While your thread was a bit long-winded, I managed to read my way through it.
Moderators are quite busy overall, so Helpers could do some stuff for them. Like moderating Ingame, and in Discord. This would give more use to the Helper role. Ofcourse Helpers won't be able to answer all questions, which is why Moderators should assist & watch over them. Moderators would have more time for /report reports, which will reduce the amount of automatically closed reports.
Isn't that what helpers are already doing? They help people out and answer questions players may have, they lock threads and interact with the community. Helpers are in a phase where they are expected to report players so moderators can deal with the reports and evaluate them: how skilled are they at catching rulebreakers and identifying illegal modifications?
Both these systems will cause more work for Animal. And I know she's a volunteer, and that she won't be able to handle more work like this. Which is why we should maybe have two Admins. I know that two staff managers won't work, which is why I think one Admin should be Staff Manager over the Moderators, and the other Admin should manage over the Helpers. This is so they can focus on one thing, and so that they will have more time for it. Since Admins are volunteers, I don't think this would harm CubeCraft.
If there are two Admins, one dedicated to Helpers (reviewing applications included), maybe that Staff Manager could also give feedback to applicants. I know this isn't possible right now, as it's too much work. But if the person who gives feedback doesn't have to do manage Moderators, it should be able to give feedback to applications. Ofcourse, reacting to every application won't work. But, reacting to the ones that stand above the others would be useful. These people didn't make it, but they were close. If they were told what they had to change, it would improve their next application.
I'm fairly sure Tacosbefriends got paid back when he managed the staff team. I don't see any reason as to why Animal wouldn't be. That doesn't really make her a volunteer anymore.
Additionally, just like it is difficult to find qualified helpers/moderators, it's also difficult to find qualified administrators. It doesn't rain helpers/moderators, nor does it rain administrators. Even then, I don't think this is really necessary. Staff members that have these kinds of positions within the team tend to be relatively old, so due to their own, busy lives, communication would be very challenging.
We have a few helpers now and then, but most of the time we have none. That would mean the administrator managing the helpers has no work to do. I know your suggestion is to have more flexible helper recruitment, but I still do not feel like this would be necessary for reasons I mentioned above.
While I agree that something has to change, this is all just unneeded hassle.
Recruitment team, just change your attitude and don't feel like you failed if a helper turns out not to be qualified :)
