Admin Or Member?

[lalaleah]

okay well as far as looking at staff members when i started out the co-admin was a GREAT friend from another forum and the 2mods were also gd friends we knew we could trust.

but yeah go with the flow. if people are hating on you dont ban them but warn them a few times. if they are there 2 mess with the admin they dont deserve to be there

[•( TEENAGE DREAM )•]

When I saw the title of this thread come up on the main page, I just had to click on it. I read a lot of the posts in here, but I already knew what my answer was. I personally am a better admin than a member. This is more than likely because I like when members of a forum have their opinions heard.

I've seen on a lot of forums, just like a few people that have already posted in this thread have said, that the admins only care about their own opinions. They always seem to forget that they should be designing a forum to their likings, as well as their members. This doesn't necessarily mean that they have to bow down to their members and fill every since want and need that they throw at the admin, but that the main admin should consider all the ideas, pool them together, then decide on a certain outcome. A couple of examples:

• I've seen this happen when it comes to new skins the most, so I'll write about this one first. An admin must realize that even if they think that their skin is the best one out there, not everybody is going to like it. If they can make about three or four skins (that way people can choose their favorite one) then they'll be golden. On my forum currently, I have only one skin so far. I am still trying to find perfect graphics for new skins, but I am going to put up a thread on my forum where members can suggest a new background. Of course not all the graphics that they suggest will be used, because my admin team and myself won't be able to keep up with them all, but there will be a few that will be used.
  
  
• There sometimes can be a problem when there aren't enough boards to post on that appeal to everyone's liking. (This one is meant for a RP forum.) Or the problem may arise if the forum is successful, but there have been so many threads started in each board, that people begin to get bored of them easily. People sign up for RP forums to have fun, not to become bored. Many admins fail to realize this. A small suggestion for admins that have an RP forum - As a posting incentive, to make sure that your members continue to post, set a certain amount of posts for them to be able to suggest another board to be added to the site. It shouldn't be an amount that is ridiculously high, nor ridiculously low either. It shouldn't be for every ten to fifteen posts that they make, but it shouldn't be for every one thousand posts either.
  

Also, like a lot of people said in this thread as well, the main admin is typically the heart of a site, unless it's a rather populated site - then it would be the staff team that is the heart of the site. The main admin though, should be a respectful, responsible, and dedicated worker. It's not easy trying to run a successful forum, but there are some people that are cut out for the job over others. A few tips for someone that is an admin of any site, that I think are necessary for a high level of success:

• Be respectful and responsible to and with all of your members. If someone asks you a question, even if you've heard it a million and one times, be sure to answer with a smiling face. After all, some people are still new to forums and need a bit of a helping hand to better understand them. REMEMBER - you were once in their shoes, so you should know what it's like being new to a forum.
  
  
• Understand that sometimes people make petty mistakes. This isn't something that deserves a week's banishment from any site, just a simply warning. Although, if you have to warn a person three or more times, then a ban can be set into place. NOBODY is perfect, not even you, so don't try to act all high and mighty, because the higher up you put yourself, the harder you're going to fall.
  
  
• Be careful when you choose your staff team, if you decide to even make a team for your site. You can certainly run your own site if you'd like to. If you have just met someone, you have no idea who they are like or what they are capable of doing. This even applies when you meet someone new in real life. You wouldn't hand them $500 and tell them to go put it in your bank account, would you? Well, letting someone that you don't know have free reign on your site is pretty much the equivalent. Get to know people on your site first. And when you do finally decide to let someone be a staff member, start them off slowly with a little power. Maybe the power to lock and move threads, moderate a board or two. Although, that's just a simple suggestion.
  

And for my final little rant before my final statement, here are a few other things that you can add to your forums to make them a bit more friendly:

• Uniqueness! - Make sure that your forum is unique and stands out from a few of the others. Nobody likes seeing 800 forums for the same topics, that look the same, and have the same amount of members on each of them.
  
  
• Suggestion Board - Like stated earlier, allow your members to suggest a few things now and again. After all, without them, you'll be the only one on your forum.
  
  
• A Get To Know Board - I have one of these boards on my site and it's very successful. This will allow people to see a little bit beyond the mask of the people posting on your forum. If it's an RP site, then it'll be able a way for people to get to know the person behind the characters. ALTHOUGH IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT YOU'RE MEMBERS DO NOT POST ANYTHING EXTREMELY PERSONAL, LIKE ADDRESSES, PHONE NUMBERS, OR ANYTHING ELSE THAT PERSONAL!!
  
  
• FAQ Board - This will help any newer members feel comfortable about joining a site, that way they don't feel embarrassed to ask someone a simple question. I've found these to be rather successful in place of rules, because I put rules into the FAQ's as well, more towards the top of the list.
  

These are all things that I've come across when being an admin. I have a very successful site with over 200 members, who all say they feel like the members of the site are like a second family to them. We've all bonded rather nicely, which is more than likely why people love joining the site and continue to do so.

-Missy

[therevolution]

Jun 26, 2006 18:06:11 GMT -8 Dais Zanad said:

now i know that i am not a good admin, but i have some good ideas about how to run it even if you arent there, for examplemaking everybody a mod, it is like making everybody a God, everybody is the same, no exceptions. You may not chose to follow that rule but iI think that it works, (once I get people to come to my site but since I can't post it here then I am going to have a tough time advertizing it.).

Why don't ya just keep everyone as a member except for yourself? That way they'd feel the same. =.=

[pockylover69]

I'm an admin of my forum but I am also a member on other forums as well. The only question that comes to mind as I sit at this site, is, how do I find a decent coder that will help me make my forum look awsome and attract people to join.

[masterscott]

Hope its ok to bump this from back in November, if not please tell me. ^.^

I love being the main admin of a forum. (btw i am not the main admin, but the co-owner, but i am usually the one doing everything. When we created the forum, i had no idea how to do anything, so this is why lol) Ive only created one forum since ive come to proboards, which was sometime in November of 07. The next summer i finally came to making my own proboard forum. With this came a lot of hard work, responsibility, and patience.

Being the main admin at my site pretty much takes up my whole afternoon from after school-until dinner time. I'm always doing something, like searching for a code, making a skin, or just posting on the forum. I usually try to start contests, and I send out a mass email each month for updates on the site. All of this is very time-consuming, but its fun. Also, something to do when you're bored. I also try to spread the word around as much as possible, without over-doing it. Being an admin is pretty much a full time job, but im so glad i started a forum. I have had moments when i just wanna quit being an admin of the site, like when a staff member leaves for no reason, a spam attack, or drama stuff like this. But, at days end, im happy i have the forum.

Also, being an admin pretty much guarantees you new friends on your forum. Pretty much every day, i get pms from members (new and just registered) either just wanting to chat or having questions about the site. You definitely get to meet people if your an admin.

So, all in all, I definitely love being a main admin. But if you arent up for a hard working, time-consuming job, id say being a member is the best thing.

Im done

[amanda79]

My friend Patti and I are admins to our board (below) and with us she is better and coming up with post topics where i am better with html and getting the graphics on the board. I make posts as well but she is super great at it. I make a point to try to respond to all posts so that people know that I am an admin and helping to keep the board active.

[rmeyer]

how do i make someone admin or officer? i created a group just dont know how to take "John" and make him affiliated with the officer group?

[Trublu]

Feb 8, 2009 20:34:24 GMT -8 rmeyer said:

how do i make someone admin or officer? i created a group just dont know how to take "John" and make him affiliated with the officer group?

Hi,

Please read the statements posted at the top of this board; this should be in Support.

[Laokia]

I believe that I am a far better admin than a member, though this could be disputed... Mostly by myself, as I have no doubt that most, if not all, of my members would say that I am a good admin, or that they love having me as an admin. The gist of it is... I am too nice. Perhaps generous or lenient would be better words... Most of my members will probably tell you that I am a pushover, though they would likely also say that I can be forceful and firm when need be.

Mainly, if my members want it and it does not interfere with the site, the plot, or other members, then they will get it 9 times out of 10. I take opinions, and am willing to work my plans around those opinions and ideas of others. If someone has a problem, I try my best to fix it. I make rules where my members/staff have to ask me before doing certain things, but they have come to figure out that this is merely so I can know what is going on and have input, and know if it will interfere with anything that I have planned. Although, it does sometimes feel odd being an admin with many members that are older than you, I feel many years older as an admin, and the age differences are never really an issue.

As an Admin, I take it as my duty to keep the site updated, keep adding new and better aspects, change old things to better fit the current site, to provide the large plot revelations and such, and to keep order and peace on the forum. I do try to do all of these things, yet when I fail to do so because real life gets in the way, I feel like a failure as an admin. Still, when I complete my goals succesfully, it is one of the greatest feelings in the world.

Sure, the stress from being an admin can get pretty severe. You have to keep mental notes of the relationships between your members, ESPECIALLY between your staff members. You must constantly watch things, and make the best effort to quell a fight before it begins. And if a fight does begin, you must not take sides (unless one side is OBVIOUSLY doing wrong), you must be fair. And you must try to come up with a fair and reasonable solution to the fight. And, all the while, you must be calm, must not show aggravation, must put on a straight face. You must suffer through riddicule when one or more parties of the fight inevitably question your motives, question which side you are really on. Yet, you get to bask in the praise of coming up with a good solution, you get to feel the appreciation from members for all the work you do, you get to be needed. And who doesn't want to be needed?

All in all, I would say being an admin, or rather, being a good Admin is more difficult than being a member. If you are a member of a forum where someone is arguing with you, flaming you, or where the staff are unfair and unkind, you can just quit and find another forum, 90% of the time. Yet, if you want to be a good admin, you have to suck it up and stay strong through it all; you cannot abandon your forum for little things, and have to try to struggle through the big things.

I am not that great of a member because, although I do love to help other admins and sites out, or to just experience other places, I always tend to find myself too busy with something to be active there and to work on my own site as well. I feel guilty when vanishing from forums, yet my own comes first, as does real life. And, honestly, my forum is pretty much my life, I spend all my free time from when I wake up/get home from school to when I finally go to sleep on it. Burnout is a very real threat, and motivation can be hard to come by, but I still stick with it, refusing to give up or give in.

[Adam]

I kind of agree!

[TwinleafHero]

Yes, I tend to like being admin too. I like to help out with the forums, and make the forums awesomer. As a member, I'm kinda not good, since I kinda ask loads of questions and be a bit of a pain .-.'

[~Piney!~]

Personally, I'd prefer to be a staff member. It's a good feeling knowing that you're helping a site and newbies, although being flooded with questions, etc. can be a bit of a pain.

[MMlyse]

Gosh, this is long... Haha.

I think I much prefer being an admin. I've been the main administrator at a forum since November, and we've got about 34 members and 6,000 posts.

You've got to be so patient! It's crazy-stressful when your site goes through one of those dreaded dry spells, when no one posts for days and only two people sign in. I've so been there! I remember BEGGING my co-admins to help me... They didn't, though.

The thing about co-admins... there is always one that can't or won't do as much. When my forum first began, I had two other admins. One I knew in RL (and had known for years) and one I had met at another forum a month or two before. I know that a lot of you have said that you should get people you actually know to be an admin... I'm not so sure I'd recommend that.

This girl and I ended up getting into a HUGE fight (unrelated to the forum), and were no longer friends (and still aren't). She deleted her account (taking a few members with her), and my other admin, who I don't actually know, stayed. He's still there, but quite inactive now. School and other things have gotten in the way. Then my mod just never signed on again. This left me to take on all of the posting, site maintenance, graphic designing, member greeting, code hunting, skin making, and moderating by myself. It has been a hectic few months. I just got on three new moderators, though. And they are amazingly helpful.

I guess my main point is- be patient. There are times when you think your forum has failed and you have no where else to go. It isn't so! You have to dedicate yourself to your site. It is YOUR baby! Haha! Nurture it, feed it, and watch it grow!

So, I prefer being an admin, despite the responsibility. As a member, I always feel intimidated, as if I weren't being heard. It's much better to be heard.

[Sic In Principio]

Apr 13, 2009 21:38:36 GMT -8 MMlyse said:

Gosh, this is long... Haha.

I think I much prefer being an admin. I've been the main administrator at a forum since November, and we've got about 34 members and 6,000 posts.

You've got to be so patient! It's crazy-stressful when your site goes through one of those dreaded dry spells, when no one posts for days and only two people sign in. I've so been there! I remember BEGGING my co-admins to help me... They didn't, though.

The thing about co-admins... there is always one that can't or won't do as much. When my forum first began, I had two other admins. One I knew in RL (and had known for years) and one I had met at another forum a month or two before. I know that a lot of you have said that you should get people you actually know to be an admin... I'm not so sure I'd recommend that.

This girl and I ended up getting into a HUGE fight (unrelated to the forum), and were no longer friends (and still aren't). She deleted her account (taking a few members with her), and my other admin, who I don't actually know, stayed. He's still there, but quite inactive now. School and other things have gotten in the way. Then my mod just never signed on again. This left me to take on all of the posting, site maintenance, graphic designing, member greeting, code hunting, skin making, and moderating by myself. It has been a hectic few months. I just got on three new moderators, though. And they are amazingly helpful.

I guess my main point is- be patient. There are times when you think your forum has failed and you have no where else to go. It isn't so! You have to dedicate yourself to your site. It is YOUR baby! Haha! Nurture it, feed it, and watch it grow!

So, I prefer being an admin, despite the responsibility. As a member, I always feel intimidated, as if I weren't being heard. It's much better to be heard.

you speak the truth. I hate it when a forum runs into one of those "dry eras" makes everyone iffy and scared and they start to fall off one at a time. There was a point when i had to inflate my users online by signing on my multiple accounts even for a minute.

Just caring for the forum is a demanding, but when it turns out to be sucessful, the returns are great. You have a feeling of accomplishment which is great.

[kitty.KAT]

Aug 24, 2008 9:28:02 GMT -8 •( TEENAGE DREAM )• said:

I've seen on a lot of forums, just like a few people that have already posted in this thread have said, that the admins only care about their own opinions. They always seem to forget that they should be designing a forum to their likings, as well as their members. This doesn't necessarily mean that they have to bow down to their members and fill every since want and need that they throw at the admin, but that the main admin should consider all the ideas, pool them together, then decide on a certain outcome. A couple of examples:

Going to what shotgunxxwedding said about making sure that a board is suited for members as well as the admin, I completely agree with that. When I first made my site ((below)) I make a suggestions board where members can complain, suggest things ((obviously)), make requests, etc. The worst thing for me would be if a member left just because there was only one little thing they didn't agree with, which is why I put that in there.

As for Admins and Members... I used to think I was a better member then an admin, mostly because I didn't know how to really create a board and what not. But lately I've switched up my view point, it probably helped that I'm good at actually figuring out things on proboards now
I tend to get really excited and all creative with making a board, but then when it comes down to actually roleplaying in it my muse level can drop severely... unless I'm totally committed to the character, or just excited about a thread. But when I'm admining I'm usually constantly checking up on things to update or make the site better.

Skin wise... I like to sort of make my own, just grab a seamless background texture or make one or something, stick that up there, and then work my way around that. I love creating banners and siggies, so I'll just make a matching banner and put that up there and wahla! Skin ^^ Not really... but it still looks pretty good in my opinion.

Not to mention I usually have endless ideas, so I tend to make a bunch of different skins to help out the members if they think one is to dark or get blinded by another. For example... I absolutely adore dark colors, like navy, black, deep purples and reds... but there might be some more rainbow bright people who can't stand it, and therefore, I bite the bullet and make them up a skin too ^^

One thing for me though... is I have a hard time getting staff for my site because I'm so possessive... I'm all scared they'll accept a horrible app, or change up the forum or do something that will make me squirm So then it ends up that if I leave on vacation... my board usually dies I'm trying to get over that little pet peeve though ^^