vForums Support :: General :: General :: Discussion: Choosing Staff - View Topic (Page 1 of 2)
 |  |
| Michael
Moderator
![[Avatar]](http://av.wservices.co.uk/av.png)
Recoding the future
Posts: 4,043
Status: Offline
Gender: Male
Location: UK
Joined:
Additional Groups:
Coding Team
pmvForum | | Discussion: Choosing Staff (3rd Mar 08 at 11:13pm UTC) | | Right, so I thought that we could start a weekly (?) discussion thread, preferably based on things that would affect everyone that is here on vFS. This isn't a debate! 
So to start the ball rolling, I thought we would start with the hardest part of forum running, choosing the most effective staff team that you can.
Do you base it solely off friends, or do you simply select the most active member. Or do you actually look at what the member contributes and then give them the 'respective' position. One thing that I don't understand myself, is when a forum has about 5 admins, and 10 Global Moderators. I would understand if the forum was big, but most places I see this happen is on smaller forums.
Also, when choosing your staff, how do you decide how much power to give them? Do you just give them enough to make them happy, and give them more if they ask for it, or is it more the case that you give them COMPLETE control of their respective board.
I would tend to try not to choose friends as staff, mainly because in some situations, you tend to side with them more than other people. I'm not saying that I wouldn't select friends as staff or that I would rather select someone that I don't get on with. But a 'new' face sometimes works better than someone you know.
I also tend to give people enough powers to do the respective things that is expected of them. I don't give my moderators any of the 'core' powers (that use the admin panel - except censored words, but there's a reason for that!), I don't even think that they have the power to delete threads or posts, not because I don't trust them, but because I don't like it when members start complaining that their posts got deleted.
So what do you do on your forum? Are you a lone ranger and staff on your own, or do you like to set friends as staff? | |
| Tim
Senior Member
banned.
![[Avatar]](http://uploads.virtualforums.co.uk/forums/support/1beast10-2s9.jpeg)
The only easy day was yesterday.
Posts: 698
Status: Offline
Gender: Male
Location: Under your bed..in your closet..in your head
Age: 35
Joined:
pmmsn | | Re: Discussion: Choosing Staff (3rd Mar 08 at 11:19pm UTC) | | When it comes to choosing staff, me and my brother are always admins, no matter wat, but when it's time to select staff, we select them for how much they contribute to the site and how active they are. right now We are considering someone, but waiting till we get more members. As for staff powers, I usually give my mods basic powers for the whole forum, such as lock, sticky, bump, reply to locked threads and move threads, but on the boards there assigned to they do have some more powers. In the past I have gave my mods on all powers because my staff usually consisted of pple I knew in RL, but now that i'v started a Star Wars forum, staff will only be selected when we need them.
I hate it though when pple just start there site and already have 3 or 4 staff, WTF? you need members at that time, not staff. | |
|
| Cryhavoc_
Full Member
Just do it.
Posts: 238
Status: Offline
Gender: Male
Location: The wrong way.
Age: 33
Joined:
pm | | Re: Discussion: Choosing Staff (3rd Mar 08 at 11:31pm UTC) | | | Friendship should have little say in who gets chosen as staff. If you are founding it with a friend, that's fine - but for results, pick the most efficient not the greatest chum. | |
|
| dog199200
Guest | | Re: Discussion: Choosing Staff (3rd Mar 08 at 11:34pm UTC) | | | Well first off i think it is best off to assign staff by what they can do and how well they do it and also by what they deserve. Say like if they are good with scripting, then they should take over the scripting area of the forum, or like if they are active or have been around a long time then maybe they should have a chance to be a mod and then see how well their skills are and see if they are worthy of having a higher position. And also it help to have friends as staff, because you can trust them, but not to many because then it aint fair to other member that deserve the position as well. Umm and there should be no more then two staff per category, depending on what its for then maybe more. and as for deciding power i give them mod powers and see how well they do and then slowly increase there abilities as time passes thats if they do good. | |
| Graham
Support Administrator
![[Avatar]](http://uploads.virtualforums.co.uk/forums/pokemon/vforums-qr1.png)
Posts: 1,642
Status: Offline
Gender: Male
Location: Sussex, UK
Age: 40
Joined:
Additional Groups:
Support Team
pmwww | | Re: Discussion: Choosing Staff (3rd Mar 08 at 11:47pm UTC) | | I seem to follow the same mindset of many people - giving the most deserving people the right job. When i ran my Pink Floyd forum (still do, but it's died a death) i made sure i picked members who were knowledgeable on the subject, had a good rapport with the other members and above all, had been mature, responsible and dedicated to the board.
The main problem with forums at the moment is that everyone wants to be an admin. It's very rare to see a forum that doesn't have high posting members that aren't staff. Also, a lot of new admins feel one way to get members is to offer them positions for joining. Not long ago i got a PM on another forum asking me to be staff as soon as i joined - how are they to know what i'm like? (of course, i had no intention to be a "bad" member) but it's the principle behind it.
Take vFS for example. There is Ross who oversees everything, Wrighty who helps out in the coding/support, Marc who does a similar role, Blanka covers graphics and i cover general and some support. It's a well balanced team made up of people who are knowledgeable, dedicated and mature. If one were to be promoted to a higher position, we wouldn't whinge that we haven't been chosen (which is something i see far too often; people saying "why wasn't i chosen, i'e been here longer/i'm better etc).
It's not an easy job choosing staff, and thus it needs a lot of consideration. However if the choices work out well then it's a big help towards the forum succeeding. | |
| Tim
Senior Member
banned.
The only easy day was yesterday.
Posts: 698
Status: Offline
Gender: Male
Location: Under your bed..in your closet..in your head
Age: 35
Joined:
pmmsn | | Re: Discussion: Choosing Staff (3rd Mar 08 at 11:50pm UTC) | | Quote: It's not an easy job choosing staff, and thus it needs a lot of consideration
Especially on a site like this, no matter wat when someone is chosen for mod, someone eles will be thinking "why not me" and most of thoes people need to either look in there [pm] inbox, look at there post, or there warning lvl and maybe they will see the reason.
I admit it, I use to do that, now I don't seeing as how I could really care less. | |
|
| Michael
Moderator
Recoding the future
Posts: 4,043
Status: Offline
Gender: Male
Location: UK
Joined:
Additional Groups:
Coding Team
pmvForum | | Re: Discussion: Choosing Staff (3rd Mar 08 at 11:53pm UTC) | | Quote: It's not an easy job choosing staff, and thus it needs a lot of consideration Especially on a site like this, no matter wat when someone is chosen for mod, someone eles will be thinking "why not me" and most of thoes people need to either look in there [pm] inbox, look at there post and maybe they will see the reason.
Not mentioning any names, I know there were a couple of members that weren't overly joyed at their non-promotion.
However, that isn't something to dwell on. People shouldn't be joining a forum simply to get promoted. It should be an extra bonus if they are promoted. Too many people think they're best for certain jobs when really there may be people that are better than them.
I don't think that post count has anything to do with it. Fine Marc and I have the highest post counts, that's because we're active. I post lots of posts a day simply answering coding questions and posting the general area and support board. I don't spam, and then there's Blanka that is a very talented designer, but has only a handful of posts (I think) yet is a mod, solely on talent. Not on post count.
I agree they have to be active, but not necessarily the top poster. | |
| Cryhavoc_
Full Member
Just do it.
Posts: 238
Status: Offline
Gender: Male
Location: The wrong way.
Age: 33
Joined:
pm | | Re: Discussion: Choosing Staff (3rd Mar 08 at 11:53pm UTC) | | That's why I don't like being an administrator. Either way, somebody is going to get screwed over.
9 times out of 10, that person ends up being you. | |
|
| Michael
Moderator
Recoding the future
Posts: 4,043
Status: Offline
Gender: Male
Location: UK
Joined:
Additional Groups:
Coding Team
pmvForum | | Re: Discussion: Choosing Staff (3rd Mar 08 at 11:58pm UTC) | | Being admin has its perks and its downfalls.
You get all the praise when things go well, but you get all of the blame if things aren't working well.
The best rank to be would be a Global Moderator in my opinion. You have control but yet you don't have all of the large responsibilities of Admin. Don't get me wrong, I would accept administrator if anyone threw it my way!  | |
| Cryhavoc_
Full Member
Just do it.
Posts: 238
Status: Offline
Gender: Male
Location: The wrong way.
Age: 33
Joined:
pm | | Re: Discussion: Choosing Staff (4th Mar 08 at 12:00am UTC) | | Eh, Wrighty, hinting at something are we?
  | |
|
| Michael
Moderator
Recoding the future
Posts: 4,043
Status: Offline
Gender: Male
Location: UK
Joined:
Additional Groups:
Coding Team
pmvForum | | Re: Discussion: Choosing Staff (4th Mar 08 at 12:01am UTC) | | I would never hint .... 
Much  | |
| tricky.cb
Senior Member
![[Avatar]](http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q301/crazybluepb/redyay.gif)
Posts: 666
Status: Offline
Gender: Male
Location: My Laptop
Age: 32
Joined:
pmwwwmsngtalk | | Re: Discussion: Choosing Staff (4th Mar 08 at 1:04am UTC) | | A major aspect is how well you know the person. Selecting a stranger even if they seem to post a lot is a bad idea. Getting to know someone from posts is bad, because it could all end up they were just lying to make it as staff.
Then activity/communication tie for me. If they are active thats great, but it also is a big thing if they are available to have a talk with. MSN, AIM, w/e just something more resourceful then the staff board or pms.
Friendship is next. I have to be able to get along with fellow staff to be able to be staff on the team. Staff is a team thing, you have to work together to get things done. You can easily work together with friends because you get along with them easily.
Then finally, how useful they are. Anyone can be a general moderator, but if they can code, design, moderate general, and fill support then they are a good choice for staff. If they know there way around the board system and they can do at least more than a general moderator then its worth a trial if they meet the other aspects.
I lean more towards friends because its easier to pick from them. You know if they are active, available for talking, how useful they are, etc. You don't really know much about the members of the forum which makes it a bad choice to do staff apps unless you know that 2-3 of your friends are going to apply.
Edit: Didn't read the whole post so heres the rest to the question.
I give the person the power that they need. If they are a design mod they really don't need access to the admin panel. If they are a regular mod, again its not useful for them to go there. If they are a coder then stuff like headers/footers would be given but nothing that is too major. I'd give some powers to go into the admin panel once they've been promoted from a design spot to a super mod spot, once they have proven that they can handle it. Then even not too much power would be given, just stuff to handle support, possibly handle boards, etc. Then admin spot with pretty much everything would be handed out if they are that useful. | |
|
| Paddy
Full Member
Insane Clown
![[Avatar]](http://lh6.ggpht.com/__wnO9rF92-g/Su8WGep1jPI/AAAAAAAAFmU/REVHI_iTylg/Mr_Charming.jpg)
Posts: 288
Status: Offline
Gender: Male
Location: Buffalo, New York
Age: 35
Joined:
pmwwwskypeaimgtalk | | Re: Discussion: Choosing Staff (4th Mar 08 at 4:14am UTC) | | My thoughts on staff are simple: the powers are not a privilege, but a responsibility. If you're doing the job of a staff member, I'll give you some tools to help you out. If you're not using the tools, or not doing it effectively, I'll remove them.
Simple.
~Artemis | |
| slip
Moderator
Posts: 760
Status: Offline
Gender: Male
Location: India
Joined:
Additional Groups:
Design Team
pmmsn | | Re: Discussion: Choosing Staff (4th Mar 08 at 6:02pm UTC) | | Touché Arty!
A job of an administrator is not really cut out for everybody. That's a fact. Some people tend to be natural leaders - these are the ones that make excellent administrators - case in point Peter and Eternity at ProVision, Chris at Studio Zero.
Now, about selecting staff - When I need to I'd go with friends and people I know instead of strangers ANYDAY. An efficient staff team is a group of people that get along well and are very compatible and can work together fabulously. Putting 5 strangers into the mix is more than a little unwise. But, of course I would only ask those people to be on my staff team who I know from experience to be as dedicated and efficient as I am. I hate inefficiency. Can't stand it. I also hate it when a staff member goes missing forever and comes back with so and so excuse and how "SOME OF US HAVE LIVES YOU KNOW!" (as if the others don't!). Dude, if you're gonna make an ass out of yourself and crib later, don't become staff cos you suck at it! To get the ball rolling it IS always wise to start wit a team you know. AS your needs increase with a forum that is growing, the best and most dedicated members need to get picked - provided you know you can gel with them very easily. Conflicts never really help. Then there's a whole set of power-hungry people out there. All they want to do is becoem a staff member at a million places just cos it gives you a certain status. Not because you are really any good at it.
</rant> | |
| RuhRoe
Full Member
Posts: 218
Status: Offline
Gender: Male
Age: 31
Joined:
pmxfire | | Re: Discussion: Choosing Staff (4th Mar 08 at 10:19pm UTC) | | If they are a coder then stuff like headers/footers would be given but nothing that is too major.
I wouldn't even give them that in case they would use PHP or something.
I think this is a hard decision. People pick their friends but then if they do something bad they don't wanna do anything about it. | |
| |
 |  |
|
