Project Tranquility (Revising)

[Takatia]

Thank you for bringing that up. In no way was my post meant to mean that this was up to the Wolfhome administration to solve. It's a long standing issue that is in Underdog's hands alone. The fact that it is continuing to have a negative trickledown effect here, and I'm sure on other Chatlands sites is not surprising, but disappointing all the same.

[Laika-]

Without getting too off topic I want to also clarify that I, too, in no way mean to insinuate by my posts that the responsibility for the Guardians' actions or lack thereof falls upon WHs shoulders. You guys arent responsible for answering for them - that responsibility lies with them.

I do however feel like the chronic issues we have been experiencing via the aforementioned trickle down effect has been hindering a lot of things, including WH's ability to efficiently re-establish trust with the remaining CL userbase
(which is now split 50/50 between Baetyl and WH) because of the unknown factors (how much influence and involvement do they even still have has been a major lingering question). It of course also doesnt mean that the Guardians are also the scapegoat for every prominent issue addressed here - everyone needs to hold themselves accountable for their part in whatever has transpired - but I hate to feel like this is serving as just another hurdle for everyone to try and find a way to move past.

[Cider]

I wasn’t planning to engage on this thread because I don’t feel like it will be worth my time or energy, but I find it difficult to stay out of it. As much as I wish I didn’t, I do still care about Wolfhome, and it is hard for me to see the same cycle repeating again and again.

I have seen some of the “individual” apologies the administration is sending out, and while they are customized to the specific user situations, they feel like they come from a standardized template rather than being authentically written from the heart. I recognize that it is hard to apologize for things that happened a year or more ago, especially when most of the current admin team was not involved at that time, but if an effort is being made to make things right, I believe it hat spending more time crafting meaningful and unique messages would be beneficial. It also might be worthwhile to have more than one admin writing them so that the perspective of the apology is more well-rounded from the entire team.

I appreciate the administrators who have engaged on this thread, and it is clear to me that Ghrimelda, Loki, and Herb especially do care about improving Wolfhome. However, this entire thread has highlighted that the past year has not brought any fundamental changes to the way Wolfhome is approaching problems. I can tell just from who is commenting on this thread and how Project Tranquility was written that it was not truly a team effort to create this new project.

It is concerning to me to see Loki putting his health at risk to engage here, and to see Ghrimelda taking time away from caring for her young children, and that Herb was so anxiously taking all of the accountability for this while so close to welcoming a new human into this world. The administration have always been quick to point out that being a part of the team is a volunteer position, but they have always struggled to promote healthy work/life balances for the team. How many admin have had to resign due to the stress and trauma they have faced being on this team? How many still have to deal with the lasting trauma from being on the team even years ago? I remember when this all blew up last year, there was talk of the administration being required to take actual Human Resources training to better manage how the team handle situations with the users as well as their own practices. Did this ever happen? Were there actual improvements made to how the workload is distributed?

Scrimshaw has asked for better project tracking and more tangible goals and timelines to be implemented as changes happen to Wolfhome. I want to expand on this and suggest that administrators have actual schedules and hours (maybe they already do, in which case they need to have firmer boundaries), where they have dedicated working and non-working time while they’re online. If admin are expected to put their real life needs on hold to answer threads like this (referring specifically to Loki, Ghrimelda, and Herb with their current life situations), the burnout and stress problems that have always plagued the administration will continue.

Administrators should not be able to interact here or on chat in an official capacity unless they are explicitly “on the clock.” Their schedules should be planned in advance (weekly, monthly, quarterly, whatever makes sense), and they need to plan for coverage if they will be away for an extended period of tome. If they want to contribute non-administrative ideas and chat casually outside of their work hours, that’s fine. But even if they are the only one online, if they are not “on the clock,” they should not be expected to answer or handle admin tasks.

It seems like a common critique that Wolfhome currently has too many administrators for the active user base, and the argument is that the team has been expanded for the sole purpose of having more coverage spread over all hours. However, there are still admin here feeling obligated to comment at the expense of their own health or real life responsibilities. That is a real problem and you all need to address it internally.

Finally, my observation of this situation has made me feel that there have not yet been any creative or significant changes to how Wolfhome is run. There are definitely good things in the works, but they aren’t fundamentally different than what Wolfhome has done in the past. I know a lot of users have put forth great suggestions, and most of them were ignored for the past year. I’m glad to see this Project is being re-worked to better implement some of those ideas, but it doesn’t feel like enough. Ultimately, if the actual process of enacting policies and projects remains as it has always been, the problems will continue to arise and the pattern will continue.

In my opinion, the entire administrative process needs creative reworking. There needs to be more accountability for all of the administrators so that you are all equally engaged and helpful. I think a lot of us have noticed who hasn’t contributed to this discussion, and it comes off as those admin not caring or not wanting to be involved. I wonder who among you did not contribute to this thread while it was a work in progress over the past number of months.

Maybe the Gamma/Beta/Alpha system needs to be changed for something more effective. Maybe the Apprentice training system needs to be completely revised to give chances to more users and have a more rigorous training period. Maybe the Town Council role should be looked into again and put in motion. I don’t have the solutions, but I think you all need to step out of the box and throw some really innovative and new ideas at the wall. They don’t all have to be implemented, but it feels like working within a broken system will always create broken solutions. The whole system should be up for change, and if it isn’t, Wolfhome will never progress.

Sorry for such a long comment and hopefully I wasn’t redundant with other commenters.

[Laika-]

Cider's response is excellent IMO, and they make a good point in emphasizing the problem with staff constantly on the brink of burnout. I experienced the same feeling while I was a CL admin (and I formally quit my position shortly before the events of 2021 really took a turn for the worse and everything all but exploded).

If staff members are constantly sacrificing their mental health and neglecting IRL responsibilities in order to mitigate things like this, ultimately nothing good is actually going to come from it. WH will only continue burning through staff members that eventually leave with a sour taste in their mouth, community members will be left feeling overlooked, and this relentless cycle the community is stuck in will only continue to be perpetuated.

This shit isn't supposed to feel like a thankless chore, but I'd argue that it has felt that way for subordinate members and admins alike for a long time now. It's not healthy for anyone.

I do agree that I feel one of the biggest issues at play here, alongside my previous point about WH staff guidelines likely needing reworked, is overall disorganization.

Reworking what exactly is expected of each rank in terms of responsibilities and activity could certainly be another good place to start.
Putting safeguarding protocols (mental health checks, allocated self care "time off" periods, etc) in place that allow for staff to avoid this sense of burnout may also be good for morale, so long as there are other staff members available and mentally prepared to pick up the slack as needed. There are undoubtedly enough currently ranked members to cover this given the minuscule size of the remaining userbase, but maybe inactivity is a problem.
Perhaps certain team members also need to step back and do some self reflecting and determine whether or not they're actually equipped to hold their current rank right now, or if it would be more appropriate to pass the torch to someone else.

We of course need you guys to be able to listen to us and be receptive to constructive criticism, but obviously if you're stretched too thin and dont have the spoons to do anything more without damaging or destroying your health then obviously, as Cider already mentioned, that points to a very significant fundamental problem. Nothing will get better if the WH team doesn't first.

[Lorien]

I am currently at work right now so i cannot reply as in depth as i’d like to but I do want to mention that I am personally writing these apologies myself, no templet to help me, and making sure that they are specifically taking accountability and apologizing for the right things regarding each person. I have been going back through all topics I can find and making sure to mention what specificity the person was wronged for & how we have managed or plan to manage that these wrongful actions are not to be repeated.

I do admit being/ talking more formally is a trauma response. Writing these apologies are something I personally wanted to take on since a lot of the staff are still taking time with families for the holidays which is why you guys only see a handful of us replying here ):

I have to head back into work for the last hour of my shift, I just wanted to let you guys know that I will add more and respond to everyone!

[VESSEL]

I am currently at work right now so i cannot reply as in depth as i’d like to but I do want to mention that I am personally writing these apologies myself, no templet to help me, and making sure that they are specifically taking accountability and apologizing for the right things regarding each person. I have been going back through all topics I can find and making sure to mention what specificity the person was wronged for & how we have managed or plan to manage that these wrongful actions are not to be repeated.

I do admit being/ talking more formally is a trauma response. Writing these apologies are something I personally wanted to take on since a lot of the staff are still taking time with families for the holidays which is why you guys only see a handful of us replying here ):

I have to head back into work for the last hour of my shift, I just wanted to let you guys know that I will add more and respond to everyone!

I respect the amount of effort you’re putting into this and I appreciate that you are doing what you can with what you have to give people necessary apologies.

However something I’d like to know is where the other staff are at. Three admins, and only three, have made meaningful contribution to this thread. I see other admins viewing this topic all the time and liking posts. If they have enough time to read it all, then they have time to offer input to even out the workload among the team. If a person who was on the brink of (and just had) their baby, and a person who is having stress-induced health issues (up to and including seizures) are able to make meaningful contributions to this thread when by all means they should be focusing on their own lives right now, and you are able to make meaningful contribution despite otherwise being occupied, why are these people not able to also contribute and even the workload among everybody? Wouldn’t that make the most sense, opposed to having that weight fall onto a third of the team?

[Laika-]

Writing these apologies are something I personally wanted to take on since a lot of the staff are still taking time with families for the holidays which is why you guys only see a handful of us replying here ):

I can appreciate this and it's good to know that it's not something anyone is doing intentionally... but I also will say that perhaps the release of this project should have been postponed until holiday obligations were over with & more staff were able to be attentive to it. It's not exactly ideal nor fair for the responsibility of addressing feedback to fall on only a couple of people, and I feel that something as big as a site overhaul is something that really requires all hands on deck in order to actually be successful.

Edit: jinx kaz and you also bring up a good point in addressing the fact that other team members have been reading & liking posts. While I understand this may be happening while multitasking (I get it, shit is hectic and sometimes you have to try and do multiple things simultaneously), I feel the point still stands

[Hocus]

I respect the amount of effort you’re putting into this and I appreciate that you are doing what you can with what you have to give people necessary apologies.

However something I’d like to know is where the other staff are at. Three admins, and only three, have made meaningful contribution to this thread. I see other admins viewing this topic all the time and liking posts. If they have enough time to read it all, then they have time to offer input to even out the workload among the team. If a person who was on the brink of (and just had) their baby, and a person who is having stress-induced health issues (up to and including seizures) are able to make meaningful contributions to this thread when by all means they should be focusing on their own lives right now, and you are able to make meaningful contribution despite otherwise being occupied, why are these people not able to also contribute and even the workload among everybody? Wouldn’t that make the most sense, opposed to having that weight fall onto a third of the team?

I wholeheartedly agree with Kaz here. I also want to point out that all of the admins except Herb are listed as available (Herb is listed as semi-available and is yet somehow arguably the most active admin in this thread). If the other admins who have not said anything thus far are not available, should the administrator availability thread be updated to reflect this?

[Enya]

I am currently at work right now so i cannot reply as in depth as i’d like to but I do want to mention that I am personally writing these apologies myself, no templet to help me, and making sure that they are specifically taking accountability and apologizing for the right things regarding each person. I have been going back through all topics I can find and making sure to mention what specificity the person was wronged for & how we have managed or plan to manage that these wrongful actions are not to be repeated.

I do admit being/ talking more formally is a trauma response. Writing these apologies are something I personally wanted to take on since a lot of the staff are still taking time with families for the holidays which is why you guys only see a handful of us replying here ):

I have to head back into work for the last hour of my shift, I just wanted to let you guys know that I will add more and respond to everyone!

I respect the amount of effort you’re putting into this and I appreciate that you are doing what you can with what you have to give people necessary apologies.

However something I’d like to know is where the other staff are at. Three admins, and only three, have made meaningful contribution to this thread. I see other admins viewing this topic all the time and liking posts. If they have enough time to read it all, then they have time to offer input to even out the workload among the team. If a person who was on the brink of (and just had) their baby, and a person who is having stress-induced health issues (up to and including seizures) are able to make meaningful contributions to this thread when by all means they should be focusing on their own lives right now, and you are able to make meaningful contribution despite otherwise being occupied, why are these people not able to also contribute and even the workload among everybody? Wouldn’t that make the most sense, opposed to having that weight fall onto a third of the team?

I do see where you are coming with this on why some of the admins aren't answer. I wanted to personally say I have stepped away from answering due to something really tragic happened to my family on Christmas. I won't go into detail into what since it would be triggering. Which has been really stressful for me and my mental health already. Though that is not an excuse to not answering till now. I do need to mention there is more going on behind the scenes with replies what is being said and done together by all the admins.

I feel strongly about Wolfhome changing for the better and some things need to be changed.
We love the community! I want this place to be safe place and secure for everyone to love to enjoy.

[Laika-]

Bressa, I will start by saying that I am sincerely sorry for the hardship that recently befell you and your family. I truly hope you are able to heal from this and I am available as a support system should you ever need to reach out about it.

-

I do feel that if the team as a whole is struggling this much with activity overall from events that are transpiring in real life and/or because their mental health is poorly, it further leads me to believe that this was not the appropriate time to attempt to publicly launch such a significant overhaul. It evidently should have been worked on and revised for a bit longer, and most everyone should have been available to be on board and engage with the community as it unfolded.
An overhaul is still well overdue, yes, and changes HAVE to be made (like actually put into action, not just acknowledged with words), but as we discussed earlier this cannot be expected to function efficiently if the team is stretched this thin. I really do think the TEAM & the way its structured needs to be re-evaluated and re-worked first and foremost, with the priority being ensuring that any currently ranked staff (that are also listed as being available) will be able to follow through with what is expected of them without driving themselves into the ground. If the headquarters are on fire, then the rest of the project will remain on fire no matter what we try to vainly throw together. And as we are all aware, better transparency is what we are all trying to aim for and we cannot just expect that everything that should be happening is happening strictly behind the scenes.

[Tau]

I wanted to pop in to say that while I haven't commented on this thread yet I have read, taken notes, assisted with writing up responses that have been presented by other admins, as well as participated in ideas, solutions and apologies.

I may not have been a part of the team during the 2021 shut down, however, I very much was affected by it as a member of the community as well as after rejoining the team after a 2 year hiatus. I returned with the hopes of trying to assist with getting wolfhome back to a loving, comfortable and inviting place for all to enjoy; much like it was when I was an admin in years past. I am here, although I do quite a bit more on the inside versus making the public posts. I am always available regardless of the topic or situation that may arise either by forum PM, chat message (or howl if I'm online) as well as via discord (Tau#2292), for those interested. Many of you may not know me by this name and if that is the case please let me reintroduce myself. I am Bedagi/Allistarr.

I want this place to thrive and for the community as a whole to be happy to come here and feel safe. Wolfhome is a second home to me, as I am sure it is for a lot of you. We all want the same thing, I promise you, and we are all attempting to make that a possibility. We need to come together more now than ever if we want our home to stay our home.

[Lorien]

I wasn’t planning to engage on this thread because I don’t feel like it will be worth my time or energy, but I find it difficult to stay out of it. As much as I wish I didn’t, I do still care about Wolfhome, and it is hard for me to see the same cycle repeating again and again.

I appreciate you being here and voicing anything you've noticed. It helps us a lot in the end to help turn this site around.

I have seen some of the “individual” apologies the administration is sending out, and while they are customized to the specific user situations, they feel like they come from a standardized template rather than being authentically written from the heart. I recognize that it is hard to apologize for things that happened a year or more ago, especially when most of the current admin team was not involved at that time, but if an effort is being made to make things right, I believe it hat spending more time crafting meaningful and unique messages would be beneficial. It also might be worthwhile to have more than one admin writing them so that the perspective of the apology is more well-rounded from the entire team.

I won't repeat what i've said above but I do post these for the rest of the team to look over and give opinions on. I have been going back and fourth with myself on just how formal to be. Like I said above, it's easier for me to be super formal (often times too formal) with things I think are important and serious to me. My husband has always picked on me because sometimes I am this way with him.

I appreciate the administrators who have engaged on this thread, and it is clear to me that Ghrimelda, Loki, and Herb especially do care about improving Wolfhome. However, this entire thread has highlighted that the past year has not brought any fundamental changes to the way Wolfhome is approaching problems. I can tell just from who is commenting on this thread and how Project Tranquility was written that it was not truly a team effort to create this new project.

It is concerning to me to see Loki putting his health at risk to engage here, and to see Ghrimelda taking time away from caring for her young children, and that Herb was so anxiously taking all of the accountability for this while so close to welcoming a new human into this world. The administration have always been quick to point out that being a part of the team is a volunteer position, but they have always struggled to promote healthy work/life balances for the team. How many admin have had to resign due to the stress and trauma they have faced being on this team? How many still have to deal with the lasting trauma from being on the team even years ago? I remember when this all blew up last year, there was talk of the administration being required to take actual Human Resources training to better manage how the team handle situations with the users as well as their own practices. Did this ever happen? Were there actual improvements made to how the workload is distributed?

Looking back on this release now, we were definitely too excited and frankly ill prepared to really bring this to you guys. For a lot of us, Wolfhome is our hobby. We have had to quiet literally force people to take breaks due to having babies, personal things come up, or really just needing a little breather. We all do care for this site so it's understandable not wanting to miss out on anything important. I can't really talk.. I don't think I really took a break when I had my son for longer than what I was in the hospital recovering for.

There were a bunch of classes that were mentioned, though they have not been required of us to take. I want to say the main points as to why these have not been required is that these would be actual classes that would need to be paid for (I could be wrong?) but also very time demanding. I cannot speak for the rest of the team, but it would be very hard for me to find an extra 2-3 hours (I assume thats how much college students spend for one class? IDK ): I never went). I don't think this is a bad idea, though I wonder if a better compromise would maybe make a "How To" topic with all this info someone would need to look over and possibly doing some training moving up the ranks? (Higher rank = more training?? or just a general training??)

Scrimshaw has asked for better project tracking and more tangible goals and timelines to be implemented as changes happen to Wolfhome. I want to expand on this and suggest that administrators have actual schedules and hours (maybe they already do, in which case they need to have firmer boundaries), where they have dedicated working and non-working time while they’re online. If admin are expected to put their real life needs on hold to answer threads like this (referring specifically to Loki, Ghrimelda, and Herb with their current life situations), the burnout and stress problems that have always plagued the administration will continue.

Administrators should not be able to interact here or on chat in an official capacity unless they are explicitly “on the clock.” Their schedules should be planned in advance (weekly, monthly, quarterly, whatever makes sense), and they need to plan for coverage if they will be away for an extended period of tome. If they want to contribute non-administrative ideas and chat casually outside of their work hours, that’s fine. But even if they are the only one online, if they are not “on the clock,” they should not be expected to answer or handle admin tasks.

I really love this idea, and would like to work on adding this to all current and future things! We do have our many Masterlists, though I think adding a timeframe for those things would be great.

We don't have our personal schedules posted publicly, but we do have them available for the rest of the team. I can see what you mean here though I am not sure how well this would work? I don't mean to shoot this down, but most of us pop on throughout the day (like I did earlier while at work) and throughout the night. I try to be 100% available (like the others) while I am online incase I am needed, but this is still my hobby that I love too. We do have an "off-duty" option for our admins that if they are on chat and need to step away, can't be fully attentive, or just want a night to chat with friends, that option is used and they are able to redirect an issue or question to someone who is available!

It seems like a common critique that Wolfhome currently has too many administrators for the active user base, and the argument is that the team has been expanded for the sole purpose of having more coverage spread over all hours. However, there are still admin here feeling obligated to comment at the expense of their own health or real life responsibilities. That is a real problem and you all need to address it internally.

We are trying to find a balance with project help (so mainly forum based) and chat help. That is where we are trying to find a balance in who we bring on. For example this last round was purely meant to help us with the list of up keep that still needs to be done here on the forum but also we needed the coverage early mornings and into the day while people are working. We would like to have at least one person always available for questions or should any issues come about without having to turn people towards the PT system. I always hate telling someone to submit a PT, it just feels disingenuous to me.

Finally, my observation of this situation has made me feel that there have not yet been any creative or significant changes to how Wolfhome is run. There are definitely good things in the works, but they aren’t fundamentally different than what Wolfhome has done in the past. I know a lot of users have put forth great suggestions, and most of them were ignored for the past year. I’m glad to see this Project is being re-worked to better implement some of those ideas, but it doesn’t feel like enough. Ultimately, if the actual process of enacting policies and projects remains as it has always been, the problems will continue to arise and the pattern will continue.

There really hasn't and unfortunately this is something that has been very slow moving on my part as an Alpha. I think it still needs to be something that is added to this "To-Do" list and definitely worked on before bring more people onto the team in the future. The process of implementing anything has stayed the same, though I am not sure how to really make it more efficient? A topic is made, the entire team contributes with wording, edits, look, functionality, efficiency. Then we create a mock up of the final post, make final edits, then post for you all to see. That is the process everything goes through, this project included.

Everything that has been mentioned on this topic, both small and large, has been taken to heart and we are all working on creating a list of things that really should have been worked on while Wolfhome was down.

In my opinion, the entire administrative process needs creative reworking. There needs to be more accountability for all of the administrators so that you are all equally engaged and helpful. I think a lot of us have noticed who hasn’t contributed to this discussion, and it comes off as those admin not caring or not wanting to be involved. I wonder who among you did not contribute to this thread while it was a work in progress over the past number of months.

Maybe the Gamma/Beta/Alpha system needs to be changed for something more effective. Maybe the Apprentice training system needs to be completely revised to give chances to more users and have a more rigorous training period. Maybe the Town Council role should be looked into again and put in motion. I don’t have the solutions, but I think you all need to step out of the box and throw some really innovative and new ideas at the wall. They don’t all have to be implemented, but it feels like working within a broken system will always create broken solutions. The whole system should be up for change, and if it isn’t, Wolfhome will never progress.

Sorry for such a long comment and hopefully I wasn’t redundant with other commenters.

For the rest of the team, they have been helping by giving opinions and by helping with replies. Like you mentioned above, which I definitely agree with you on, the Team's dynamic needs to change. As of current, these serious topics, for the most part, Alphas have really taken the lead on replies and what have you. Same thing happened with many topics over the 14 years I have been on this site. This doesn't mean that lack of replies equates to them not caring. Most of our replies that are posted, the voice is shared by us all. My replies, unless I state otherwise of course, come from all of the Team, not just me GHROMMIS.

I agree with a lot of the requests, as well as the rest of the team, and we would like to start working on all of these changes. This will take time though since we are talking about re-working yeeeearrss of stuff. We are in it for the long haul though, you and this site are worth it.

[Kiko]

I would like to start off by apologizing to the community that I myself have taken a bit of time to comment on this topic. I have been dealing with some off-site issues, which are hopefully starting to turn around for the better! Both of my kiddos, unfortunately both of them, ended up having strep throat at the same time and then it just magically went down the line in my household. Battling being sick, along with other personal matters had caused a hault in my appearance and for that I am deeply sorry.

I did want to touch base on that we, the administration team, have all been actively working together behind the scenes on how we can improve from the feedback we have received from this topic. We are striving to implement things that had been mentioned here on ways to drastically improve the chat and uplift in the right direction we want to move towards. I myself, as well as everyone also on the Administration greatly appreciate each and every one of you for any advise you have given and are continuing to give. As well as examples in ways we can do better to not only improve ourselves, but Wolfhome too!

I do love this community, I love being a part of it. I am enthusiastic in working towards the goals we have! Anyone at anytime can always reach out to me! My PM’s are always open or you can even message me on discord if you would like too! (Rhea#2051)

[Refresh]

Can you stop making this about yourselves? I love this community, I want the best for this community, etc etc. It's like looking at robots repeating the exact same things over and over. If you loved this community and this site, you'd sit down and write a post with more than just the first thing that comes to mind. You convince nobody by simply repeating what other admins have said.

I appreciate Ghrim coming into this thread and breaking down replies paragraph by paragraph. It feels like somebody is listening among these corporate type replies.

My apology message contained incorrect information, and felt awfully empty and repetitive. I appreciate it nonetheless, but it felt like I was reading an apology issued from a company when you write to complain to them, and not something heartfelt. From what I've seen, other apology messages are similar. Going formal was not the route to go. At least you can learn from this and take note to be informal in the future.

It is not hard to update the availability chart. Now, I do understand it feels like getting blood from stones sometimes, but if you see someone clearly not "active", then you need to take the initiative and change it yourself (alphas).

[Laika-]

I appreciate those who are now taking the time to respond. Thanks for letting us know you're here.
However I really want to emphasize everything that has been mentioned within this thread so far, and want to ask that you please dont allow for the reassurance you are trying to provide us with to once again become just another set of empty platitudes. I know many of us want to see positive progress come from this despite its rocky start (for EVERYONE'S sake, staff and users alike), and the words we've admittedly all seen before can only go so far. "We want to do this, we want to implement that" is a start, absolutely, but it's only a start.

I also wanted to ask - who should I contact personally when it comes to concerns I have with a particular administrator? I'd like to handle it diplomatically if possible, but if everything I know is true then I will admit I am a bit concerned to see them hold the rank they have now (especially if none of this has been publicly addressed), and I would rather they not be the one who initially receives the message.