108 replies to this topic

[Mudhutwarrior]

None of us knows the conditions of his employment or why he left. Sure he made mistakes but I tend to think his attitude was a reflection of his workplace and those above him. We have seen it before here so lets not lay it on Niko when we know darn well how management feels about all of us on the island.

Wish him well in whatever he moves on to.

[Sandpit]

Dimento Graven, on 20 November 2014 - 02:48 PM, said:

I just think it's really foolish that PGI would try and carry on serious discourse on a forum they don't have ultimate control over.

This thread was never about whether Reddit should be used by a company to converse with customers.

I was responding to

Dimento Graven, on 20 November 2014 - 02:21 PM, said:

You mean would I blow a gasket that something 'unprofessional' got posted amongst the yottabytes of porn, near porn, cat pictures, derp comics, reposts of the Onion, dirty jokes, memes, etc. etc. etc. etc....

It doesn't matter WHERE you act out as an employee. If you act in an unprofessional manner there are consequences. I simply asked if you would want an employee of yours officially representing your company in an unprofessional manner.
That's all.
Would you?

[Dimento Graven]

Sandpit, on 20 November 2014 - 02:55 PM, said:

This thread was never about whether Reddit should be used by a company to converse with customers.

No it wasn't but when someone tried to insinuate he was fired because of posts on Reddit, some of what was apparently being referred to were obvious jokes being taken too seriously by people looking for an excuse to be offended...

Well, my point stands...

Quote

I was responding to


It doesn't matter WHERE you act out as an employee. If you act in an unprofessional manner there are consequences. I simply asked if you would want an employee of yours officially representing your company in an unprofessional manner.
That's all.
Would you?

And you apparently stopped reading there, because the REST of that statement set up the parameters "I" would expect my employees to operate from:

Quote

At most I'd reprimand and see if the post(s) could be edited removed, next I'd make sure everyone understood if they were going to post on these non-journalistic, non-professional venues, they can't refer to themselves as representatives of the company, nor are they allowed to LIE about the company, it's products, customers, employees, or ownership, and that ALL confidentiality agreements signed upon initial employment (or subsequently depending...) will be vigorously enforced.

But if some employee wants to go on Reddit and vent that he had bad day, why, how it makes it suck to work there. Fine. As long as he's doing his job... Free speech it's an American right and my views are summed up by that famous French quotation: "I may not agree with what you say, but I'll fight to the death for your right to say it."

If we, as working adults, can't understand that the people we interact with will have bad days or that we cause them an unreasonable amount of frustraion, causing them to feel the need to vent, and we, as adults can't take those posts with a grain of salt, well... It just goes to prove my point THAT MUCH MORE, that attempting serious, professional conversations on venues like Reddit, IS FOOLISH.

After thought to state it more specifically and clearly:

Anyone who is given a job as a 'community manager', and they are required to do their job on a 'social media' venue their company doesn't have 100% control over, is being setup for failure.

Edited by Dimento Graven, 20 November 2014 - 03:07 PM.

[CDLord HHGD]

Dimento Graven, on 20 November 2014 - 02:48 PM, said:

To try and use a venue like Reddit to 'professionally' communicate ANYTHING at all and well, you deserve whatever you get.

I have no opinion on the matter of what Niko was supposed to have or have not done on Reddit.

I just think it's really foolish that PGI would try and carry on serious discourse on a forum they don't have ultimate control over.

Pure poetry.

/discussion

Goodbye Niko, hope nothing but the best for you and yours.

[Impyrium]

SI The Joker, on 20 November 2014 - 11:14 AM, said:

Well hopefully he lands on his feet - It's pretty stressful to leave/lose a job around this time of year - I don't care who you are or what you do.

All the best, Niko.

This... tired of seeing so much hate.

[ThisMachineKillsFascists]

Finally hes gone. Infact he alianated the community with his toxic behaviour.

Now my trust starts to rise on Pgi.

Well done Russ

[Sandpit]

Dimento Graven, on 20 November 2014 - 03:04 PM, said:

No it wasn't but when someone tried to insinuate he was fired because of posts on Reddit, some of what was apparently being referred to were obvious jokes being taken too seriously by people looking for an excuse to be offended...

Well, my point stands...

And you apparently stopped reading there, because the REST of that statement set up the parameters "I" would expect my employees to operate from:

If we, as working adults, can't understand that the people we interact with will have bad days or that we cause them an unreasonable amount of frustraion, causing them to feel the need to vent, and we, as adults can't take those posts with a grain of salt, well... It just goes to prove my point THAT MUCH MORE, that attempting serious, professional conversations on venues like Reddit, IS FOOLISH.

After thought to state it more specifically and clearly:

Anyone who is given a job as a 'community manager', and they are required to do their job on a 'social media' venue their company doesn't have 100% control over, is being setup for failure.

I agree partially, the whole Reddit thing wasn't in a vacuum either. It wasn't the "reason", I don't think the actual reason should be or needs to be discussed in this manner anyhow. It's nobody's business but PGI's and Niko's. Period.

I just think it should be noted that you should, at ALL times, act professionally when representing your employer. We all ahve bad days and yes there are avenues that can be taken to correct those bad days, but when you have an eployee who repeatedly has "bad days", well that's the unfortunate result sometimes.

[Odins Fist]

ToxinTractor, on 20 November 2014 - 11:09 AM, said:

As of today, Niko is no longer at PGI..

Is this true..???

If so I called this way before the Reddit debacle.
Not meaning to SHAME, but it seemed like he had it out for more then a few people, for reasons that could be called petty.

Maybe not petty, I can't say for sure.

Well I guess if he is gone there must be a reason for it.
No hard feelings BRO...

Good luck..!!

Edited by Odins Fist, 20 November 2014 - 03:32 PM.

[Pjwned]

Seems like a rather sudden departure.

I don't see why people are so buttangry at Niko though, seems like most people just have a grudge from stupid crap that happened on Reddit or some other things that happened quite a while ago, or something; seemed like he did a decent job to me.

Edited by Pjwned, 20 November 2014 - 03:40 PM.

[GRiPSViGiL]

[Dimento Graven]

Sandpit, on 20 November 2014 - 03:18 PM, said:

I agree partially, the whole Reddit thing wasn't in a vacuum either. It wasn't the "reason", I don't think the actual reason should be or needs to be discussed in this manner anyhow. It's nobody's business but PGI's and Niko's. Period.

I just think it should be noted that you should, at ALL times, act professionally when representing your employer. We all ahve bad days and yes there are avenues that can be taken to correct those bad days, but when you have an eployee who repeatedly has "bad days", well that's the unfortunate result sometimes.

I think we're actually in almost total agreement.

I think the minor difference is, my expectations of being able to maintain a sustained "professionalism" decline significantly on venues like Reddit.

I consider this a 'realistic' expectation.

[Johnny Z]

Maybe he had a hand in the Orion Protector quirks? If so, thats grounds for dismissal. Just kidding

Edited by Johnny Z, 20 November 2014 - 04:07 PM.

[pwnface]

Can we please stop the discussion about reddit and just be glad together that Niko is gone?

[Featherwood]

Can't say I will miss Nico, but at least he was waaay better than Garth Erlam. What I really (I mean REALLY) can't wait to see, is an announcement from Russ, that Paul Inouye has left PGI and will never touch any MechWarrior game with his crooked hands. I will drink on this day.

[Dimento Graven]

pwnface, on 20 November 2014 - 03:40 PM, said:

Can we please stop the discussion about reddit and just be glad together that Niko is gone?

Actually, the discussion about Reddit is FAR more interesting than Niko no longer being an employee of PGI.

...AND...

I really have no opinion one way or the other as to whether or not his departure is an actual benefit or not. All it means is at some point in the future, someone else will probably officially get the title of "Community Manager".

Niko's presence or lack there of have zero affect on things I care about:

Game play
How much fun I have playing

Edited by Dimento Graven, 20 November 2014 - 03:46 PM.

[Johnny Z]

Featherwood, on 20 November 2014 - 03:44 PM, said:

Can't say I will miss Nico, but at least he was waaay better than Garth Erlam. What I really (I mean REALLY) can't wait to see, is an announcement from Russ, that Paul Inouye has left PGI and will never touch any MechWarrior game with his crooked hands. I will drink on this day.

See I think everyone likes that guy and your his alt trolling and being funny. ROFL

[Redshift2k5]

Alistair Winter, on 20 November 2014 - 11:33 AM, said:

I guess he lost his job a while ago, because it's kind of like when we learned that Garth had lost his job. I suddenly realized I hadn't heard from him in a long while. Frankly, I haven't seen or heard much from Niko the past few months.

It's a pity that PGI lacked a strong community manager these past few months, because the whole Player Council idea should have been a collaboration between players and the PGI community manager, IMO. You can't just tell a big blob of thousands of people to spontaneously organize.

If PGI is ever going to include the fans in figuring out how to solve the ECM issues, ghost heat, collisions & knockdown, etc, I think they need a community manager to take charge. Russ can't possibly do it all by himself, even though it seems he wants to. At some point, it's almost like Russ just went "Well, if you want something done right..." and then just took on Paul and Niko's job in addition to his own.

Niko has posts and official tweets dating to YESTERDAY, it's not like he vanished for a month before this announcement.

[Tekadept]

I hope they really try hard to find a qualified CM to fill the role otherwise they will end up with another

[Cessair Huxley]

It's usually not good to mix Community Management with Customer Support. Those two are two separate things. Hope Niko does well. I know how to handle CM and CS tasks, but no way are you gonna get me to do both at the same time.

[Tekadept]

Somebody should really change the below to.. "The Former Community manager Formerly Known as Niko Snow"

Edited by Tekadept, 20 November 2014 - 04:05 PM.