A staff title is nothing but an instrument. It allows one to easily do things that would be difficult or impossible without its aid, but it does not in any way change the individual who holds it; it remains external to and wholly dependent upon this person, and it can be used for good or ill. A staff title does not ennoble those who possess it; it does not purge their blood of base passions and create a new order superior by nature; it does not render their judgment infallible and their will supremely virtuous. For these reasons, the members constituting the staff should not be allowed to become a detached ruling class with the absolute power to do as they wish, as this will surely lead to the dissolution of the community.

What, then, is the proper role of the staff? It can be nothing else than to serve the community by maintaining the basic conditions necessary for the achievement of its ends, those being the general enjoyment of the free exchange of ideas and of mutual friendship. When any member uses the instrument of staff power deliberately against the will of the community or with reckless disregard for it, he or she betrays the community’s trust and harms its cohesion.

To avoid such pains, those members charged with the duties of the staff should not be deaf to counsel, no matter the source, and should never allow themselves to be so arrogant as to believe that they understand the will of the community better than its other members. Their uses of staff powers should not be shrouded in secrecy. Forum moderators and administrators are not priests or oracles: an air of mystery does not lend their decisions any sense of divine wisdom or supernatural authority, but can only result in failures of communication and even feelings of distrust. These feelings are not unjustified: members who insist upon concealing their uses of power are only more likely to succumb to the temptation to abuse them. More importantly, these members allow their titles to isolate them from the rest of the community, damaging the principle of friendship that is at the heart of the community’s being. Even if they do nothing to engender hatred or any other sentiment contrary to the spirit of friendship among the other members, they still risk distancing themselves and ceasing to truly be a part of the community.

Some current members of the staff have suggested that our recent troubles would not have happened or would at least have been milder if they could have kept a tighter lid on their actions. To this I reply that many such problems have arisen precisely as a result of the veil of secrecy and the isolation of the staff. The small size and lack of good ventilation in the staff forum only ensure that the place heats up very quickly. The self-imposed segregation of these members gives them a misdirected sense of duty, more paternalistic than friendly, especially when they fall into that remarkable tendency of considering themselves as staffers before (or even rather than) members of the community.

Returning to the general principles behind the proper use of staff powers, it is foolish and dangerous to exercise power capriciously, but obstinacy in adhering to rules and traditions regardless of present circumstances is no less an abuse. Those members given the responsibility of a staff position should never forget that people will always respect the power of the title, but their respect for the actual individuals who hold that title depends a great deal on how they use it, on whether they fulfill their obligation to serve the will of the community. A fine way to encourage a general sense of admiration is to use power only when it is necessary and to always be certain to use the right kind: there is much room for finesse in exercising one’s power, but too many times have staff members drawn a sword where a scalpel would be more fitting.

You should also have a sense of humor, or you won’t understand anything I’ve said.