haloman30

* Updated CUBungee to 1.7.8 * Updated CUBungeeBukkitBridge to 1.0.13 (Survival and Vanilla only) * Server MOTD has been updated to reflect 1.21.10 requirement - Removed Killerteddy

Hey, everyone! Another quick update today - this time, it's all about our server resource pack. What's Changing? As most of you who play Survival have known for a while, that gamemode in particular asks you to download and use a server-provided resource pack - as this allows us to include custom content, complete with GUIs, textures, models, and even sounds. The other gamemodes have no such resource pack - and so if you've played exclusively on those other modes, you've likely never seen the resource pack prompt. If you switch between Survival and other modes, though, you've also noticed the pack turning on and off as you switch. Going forward, this will no longer be the case. As of today, you'll notice that even when playing on these other gamemodes, the server still requires the use of a server resource pack. This, however, isn't an identical pack to the one we use in Survival - instead, it's a slightly modified version that excludes a few resources which cause issues in vanilla gameplay (mainly, the overriding of note block models and of some sounds). For those who use the resource pack manually, you'll now have two options for the resource pack - a "global" version (which is what we use for most servers), and the normal version that we've been using for Survival. Keep in mind, however, we don't really advise using the resource pack this way - and for those doing so, you'll want to stick around and read the "Next Steps" section - as there will be some changes later on that will impact you. But why? Don't panic - we aren't planning on tacking a bunch of custom content into Vanilla or anything. Rather, there are other more supplemental features that we've had kicking around in the ideas bin for a while - things that, due to the resource pack being limited to Survival, we haven't been able to do. Things like custom emojis (like those seen on our Discord and here on the forums), more custom GUI stuff elsewhere, custom decorations in some of our spawns or other builds, and likely more. These are all things we've wanted to start exploring, but thus far, just haven't been able to - as it'd only work for one group of players. For things like Vanilla, where custom content goes against the entire point of the gamemode, you won't most of that sort of thing - barring some of those supplementals like UIs and emojis. As time goes on, however, you might start to see a gradual shift towards incorporating more of these custom elements to various builds (particularly spawns/hubs), and some of those other supplemental features as well. Next Steps Since the introduction of the resource pack, it has remained a mostly optional feature. Unlike other servers which will kick you if you don't allow the resource pack to be used, we've taken a more hands-off approach. This made much more sense in the early days of custom content, where everything required OptiFine, and there was relatively little custom content outside of Durite and MagicStuff. It didn't make sense to force the resource pack when it required a clientside mod to be usable, and it would've been quite a heavy-handed approach considering that, at the time, the custom content available wasn't quite as integral. The basic look and feel of the server wasn't reliant on it. However, with some of the changes mentioned earlier, and some of the stuff we've already done in Survival, this is increasingly not the case - playing Survival without the resource pack at all starts to not make as much sense, and some features are entirely unusable without it (such as the Challenges menu). This would only be worsened by the introduction of custom resources across other gamemodes or in things like chat. As such, in the near future (we don't have a set date yet), the server resource pack will become required - and failing to accept the pack will result in being disconnected from the server. However, for those who for one reason or another want to continue using it independently without any of the loading screens, or who wish to purposefully peel back the curtain, we will also be introducing a workaround that will allow players who wish to bypass the requirement to do so. You'll still need to accept the pack the first time, but afterwards, we'll be including a command that allows you to opt-out of the resource pack requirement. We feel this would be a more balanced approach - it ensures that players can't accidentally join and have a bunch of missing textures and other stuff everywhere, but it also allows those who are more technically inclined to get around that requirement if they wish. Small update as of 8:21 PM CST: For those who wish to continue using the pack independently, you can now use /bypasspack to do so. The pack is not yet required, but will be in the very near future - but you can still opt-out ahead of time if you like. (As of 12/8/2025): Upon further consideration, we have decided that, at least for the time being, mandating the resource pack is a bit heavy-handed. While this may change in the future, for the time being, we've instead opted for a simple prompt upon joining without the resource pack. This prompt informs the user why they should play with the pack, and allows the user to either temporarily or permanently dismiss the message. We feel this is a better balance of encouraging users to play with the resource pack, without being overbearing and potentially causing new players to not stick around - and avoids a bit of hassle for those already around. We will also be exploring a "compatibility mode" where possible, that will aim to minimize the degree to which the experience is degraded without the resource pack - for instance, if we do include chat emojis, the compatibility mode might display the name of the emoji instead of the image. While we can't promise it'll be perfect - as some stuff will just inherently require the pack, and already does in some cases - we figure this might be a better balance for the time being in this regard as well. For now, though, that's all we've got! Stay tuned for future happenings on our server - and keep your eyes peeled for some new stuff that might start appearing here and there in the near future.

+ Added a second, vanilla-compatible version of the server resource pack, used in all gamemodes besides Survival - Removed Killerteddy

Hey, everyone - we've got some exciting news! Survival is now updated to MC 1.21.10! This took a considerably long amount of time - so much so that 1.21.11 is set to come out in just a few days - but hey, better late than never, right? The main source of the delay was our reliance on a plugin called Custom Ore Generator, which was used for generating Durite Ore in The End. With this update, we've gone ahead and replaced this outright, with it handled in our custom content plugin instead. This may result in slightly different ore generation (veins might be shaped differently and might not be 1:1 with the previous rarity), but it should generally be about the same as before. One other small (but annoying) issue is that Dynmap is currently offline for Survival, as it remains out-of-date - though we didn't feel this was worth holding the update back over. Other than that, however, everything should be just as you remember it - no resets or anything, just access to the new stuff added since 1.21.4. As per usual, if you run into any issues, be sure to submit a bug report on the website or by using /bugreport ingame!

* Updated Survival to MC 1.21.10 * Updated CUItemSpawn to 2.0.13 * Updated CUCraftingPlus to 1.3.30 * Updated PremiumVanish * Updated EssentialsX to 2.22.0-dev * Updated WorldEdit to 7.3.17 * Updated WorldGuard to 7.0.14 * Updated dynmap to 3.7-beta 10 * Updated ProtocolLib * Updated PlotSquared to 7.5.10 * Updated PacketEvents to 2.10.1 * Updated HeadDatabase to 4.22.1 * Updated mcMMO to 2.2.045 * Updated LibsDisguises to 11.0.13 * /legitimize can now be used to legitimize the entire user's inventory, using /legitimize all * /item now properly works with custom items that have additional lore tags (durability, descriptions, etc) * Durite Ore is now generated through CUCraftingPlus rather than Custom Ore Generator (since it took too long to update and still isnt updated) - as such, ore generation will be slightly different than before, but still should be similar to before - Removed plugin: Custom Ore Generator - Removed Killerteddy

* Guest and above can now use //calc - Removed Killerteddy

Updates as of 11/24/2025: It's been a fairly eventful several days since the original post, and there's some non-insignificant things that have changed a bit since then. It's mostly good news, though - as good as you can expect in this kind of desperate situation, at least. The Series of Events, since Wednesday This past week has been an absolute rollercoaster of ups and downs. To tell the truth, I've been arguably somewhat depressed for most of that time - though not so much at this point thankfully. I was stuck in a well of anxiety, fear, and dread - the anxiety of being out of work for so long, the fear of what might happen if I couldn't make it, and the dread of realizing I'd have to spend a substantial amount of time working a significant amount, knowing that there would be no way out for a while. On Thursday, I went to go pay for the failed repair to my Focus, and also reached out to my grandma who hadn't yet sent me the money for the new vehicle. The plan was to pay for the Focus, grab a couple things out of it real fast, and then go around looking at a couple other vehicles: a 2005 Toyota Camry for $2200, and a 2006 Pontiac Grand Prix for $1750, both on Facebook Marketplace. There was also a third option that I was somewhat against and was a last resort in my mind, a 2002 Chevrolet S10 for $3500, that I could get from a local dealership in town. Despite being more expensive, it was the cheapest vehicle in terms of immediate cost, as it only required a down payment of $500, plus sales tax on the vehicle (so around $750 down in total), with $240 monthly payments for 14 months. Mechanically it was seemingly fine, but had some fairly substantial cosmetic damage - broken windshield and dents being the most immediately obvious - as it had a tree fall on it during a storm. Regardless - I found out mere minutes after paying for the Focus repair attempt that grandma would be unable to lend me the $1500 I needed to get one of these other vehicles. After finding out from grandma, I did reach out to my boss to see if he could make a loan happen from him/his boss. It was too late in the day to find out, and I'd need to call back tomorrow to see what the verdict was. After that, I got a roadside request put in through my insurance to bring my Focus back home. This lack of any loan sent me down a bit of a spiral for a bit, as now my only option was a truck that would be more expensive, and would add many months onto the amount of time I'd have to work two jobs - which was an absolutely terrifying concept. I went through a whole range of negative emotions, venting to a couple folks in a private call, feeling utterly overwhelmed, depressed, and downright pissed off that I couldn't get anyone to lend me what was in a sense not a particularly enormous amount of money, and feeling resentful in general that because of this, I would have to continue this miserable slog for even longer and pay nearly double for what seemed to be a worse vehicle in many respects. However, in the middle of this, the Grand Prix had a sudden price drop - down to $1k - and it seemed like it was going to be a solid vehicle. Right up until I found out the seller didn't have the title "yet" and that she was waiting for it to come in the mail. Maybe that was true, or maybe it was a scam - but certainly I wasn't going to get a vehicle without a title in-hand. So, it was back to being down in the dumps for the night. The next day, Friday, after several calls with my boss, he never heard back from his boss in regards to the additional $1500. The verdict was seemingly that it just wasn't going to happen. This further reinforced that I was likely stuck with the truck - sealing my fate. I did consider the idea of waiting until Monday - maybe his boss was busy - but this presented a non-zero risk that someone else would buy the truck before I could, which given my situation, could turn an already terrible situation into something even more dire. Saturday, I walked to the dealership (since it was in town), and still unsure on whether or not to actually purchase it, I did get some information on it, and took it for a short test-drive. It seemed to run well enough. However, what the lady mentioned was that I could potentially put a hold on the vehicle - which would prevent them from selling it for 10 days - though, if I failed to purchase the vehicle in that timeframe, the money I put down to hold it would be forefit. If I did, however, then it'd go towards the down payment. Given that I was fairly sure that the truck was going to be the vehicle of choice, but that I was still wanting to wait and see on Monday, just in case, that's exactly what I did. I put down $300 to hold it, with the plan being to grab either it or the Camry on Monday. After getting back home, the idea struck me during conversation to actually see what my budget would look like with this car payment added in. I had assumed that there was simply no way it was going to fit - it certainly wouldn't be comfortable. However, adding it in, and the picture I got, while not good, really wasn't as bleak as I thought. Technically, if I was comfortable with genuinely no financial growth, save for a couple spikes during the year, I could afford the payment on the truck - with only my current income. While this wasn't good reason to not get a second job, it did give me a new potential path forward that would be more manageable - but I'll get into that in a bit. So, fast-forward to today - as expected, my boss never heard back - and at around 10:30, I got the insurance stuff done at home, then started heading down to the dealership again, paid the rest of the down payment, filled out some paperwork, and drove off in the S10. I also made a couple other stops - filled it up with gas, got the paperwork filed with the DMV, all that stuff. Whew - what an eventful few days. The New Plan So - onto this new plan I mentioned just a moment earlier. Given that I can technically afford the down payment on my current income, this has given me another path forward: rather than having to work for 12-14 months to pay the truck off, along with any other debt and building up a cash reserve, what I can actually do instead is work long enough to pay off my grandma (since I owe her still for the attempted repair on the Focus), and from there get around $3600 saved up at a minimum (3k for general savings, and 600 to account for the increased insurance costs over that 14 month period). This brings the time that I'll need to work two jobs from 12-14 months down to 4-5 instead - which is still kind of scary to think about if I'm honest, but far less so than 12-14. From there, I can just kind of coast along - not saving much extra if any for the most part, but still with enough of a reserve that I should be able to absorb most immediate catastrophes. Or, if I find myself feeling okay after that period of time, I could do an extra couple months or so, and further increase that savings - or pay the truck off faster, either/or. Once it's all done, I can go back to basically living as I have thus far - except with a bit more of a cushion in case of emergency. Ironically, this plan actually is only possible with the S10 - had I gotten the Camry, I would've had to work longer in order to pay people off more quickly - rather than just having a fixed monthly payment. Finances are still going to be incredibly tight and down to the wire until I start getting income from my second job, once I find it - but the good news is that, thanks to the generosity of several people - both here in the community and even my own boss, who actually made the 500 dollar loan a bonus instead (which means I don't have to pay that back, thanks Ed) - I should be able to get by without falling into too deep of a hole. It's entirely possible something else comes up, or that I've missed something in my budget and I end up going negative regardless, but currently it seems like I should be able to just barely scrape by. As for the Ford Focus? I'm keeping it - the plan is still to eventually get it fixed up and running again. It was my first vehicle, and while it does have a couple other issues that need addressing, most of them aren't overly serious or fatal issues - and after a couple years, I've grown quite attached (though I tend to get attached to a lot of things, for better or for worse). And, another benefit of getting the S10, once it is fixed up and running again, I'll have both the nice general-purpose Ford Focus for typical stuff, and I'll have a solid truck for times where I need to haul things around or purchase some furniture. So, that's where things are at now. It's not quite as bleak of a picture as it seemed. Things can still change - at this rate it's hard to say where things go from here - but hey, at least for the time being, it seems like there's a bit more light at the end of this tunnel than it first seemed. Also - thanks for the kind words from all of you - your support will absolutely help me get through this period, however long it may be. And who knows, with a bit of luck, maybe it won't be too long before things go back to how they were before.

Hey, everyone. This isn't a typical announcement - this isn't about some new piece of content or some new feature we're working on, but instead, it's about some realities of my personal life that have finally caught up to me - and the impacts it will have on the short-term future of Chaotic United. Before you get too stressed or anxious - no, we aren't closing down the server, and also no, this isn't a permanent change. The specific impacts are sort of up in the air right now, as that won't be fully clear until a couple months or so from now. So, without any further delay - let's talk about my current life situation and where things are at. The Situation A few days ago (this past Friday), I ended up running into a pretty serious issue with my primary vehicle (a 2001 Ford Focus, for those curious). It began seemingly misfiring and then, when waiting for a train to cross a road, the engine stalled out entirely and would not re-start. I had my mom and a friend of hers come and figure out what was going on, and the guy was able to perform some sort of throttle reset and get the car running again, though it quickly began misfiring again. We did get it home successfully, though it did stall out one more time on the way. From that point onwards, it would not start any more. Eventually, after replacing some spark plugs and trying a couple things, the conclusion was that it needed to see a repair shop. I had it towed to one on Monday, and learned that the issue was actually due to the timing belt breaking entirely - I had the belt and the other timing components replaced on Tuesday, in the hopes that maybe the engine itself would be intact - but unfortunately, this was not the case. The engine still failed to start, likely due to one of the cylinder heads being damaged at the point the timing belt failed. As such, I'm now scrambling to get a replacement vehicle sorted out - borrowing funds from both my grandma and my own boss - in order to keep getting to and from work. Additionally, in order to pay these things back in a reasonable amount of time and build up a proper financial cushion, I'm going to have to take on a second job to supplement my income. The Financial Backstory Some of you who have been around a bit longer may recall that several years back, I came into a fair chunk of money from selling a second property - which belonged to my grandma and grandpa, and later my dad before he passed. You might be wondering, what happened to that money? This unfortunately is the other part of the problem - absolutely none of that money still exists, and hasn't since late 2023. I have kept this under wraps, telling only a select few close friends, but given the severity of my situation now, it's not something that makes sense to hide anymore. I've been effectively broke and hanging on by a thread for the past 2 years. Every time I have managed to start to get ahead, something else comes up and sets me all the way back to the starting line. Vet bills, missed work, car repairs, more vet bills, massively increasing electricity costs (with multiple summer bills being as high as 600 dollars for one month), being scammed out of 500 dollars, and now this catastrophic car situation. I've been unable to afford to do much in terms of home repairs or maintenance, I've had to keep my file server shut off to reduce my electric bills, and I've had to scale my own monthly costs back dramatically compared to early 2023. I've had to cut out my cloud backup of all my data, both of the OVH dedicated servers that used to host the Minecraft server are gone - with Michael having to step in yet again to keep things running for the past while. I've not even been able to take a long hot shower as my 40 gallon water heater started leaking, and I've had to make do with a 2.5 gallon unit instead - which in order to last for a shower means having to use minimal water pressure, and even then it means taking fairly quick showers - no lingering under the warm water. And with the potential upcoming healthcare premium expiration, there's a good chance that having any form of health insurance will also be entirely beyond my reach. The one hope that I've had is that maybe, just maybe, I can find some form of actual IT or career-focused position, instead of relatively menial jobs, to turn all this around. The reassuring and frustrating part is that it truly wouldn't take much - 40k/yr would be a solid step up, and 50k/yr is almost impossible to imagine at this point. But, despite my best efforts, I have been utterly unable to find any sort of career opening in any field that I'd even be somewhat interested in doing long-term. Remote jobs are much more competitive, and in my local area, there really just isn't a large amount of opportunities in this regard. Digging out of the Hole Earlier this summer, in late July, I attempted to work a second job at Walmart, doing cart pushing yet again - and while this time around the work itself was manageable, I was unable to mentally cope with effectively doing nothing but working and sleeping. Unfortunately, due to the dire nature of this situation, working some kind of second job is no longer optional, but is now an absolute requirement for me to make ends meet. The silver lining is that, once I'm stabilized after this initial bump, almost any second job will pay enough to not only make these ends meet, but I will at long last be able to start saving a meaningful amount of money again, though I've got a considerable hole to dig out of. It's going to take time, and I have a great deal of money to pay off, and I have no idea how I will possibly be able to mentally cope with this kind of workload. But the reality is that, at this point, it simply is not optional anymore - I have to bring in more income. If you're wondering why I don't quit my current job and just work some other higher-paying warehouse job or something - at the end of the day, there's a lot I appreciate and like about my current job. It isn't my first choice and isn't a long-term career - but it's low-stress, I don't have to worry about missing work too much, and the work is at least primarily at a desk, which means I don't have to be in physical pain and agony all day, every day. And considering that this is going to be a temporary change of pace, I'd rather go back to the schedule I have now, with a fairly low-stakes and low-stress job as my main source of income. The Future of Chaotic United So - with all of that out there, let's talk about what this means for Chaotic United. As mentioned at the start, the servers, website, Discord, and so on aren't going anywhere. They will remain online as they have been. Beyond that, it really just depends on whether or not I am able to find any semblance of balance with these two jobs. The best-case scenario: I find a sort of balance, and things continue to happen, but at a much slower pace. Less hours means less time inherently for me to work on stuff - and so things taking longer is just going to be unavoidable. The worst-case scenario: I'm unable to find any real sense of balance, I struggle to cope with the sheer amount of work I'm doing, and everything grinds to a total halt. In this case, there would likely be nothing in terms of updates, bugfixes, new content, and so on, until this is all over. Most likely, in either case, I will not be in voice chats very much at all while this is going on - because I just won't have the time to do so. If I'm able to then I will try to, but it's possible that I will largely disappear from voice chats for a while. The Road Ahead All of which brings us into the last question - how long is this going to be the case? What's the time-frame for all of this look like? At an absolute minimum, I will need to pay off the people who I borrowed money from in order to afford the attempted repairs on my original vehicle, as well as whatever funds I've borrowed from others for its replacement. I'll also want to get at least a small reserve of cash - probably at least a few thousand, if not more - so that in the event of another event like this, I'm not completely destroyed financially. It's hard to say how long this would take, but most likely this could be at least 5 months for the debt alone. If I want to also build a financial cushion, then the total would be closer to 10-12 months, and that's assuming no other catastrophes in between - which, considering how things have gone as of late, is not out of the question. So, to put it simply, whatever things end up looking like, this will be the new state of things for anywhere from 5-12 months. Considering how long I've been around and doing things, it really isn't that long - but I won't lie, the thought of doing genuinely nothing except work and sleep and survive for even 5 months is a terrifying prospect, let alone 12. I have no idea how I will cope with this. Historically, I've found even 40 hours to be on the upper end of tolerable for me, with every attempt of doing more always feeling downright exhausting and miserable. And here I am, now in a situation where I am going to have to work, every single day, without a single day off, for 5-12 months. Wrapping Up As I said earlier, I'm not sure how active I will be able to be during this time. If I actually have to just drop off the face of the earth for the most part, I hope you folks can keep things going and keep things active. I want there to be a community to come back to when this is all over. Additionally, while I won't beg or plead for money or anything - as I arguably have zero right to - I also won't stop anyone who wants to do so, as it might help speed this process up and shorten the amount of time I have to go through this. If you're able to do so, and you're feeling particularly generous, then feel free to head to the store. If not, or if you yourself aren't in a good financial place, then please do not feel any obligation to do so. At the end of the day, this is my mess that I made, and it's nobody's responsibility but my own to clean it up. The reality is that, no matter how well or not-well I am able to cope, it doesn't matter - I do not have a choice in the matter anymore. Wish me luck, folks - I think that I'm gonna really need it this time around.

* Updated Vanilla to MC 1.21.10 * Updated CUBungeeBukkitBridge on Vanilla to 1.0.12 - Removed Killerteddy

* Updated ViaVersion to 5.5.0 * Updated BungeeTabListPlus to 3.6.7 * Updated BungeeResourcePacks to 1.9.1-SNAPSHOT (build 637) * Server now supports clients up to 1.21.10 - Removed Killerteddy

* Updated server resource pack to 2.1.3 - Removed Killerteddy

* Updated Credits page to reflect current/recent staff members - Removed Killerteddy

* Registration page now requires completing Cloudflare captcha before continuing - Removed Killerteddy

* Fixed an issue where Sponsors and above could not use /carz spawn with perks enabled - Removed Killerteddy

* Fixed an issue in Survival where players with perks disabled could equip illegitimate armor using a dispenser - Removed Killerteddy

Changed Status to Fixed

* Recent Topics sidebar block no longer displays hidden topics to users who can view them - Removed Killerteddy

+ Added /report command - Used to allow reporting players for rule violations * Improved /bugreport command - Now uses new dialog system with Minecraft 1.21.6 * Updated CUBungee to 1.7.7 * Minimum officially supported client version is 1.21.6 - Removed Killerteddy

* Muted players can no longer use /mail - Removed Killerteddy

* Fixed an issue where users would receive an error when trying to submit a Staff Application - Removed 'Email Address' field from Staff Application form - Removed 'Cover Letter' field from Staff Application form - Removed 'Website' field from Staff Application form - Removed 'Resume/CV or Qualifications' on field form for Helper, Moderator, Global Moderator, Builder - Removed Killerteddy

+ Added new Staff Application center (based on Careers/Job Portal from Elaztek Studios) + Added new redirect subforum: Staff Applications * Moved old Staff Applications subforum to Archive - Removed Killerteddy

Hey, everyone! Today, we're introducing some long-overdue changes to how staff applications work - streamlining the entire process from start to finish. For all the details, keep on reading. A Brief History Lesson First and foremost, let's go over where we started out, for those unfamiliar. The previous staff application process was largely unchanged from the old Chaotic United, with the entire process - and even the specific questions asked - being virtually unchanged from back then. It consisted of a single form that users could fill out, at any time - with the goal of creating a database of potential candidates that could be drawn from in the future. Users could apply at any time, even if a particular position was 'full'. And, as an applicant, you'd essentially never hear a word back unless you were eventually selected to move forward. This could be anywhere from shortly after applying, to literal years later - and if an application was deemed to not be acceptable, it was just ignored. In the old CU days, voice interviews were also performed after the application - we even did these ourselves a couple times, but eventually stopped doing so as they ended up being fairly redundant and unnecessary. Additionally, we also rarely ever used staff applications in the sense of having a 'database of candidates' either - though the notice on top of the application form would still claim this, the text having been lifted directly from the old CU forums. Additionally, many of the questions - some being from the old days, and others being our own additions - were largely redundant or unimportant, resulting in a fairly drawn-out application process. Clearly - there was room for improvement. And so, taking these issues into consideration, and using more contemporary job portals as inspiration, we decided to finally address them. New and Improved The new staff application center is much more akin to a traditional job portal - in fact, it's a modified version of the Elaztek Studios job portal - just with some changes and tweaks to better suit Chaotic United. You can view and search for open positions, view descriptions of each position, and put in an application. Additionally, when we aren't open for additional candidates, applications can be either disabled outright - or, if we're still keeping our feelers out, we can indicate that we aren't actively seeking new applicants. This means that, when applying, you have a much better idea when (or if) you can expect to hear back The application process itself has also been simplified - with some questions being taken out entirely, some new ones being added in, and some previous ones being clarified to be a bit clearer. Overall, it should be a much simpler and easier process - no longer than it needs to be. Once you've applied, viewing your application itself will also be much simpler. You can quickly get back to the job you applied to, view your own results, and most notably - view the status of your application. No more ambiguity as to where you're at, and you can feel free to comment on your own application (or bring it up to a staff member) to ensure it gets seen. One last change worth mentioning is that when viewing job openings, you'll see both a comments and reviews section at the bottom. If you've held a particular position in the past, we encourage you to leave a review - we won't remove any that make honest criticism. If you haven't held a position for very long, or you haven't yet held one, you can instead post a comment. Star ratings are visible next to each job within the list, allowing new applicants to easily get a sense of what a particular position is like, according to those who were in those shoes. Any old applications submitted using the old system can still be viewed within the Staff Applications subforum, which has been moved to the Archive category. If you applied before, we generally will not be looking at the old applications when selecting new staff members - so if you want to be considered, be sure to put a new application in through the new system. If you're interested in applying to the team, we've also written up a document outlining some of the expectations we have of our staff members - allowing you to get a better sense of how we work, letting you get an idea early on if our team is one you'd like to be a part of. This is required reading for submitting an application and is included in all application forms - but if you'd like, you can also find it linked directly here. Wrapping Up We believe this new system will make staff applications easier and simpler - for both you, and for us - and who knows, maybe some other systems in the website could be worth getting some similar treatment down the line. But such projects are for another time - for now, that's all we've got. If you're someone who's interested in joining the team, be sure to visit the Staff Application portal here and see if anything interests you!