Admin

The Admin is a species native to space whose popularity as a food and lack of breeding habits has caused their population to dwindle over the last few years. They are usually sighted in small groups, testing new features, forming gangs, or breaking out of solitary confinement.

Standards & Practices

Structure

The Goonstation administration is sometimes described as having a "flat" structure, because while some ranks have more tools and access than others, everybody has equal authority over each other. Furthermore, there is no separation between developers and admins.

There is no "Head Admin", "Lead Moderator", or "High Council" who has more power than others or gets the final say regarding policy and other admin-related affairs. When it comes to creating and changing rules and policy, granting Mentor and Head of Security status, bringing on new admins, tackling community issues, and similar matters, every admin has equal say, regardless of experience or area of expertise, and decisions are often done democratically. Some people consider the server host or admins with years of experience higher than other admins, but this comes more from prestige than formal policy.

Likewise, there is no "Head Coder" whose decisions can override the other devs. Every Developer has equal power when it comes to game direction.

In most SS13 communities, the people who enforce the rules are different from the people who develop the game, i.e. admins and developers are separate. In some places, there is further segregation in form of different types of admins who only have jurisdiction over one or some area(s) of the community, e.g. only the forums, only the Discord, or even only the wiki. Not so on Goonstation. Developers are also administrators, i.e. they answer adminhelps, punish rulebreakers, and generally manage the community, and someone who is admin in-game is also admin on the forums, wiki, and Discord.

Ranks

Because Goonstation has no separation between admins and coders, the number of admin ranks is pretty small. There are three (technically four) ranks: Administrator, Developer, and Host. Besides the broad strokes of the Admin Guidelines, there aren't a lot of regulations about what each rank gets or doesn't get, so the powers each one holds are driven by practicality rather than policy. For example, there is no rule specifying only the Host can manage the server's Patreon, but it stands that they would be deeply interested in a fund to pay hosting costs anyways, and it's not like policy specifically prohibits other admins from being interested.

There are also Inactive Admins, essentially admins in a sort of soft retirement. An Inactive Admin doesn't get any powers in-game and can't access the admin-exclusive subforums. They still have access to the admin-related Discord channels though and have a limited selection of Discord administration tools.

There are also a lot of unused ranks hidden in the Goonstation code, including some joke ones like Goatfart.

Administrator

Enforces the rules of the Goonstation community. Naturally, they get plenty of moderation tools and other useful powers within Goonstation servers and its associated forums, Discord, and wiki. Admins can be identified on the forums, Discord, and game's OOC chat by their iconic orange-colored names.

• Discord: They get Discord's native moderation suite, which consists of bans, kicks, and the infamous slow mode (which they are immune to); they can also access the Medical Assistant bot's reports system and Dyno's array of warnings, notes, and other moderation figures. They can modify most ranks' permissions, so long as said rank is below the Administrator one, and change settings and topic info for the vast majority of channels. They can also answer adminhelps through the Spacebee relay, delete messages, pin them, speak them through Text-to-Speech if enabled, and, most importantly, upload emoji.
• Forum: Can give bans and warnings and (un)delete, edit, and move both individual posts and entire threads. They also can change permissions for most of the various forum ranks, both in general and within specific subforums. Most importantly they can also delete forum emotes/emoji/smileys.
• Goonstation SS13 Servers: Administrators can see and reply to adminhelps and prayers. They can ban people, kick them from the server, bar them from certain Jobs, mute them, from both in-game chat and OOC, pull up notes other admins have left from them, see how long they've played, and can see some client info, including IP addresses. They cannot move people between servers. They also get a limited set of debug tools, including some options for reducing lag.
• Wiki: Has many powers, but most notable is editing Protected pages, which includes very important policy-related pages like the Rules.

Adminstrators share duties. There aren't admins specifically delegated to each job, but rather it's something they do of their own accord. For example, if an admin is hosting one of the monthly contests, they most likely are doing so because they volunteered to manage one, and their peers accepted it, rather than being formally voted in or appointed as the month's contest runner. Think of it less like Heads of Staff where there's a bunch of people with different departments and one Captain to oversee them and more like six captains who are all off in their own thing and helping each other out.

Secondary Adminitrator

In the past, newly hired admins used to have to spend two weeks as Secondary Administrator. This was a sort of "admin in training" rank where they had less "fun buttons" for causing chaos in-game but otherwise still possessed all the dedicated moderation tools, partly to help ease them into the admin position, partly to limit the damage they can do when new. This was the only difference between them and regular Administrators. They otherwise carried the same authority, and on the forums, wiki, and Discord, they had the same powers and tools.

After these two weeks were over, the other admins would hold a vote on whether to give them the full suite of admin tools. This vote usually passed unanimously, and in a few cases, some were promoted straight to regular Administrator without a vote.

The rank still exists in the game's code, but nowadays, there is no trial period, and newly-hired admins get full access to the Administrator suite immediately.

Developer

Aka, Coder, Maintainer, and a lot of mean names used by people who don't like them. Controls the Goonstation source code and thus game direction, plus moderates the community and enforces its rules too. Developers are recruited from Administrators, and there are almost as many Developers and Administrators. In Goonstation's in-game OOC chat, they get an orange color, but on the Discord and forums, they get a distinct amaranth red.

• BYOND: Some, but not all devs have access to the BYOND's database of medals for Goonstation, so they can add medals to the game and have people be able to actually earn them.
• Discord: Same as Administrator, but they can also modify permissions for the Administrator rank (but not the Developer rank). Some commands for the Goonstation Discord Spacebee bot are also locked to devs, such as the one that swaps the logo and the one that makes Spacebee recognize users as Mentors and thus answer mentorhelps through the Spacebee relay.
• Forum: Same as Administrator.
• Goonhub: A few devs can also access the raw data the site collects when tracking things like laws uploaded or damage numbers players had when they died.
• Goonstation SS13 Servers: They get a full suite of moderation tools like Administrators do, and they also get many more debugging tools. Most of these are rather dry and unexciting, but of particular note is that devs get the profiler, which shows various code processes and the amount of CPU they eat, i.e. what's making the game lag so damn hard.
• GitHub: Can see and edit the "secrets" submodule that contains most of the game's Secret Content, merge and close pull requests (proposed changes to the game), and push to master (directly modify the code without needing pull requests).
• Wiki: Same as Administrator.

The developer environment is generally loose and informal. Devs are very much hobby programmers, pursuing their own projects or areas of interest whenever they have free time in their regular lives. There is no "Head Coder" or "Developer Supervisor" that oversees every project or delegates tasks; instead, every Developer supervises themselves. You don't see a "Lore Dev" infringing on the jurisdiction of a "Map Dev" or "Game Balance Dev", because there are no such designations in the first place (though you'd certainly find devs with such areas of interest!), and every Dev is free to pursue whatever they want. Most Developers are generally adverse giving an estimated times of arrival for features.

While many work alone, it is not unheard of for Developers to collaborate; the Oshan Laboratory is one such example. It's extremely rare for game decisions to be decided by formal votes, but there still is discussion and debate. When a Developer is deciding whether or not to merge a pull request, they do sometimes solicit other admins' (not just other Developers) opinions.

Even though Developers have more powers than Administrators, they do not have more formal authority than them, and their votes have the same weight as votes from Administrators and Hosts. Within the Developers themselves, each Developer is also on equal footing.

Host

Handles the servers that host Goonstation's version of SS13, this very wiki, the Goonstation forums, and Goonhub and manages Goonstation's official Patreon account and Discord. Within the game and on the Discord and forums, their name is green like forest leaves.

• Discord: Full control over Discord roles, on top of the full moderation suite. They also often delegate for Goonstation when communicating with Discord's own administration.
• Forum: They host it! That means they have access to backups and other utilities expected when hosting a server.
• GitHub: Same as Developer, though they are not as active as actual Developers since they are often occupied with other affairs, so they're not the best person to message if you want your PR re-adding poo merged. If it's something directly involving Goonhub's API or the servers themselves though, they're often bought on during development.
• Goonhub: They host it, so they can see all its inner workings and extract the raw data for things the site tracks, like player deaths.
• Goonstation SS13 Servers: Similar to Developer, so includes the full suite of moderation, debug, and !!!FUN!!! tools. Since they also have access to the actual server infrastructure, they can perform actual server diagnostics, initiate hard reboots, and accomplish other typical sys-admin duties.
• Patreon: Currently owns it. Funds are used to pay for the server bills and buy stickers and BYOND memberships for the monthly contests.
• Wiki: Since they have access to the servers hosting the wiki, they can also install new wiki extensions, change the logo, update the software, and do other tasks that require access to the wiki software itself.

In many other communities, the host has the most authority, and you might expect that to be true here too given all the power hosts get, but here they have the same authority as every other admin. Their vote has the same weight as every other admin, and the policy does not give them any special privileges or executive authority. A lot of these powers arise de facto rather than de jure.

Way back when Goonstation first started, there were multiple hosts. One of these hosts went by a couple of names, including "Slurm", "Rick", and "Gibbed", with the last being why Goonstation servers in the distant past had "Gibbed" in their names. Nowadays, there is just one host, Wirewraith, often simply named Wire. He loves ferrets, hence why they're in the game, and he has reputation for being so good at Blob that some people call god-like Blob-players "wireblobs".

Admin Guidelines

Each and every admin must follow the Admin Guidelines, regardless of rank.

Who is admin?

A list of all the current admins and developers can be found here. Notice that Mentors, Mediators, Head of Security whitelist members, and GitHub Triage members are not admins, even though they are considered figures of authority.

How do I become admin?

The admins make you one. To elaborate, if admins have someone who they think might be a good admin, they discuss it among themselves, hold a vote about it, and if it passes, that person gets an offer to become admin, which they can freely accept or refuse. Unlike with Mentor, Head of Security, and similar positions, there is no regular cycle of admin induction, and the criteria for being a good admin is intentionally vague because it is highly subjective. Do not expect to be "rewarded" Admin for a contribution or act, and not being considered for admin or not being given an offer is not necessary a bad sign.

A common misconception is that if you have been with the Goonstation community for long enough, you are guaranteed/entitled to become admin. This is simply not true. Admins expect people who are familiar with the community, of course, but time spent with Goonstation is just one of many factors involved in the decision to make someone an admin. In fact, nothing guarantees becoming admin, and the sooner you dispense with the notion that you need to fulfill some magical requirement(s) to become admin, the better.

Another common misconception that you need to be a Mentor or member of the Head of Security whitelists to become an admin or that those two are "stepping stones" to the admin position. In reality, there is no such thing. In fact, quite a few people have become admin without becoming Mentor or HoS whitelist member first. The reason so many admins seem to come from those groups boils downs to transferable skills: how a person behaves as a Mentor or HoS often reflects how they behave towards others in general, whether towards friends or strangers, and how well they can handle authority.

There are admin applications (located in this subforum), but they are a thoroughly different beast from applications for other positions. With the Mentor, Head of Security, or GitHub Triage member positions, you must fill out the relevant application, which is public and requires community input. To become admin, filling out an admin application is completely optional, as it is more for demonstrating interest in becoming admin than anything, and said application is visible only to the applicant and the admins, with "campaigning" for adminship and mentioning one has posted an admin app being forbidden.

Admin Toys

OW! IT BIT ME!

Wounds caused by Admins are usually fatal. You are probably going to die. Usually, within seconds. Admin bites can cause symptoms including death, space yeti bites, your butt falling off, moderate to severe gibbing, axe murderers, spontaneous cluwneing, and in some cases, giant armies of lions, owls, horrible abominations from beyond space and time, and walruses.

Adagio for farts

If you're hearing songs playing, and it isn't something a Radio Host could play, chances are admins are playing some music through the DJ Panel, which accepts both files and YouTube links. Admins have a taste in music. It is neither good nor bad. It is both. It's the Schrödinger's Cat of not-so-easy listening. Never turn admin sounds off, you don't want to miss the songs of their people.

Special antagonists

The admins have at their disposal a terrifying menagerie of critters and psychos. Once every so often, when a round grinds to a halt, all the antagonists are dead, calls for the shuttle are refused, and no fun can be found anywhere, an admin might make a pseudo-antagonist to set things right. These are almost always admin-controlled, but once in a very long while a normal player is given a special antagonist role, usually because an admin fucked something up and is making it up to somebody. Beware, though, begging for a special antagonist role is a great way to get turned into a cluwne with the name "BEAT ME FOR PRIZES". Or banned, if you keep doing it.

While on paper the admins could conjure up all sorts of horrors, certain entities have become a station staple. These include:

• Omnitraitors - While they may look like any (relatively) harmless member of the station, these crew members have the powers of every single antagonist role at once. If you see a monkey werewolf wizard running around spitting acid and body-slamming people while spooky bats orbit them, you should probably find somewhere else to be.
• The Admin Bus - All aboard! A short yellow school bus, the Admin Bus is both a pun and the physical incarnation of a bored and capricious admin looking to spice up a round that's going on entirely too long. It does not brake for anything, smashing clean through any wall, door, object, or crew member in its path. Victims of an Admin Bus driveby can count themselves lucky if they're only sent flying and ignored as the bus continues its merry rampage, as the driver can stuff their victims into the infinitely huge trunk. There is no escape from within unless the driver wills it, and your only consolation is that you can talk to your fellow victims as the Admin Bus drives full speed into a black hole.
• The maetcho Maenn - You thought you knew how to wrestle? You thought you were hot shit? Think again. The metchu menn is the embodiment of wrestling, birthed straight from the Elemental Plane of Wrestlemania. A Maetzo mun is instantly recognizable by his manly hair, tiny purple pants, cheetah-print vest, magnificent sunglasses, and constant audio clips of stream-of-consciousness mumbling and ranting. He is, barring exceptional circumstances, an unstoppable force of nature thanks to his mind-bogglin' array of wrestling moves, nearly all of which spell certain, gruesome death for any poor bastard in arm's reach. He can burst through a wall, parry lasers out of the air, yank the c-saber out of your hands, rip off your limbs, crush your skull, rip open your ribcage, snap you into a flesh slim jim, turn you into gold, punch your heart out, absorb your soul, suplex you across the entire station, and make you explode into a cloud of blood with the sheer power of his steely gaze. If you hear a distant "OOOOOOH YEEEEEEEEAH" echoing through the halls, your best option is to pray that your death will be swift and entertaining.
• The Floor Cluwne - A horrifying Cluwne that hides under the floor (or possibly inside it) and can pull people into who knows where. There is a in-joke among the community (which has become less common in recent years, especially post-2020) where people pretend to deny its existence, even in the face of incontrovertible proof to the contrary.
• Cyalume Knight - Totally not an expy of Kylo Ren from Star Wars. Instantly recognizable by their distinct red and black hood and robes, Cyalume Knights are masters of the c-saber and can choke people from a distance and conjure lightning from their hands. Horribly unbalanced, but that goes without saying for these kinds of roles.
• Floor Goblin - Nasty little bugger that can hide under the floor. Watch out for your shoes!
• The Slasher - Big man(?) who goes around stabbing people with a big knife. Totally not an expy of 80s slasher movie villians.
• Peppino Spaghetti - IMMOVABLE OBJECT, REINFORCED BY PIZZA CRUST, POWERED BY PASTA, NOTHING STOPS THE MACH RUN. This "extremely anxious looking chef" is none other than Peppino Spaghetti from Pizza Tower (an indie platformer inspired by Wario Land), down to the original art and sound assets (don't worry, they're in here with the original creator's blessing.) He doesn't have as many fancy skills as other admin gimmicks on this list, but when he runs, he's like a miniature adminbus. He slams into objects with a satisfying CLONK, and while getting trampled by him won't hurt you very much, it'll still be very memorable.

Gallery

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