We’re pleased to announce that Adam “Strong Badam” Oliver is the new General Manager of Smashboards. This promotion was made in lieu of our previous General Manager, Xiivi, resigning.
For those unfamiliar with the General Manager position, the General Manager for the site reports directly to the site owner, Chris “AlphaZealot” Brown. The GM manages anything related to Smashboard.com’s staff and user disputes, including but not limited to:
- Addition/removal of staff
- Promotion & curation of current staff
- When applicable, delegation/assignment of duties and projects
- Final decision maker on user disputes
Strong Badam has been with Smashboards staff for half a decade, moderating forums and collaborating with the rest of the staff. More recently, he was heavily involved in the extensive Smashboards Update the site saw last year. The new Staff Announcements & User Feedback structure, granting greater transparency on site changes and more ways for users to interact with the staff, was one of the projects that Strong Badam spearheaded. Strong Badam also led the initiative in crafting the site’s Diversity & Inclusivity policy, ensuring all users feel welcome no matter their background or identity. His history with the Smash community and Smashboards will be a positive benefit as the site moves forward.
Statement from new General Manager,
Strong Badam
I'm ecstatic to take on the role of General Manager. Smashboards is a site I love dearly, and I'd like to talk about why.
At the heart of Smashboards is its userbase. We all come here to share our love and appreciation for Super Smash Bros., but community makes us stick around. Throughout the site, our users share positivity, excitement, and ideas in thousands of threads. For many users, long after interest in Smash itself may have waned, they find communities of people here who share other common interests, paving the way for long term friendships. With awesome users to pull from, it's no wonder we have such a great group of Moderators and Administrators making up our staff. I've been with the staff here for several years, collaborating with the whole team to make the site a better place. The care that the Smashboards staff displays inspires me to do my best in leading them as its General Manager.
I'd like to thank the former General Manager, Xiivi, for the opportunity. He was an excellent GM; I learned a lot from him and I'm honored to follow suit. Xiivi's contributions during his decade-long tenure on staff can't be overstated. As a recent example, Smashboards saw a number of improvements last year following a large-scale collaborative effort of our entire staff; Xiivi was at the helm organizing those various projects. In addition, thanks to Xiivi I'm supported by an extremely well-curated group of staff members who will continue to keep the site a tidy, friendly, and welcoming place to visit. I would also like to thank AlphaZealot, the owner of Smashboards itself! He cares a lot about the site, just like I do, and I look forward to working with him.
As the site’s General Manager, I plan to continue enabling our excellent staff to bring their best to the site. The future of Smashboards is bright; I'm really looking forward to it and I'm glad you're all here to experience it with me. See you around the boards!
Statement from former general manager,
Xiivi
I’m excited for the future of Smashboards and am proud to have Strong Badam taking the helm. Over the past year I have aimed to prepare the site to tackle the challenges of the ever-evolving digital landscape. Strong Badam played a pivotal role in accomplishing these tasks and has a storied perspective in the Smash community. I have had the pleasure of working with hundreds of different staff members over the past decade and express deep gratitude for them on what they have helped the site accomplish. Please know that without those hours of dedication given by our staff, Smashboards would not be possible. From our Administrators to Moderators and from the variety of roles and teams they have worked hard to make the site a great experience. We’ve had a variety of projects over the years from Writers to Rankings and so much more—all these projects helped to make the site a better place.
Strong Badam will not have to take over Smashboards alone and has a strong team behind him. It has been such a rewarding experience seeing what many former and current Staff members have accomplished outside of the site. For many, volunteering for the site is a first chance at leadership and I have seen many accomplished individuals grow into strong leaders. I am certain Smashboards will continue to curate this talent and cannot wait to see what the future has in store. Our users also deserve recognition for making Smashboards such a successful online community. Without the creativity and passion for the game, none of this would be possible either. Members do not need to serve in a staff role to make the site a better place and the content they share with one another from guides to mock move sets and more makes our site worth visiting. Thank you all again for allowing me the opportunity to pilot the site through the eras and I am happy to have gained so many valuable friends along the way.
Writing Team statement from Blaise “Scribe” Camacho and Lucas “Thirdkoopa” Guimaraes,
We’ve had the ability to work with Strong Badam for the last few months, and while we’re saddened (and a little surprised!) by Xiivi’s resignation, we’re excited to continue collaborating with Strong Badam and the rest of the Smashboards staff to bring out the best in our news team.
