Work with Us! New Senior Volunteers Needed

[Jubal]

We're looking for a number of additional volunteers to join the Exilian team! Our small core team, currently comprising four members (Chair/Exec, Treasurer, Tech officer, and Tribune) is urgently in need of additional support to keep Exilian running.

All of the available roles will come with the best support we can give: we're happy to train people in their roles, and have a strong ethos of supporting our volunteer officers and ensuring help is at hand. For all roles, there will be volunteers around with experience in the role who can help with any problems or queries. If you have any questions about any of the posts and what they entail, please leave a comment below.

The roles are as follows, with the information on how to apply in the post below.



Social Media Officer

Key roles
The Social Media officer will help promote Exilian and our members' creative projects across our social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, and Mastodon). This role is subject to regular ratification votes by the voting members. A formal title choice of "despot" or "heteriarch" may be made by the successful applicant.

Important powers/functions
- Managing & building up Exilian's social media accounts
- Recruiting new members for the site
- Promoting Exilian's content
- Feeding back to the rest of staff on public perception of our activities

Regular tasks
- Schedule regular social media posts
- Engage & chat with interested parties on social media
- Find optimal audiences for specific pieces of content
- Directly message and invite creators to the website

Content Editor

Key roles
The Content Editor will be responsible for two significant areas: the Exilian Articles section, and the monthly newsletter Updates from the Forge. This is a wide role that involves commissioning and editing/formatting articles, as well as keeping an eye on news from across Exilian's activities. This role is subject to regular ratification votes by the voting members. A formal title choice of "despot" or "heteriarch" may be made by the successful applicant.

Important powers/functions
- Editorial control of Exilian's main front-end "voice" via our newsletters
- Commissioning & engaging with article writers
- Representing the needs of the content section in staff meetings

Regular tasks
- Editing & helping write "Updates from the Forge", our monthly newsletter, and getting it released on schedule
- Finding news items from across Exilian's activities that can go into the newsletter
- Finding volunteers to write weekly articles for the articles section
- Editing and formatting the articles and posting them on time

Membership Development Officer/Forum Admin

Key roles
The Membership Development officer is a more classical "forum admin" role. The holder of this post will be there to engage with and support creative project managers across the site. This role is subject to regular ratification votes by the voting members. A formal title choice of "despot" or "heteriarch" may be made by the successful applicant.

Important powers/functions
- Works with Exilian's creators and users to support their use of our website and other systems
- Wide-ranging remit to improve forum structures & functionality to help users
- Feeds back to other staff on how regular members & creative team leads are finding the website
- Responsible for keeping & updating our email list and getting monthly emails out to members

Regular tasks
- Greet new members, discuss projects with game developers and writers and be willing to engage with their work
- Get project developers settled into the site, creating new subforums for them where necessary
- Let developers and new members know about Exilian's democratic features/system and help enable them to take part
- Running creative competitions and/or game jams for the site
- Putting a brief email out once a month with links to our recent newsletter and announcements of other important upcoming events or similar

SEBASTOKRATOR (Voting Members' Officer)

Key roles
The Sebastokrator runs the democratic processes of Exilian, and engages with its citizens (voting members) in helping them use our democratic functions to shape Exilian. Their role is primarily that of representing the views of the citizens and carrying out the instructions of the Plaza. This role is usually elected in open elections every six months.

Important powers/functions
- Manages the plaza and is in a strong position to push forward legislation
- Provides casting vote on judicial matters as a tie-breaker
- Represents the views of the citizens on the administrative council

Regular tasks
- Checking out all new legislation in the Plaza and ensuring that the votes are conducted correctly as per the constitution
- Moving completed votes to the completed votes section
- Enacting the results of Plaza decisions (if the plaza decides a new subforum needs making, that's the Seb's job as per constitution clause 3c)
- Providing the casting vote in legal cases where the Tribunes disagree
- Asking for Plaza opinions on major site matters to take to the admin council
- Send PMs to welcome new citizens and take responsibility for upgrading them
- Keep citizen register up to date (joint role with Tribunes)

SPATHARIOS (Senior Moderator)

Key roles
The Spatharios is Exilian's senior moderator; their role is to maintain order, welcome people to the site, and act as the face of staff across the site. This role is usually elected in open elections every six months.

Important powers/functions
- Banning spambots and unruly users
- Implementing the terms of service
- Moving threads posted in the wrong area

Regular tasks
- Checking new topics have been posted in the right place
- Warning members whose posting is not compatible with the Terms of Service
- Banning spambots or particularly problematic members
- Welcoming new members to the site
- Being visible across the site

[Jubal]

How do I apply and what is the process?

Applications will be open for at least four weeks from the date of posting (11 Feb, so until 11 March at the earliest). Just post a reply below this post with any details you want about yourself. You are not required to state any particular details as part of this; you could mention particular experiences or skills if you have them, but enthusiasm is probably the most important thing. This thread is the only application place & process: we are not accepting applications made by any other avenue. If you wish to, you're encouraged to make a thread in this subforum in which voting members can ask you questions.

If there are multiple applicants, the site's voting members (known as citizens) will elect one of them to the position; if there is only one, the citizens will be asked to ratify them in the position. If there are no applicants in two weeks' time, the role remains open until someone does apply and that application is then forwarded to the citizens.


Other FAQs

...can you explain what Exilian is?

Exilian is a nonprofit, volunteer collective that supports geeky creative projects. We've existed for nearly 10 years, and among other things along the way, we've run three small conventions, provided forums for classic game modification titles such as Warhammer: Total War and Mount & Blade Southern Realms, supported projects including the dieselpunk tabletop RPG Frozen Skies, the indie beat 'em up/roguelike Son of a Witch, and the ant-based strategy game Empires of the Undergrowth, and also hosted a wide range of other competitions, discussions, writing, artwork, and more. We quite like llamas, or possibly guanacos. There's a minor debate about that one. Anyway - if we're going to keep doing all this awesome stuff we need people to help us keep the infrastructure behind it running.

Who will I work with?

In any of these roles, you'll work with various other Exilian staff - in particular the executive officer & head of staff (currently both being done by Jubal, a digital humanities doctoral student based in Austria who may or may not be a pangolin). On a day to day basis you're essentially your own boss, though you should maintain a line of communication with the head of staff; ultimately all staff answer to the citizens (voting members) of Exilian, which includes providing them with brief updates on the current state of the site's infrastructure on a twice-yearly basis, and occasional ratification votes to signal that members are happy for staff members to remain in post.

I don't think I have the skills for this job but I have time and would be willing to learn
Then you're very welcome to apply. Our current staff members have all the relevant skills and are happy to provide any training and mentoring needed. We do our best to take looking after our staff seriously, and we want new staff to get as much out of the role as possible - if that means we provide help teaching new skills, then great!

I have a question not covered here

Comment below, PM me, or email exilian (at ) exilian (dot) co (dot) uk - we're very happy to answer any queries

[Ay_JayGee]

Greetings! 

I would like to apply my interest to some of the roles above (Social Media Officer/ Content editor). Just to give a little a bit about myself, I'm a recent Media and Communications graduate currently working in an admin role full time, but hoping to expand my skills and experience into content editing & social media marketing. 

I hope to be considered for these volunteering opportunities!

[Asgand]

Hi! My name is Tom. I'm from Warwickshire in England.

I came across your volunteering opportunities on the UK volunteering page and it sounded like something I would enjoy getting involved in. I've never really celebrated my geek interests as much as I should so I thought there's no time like the present! 

I am an English Literature graduate but work full time for a car manufacturer in the UK. I could volunteer evenings, weekends and I have internet phone access at all times. I have moderated internet forums in the past (and was even paid to moderate the Roman Mysteries forum for a popular kid's TV show)

Let me know if you need my help!

[Jubal]

Welcome, guys!

As the post says, we'll officially sort through applications in a couple of weeks' time. In the meantime, please do familiarise yourselves with the site, look and post around the forum a bit, and do ask any questions you want to about how things work, how any of the roles are currently being covered, and so on.

Asgand - which of the roles specifically would you like to apply for, just so I've got it noted down? I'm getting a memdev/forum admin vibe from your post, but thought I should check!

AJG - do you have a preference between Social Media and Content editing?

[Asgand]

Yeah memdev/forum admin works or even the social media side of things. Also not averse to the idea of content editor.

I had literally no idea this site existed until today so I'll get myself acquainted over the next few weeks and see how it goes 

For anybody interested my name comes from an MMO called Guild Wars. One of my favourite characters Gwen is assisted by the ghost of a dead warrior - his name is Asgand. The name is quite unique and not used often but sounds quite Nordic and is the name of my character in other MMO's also.

Whats the main idea behind the forum/site? What are you looking to achieve? If you don't mind me asking

[Jubal]

Thanks!

Re the question, I replied in your welcome thread:
https://exilian.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=5539.msg118009

[vulcanology]

Hey there! I'd be interested in volunteering as a content editor. Honestly, I didn't know about this site before seeing a volunteer post somewhere, but it seems right up my alley. I currently study English Literature with Creative Writing at University of East Anglia, and am due to graduate in the summer of this year. I'm avidly into tabletop gaming in particular, having been part of a few Dungeons and Dragons groups and currently being a DM for my own. As 'creative writing' would imply, I'm very into writing fiction - horror, sci-fi, and comedy are favourites of mine - as well as being pretty into drawing. I'm currently Head Illustrator for a society at UEA called Octarine and I manage the Instagram, so I'm used to roles like this.

Hope this gives you a good overview of me! I would love to be a part of this website.

[Jubal]

Welcome! Good to have you here (UEA's nice - close to feeling like home turf for me, I grew up in southern Norfolk and know the campus a bit from doing things there in the past!).

As I've said to the others above, do poke around the site and see what we're doing at the moment ask any questions you have about the role

[Jubal]

Applications Closed.

I've emailed all three of you about next steps - many thanks