Staff Policy

DISCLAIMER: These policies apply to all staff, regardless of position, unless explicitly stated otherwise.

1. General Standards

As a member of staff, your actions and behaviour reflect on the rest of your team and on DeltaV as a whole, and may be scrutinised heavily by members of the community. Be sure to remain respectful, professional, and helpful, and adhere to the guidelines and policies relevant to you.

1.1 Every member of staff is required to follow the community standards and rules at all times. Violating these rules and guidelines, encouraging community members to break either, even in a joking manner, or intentionally ignoring infractions committed by staff and community members may result in demotion or dismissal. Members of staff are empowered and encouraged to end conversations and interactions that violate these rules and standards in public-facing channels and notify Moderation as necessary.

1.2 Staff are expected to be professional and respectful when performing staff actions. Such actions include but are not limited to: AHelps, CHelps, Community Management, tickets, and announcements. If a community member is being disrespectful or abusive, or if you feel uncomfortable handling a situation, please escalate to other team members or your head of staff, notify Moderation as necessary, and recuse yourself from further involvement.

1.3 Members of staff are expected to be helpful and trustworthy in their interactions with the community. Intentionally spreading misinformation, inciting witch hunts, or provoking community outlash are all actions that may result in demotion or dismissal from staff.

2. Privacy & Confidentiality

As a member of staff, you may be privy to community members’ personal identifying information. Abuse of your power to distribute PII without consent or authorisation constitutes an ethical violation and may additionally cause legal issues; be sure to read this section carefully if interacting with PII and double-check with your head of staff on anything you’re uncertain about.

2.1 Staff are expected to read and abide by DeltaV’s Privacy Policy. The policy can also be found in #information on our Discord.

2.2 PII is to be shared on a need-to-know basis. Do not, under any circumstances, share PII with members of staff or the community, unless: you have the consent of the information’s owner, or; you are sharing this information with other members of staff who require this information to perform their duties. Examples of PII include: IP/HWID, UUID, email address, etc.

2.3 Staff must not share sensitive, personal, or confidential information in public or unrelated channels, or with unrelated individuals. This includes any information regarding a player’s bans or watchlists, moderator actions relating to members of the community, or other private information. Sharing such information without the consent of that person will result in remediative action, without exception, up to and including immediate dismissal irrelevant of position.

2.4 Staff members must not share the contents of staff channels in public or unrelated channels, or with unrelated individuals. Sharing screenshots or excerpts from staff channels without the consent of a head of staff, project manager, or all staff members involved may result in remediative action.

3. Responsibility & Accountability

As a member of staff, you hold greater power and authority than most members of the community. Correspondingly, you are expected to be accountable for your actions within the community - and, to an extent, without. When acting in the capacity of staff, be sure to exercise responsibility, employ critical thinking, and involve other members of your team including heads of staff where necessary.

3.1 Staff members should not use direct messages for official staff actions or statements. This includes rule clarifications, player action notifications, or staff report follow-ups, and is to ensure that both staff and recipients can be held accountable for their statements and actions.

3.2 Staff members acting outside of their immediate responsibilities answer to and are held accountable by the relevant head of staff. For example, timeouts are overseen by the Head Discord Moderator, in-game kicks and bans are overseen by the Head Game Administrator, etc. Where possible, members are encouraged to cooperate on situations that may require the involvement of more than one branch of staff.

3.3 Staff members are expected to avoid situations involving conflicts of interest, biases, or other interpersonal dynamics that make impartial staff action difficult. If you find yourself placed in this situation, please report it to other team members or your head of staff and recuse yourself from further involvement. Known conflicts of interest, biases, or other dynamics between staff and players should be noted on the player’s record where applicable.

3.4 Staff preparing to be absent from their duties for an extended period of time are expected to notify their team or their head of staff. Especially long periods away from staff may necessitate mandatory training; please check in with your head of staff when returning from a leave of absence.

3.5 Staff are expected only to perform duties that they have been trained in, are confident in performing, and have been permitted or authorised to complete. Staff members acting outside of their scope may be subject to action from Staff Moderation and relevant heads of staff; if you are asked to perform a duty outside of your scope (due to inadequate training, lack of confidence/familiarity, or lack of authorisation) then you should refuse the request, explain why you are unable to fulfil the request, and have it delegated to another member of the staff team by a head of staff.

4. Staff Management

This section applies to heads of staff, members of staff in charge of teams, and senior members of the staff team. Each has additional sets of responsibilities and are expected to use their extended authority and power appropriately.

4.1 Heads of staff must manage their branches appropriately and be responsible for the actions of their staff. Heads of staff are expected to ensure that their staff, including themselves, follow the general policies and server rules, as well as policies specific to their branch.

4.2 Senior members of staff are responsible for assisting their heads of staff in setting an example, training junior members of staff, and management. Greater experience, extended authority, and increased oversight necessitate higher standards; infractions against rules and policy are expected to reflect this accordingly.

4.3 Heads of staff are expected to take responsibility for the performance of their team. In particular, they are expected to identify issues in the areas under their purview, implement plans and goals to address them, and evaluate their efficacy and success independently of Project Manager intervention - in essence, to actively run their team.

4.4 Heads of staff should handle remediative action within their own team. They hold the right to investigate possible infractions within their team and the ability to warn, demote, or remove staff from their branch - and are expected to do both where necessary.

4.5 Heads of staff intending to make a public announcement must first notify the Moderation team. Any public-facing Discord announcement requires a minimum 2 hour notice for Moderation, posted in #moderation-announcements, for the purpose of allowing moderators to prepare for community response; the exception being the Head Discord Moderator, who can monitor public channels themselves.