Full Q&A With Cinnabutt
Cinnabutt - Cinnadogs
Author: "as i'm aware of some of the past admin issues you've had, how was it to have to "fire" some of your admins due to their choices? how did these changes effect the community if at all?"
Cinnabutt: "With the recent changes in administration, things have gotten easier. Three of my past admins have become swollen with pride in their position, taking on a faux-leadership role in my absence. This causes tension and, with every instance, they become aggressive and lash out at both my mods and community members - as well as myself. Its been hard having to eliminate them from their position because the reason they were there in most cases was because they were very good and often close friends of mine. It hurts.
The first two instances of this were when I actually had a "head admin" position - like second in command of the group. After twice having to remove the suddenly toxic admins I realized I had to equalize my mods. I couldn't figure out how to prevent the eventual degradation of a friend in that position, so I removed the head admin status. All of my mods now act as equals as they should be, with some of course managing more or less than others. It didn't stop the final instance of this happening, as it was mostly outside forces that caused their aggression - but no amount of reprimanding and attempts to fix their behavior as a professional in my group worked.
In every instance, the community has come to me with complaints of the mod in question acting unprofessional, and after many talks and no growth on their half, removing them made everything easier. I haven't had any major issues in the past year (coming up on two) after these admin changes and rule revisions - making my group a very open, loose, and welcoming community without fear of being targeted by a rogue admin or white knight.
It's a real shame trusting your friend to help you with this monumental task and having them become corrupt for who knows what reason. Knowing they're actively making the rest of us as a whole community look terrible with their actions and ignoring criticisms and advice.. I can't put it into words. But even after all of that, I'm willing to forgive what they've done. Losing friends over something like a closed species on deviantart is silly to me, and I wish things were easier to run. I don't want to be in this position for much longer if I'm speaking honestly, and at this point I would much rather my species be open to make people happy and I'm slowly working towards that goal."