I've been a Support Lead in the past for the now non-existent Technical Support Team but I've always closely worked with the team since my departure whether it was in my brief time in the Teamspeak Moderation Team alongside being Head Forum Moderator which did include being more involved with some of the behind the scenes work. Plus the Support Manager
@Mito is on the same staff team I'm on so I want to share my own thoughts and I've already shared some thoughts with Mito directly.
The Introduction of more Sub-Teams
Although the removal of the Tech Support team was a sad time for a few members of our community. I believe the principle and idea behind a smaller and tighter team with a much smaller task was very effective and gave users a way to diverse and find a team that best suited them. This is no longer present within Infrastructure and you currently have 3 choices in teams which don't really offer much diversion, even outside of Infrastructure the only smaller teams with a simpler tasks are really only Content Creator (Unless we wanted to count Human Resources). You already have Moderation on the major platforms sorted. Forum Moderation oversees the Forums, Teamspeak Moderation oversees the Teamspeak and the Rust Staff oversee the Discord.
I like all these teams and have enjoyed my team with all 3 (including the old Discord Moderation team), but I think Support is an excellent team to kick start some smaller teams that users could easily sign up to that would give them a chance to do something in our community.
There is a few ideas:
Client Services - Almost identical to how it was previously except underneath Infrastructure instead of Liaison to truly use the Infrastructure platforms more to their advantage to provide a more focused service. This team could simply just focus on communication and be a smaller team with a singular purpose
Designer - I've debated whether this team would add anything but I think it would be a nice experiment. A team decided to users who specifically want to help design layouts and channels to make it more visually pleasing for our community members. Whether they're helping redesign the new channel for a new Battalion on a RP server or reorganizing the channel layouts to make it more appealing. A very small team with a singular purpose that people would love to join and be able to stand out. This could easily be branched out to help not only on the Teamspeak but Forums and the Discords aswell.
Buddy - I'm not sure what the name could be so I'll just explain what the team does. This team is dedicated to members who will remain unbiased and be supportive to users who either need advice and be a friendly face amongst the community. It's for users who don't wish to report to staff leadership or HR which can often feel overwhelming to newcomers.
Those are some basic ideas and I'm sure plenty can be added as well. My point is that smaller teams do make a huge impact and give something for community members and staff to contribute to the community. With discussions about removing forced quotas and allowing more freedom to Leadership to decide whether people are contributing to the team. Smaller teams that offer different ways of helping would be very beneficial. Sure it won't help the server like Recruitment, Trainer and Gamemaster but that's not the point. Not everyone will enjoy these teams and with a community as diverse as Icefuse I think we should be expanding our teams rather than restricting.
I strongly believe this would be a great way to see Support branch out and be the first step to a better community for Icefuse.
