How Admin Etiquette Can Effect Your ProBoard

[Olga! the Pirate]

As an Admin I try to talk and interact with as many as the new members as possible. I've typed a generic letter that I sent out to all new members. It has important links and information to help them move around RSM. I also tell them to please PM if they have any questions. I feel that if in the beginning they are met with positive upbeat energy they will stay longer, and maybe even bring friends or family to the site write also.

[Pipamonium]

As an admin I'm always trying to start conversations and make friends with everyone who joins my forum. I try to stay as open and approachable as I can. I NEVER play favourites. Even if a close friend of mine got in a fight with someone who I can hardly stand - I wont automatically choose my friends side. I've actually been known to be a little harder on my friends, and I'm incredibly hard on my staff. If they so much as put a toe near the line I'm on them because their actions reflect on me.

I used to be a staff member on another RPG site but after a huge fight with the owner - in which the owner came down on me for things I didn't do because another staff member had a problem with me being the members favourite staff - I left and opened my own site. Within a week the forum I had been on completely emptied and followed me. Nothing was ever posted publicly and I never flamed the people who attacked me. I feel that shows what a good job I did. I've also had people follow me from forums such as this because they liked the way I act as a normal member.

So... moral of the post is - no matter where you are and what you're doing it will reflect back on you as an admin.

[theKING]

Personally, I like admins that interact with you but don't have large egos or trying to enforce their power. I think one problem is some admins seem to take things too personal and they then start to treat the character they have a disagreement with badly, or ban them.

It's not right, and it's just an rpg which is meant for fun. Generally I think this is a problem with members sometimes too but is worse with admins because some will ban you for that reason.

That being said, I try to be friendly and nice to everyone that passes through my board. It's just common board curiosity.

[abattista]

One admin I came into dealings with told me I copied a code or something off his/her site. When I told him/her that codes here are available for anyone to use, he proceded to continue the drama.

His/her site is beautiful, well-planned and such, but when an admin is nasty like they were, it doesn't make you want to come back. And if you do come back, it makes it hard to post because you have the fear of getting in trouble again.

[Nacku]

Very well said abattista! There are two admins of a polictical/world-news forum and one is gracious and one is downright nasty. Honestly I get my head so messed with when they clash swords because all the members suffer when they get into it and the nasty admin literally has taken over the place; designed the layout so it's now mostly that admin's place. How on earth the nice admin is putting up with it, I'll never know.

Although I'm still on the fence about Obama, I can offer my opinions, and say what I feel and only a few people (trolls) will attack that and tell me how my opinion don't count. It really is best to have ONE admin and not be a member of a multi-admin place. I usually get my head bitten off when I disagree with another about how well Obama is doing. But insults fly and I just clam up. I give the convo the ignoring it deserves. Then another person will step in, agree with me and then we both get called unAmerican, un-this, un-that...you get the idea. I try not to get sucked into their mindset/way of thinking. I try to not want to revenge and I'm doing better at ignoring but I wonder why I don't just tell the nasty one off and give a piece of my mind and just leave. I guess I'll just continue to ignore. What else is there? I just hate the death threats. Sheesh! I have to love certain politicians but hate others and if I choose to think what I want to think, then it's all fair game. Oy oy oy!

[PandaBearPanda]

I'm an Admin and lately I've been on the fence about parts of my community. For the most part, my team runs a smooth board and our members by large appear to be happy-we at least have great retention, but in the last few weeks, we've come face to face with some problems. This is a long one, but I'd really, really, REALLY appreciate the feedback.

Our moderator, and one of the more valued members of the site has apparently 'quit.' I'd noticed over the weeks that he was appearing to grow unhappy with everything. During a string of PMs, he brought up the fact that he hated our playlist, "it's lame," was his exact words. Well, since the playlist is built up of nothing but member requests, I suggested that he give his input but his conclusion was that there was no reason to add his two cents because the playlist had too many bad songs to be redeemed.

Later, he grew combative with trends that the board would go through. The members began to use the term, 'smexy' and he voiced his opinion on how 'lame' that was and even chose to make a snide comment almost everytime someone used the term. The next trend was for a few members to begin using the expression: 'Nyaaah!' I'm not quite sure what it meant, but the community was split over it. Some people found it funny, others didn't. Yet this member felt the need to express how 'lame this term is' and took it upon himself to lead a one man crusade against those two terms.

As an Admin, I wasn't quite sure how to react, I thought it was quite ridiculous for him to be in an uproar about two Internet memes. So I chose to make light of the situation and joke about it. The other Admin on my site also followed suit and the Community remained rather light-hearted.

Then in the next week or so, there was a huge blow out with one of the members. He'd made some comment about one of the other member's characters. The girl grew upset and defensive and the next thing we knew, there was an explosive personality clash in the cbox. The other Admin of the site asked that he and the girl take it out of the Cbox and work their matters out privately to keep from disturbing the other members but he refused. I, myself, did not intervene until the other members got involved and started to take personal jabs at both sides, someone even accused the girl of being drunk!

So I told them to stop arguing in the Cbox, work their matters out privately and away from the peanut gallery, there were other comments made, but the gist of it was that. He then responded with this dramatic wail of, 'Oh I see I'm the problem! I'm breaking up the happy family!' and then chose to withdraw from the community and purposely not post in our RPs for a week which caused them to stall, since he was a main character.

I then encouraged both sides of the party to work matters out, the girl complied but he continued to say that he didn't want to be a part of the community and all he would do was 'post.' I didn't want to force him to do anything he didn't want to do, so I left it alone and he came back to post.

During this time, I approached his closest friend on the site about the problem and she accused 'the Admins of sweeping problems under the rug.' I asked her to explain and she told me that she felt that we didn't allow people to express themselves in public and instead of solving problems, we'd just pretend they didn't happen. I calmly explained to her that it wasn't that we didn't want problems to be resolved, but we did not want our entire site negatively effected by one member's plight and felt that it would be more productive for him and his adversary to work things out one on one. I also gave a list to both her and the member of ways to connect: Private Messaging, email, MSN, aim, yahoo, etc. She told me she understood and I thought maybe we would finally be coming out of this storm.

Unfortunately, it appeared to only get worse. It happened with a simple character application to one of my RPs, mine actually. Our moderator, and the source of conflict, felt compelled to call my character (a male character BTW) an 'ugly chick.' I jokingly responded, 'Well I guess I have a thing for ugly chicks because he's hot,' After another exchange, he once again decided to retreat and stall the RPs. Only to later tell his friend, the member I had a discussion with before, that he was quitting. In response, she grew extremely upset and posted a huge thread in our general discussion board, accusing the Admins of once again 'sweeping problems under the rug,' she also went on to confess other issues they had. They hated the laid back atmosphere of the site, they hated the pacing of the RPs, etc.

Then the community virtually exploded-granted, it could have been worse, but for four days straight, there were exchanges on the matter. I tried to explain over and over again that we are trying to produce a stress free environment and are fine with conflict unless it becomes volatile. I was met with more, "That's why I'm leaving!" or "Well at this other site, the Admin let us fight all the time!"

Then it came out that the member from the original conflict had tried to reach out to our leaving moderator but he'd chosen not to respond to her PMs and to virtually ignore her efforts to patch things up. He in return admitted that he didn't reciprocate but his only conclusion to this was: 'That's why I'm leaving,'

So in the end, what was left of my team removed him from a leadership position and reorganized the RPs in lieu of his expectant departure. This event paraded on for four days, stalling the productivity of the site and virtually putting all my members in a horrible mood. My site is slowly beginning to recover but this guy is still lurking my forum. He logs in multiple times a day for good amount of time. It actually has irritated some of the members, who have asked for us to ban him but I'm really split on the matter.

As an Admin, was it wrong for me to let it play out so long? Should I have acted on his attitude quicker? Maybe I shouldn't have tried to be diplomatic? Please, any guidance would be appreciated!

[Usiel]

Read the first post o.o I want to add one thing

Be fair. That is one of the biggest things you can do. Be ...fair. It is hard to be unbiased at times but that is something you HAVE to do at most times. Second, if you are going to open up a site do NOT open it with friends. It ruins friendships because it goes back to the biased format. People will always expect someone to favorable with another because they are buddies.

Oh yeah...trust no one.

[Konpaku~soul]

Admin Etiquette, yes very important.

I was once part of a forum, it was an RPG froum about anime shows like Naruto and Bleach. Me being more of a Naruto fan, I went the Naruto route. I was creating my persona, which would have to be approved by the mod of that section, which is understandable because they do not want people to be over powered. I got my persona set up, and the forum admin, posts a comment belittling me, it was something around the lines of of

Hehe, your character is dead if I approve this. Also Village hidden in the shadows don't use jutsus.

Yes it was upsetting, and with me on an off day where everything around me made me angry, I pmed him while angry, not one of my smartest decisions, still managed to keep some control, saying something along the following

I have a problem with the Village hidden in the Shadows. If they do not use jutsus, then hiding a village in the shadows in impossible. The village while eventually find its way into the light as the earth rotates.

Also, where do you have the right to say my character will be dead if you approve him, without giving him a chance? He is a stradigizer, and good at hiding in the darkness to attack, after all he is an assassin. So you know what I don't want to be a part of something that belittles its members for a poorly made character, so ______ and I will never be coming ______ back, will you please delete my account.

the blanks are some very poorly chosen words. Instead of deleting my account, there was no way for me to delete the account myself, which I think is vitle to a forum, because then it gives the members the freedom to leave the forum if they don't want any part of it, or even giving me a warning about my language, he bans me to a section of the forum where the rules are over looked, and changed my member title to a so called "no one cares about title." It made me happy because then I could say anything I want, without worrying about the rules and so that is what I did. Few seconds after posting, double posting, triple posting, and quadrupale posting, my posts were modified, not by me, but by the guy who banned me to that section of, and making up stuff, like

I love men.

I want sex with men.

I then asked him the following questions:

If no one cares about what I do or say, then why are you modifying my posts?

no answer

What do you care more about, member count, or member happyness?

his answer:

Member happieness, but you are no longer a member, so I can do what Ever I want to your posts I am King

If I am no longer a member of the forum, then why do I still show up in the members list? Why do you care about what I post if no one else cares? Are you afraid of me because I can get more power then you bu getting others on my side? Like the Robin Williams picture by the way, and seriously, what do you care about more, member count, or member happieness? because if you cared about members happieness you would have deleted my account when I asked, or have given me a warning about my language you ____head!!!

I then got banned and hear from someone who is still part of the forums that I have been "rude", "inconsiderate", and "broke the rules, and no one cares, and people laughed at your profile that the admin modified.

that was really messed up. No self respecting caring admin would ever call himself "King" of the forums, that shows power abuse, and fear that people would leave. yes admins are kings, but should they call themself king? no they shouldn't, because if they don't see themself as a king, then the forum will be a seccess. Here is a set-up for all of you of how a forum is set up:

Forum=Kingdom
Admin=king
global mod=royal guard
mod=knight
other members=peasants

peasants feeds the kingdom. The knight in return protects the peasant, and keeps peace between them. If they are having problems then they will go to the royal guard. The king can enter into any conflict as they please to try and help settle it, however if a royal guard comes to the king, then the king needs to try to settle that conflict as top priority, unless the conflict he is dealing with is more important. If all works out, the conflict will be resolved and the peasants are happy and continue doing what they were doing. However, if the king goes and bannish peasants for starting or being part of a conflict, then the problem solving was not handled properly and the following has a possiblity of happening:

One peasants leaves, all of his friends comes with him, and all of their friends comes, and more and more peasants leave. With the peasants gone, the kingdom begins to die of starvation. the King, royal guard, and the knight no longer have food, to feed themselves.

Peasants= growing kingdom
no peasans= dieing kingdom (unless the kingdom is new, then it just has to wait awhile)

king=start of a kingdom
nice ruling king=happy peasants
cruel ruling king=peasants leave

a kingdom cannot survive without peasants, however, a peasant can survive without a kingdom, and can find a new one to fulfill their desires. If they don't find a new kingdom to fulfill their desires then they can start their own.

a king, however, will have a harder time starting a new kingdom, because of his/her reputation. He will then have to prove to people that he changed, thus, he has to become a peasant and show to the people that he changed, before he can ever become a king again.

Sorry for the long and possibly boring reading, but it felt good to get that off my chest.

Summary (not in any set order):

1. don't belittle people, for any reason

2. never post while in one of your off days.

3. Have some form of warning system

4. Never view yourself as a king

5. work the land along with your peasants, they will know you are a nice guy, and that you don't care about your status, unless you have to enforce a rule.

6. don't ban members for a minor miss hap. You will never know if they are in an off day, unless they have record of breaking rules in the past. Of course, if they break many rules on their off day, and ignoring warnings.

7. If they explains themselves after being banned, and it is a pretty good reason, unbanned them.

[aidachan]

Konpaku:
As a member of that forum, I must say, everyone's forgotten about you and none of the "peasants" were displeased or leaved. I'm pretty sure the consensus was you deserved it for not being able to take criticism.

Your ego is a bit overbloated, no offense, if you think anyone actually cared.

[Ginger]

I don't really have an admin etiquette, I uselly only make people who I trust or who is admin at more forums, admins.
My Second Admin, Weed/Uiido knows how to 'be admin' but for so far there wasn't anything we had to 'jump in' in. Luckely, but quit boring too .
And my Moderator is someone I know in Real Life, altrough the bad English (We're both Dutch, Dutch!!) she knows what she's doing.

[MYSTIE]

TOTALLY agree!! That is completely how I run my board! I dont like obnoxious people... agrivate me. :-)

[Spruance]

I think that the most important aspect of all is to treat members as if you were speaking to them on a face to face basis. It is all too easy to hide behind the anonymity of the Internet, after all there is no requirement to reveal your true identity and so in some respects there is an element of mystery about joining a new messageboard.

Perhaps the best approach is to consider your forum to be a meeting place, such as a village hall where everyone is welcome and no-one is more important than anyone else. As a gardening forum that arrangement suits us just fine as gardening is a fairly universal hobby. We are UK based but also have members from Europe, North America and Australia/New Zealand, from all walks of life and personal circumstances, yet on the whole we have a very happy and vibrant community.

[indefinitelyjaded]

I used to be an administrator on a forum, and the head admin/forum owner was my friend. I resigned one day as too often she would snap at myself (and the others) over things that she had forgotten - it seemed we were ávailable'to be used as objects for her to vent on.

I ended up coming back as a member (but just lurking and not really posting as I was still feeling rather upset), and then they had this contest where you could vote for end of year awards (there were nominations for various awards of other forum members). All well and fine, I submitted my vote - but was told that because I had wanted to stay 'private' that I was not allowed to vote, as otherwise everyone would know who I was (I wanted to remain anonymous at the time from members - all the staff however knew) I disagreed, but in a very polite manner, and ended up with having my account disabled for a month because I stated a different opinion to the head admin.

It wasn't until a week later they changed the rule about that voting and said it was only ACTIVE members allowed to put their vote in - you had to have two posts per week to be eligible to vote. To this day that was never even still stated in their rules for these awards. The voting system was via a PM to one of the admins so really none of the members would have known I had voted anyway. I still scratch my head over that one. There is a warning system but I was sent straight from discussion to disablement. Because of a difference of opinion. And to top it off I was yelled at in a PM - part of the message was in bold, capital letters three times the size of regular font. I was threatened in an email that if I contacted any of the admins about it I would be immediately banned. I had been accused of what I said re the awards was 'harassing' staff but I had nicely stated my point.....

But I agree - the way admins deal with things like this can make a difference on a forum. This particular forum has gone fairly quiet, as too what has happened now are their top active members have left and gone elsewhere. Resorting to desperate pleas on other forums for members as 'we need more members as this forum is in dire straights for members' does not work. It is the admins attitudes that directly affect the way members either stay or leave, and even in what they post, especially if they are scared of being 'jumped on' for the slightest perceived difference of opinion to the admin staff.

I also had this particular admin as a member on my forum (I am an admin as well and have been for quite some time). She blatantly in her signature put an advertisement for her forum which is against my rules. I have rules on my forum, they are there for a reason but are not strict (I don't have any like double posting, length of post and things like that - they centre more on respect, conflict resolution etc) I put a warning on her account for it, as stated in my rules, this way the member too knows which rule they have broken.

If an admin does not follow rules and their warning guidelines it is not the best advertisement for their forum. After all then the members won't respect the rules, or, in the case of the admins being mean to the members then 'ruling by fear' too is also not the way to run a successful forum.

On my forum I am admin, I am friend. I get in there and chat with everyone - I don't show favouritism. My members love the fact that I get in there with them as a peer and not some sit-in-tower judge waiting for one false move so I can attack...... They feel valued which fosters great relations on the forums, keeps members happy and active. I have hand-picked other admins for my site that act the same. You also need to have mature admins (not judged by age, but more their attitude to things)

May 11, 2008 22:25:40 GMT -8 @kipp said:

It can be a lot like the phrase "in between a rock and a hard place" in the fact that you can either be an aggressive administrator who generates fear and hatred from their members or a kind administrator that is run over by their members. It's really hard to find that "happy middle" spot where you can still generate respect from your members and make friends at the same time.

Yes, this is a great statement and I agree with it - I work hard on finding that happy balance.....

[TwinleafHero]

I'm an admin on a friend's site, and I'm always trying to make friends and make conversations and that's what admins should do. Admins should not just concentrate on making the forum the best one, but admins should also have fun with their members. Admins and members are equal.

Once, I was admin on another proboards, and there was a member not following the rules and spamming with "Yu-Gi-Oh suckzors!" and me and my fellow admins did not ban the spammer. Instead, we asked the spammer to not spam, and asked why did he join if he hated Yugioh? The spammer continued his spam, so I was forced to warn him; Not once, but 3 times. I tried to reason with the spammer, but no luck. The members, admins and I decided to finally ban the spammer. Being an admin has great responsibility, and they need to reason, warn, ban. Some admins just ban. I feel there is some trouble about that.

[~Piney!~]

I myself am a mod on a Warriors RPG. It's a large site, filled with active members and staff as well. However, being an active staff member on a large, active site means that people will tend to look up to you. Meaning that if you do something that you shouldn't have done, the members -newbies in particular- will think that it's okay if they do it themselves. In that case, it's a bad thing. However, if you're friendly, active, enforcing the rules (doing your job, to put it simply), and helpful, members will be like that as well (minus mini-modding). And that will only have a positive effect on your ProBoards site.