PvXwiki:Evaluating Build Masters

One of the roles of the Bureaucrat is to ensure that the Wiki is running optimally at all times. This responsibility manifested itself partly in the evaluation of the Build Master team.

Reviewing New Build masters
While some administrative candidates may have at first glance appeared to be well-suited to BMship, it was difficult to accurately gauge their suitability until that user had actually begun to perform in the role of an build master. Thus, all persons promoted to the role of build master underwent a build master Review about one month after promotion in order to gauge their performance in that capacity.

Two important considerations were as follows. First, the period of 1-month need not be taken to mean a static date exactly 1 month after promotion. Second, while a discussion of how a new build master functioned would and did take place, such an evaluation was in no way meant to interfere with or undermine that Administrator's authority, nor was it viewed as undermining the validity of that Administrator's promotion.

Reviewing Old Build masters
While Bureaucrats were constantly monitoring the performance of the BM staff in order to ensure that things were running smoothly, periodically, at the discretion of the Bureaucratic staff, a more formal discussion of the BM staff could take place after the 1-month mark.

Build master Reviews
When a build master review took place, the aim in mind was not to demote build masters, it is merely to evaluate their performance. Indeed, with the exception of the 1-month Review, if a Bureaucrat deemed it prudent to undertake a Build Master Review of the BM team, it means that the entire team was being evaluated. But, again, that didn't mean that the entire team was being considered for demotion. If, at the end of the review, it was determined that everything was running smoothly, then so much the better. However, if at the conclusion of such a Review was that a Build Master was not functioning in a satisfactory manner, a secondary evaluation would be undertaken to consider the question of demotion.

The reviews themselves would be conducted by the Bureaucratic staff with the Build masters acting in an advisory capacity. Furthermore, any member of the general user-base could contact a Bureaucrat with their input as well.

What We Looked For
As stated above, we were primarily interested in making sure that the BM staff was operating smoothly. As such, we were primarily interested in how the build masters were contributing in their capacity as a build master: Were they policing the Wiki? Were they taking their own initiative and helping to develop the Wiki? Were they helping to shape site policy?

If the answers to those and similar questions were yes, then a build master had nothing to worry about. For the most part, users were only considered for a secondary evaluation (i.e. one assessing the possibility of demotion) if they were actively detracting from the Wiki by their actions or their attitude. For example, if a build master was felt to have been abusing his authority/BM powers, they would likely be considered for a secondary evaluation. If however it was deemed that a build master was detracting from the Wiki and had, as a result, irrevocably lost the trust of the BM staff, then that build master could be demoted.

However, while it was usually only the detrimental build master who was considered for demotion, it was also important to note that simply doing nothing at all wasn't acceptable either. That meant that build masters who were either absent for extremely prolonged periods or who might as well have been (i.e. build masters who never acted in their capacity as a build master and as such were deemed not to warrant the continued responsibility of being a build master) could also be considered for demotion. However, this did not mean that build masters should have felt obliged to do specific tasks, nor did it imply that anything like a quota system was being employed.

Secondary Reviews
The "Secondary Reviews" (those that pertained to the question of demotion) were no different in substance from the primary evaluations. If a build master was considered for a Secondary Review, the questions remained the same, and the Bureaucratic staff looked for the same qualities, it merely became a question of whether actual action needed to be taken.

A Final Note
While the final decision always ultimately rested with the Bureaucratic staff, since the entire BM team would be affected by any actual action that was taken, it was generally accepted that the entire BM staff (with the possible exception of inactive build masters) could be consulted in an advisory capacity before a final decision was rendered in order to prevent division within the BM team.