~~ Resources and Rules ~~
General Rules for working at Focus
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- Do not forget to submit your activity reports every two weeks!
- Unless you are a cohost or helper, you are a guest in another staff’s events with the same privileges as students. If asked to leave a class for any reason you must do so. Do not distract other students or interfere with another staff’s event.
- If you see a staff member break a rule don’t confront them. Screenshot and be silent. Tell Mimi when you see her.
- If someone offends you do not take it personally. You are fantastic, don’t forget that. Screenshot if you need to but do not lash out. Talk to Mimi if you run into any serious problems in game.
- You are the responsible staff member in charge. You do not need to argue why you took disciplinary action against a student. You do not need to defend yourself and you do not need to teach the student a lesson. Give warnings, state why then move on. If students argue give more warnings.
- Do not abuse power. Do not use more power than needed to calm a situation.
- Put students first. Work before play.
- Answer students when they talk to you. Be polite and always make them feel included. If you are hosting simply reply, “I can’t talk and host at the same time.”
- When in doubt, ask for help. Write down problems, make a list, then discuss issues with Mimi. You can also ask your fellow staff for advice and assistance.
- Be professional. Think about how your school teacher acts, then copy them.
- Dress appropriately. Act appropriately.
- You are a role model! Be a good one!
Merits and Manners
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Merits
Staff can award merits to students when they see them displaying good behaviour at the studio. It is up to you when you want to give out a merit but keep the following things in mind:
- Merits have NOTHING to do with dance quality! Do not award them to players for good dancing.
- Merits shouldn’t be given to everyone or given out in bulk. Give a merit right away when you see good behaviour, not after
- DO NOT give merits for actions you did not witness first hand (don’t give a merit when someone says “so-and-so was so nice to me today!”)
- Do not give students merits for reporting other student’s bad behaviour. Yes we want them to come forwards but we don’t want them to be seeking out bad behaviour (or worse, tricking others into behaving badly just to report them) just to get merits
- DO NOT take merits away for bad behaviour! Students should never fear the loss of merits, this will lead to lying and hiding mistakes. Merits are for good behaviour only, warnings are for bad behaviour.
Some things you might want to award merits for:
- Being nice to newer players
- Being helpful or supportive in classes
- Using manners (see handbook for details)
- Accepting mistakes, apologizing, seeking to solve problems
- Tattle telling on themselves ; admitting when they do things wrong on their own without trying to hide it or lie
- Any behaviour that stands out to you as promoting kindness and helping make Focus a better place!
Manners
Staff should encourage students to have manners by doing the following:
- Thank students at the end of class and instruct them to bow/curtsy and thank them back (over time students will learn to do this without being told)
- If students talk when you are talking remind them that this is bad manners
- Arrive to your choreography practices, booked classes and auditions 15-20 minutes early and expect students to arrive 10 minutes early. When you pick players during auditions remind them to come to practices 10 minutes early. Don’t be late! Lead by example!
- When you are talking to a student and another student interrupt remind them that they should wait their turn and that interrupting is bad manners, then ignore their question until you have finished answering the first student.
- Have good manners yourself! Be the example. Students will copy your behaviour so behave how you want them to behave.
- Don’t be a doormat! Don’t let students walk all over you, remind them to have manners and don’t give them what they want until they behave the way you want.
How to use Activity Reports
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Step 1: Join studio and open the staff mod window. Click “show secret code” to receive the current secret code word. Do not share this with anyone!
Step 2: Go to the focus twitter (@FocusDanceRblx) and click the pinned tweet to go to the hub. Scroll down and find “staff hub.”
Step 3: Click submit activity logs report.
Step 4: Fill the form out. Do not spend more than 15 minutes on this. If it takes longer than 15 minutes you are writing too much detail.
Step 5: If you want to report players or staff please include usernames and minimal details. If Mimi needs to follow up on something, she’ll talk to you.
Important : In the staff hub is the logs schedule. It lists the date each report is due by. Try to submit your report close to the due date but not after. They are due every two weeks.
How to book a class
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Step 1: Find the correct channel in the Focus Bulletin Server.
Step 2: Follow formatting instructions pinned to that server.
Step 3: Tag the applicable people
How to Host a Troupe, Team or other Organized/Competitive Group within Focus
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What is a troupe/team or competitive/performance group:
A troupe/team can be defined as a large group of focus members, led by a staff who participate in regular performances or competitions or other displays. They differ from a group dance for Focus Finals because they may compete outside of Focus or perform to entertain the Focus members. The Pro Dancer rank is an example of a team hosted by Mimi. Cheer teams and theater troupes are also examples. From now on at Focus all staff can host teams like this (and compete outside of focus without Mimi’s involvement) if they follow these guidelines. Group dances are not teams by default.They will be considered a competitive team if they compete regularly outside of Focus.
General Rules:
- Regular practices: Practices must be scheduled at least weekly
- Formatted auditions: Organized auditions with fair player choices and no favoritism.
- Planned performances/competitions: Teams must produce an end result of performance or competition or other display.
- There must be a minimum 6 students to be considered a team/troupe.
- Ensure that your team members will get along well, and do your best to help resolve all issues. Warnings will be given like usual if rules are broken.
- No fighting, gossip, or causing drama within your group/troupe.
- Set the troupe/team rules and list consequences. Use a server or google document to organize this.
- Troupes/teams must have a discord server or document where all information about the team is stored.
- Moderate all team chats and channels as if everything is taking place on the focus bulletin.
- No troll performances. (Except on April Fools)
- Music/costumes/choreography must be appropriate for all ages.
- All Focus and Roblox Rules apply.
- Sundays from 12 pm noon to 2 pm PST is reserved and no troupes may occupy this practice time.
- Troupes should have main and alt members (or members with different roles like principle and chorus). These do not need to be formal roles (all members can be considered mains and alts like when Mimi hosted cheer) but troupes should essentially have more team members than needed to perform.
- While any staff can form a troupe/team duplicates are discouraged and not allowed in come cases. Examples of duplicates:
- Theater troupes that perform the exact same plays. Discouraged.
- Cheer teams in the same division (eg. two Level 4 All Girl teams) Duplicate cheer teams are never allowed. (They would be competing against each other at competition!)
- Two elite level gymnastics clubs: Discouraged
- Competitive dance teams in the same division (eg. varies by competition but for instance two large jazz groups.) Duplicates are never allowed. (They would be competing against each other at competition!)
- Other teams of the exact same level and genre. Discouraged.
- Please organize this among yourselves.
How to host an audition for a team/troupe
Before starting a team or troupe, head to the google sheet document linked in the staff server to add your team/troupe to the list. Please keep this updated and delete things you are no longer hosting.
Before auditions can be hosted, all information about the team/troup/group must be decided and there must already be an organized document and/or discord server. The schedule must also be decided and communicated to students before the audition. Preferably in the announcement about the audition.
The audition format for troupes/teams/groups follows the same format for regular auditions for group dances (like for focus finals).
Results must be posted after the audition in the #audition-results channel in the focus bulletin, not in game during the audition. That channel is not for group dance results. Group dances are not included in this section. Results must label any levels clearly (such as base or flyer for cheer, or alternate vs. main).
It is the responsibility of the staff host to make sure all members who passed auditions are informed.
Guidelines For Practices
Practices need to be a safe and fun space for everyone. Expect all members to behave, treat each other kindly and have fun together. Never use caps and avoid getting off topic or goofing wildly. Give equal attention to all members and don’t use practice as a time to chat with friends.
Expect members to be on time but make sure to always remind them that real life comes first.Don’t get stuck cleaning routines or fixing small issues. Focus on getting everyone working together, having fun and getting through the material you are teaching. Don’t micromanage.
List consequences for behavior clearly and follow through. Be strict but not unkind. Remember you are working with children and you are here to give them the best time.
Performances and Competitions
It is the staff in charge’s responsibility to book performances or research how to compete. This is especially important for those competing outside of focus, as there are a number of rules and requirements for outside competitions.
Performances within Focus must be booked in advance. During the performance all staff involved must work together to ensure the best experience for both the troupe/team members and the audience. The same rules for practice (not yelling etc.)
The show must go on! Always have a backup plan and make sure you are prepared! Focus on getting ready to perform the whole routine/play/display, regardless of the quality, before focusing on making everything perfect. Everyone will have a better time this way!
Check the #competition-resources channel for a list of known comps.
Admin Commands
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Here is the list of proper usage of admin commands:
- Countdown: Use as countdown before routines and time limit for certain activities.
- Freeze: Use in minigames. Can also be used to freeze players when they “run away from receiving a warning.” Please do not use on “dancers” team.
- Thaw: Reverses freeze.
- Kick: Use when a player has reached 3 warnings and is continuing to display unfavorable behavior OR when severe rule breaking is taking place.
- New Team: Creates a new team with selected title and color.
- Team Player: Adds a player to a team. If a student is teamed staff it will put them in dancers automatically. This is a good way to put an entire team back into the correct team (put all on staff then let the game sort).
- Remove Team: Removes team with given name. Please ask before removing other players teams (unless player is not online)
- Force Field: Puts a blue glowing light around selected player. Good for mini games. Please don’t overuse, causes lag.
- Un-Force Field: Removes force field.
- Teleport: Teleports one player to another. Note: You cannot teleport staff to you, you must either teleport to them or ask them to teleport to you. This is to encourage good manners.
- Respawn: Respawns a player. Use in minigames and to remove players from closed areas. Use on players who glitch through walls. (Repeated glitching should result in a warning)
- Message: Sends a message to all players in game. Try not to spam this.
*Logs: Displays a log of all commands and players who completed them. - Mute: Mutes selected player(s). Will be reset on rejoin. Can be used to take good photos. Can be used on students who are being mean in place of a kick (trolls, younger players, etc.). Please don’t use on all! Use teams for photos!
- Un-Mute: Reverts mute. Recommended to use on all members in case a player switched teams since being muted.
- Temp Ban: Mimi only. Prevents rejoin into current server.
How to Moderate (In game AND on the wall)
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General Moderation (in game)
Note: The kick button in the player card that appears after reaching 3 warnings doesn’t kick the player! It will delete their warnings and you must kick manually (if you choose to). Players should start without warnings after a kick but receive them again if they continue bad behavior (this is to give them a chance to change their actions).
Staff aren’t moderators, their goal isn’t to seek out bad behavior and punish small infractions. They should not be “trigger happy” with warnings or make students feel bad for small mistakes. However they are expected to maintain order on a server and prevent certain kinds of rule breaking. Here is a guide to follow:
- Not listening/disobeying instructions in class - This is specifically for when students don’t follow class instructions like, “Stop talking” or “Sit down” or “Stand here”. Moderation actions: You should never threaten moderation action to students who don’t listen when given commands, however here are some things you can do. Remind the player, Refuse to continue hosting until they follow instructions, Tell the student to do some number of pushups or jumping jacks in a corner and ONLY if a player is being really disruptive (like doing handsprings in circles where ppl are trying to dance or bothering others) you can respawn them. Never shout at these players and never be rude or sharp with them. Never give warnings or kick these players! If they continue to purposely disobey they are trolling and should be dealt with as trolls, but only when it is clear they are doing it to annoy others and after respawning has failed.
- Glitching - Ask the player to stop then respawn them.
- Repeated Glitching - After asking the player to stop multiple times give a warning. Continued repeats should result in a kick (after 3 warnings a kick notif will display, you may kick at this time if you feel it necessary).
- Trolling - Spamming, shouting, bulling random students and other trollish behavior should result in a warning. Repeated behavior results in a kick.
- Caps Abuse - Repeated use of caps to get attention or shout at others. Request to stop followed by warnings if it persists.
- Shipping - The act of encouraging a “relationship” between two players (aka encouraging ODing). Warnings 1-2-3 followed by a kick and suspension if the problem persists.
- Online Dating - One warning with a request to cease (stop) immediately. If it persists (with proof found in game) suspend players involved.
- Targeted bullying - More serious than trolling. Generally targets a players weakness and is performed by a more active player. Usually the result of some sort of disagreement between players. If witnessed should result in a warning and a request that arguing players not continue to interact for a while. Serious incidents should be reported to Roblox (using the abuse report feature) and players can receive up to a suspension.
- Swearing - Instant suspension and report to Roblox.
- Arguing about staff decisions - Start by explaining your decision in a way that is kind and calm. Understand the player’s point of view. If it seems you may have made an error correct it. If argument continues or player becomes volatile you can give a warning. However, sometimes it is better to ignore these students or switch servers/leave for 5 minutes so they clam down.
- Severe Rule Breaking - Actions that violate the Roblox TOS, threats, actions that put other users at risk or chat/actions that contain subject matter not appropriate for children. These result in immediate suspension and should be reported to Roblox and to Mimi.
- “Hacking” - While it is not possible for someone to hack the game or players in it, they can modify their own character to fly, walk through walls, or have increased speed. Please suspend these “hackers” and kick them from the server.
If you are unsure about what the correct moderation action is, ask Mimi or another staff member for assistance. Also remember that staff should never belittle or bully a member who has broken the rules, be professional but not unkind.
Staff rule breaking: Screenshot and report to Mimi. Do NOT engage in a fight! For swearing, targeted bulling or any other extreme cases, also report to Roblox, they might handle the problem before Mimi does (especially if it is super obvious).
Wall moderation:
If you have the moderator rank you may also moderate the wall and accept member join requests.
- Delete spam, drama and bullying
- Do not delete complaints about Dance Your Blox Off (unless obviously trollish)
- Accept members daily if possible
- Delete obvious bots and trolls when accepting members
- Delete users who have inappropriate usernames (or hate names)
Copy Paste Answers for Common Situations
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Student: Why didn’t I get a level?
Staff Option 1 (exam): Unfortunately I am only able to level 50% of the exam. Try taking a dance class instead, everyone gets a level there!
Staff Option 2 (class): Unfortunately you joined too late to receive a level. Try again next time.
Staff Option 3: teacher gives level to calm volatile student
Student: Can you rank me up?
Staff: checks levels Unfortunately you don’t have the required levels to rank up. Click your player to check your levels. You need 10 in a skill to rank up. Earn them in events.
Student: Can you teach me?
Staff Option 1: I can choreograph a routine for you if you like.
Staff Option 2: I’m not doing private coaching today.
(This list will be expanded)
Warning messages:
Trolling - “Trolling and other behavior intended to annoy others, isn’t allowed here. Warning [#].”
Bullying - “Please do not chat things that are intended to hurt others. Warning [#].”
Glitching - “Please do not glitch into locked areas. They are locked for a reason.”
Caps Abuse - “All caps messages make you appear to shout. Please do not shout at other members.”
Swearing - Suspend the player and kick. No chat necessary.
Extreme Rule Breaking - Suspend the player and kick. No chat necessary.
Arguing with staff - “I’m sorry you are unhappy with my decision. Please do not argue so you don’t get in more trouble.”
Continuing to argue with a staff - “I am sorry but I have to give you another warning. Please discontinue this behavior.”
Mimi’s Tips for Success!
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If you make any sort of error or are accused of doing something wrong: Tell Mimi right away. We don’t want to demote people for their mistakes we want to educate, correct, and improve our members!
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Do not hide stuff when you know it’s wrong. This includes your own mistakes (like above we can fix them) or other people’s. Try to encourage other staff to talk to Mimi on their own, but if they don’t, share the issue so that we can work it out the right way. Don’t be mad when others do the same for you, this is a learning experience!
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Log your moderation actions and rank ups/downs. Not just for proof that you did the right thing, but also so others can see what you did and do likewise if they have a similar situation.
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Post in the bulletin! Mimi does activity checkups there!
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You can retire and unretire whenever you need to, just don’t do it every other week. Short breaks don’t require a retirement.
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Don’t pick sides. Don’t get in fights. When someone tries to bait you, screenshot it and ignore them. Don’t let them get screenshots they can use against you! Don’t follow people around or hang out in the same areas as people who you don’t like. Keep your distance until you can all get along.
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Students first. You probably already read this somewhere but its good to hear it twice. The point of being staff is to give the players a good time, not just you or your friends.
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When in doubt, just make people happy. Whether its the student who won’t leave you alone because they claim you didn’t level them or the one who thinks they never pass exams because they don’t have robux. Sometimes it’s better to give them what they want, but try to expect politeness before helping them.
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If you get reported, don’t panic. Be honest. Share your side if you think the report is unfair but don’t try to manipulate the situation. Being honest is a better way to get out of trouble than lying.
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Try to have fun! If you aren’t having fun, talk to Mimi about it. Share your difficulties and problems with the game and the community. Mimi can’t fix what she doesn’t know about and she only knows about stuff if people communicate.
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Communicate with respect even when you are annoyed. If you can’t be genuine about it, step back, clear your head, hands off the keyboard and think. Slow down when you communicate. Ask for help when you need it.