both can be good depending on your board,
where i admin, i like to post and try to answer as much as i can. Its also good though to have mods that do the same.
I also enjoy doing the behind the scenes stuff too, such as adding hacks and what not.
It becomes too busy if you try to do it all yourself,
A good forum needs a good team!!

I think its good for the admin to remain, accessible but not accessible.. confusing?... I keep a additional post name because I don't want the admin himself to become to involved with the members, but always be there when 'really' needed, and provide services to show the board is always going somewhere..

excuse me if i'm a little confusing, heinekin does that to you*

The dog will have to nuture the puppy, until the puppy can fend for itself and no longer needs assistance as often. It is the same way with an admin and a forum. The admin can help out by posting alongside new members, until the members get numerous enough to keep themselves occupied! That way, after a while, the Admin can become a mere lurker, only popping up to post when they come across a thread that is of interest to them, or to stop a feud between the members.

A good Admin can be vacant, but should also be reliable, incase they are needed.

I moderate at a bass forum with just over 43k members. The admin(owner) at that site almost never posts on the main board. There's a private moderator section where all the other mods discuss rule breakers & spammers, the admin only steps in to oversee that things are going accordingly. He leaves most problems up to the moderators to fix, minus permanent bannings. With a board of that magnitude, I can't blame him for staying in the shadows, or the "Ignore the man behind the red curtian" scenario.

As for how I admin my own board, I try to get involved with just about everything that goes on. I'm still the new kid on the block (and no, NOT the band.) and I still have a ton to learn.

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bassnutz.com A forum for bassplayers.

Ooh! I'll have to remember that! I'll call them "The Wizards" from now on! Or "The Red Curtain Routine". That is brilliant!!!

I prefer to be more interactive with my members. I am on my forum alot making sure everything is alright. I talk with my members and get to know them. I also have set up a User Suggestion section so the users feel that they can have some control in the forum.

I'm very very involved on my forum among the members. I post on my forum at least a couple of times a day. I've been told that my members feel really good when the admin posts a reply to something they've said. Many of our members are my friends, and we're a pretty tight-knit group, which is how I like it.

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: Exquisitely Erotic : an adult community forum

I think an admin should be involved in the forum unless they are just an admin. I admin 3 boards but I have an interest in what they are about, and on all 3 I'm one of the most active members.

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Skateboard Forum
Honda VTX Forum

I think the admin is the MOST important person for a forum. My "list" of things I do as admin:
- core modding and tweaking (I install hacks, I mod my themes, i take care of the backups)
- posting (I'm the top poster in my forums) I open the topics I keep the discussion alive.
- moderation - I have mods to do the job, but I'm online a lot so I give a helping hand

An admin is the heart and the soul of a community. It takes a lot of time to take care of all aspects, but the results are nice

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