What do you look for in a co-admin or moderator?

What are the things you steer clear of?

Have you any staff horror stories?

You have your team...... how do you manage it?

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What do you look for in a co-admin or moderator?

I never look for co-admins any more but for my moderators i like them to be kind friendly towards community try to help out as much as they can.

Have you any staff horror stories?

I used to run a phpbb board and my co admin fort it be funny to delete me and kill my board. Ever since then i never had a co-admin and its hard to get all my members back from b4.

You have your team...... how do you manage it?

I try to encourage my team to post a wide array of topics that ppl can relate to and build up the post count.

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ill only let people i know in real person let be co admins cant really trust people that well over the net

my co-admins is my good friends, one of them is tech support, once he was host owner, till i moved to new one, second is owner of another site, my forum is his site forums too and third on is head judge, he looking for the sotw and other gfx contest to go on smooth.
my moderators, are people that members like them, that help to other and know what they doing

Once, when i had phpbb, some idiot hacked my forum, he changed my password, member name, member id and profile, and changed some stuff at the forum. i fixed it fast with phpmyadmin, and upgraded the phpbb bug. it was on next day after i picked up new co-admin. i banned him, but it wasn't him, after 2 days i found the hacked ip, and unbanned the co-admin. since then i'm looking for all information they give and i can find about them in google, before i'm making someone global mod or admin

ehm... i'm lazy, i almost never on msn, only if i need someone
all i'm doing is sending group pm's to everyone or posting something in staff area, and the rest doing my co-admins .

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I'm the co-admin of our roleplaying site and we're a husband and wife team. Our staff are a mixture of online and offline friends.

The things we looked for when choosing our staff were the following:

1. Attitude to new members.
I think it's vital that all new members are made to feel welcome and our mods always welcomed every member and gave lots of help.

2. Ability to smooth waters and deal with difficult members
Often problems arise from mis-communication rather than malice and we needed mods who would try to sort out issues before using more draconian measures. However, we also wanted mods who were not afraid of using their powers when it was necessary.

3. Fairness
We value fairness above all things. All members need to be treated the same and if they cause problems, should be treated the same way.

4. Roleplaying Experience
This was not a requirement, more an added bonus! We have lots of different games and it's great to have staff with experience with roleplaying to help new roleplayings get into the swing.

We have the greatest staff an admin could wish for - they are proactive, fair, friendly and efficient. This helps our forum keep the friendly atmosphere that has developed over the last year and made the journey a fun one indeed!

I never hire co-admins. I'm not trusting enough. I do however hire mods. Generally I just want them to be compitent, have a decent grasp of the english language, active, knows about the subject at hand, and cares about the board. For that last reason, and funding, I'll never hire staff.

I tend to stear clear of anyone who fails to meet the above requirements. I also steer clear of anti-semites and people who came to my site because they were banned at my rival's site.

Horror stories? Nope. I carefully consider each member I promote to staff. A few have been demoted for insufficient activity, but nothing too bad.

In the past, management of my staff has been minimal since my boards tend to be almost completely uncensored.

However, with a project I've got in the works, I'll probably have a forum. And here the climate will not be as lax, so I'll probably write up a mod guide.

Great answers here, keep them coming.

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What do you look for in a co-admin or moderator?

I don't have co-admin just global mods and mods. I don't think I trust anyone enough with my hard work to be co-admin. My global mods were carefully picked. One of them does all the coding work for me, another is very knowledgable in a number of different subjects and the other is very good with graphics. My mods are mainly people I've known for a long time from other boards. Once they've proved themselves to me and post enough, they are then invited to become moderators. I also have to trust people with the responsibility as well.

What are the things you steer clear of?

People who join up to either start fights or to kiss ass so that they can become moderators.

Have you any staff horror stories?

Not really although I have had mods that have just disappeared and never reappeared. I have horror stories from when I used to mod and global mod other boards.

You have your team...... how do you manage it?

I send out messages from time to time encouraging them to post. I ask them to post at least once a week in their respective boards. I reward them with higher post counts or more karma points. From time to time my coder recieves little presents in the post.

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I do need some moderaters because all of my other moderaters have left my site and have not returned. So im looking for some devoted people.

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Get Your Game On! Cause' it's Time To Throw Down!

Something I created as an article in our own forums a wee while back. Thought it might be of use to others. Feel free to admire, mock, laugh at, set fire to, etc. I have thick skin. It's just what works for us.

If you look around our own forums, hopefully you'll find what you need. That's good and we all like it. However, that, as odd as it may seem, is not what I want to highlight. What I want to highlight is what you don't see.

As a forum administrator, your tasks seem to be always increasing, moreso as you increase your popularity and attract new Members from different areas of interest, walks of life, age groups, and motive. So how do you get them all to sing the same song as you?

Forget the Rules

Many Forums have an impressive array of 'rules' for their Members to abide by. In my experience, they are next to useless. I certainly don't read them when I visit a forum. Do you? If the answer is no, then you shouldn't be in the least bit shocked to learn that nor do your Members.

If your Members have reached the age of being able to register and post in forums without knowing simple courtesy then you can safely assume they really won't give two hoots about your rules either.

Remember, a forum, by its general nature is a medium for the open exchange of communication and ideas. Try to hammer that with inflexible rules and you'll soon become the most unpopular Administrator in the west.

Practise the Art of Silent Rules

StudioX, believe it or not, has quite a few rules. Where are they published? They're not. Would you read them if they were? I suspect not. Our 'rules', such that they are, were agreed by Staff in the very early days and they remain locked away in the the Staff Room forums, gathering dust and harnessing the wisdom of the mystical umberella.

For those interested, they are as follows:

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1. Absolutely no public forum arguing. An Admin decision is not for debate. If a Member has something to say about a decision, they must use PM or Email. Any attempt to use the forums should be deleted without any notice.

2. No personal discussion about Members in the staff room. Whatever your personal views are of particular Members, keep them to yourself. You never know when one of them may become staff and have access to your previously forgotten views.

3. Post titles MUST relate to a topic's subject matter. It makes searching much easier for newcomers when topics are titled correctly. Adding a bold "Title Edited by Staff for Easier Searching" at the foot of the author's original post is sufficient notice.

4. We do not provide glib answers such as "Use Google", "Try Searching", etc. We are staff, it's part of the role to give help and assistance, no matter the experience of the person asking for it. If someone was going to use search, they would have done so before asking.

5. Members do not need to be told they have posted in the wrong forum. Quietly moving the post to the correct forum with a bold "Topic Moved by Staff" at the foot of the author's original post should be all that is needed.

6. It is not for staff to pass comment on spam posts, etc. It is our role to simply remove them or post them into the coffee shop. Adding our own personal view to them simply invites argument and debate.

7. I encourage all staff not to deal with support issues via PM. Doing so means that we get asked the same questions in the forums later because someone couldn't find the solution they needed too. Of course, there are issues such as private login details which must be taken via PM. Please don't leave Members waiting an age for responses to PM. (I need to remind myself of that too.)
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If you read them carefully, you'll see one important thing. It isn't and never should be about trying to mould Members into a ruleset. There are just too many different personalities to cope with when you travel that winding and unending road. Mould yourself and your staff, and let the users do what they do best -- contribute.

We don't try to make our lives easier, we try to make the lives of the Members easier. Isn't that really what a good forum is all about?

I've seen, time and again, new forum owners rush to make their rules. It's like a dog marking its territory. It's their way of stamping their authority. I believe that, in many cases, it's done with good intent. However, call back a few months later and you'll see posts from the Administrator like "Please contribute", "Please post.." etc. It happens time after time. This is where the art of silent forum administration comes into its own. You give them Members the freedom to post. They don't worry about breaking x,y, and z rule; they just contribute.

The Golden Rule

A golden rule I have is never, repeat, never debate an issue of forum policy in the public forums once it has been decided. The moment you do that, you open you and your policies up for all to debate. If they are open for debate then they are not solid. If they are not solid then Members will try to challenge them.

Which is more productive? Arguing the point or just removing the offending post without word?

Would you shop in a shop which had clutter all over the floors, no notices of where to find what you were looking for and where the customers were stood shouting at the staff and each other? I hope not.

A Final Word -- Be Fair, Be Open and Be Helpful

There are already a million forums Members can go to in order to casually debate and argue. Don't make yourself one of them. Create a single forum where casual chat is permitted so that the more serious users can avoid it and get just the facts they need.

Don't wear an iron-glove, it simply doesn't work. Train the staff, not the Members. Now go do something rash, delete your rules, I dare you..