(Potentially) Replacing A Staff Member/hiring New Staff

My Star Wars role play has three staff members (including myself). Things around my board have been mostly pretty good, but one of our biggest issues at the moment is that very little posting is happening (though we've gotten new members who've app'd characters). We had a staff meeting on June 3rd to figure out what we can do to boost activity (the newer members didn't really start joining until after this). During this meeting, one of my staff members and I sort of got into a mini argument. I pointed out that our thread for the Jedi event was waiting on posts and that I had posted (meaning that he could easily post again in it) and he responded with "no sh*t Sherlock" and ended up disappearing from the chat without a word. My entire point had been, if he had bothered to listen, that he could still post even if I was the last one to post in that thread and no one else was posting in it. How are the members going to know to start posting in a thread if they don't see it being posted in at least semi-actively? (And yes, I admit that the thread is still not being posted in, but it's something I'm attempting to fix...which is partially why I'm making this post.) He never gave me the chance to say as much as this, though, because he left the chat and I honestly don't think I've even seen him in our cbox since that day.

This staff member is in charge of our Imperial Knight faction (which up until after our staff meeting, his character was really the only active one of that faction because most players have gone MIA/shown little interest in the Imperial Knights). Applications need two approvals, and we've been doing it based on the faction of the character- I give one approval regardless, but then if an application is for the Imperial Knights, my staff member is supposed to give it a second look and give the second approval.

The last time he logged into his staff account was June 8th, according to the board. Between then and now, we had four applications, I believe, with three of them being for characters in his faction. Our rule is that we have seven days from the day an application is finished to approve it. I ended up having to veto...I believe three of these applications from needing their second approvals, just because it was either close or over the seven day deadline and my staff member still hadn't come around. I sent him two PMs on the 10th and 11th that the message tracker says have been read (which is odd, since the board says he was last logged in on the 8th). I've received no reply from him. My other staff member sent him a PM about something else and she received no response either.

I'm hoping it's just that he's been busy with work or something, but usually he's able to get online and at least tell us as much. As a staff member, the most he's really done is approve applications, even though he's in charge of the Imperial Knight faction, which includes getting threads and such going, but he hasn't really done anything like that. Since we have like three new characters for that faction, now is a perfect time for him to be doing so...but he's not around.

In general, my other staff member and I have discussed things, and we agree that we need help, and that our Imperial Knight staff member is clearly not coming around any time soon to do so. Even with him around, we need at least one other person to help out with the factions and things in general just to pick things back up.

I posted on my board and sent out an email saying that we're looking for staff members, because we agreed that it was better to hire within if at all possible rather than hire from outside if we could help it. So far, no one has shown any interest in being staff from within our members, so I'm getting ready to post an employee request here.

Since we haven't heard anything from our Imperial Knight faction mod, and there are some things that I haven't been too impressed with, I'm not sure whether or not I should be looking for a new Imperial Knight faction mod. The Imperial Knights have gotten on and off interest as far as character creation goes, but we really need someone to take charge and get plots and threads going and such, and since we don't know when/if our current faction mod is coming back...do I include that position as being open? I don't really want to -replace- him unless he just never comes back, or he comes back and says that he's out. On the other hand, I was thinking that if he does come back, then if I do find someone to help out with that faction then they could both oversee that faction.

The thing is, we need someone to help out sooner rather than later, because I don't want the members that we have, regardless of the faction the characters are in, to lose interest and not want to play those characters any more.

tl;dr I have a staff member who hasn't been around and we really need help. I want to know if I should include that staff member's position as being open and available for someone to take up.

Might I make another suggestion? If a faction depends on one person perhaps that faction is being too vulnerable. So why not have two persons covering each faction (perhaps with people covering more than one faction?) This way you can open it to a second person without forcing the argument with the current "faction holder". Or change the way you approve applications all together. In my experience people want immediacy when submitting an application and 7 days is a long wait. We try to turn them in a 36 hour window. Teammembers who don't speak up in that period are simply too late.

Regardless of these applications, if a person has not logged onto a site after an argument for more than two weeks that is a real red flag. I would send him an email at the very least that you are worried, that your community needs staff to be active, especially at this time. Also, that you think communication between you two has been off and could you please talk about it. So, you reach out and hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.

Well, that's what we're trying to do, by (hopefully) adding two more staff members, is hire people who are willing to be in charge of one faction and help with more than one of them. The problem is we don't have the member base to justify needing more than four total staff members, so if we do hire anyone else, then we really need people who are willing to be in charge of/help out with more than one faction. I have a member who said they would apply, but they don't know enough about the anti-Force guild (one of the factions we need help with), which is fine, and they don't really know what to do with the independent faction. That leaves the possibility of the Imperial Knight faction, but that's mainly dependent on whether or not the staff member who's supposed to be in charge of it is going to come back.

I like the seven day policy because it gives myself and my remaining staff member enough room for in case either of us get busy and don't have a chance to look over an application. It's worked well for the most part- the members know that we have up to seven days to get an approval. Any time it goes over that amount of days, it's usually either 1. because the member is making changes to the app that we ask for (that happened once) or 2. it's because it's waiting for the second approval for whatever reason. I really don't want to change that part of the application approval process, because it's worked out.

Well, I sent out an email a few days ago saying that we're looking for staff, so if he checked his email at all, he's at least aware of it...though at that point I didn't mention anything about the Imperial Knights.

I think at this point I need to -probably- prepare for the worst. There have been some other semi-small issues that I didn't go into detail on. I hate being uncertain about whether or not I need to do something that I know is best for my role play...I don't want the staff member who's MIA to get p-o'd at me possibly 'replacing' him, but at the same time I don't really have much of another choice...I really need to do -something- sooner rather than later, though, because right now the role play is suffering from lack of staff and lack of posting.

I'll send him an email and if he doesn't respond in a few days, I'll go ahead and post the ad for staff, and include the Imperial Knight faction mod in the positions we're looking to have filled.

Well, we have a staff of 5 people and we never leave a NPC or plot covered by less than two people, just so we don't have it caught in temporarily "not posting" issues. Individuals not posting will always happen and the only way of preparing for it is making sure that you spread the risk.

I didn't intend to tell you to change policies. Different strokes for different people. If what works for you still works, then keep at it.

Overall, lets be honest, if he hasn't contacted you by now, he's likely a lost cause. However, email him simply so you can always say you went that last mile. Honestly though... I think you've lost this guy already.

I hope you continue to moderate your game with as much enthusiasm as before and don't let this bad example get to you.

Yeah, i agree. I sent him an email to check in, so I'm going to try and wait until Monday before I post any employee requests. What I'm mostly afraid of is that my MIA staff member is going to pop back on and get p*ssed that we ended up replacing him, even though I sent him an email and I sent out the email telling people that we're looking for staff before that. He...kind of seems to have a short temper (as shown by his reaction when I tried to tell him that he could post in the thread that's just sitting there since I posted in it last), so it's hard to say how he's going to react.