreements: I've disagreed with numbers committee members and decisions. I've disagreed with rules committee members and decisions. I've disagreed with admins and their decisions. I'm an adult, and any reasonable adult understand that disagreements between people with good intentions almost always lead to positive outcomes. My understanding of that would be no different if I was admin. If a disagreement not surrounding a compromise of league integrity could push me out, I would've been out of my staff position a long time ago.

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?

Do you plan on playing in s11? If so, at what level of commitment?

When did you sign up to run?? Before or after the ping about low count?

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 arbiters as a check on the moderation system. It's there to protect community members from abuse. A somewhat higher turnover rate can be expected in any elected position as opposed to regular committee roles, but I think individual circumstances have been the driving factor in the arbiter turnover rate in the past. If there is evidence behind it being a systemic problem, I would like to address that. I can't necessarily speak on any desired changes to the role due to my limited experience with arbiters; I have no direct experience with them in fact.

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?

The wording on this is throwing me off a bit just because "projects" makes me think of committee projects and admins don't really have a bunch of projects in that sense. I can only really rehash what I've mentioned already, but I will summarize the two points of improvement I see currently from the outside looking in. The premier schedule should allow for players to work around ESEA to make CSC matches fit into their schedules, rather than the current situation of CSC forcing players to work around our schedule to fit ESEA matches. That discussion is one I've already touched on with admins, and is something that seems likely to be addressed in some form this next season based on everything I've seen/heard. I think the issue of transparency is always in the forefront, and while I agree that there's room for improvement from the admins in that regard, I've seen a consistent receptiveness from admins on that front. My suggestion to use #admin-updates to formally acknowledge concerns from the public when they get discussed (in a similar vein to RC with #official-changes) is one that I think would have support from current admins. At the very least I think there will be some attempt to increase the official communication from admins in the future.

djtl

Do you plan on playing in s11? If so, at what level of commitment?

I stepped back from playing in CSC entirely when I took over as numbers committee head specifically to avoid giving any room for accusations of abuse. I would hold the same opinion as admin, so I won't be playing in CSC at all regardless of the outcome of this election.

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BS | SABRiNA++ 🏆

When did you sign up to run?? Before or after the ping about low count?

I gave a timeline in my response to sletong on Monday, but I'll rehash it here. I was originally a member of the backer pool. The initial candidates were released to the pool, and I asked to be removed from the pool after that. Once the notice went out extending the deadline, I spent the day thinking it over and ultimately filled out my application that night.

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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.

11:40 PM

@Homer 🏆🏆 (sorry for ping its a last minute question)

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.

Overall, I think just having a consistently strong social media presence is very important even if we are not directly advertising to prospective players. If we consistently post high quality content on social media and produce high quality streams, I think we will continue to grow steadily. A connection can be made as well to a change in the premier schedule to bring in more high-level players who play ESEA, but I think that's been talked about enough lol

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