I read an interesting post in a forum i visit regular, the question is

How involved should an admin be?

I know a little about forum moderating, but none about admining but very lucky to have assistence from experianced admin like shellspear to handle all the promotinal and managing this community.

My question is can a site grow and be great even if the admin never posts more then a few times a week, Can a forum grow with a behind-the-scenes admin?
Or he does have to answer every questions or at the minimum in the welcome sections?

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Hmmm interesting question. It's a tough one to answer but, from my experience, being there and being on show is the best way for an admin to be. I like to be as involved as possible with my community. I feel that if I'm there and that if I check in at least once a day, people know that they're not forgotten. Plus it means I can resolve any issues that are happening rather than just leaving it to my mods. I think my mods prefer it that I'm involved as well because it means that they don't have to cope with everything on their own. But that's just my 2 cents!

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My style of administering is more towards taking the back seat and only come into the discussion improvise the topic in such a way that the discussions carries on and at times evolving into something which are put in practice.

I'm not sure if the success of a site is placed on how active the admin is but I feel that as long as new articles or some nitty gritty things are added each week, members will somehow know that the admin is doing it's best to increase the site value and profile for it's members.

Hehe... I often get moderated by my moderators.., teeheee.....!!!

I feel an admins main role - in summary - is to ensure the future strategic development and success of the community. Keeping things in perspective here, but I see the role as a mini MD, someone who has a clear and communicated vision for what's coming next, what's around the corner for members, what should be getting done. Someonoe who is a motivator, a leader and mentor, someone who is there when called upon by ones team.

To introduce new site features, empower and enthuse them to write articles and publish them, instead of having them kept in their bottom file

To secure the financial future of the community by whatever means; personal funding, sponsorship deals, advertisement revenue etc... and to ensure the technical side of hosting the site is covered i.e. bandwidth useage, storage etc.

How's that for a rowsing speach then

Seriously though, this actually is what I feel the role of an Admin is; to be consistently consistent, and to add the WOW factor with an infectious passion and sincere enthusiasm.

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The forum I am adminastrator of I tend to not post very much on, or at least not as much as I should for community progress.
I will keep the codes up-to-date and any problems that occur anyone can E-mail or PM me about and I will fix them, but I like to stay out of the limelight when it comes to posting, I figure I made the community for my members, not myself, so I want them to have the most fun with it.
But I have noticed that most forums do better with very active admins that post constantly and keep community chating flowing regularly.
So I'm not sure which is better. :\

Well, whichever you perfer. But unless its a profit job, you might as well enjoy yourself and post.

Great advise, simple and to the point. Since mine is a free board I intend to have loads of fun with it, and not worry about it.

Involved as they want to be (which should be active), a better question is how should they present themselves when they interact with the other lower level users. I think admins become thread killers if they can't show that they can be active and friendly all of the time. The only reason your an admin is because you went out and bought your own forum software, hosting, domain, etc. You need to know why you started your own bulletin board or else it will just end up as an unessacesry second job imo. Most members, I think, sort of like active admins it makes them feel less afraid of you and your staff which could result in new members. If your not that involved with your board then whats the point of owning one? There isnt any other reason,... well none that I can see. Just make sure your members including the mods know that they have to abide by the rules and that you make them. Then you shouldnt have any problems....

I agree with Zachary. I only tend to do maintance or updates once a week since I'm busy with uni and working but I always try to post each day even if its only a few replies. If I go away or I know I wont be able to get onto the forums for a few days I let them know and tell them to contact one of the other admins while I'm away.

My place is a very small place. We have closed the gates and are only girls/ladies who knows every one good. I want to partisipait on the same line as the others.
If there is a isshue where it should be a reaction from the admin, i sign it in the botton.