Right now, we currently have moderators and super mods. Anyone can become either. We want to change things so we have more coverage. Currently, if a mod is on and something happens outside of their forums, there's nothing they can do. But if everyone were super mods, there wouldn't be this problem (we've experienced this quite a few times). Basically, we want to have new mods go through an "initiation" phase where they're moderator of a couple forums, and if they're good enough, we make them a super mod. So the only non-super-mods are those who are new to the job.

The only problem is, there are couple people on our staff who I don't really want to promote to super mods as they're loose cannons. If we promote them, I fear they'll abuse their power. If we don't promote them, but we do promote the rest of the older moderators, they'll throw a tantrum. If we take them off the staff, the results will be even worse. So it seems I'm in a lose-lose situation here. Anyone have any advice?

__________________
Talk Budgies - a site for budgie owners to talk about budgies
Talk Parrotlets - where parrotlet enthusiasts come to talk about parrotlets

Those type of members shouldn't be on staff at all. They should be on the team because they want to help the community grow, not because they want the power. I wouldn't feel bad about demoting members like that if I were you.

__________________
World of Warcraft Forums - Your #1 place to discuss all things World of Warcraft.

I agree 100% with Moelman

Sounds to me like you need to get rid of them all together if you're afraid they are likely to abuse power

__________________
...some super-sweet signature

Sounds like you have a large staff

I agree with what's been said already. Promote the ones who want to help, and get rid of the others all together. Then if you need more moderators, maybe look into the community for any outstanding members.

__________________

- Check out our interviews with people in the design industry