How Admin Etiquette Can Effect Your ProBoard

[kathy025]

I know a forum where the admin is a total douche-prick-tool mutant. But since he owns globally one of the most popular forum on the subject, dick-riders members grovel at his feet and worship his douchery. Unfortunately, the forum still runs today.

[lutara]

Cannot agree with this more. You should not be an admin if you cannot collaborate with people and know that there will be people who don't constantly kiss you arse xD There are plenty of people on my board who aren't super close to me or whom I have seen issues with. They don't know I have an issue with them and they are treated with the same hospitality my co-admin is. Being a staff or admin makes you no different that a member, because without them you are nothing plain and simple. Also, you may find something that you completely don't like about someone...well...don't give up there! Search around, make some jokes, find out what the two of ye have in common! There must be some kind of common ground <3

[LDRPG dude]

We ban by consensus, and generally run our site democratically. That is to say the other users would whine if we did it any other way. It seems to work.

[RandyPandy]

Admins are really important to how a forum is run.

In one RP I admin, There's this one guy. When he first joined, he massively powerplayed other people's characters, including mine (and recently he got caught making a fake alternate account, which is even listed in our rules as something you just shouldn't do unless you feel like losing the trust of the entire site. Then he lied about it for an entire day, vanished for another day, and then fessed up finally). However we let him stay and treat him fairly, since we have a three strikes policy before you get the boot.

Anyways, he decided to create his own roleplay... based off of a subject that I had been trying to find a roleplay for for some time now. He then send a PM to the main account asking us to join as members and help him. Now... I don't know about the other admins or the other members, but I'm an admin of two sites and a mod on a third. I don't think I can devote time to yet another website, let alone do all the work for him (he had literally nothing on the other site, just board names and a painful color scheme).

Let's just say that no matter how much I want a roleplay for this topic, I am not willing to join a site where this member is the head admin. Not only has he shown little regard for the rules that our group had in place, and therefore is likely to abuse his admin authority, but I was never fond of his attitude and how he treats everyone that talks to him.

And then there was another RP where I was a co-admin before I left. The head admin called us 'co-admins', but we literally could not do anything - that is, approve members, plots, etc. unless she were okay with it. It was okay at first, but then after several months, I noticed she was playing favorites with her boyfriend who was also in the RP (she worshiped the ground he stood on and forced anyone interested in a certain canon to be that boyfriend's OC's girlfriend because the boyfriend's headcanon had it that way), and a couple other people. Still, I stayed, because I had friends there whose characters I loved RPing with, and the plots were interesting.

Then she decided, on a whim, that she didn't like everything that had happened so far and completely wiped the RP to give it a fresh start. No records left of what had happened before. Everything that had happened before was retconned. The plot that I was currently running hadn't ended or even reached some sort of a conclusion (and I think there was another plot that was running, too, that didn't end...).

She claimed to have asked the whole RP, when in reality she had asked maybe five people, including her boyfriend who agreed to it (and the RP consisted of at least fifteen individual people at the time) Needless to say, a lot of people were pissed and quit, including me and the other co-admin, because all of our hard work and the fun times we had went to nothing.

Okay, rant done.

[the infection____]

One thing that I see as a problem is admins not treating guests right unless they are in the process of joining.

Normally, if I see an rp I like it takes me a few days to decide whether or not I'm really joining. I know it might be annoying to some people, but I like to go through rps, talk with other members, and view how everything is run. I don't want to join an rp to find that there are smaller things going on that you don't notice until you join. One day I visited a site that was fairly active, with staff and a member or two online every day. The plot was good and everyone posted at least 500 words when they posted. All in all, a well put-together rp. So I thought I might introduce myself, thinking "what's the harm?" apparently for the Admin on, it was a huge problem. At first she was fine to just watch me chat with the other members online, but after about five minutes she said, an I quote: "look, buddy. I dont know what you're doing, but if you're not going to join please mess off." well, I was appalled. I later found out from someone I knew on the site that she was demoted, and they would love to have me on my site, but it was a huge turn off.

If you are an admin, you have to be kind to EVERYONE. I dot care if you have had a long day. If that's the case, the computer isn't going to help you right now. Take a break and be kind to everyone who passes through. Maybe they won't be joining right away, but they could tell a few friends or just be someone looking to make a review on your site. Word gets around, and if you were being a jerk one day, it's going to stick with you.

[smileyface60]

I agree with this. I just see too many forums sometimes with mean admins. I once saw a few forums where the admin was just spamming and making everyone do things that they didn't want to do. I forgot the link though.

A good admin shows respect in members. Before you join a forum, make sure the admin is nice. And if they aren't, there's really no point in staying. There are better forums out there of the same genre! And a good admin posts a lot and is pretty active, having decent rules and not being bossy. Some people are better than admins. It just all depends on the person and how they can cope with things.

[sharon]

I can definitely agree that Admin Etiquette is important. I have left forums in the past where the Admin's were just way too strict or too overbearing where they made members feel like being part of a forum is a job.

It's important to respect your members and show it by example not demand it. It is such a turn off to hear an admin say "if you don't post in one week then you will be warned" or threatened to be removed all together. Even if I was not the offender I would find it offensive because people get busy and being a member is not a job it's supposed to be fun!

[Crimson wolf]

I remember another incident where I was banned from a forum because I didn't like the plot, at the time this forum was active I was obsessed with twilight. The head admin could be really nice but when it appeared that I was the only one online half the time due to the fact that I lived in the United states I was always bored, I would post that I was bored in the shout box. I didn't like how the plot was because 1st of all it started out like The book series/Movie series then took a complete turn the other direction, suddenly Bella (me) was left with no one but Jacob really it was like Bella had been completely taken out of the equation. When I questioned the way things were  going the admin wasn't to pleased, banned me from the site. For all I know the site could still be active, or shut down but I've left forums before because I've felt like I was being completely ignored by staff or other members.

[Himms]

Being banned over plot is the most silly reason I have ever hear. That's not really a reason; that more boarder line excuse, in my POV.

A quick question....is wrong for an admin stand up for their site if some contents have been used without permission or such? Does make one a bad Admin? If yes, why?

[Crimson wolf]

Nov 11, 2013 0:31:57 GMT -8 Himms said:

Being banned over plot is the most silly reason I have ever hear. That's not really a reason; that more boarder line excuse, in my POV.

A quick question....is wrong for an admin stand up for their site if some contents have been used without permission or such? Does make one a bad Admin? If yes, why?

I don't think it makes them a bad admin. I mean if someone has used contents from a forum without permission or without giving credit then it's considered stealing, stealing in any form is wrong!! That's just my opinion though .

[sharon]

I think an admin can do whatever they want in their forum but in order to keep members and staff in harmony I believe expectations should be made up front. Rules are boring to read through I know but it's a requirement in order to keep order in the forums. If you're an admin with zero tolerance with something then state it somewhere it won't be missed. Otherwise a warning system should be placed, if a member truly wants to stay in a community they will straighten up.

[Himms]

Nov 11, 2013 12:56:22 GMT -8 Crimson wolf said:

Nov 11, 2013 0:31:57 GMT -8 Himms said:

Being banned over plot is the most silly reason I have ever hear. That's not really a reason; that more boarder line excuse, in my POV.

A quick question....is wrong for an admin stand up for their site if some contents have been used without permission or such? Does make one a bad Admin? If yes, why?

I don't think it makes them a bad admin. I mean if someone has used contents from a forum without permission or without giving credit then it's considered stealing, stealing in any form is wrong!! That's just my opinion though .

Thanks...just checking on that part. I didn't want to seem like I was on a power trip or something.

[Cuethelaugh]

Nov 11, 2013 21:16:55 GMT -8 Himms said:

Nov 11, 2013 12:56:22 GMT -8 Crimson wolf said:

I don't think it makes them a bad admin. I mean if someone has used contents from a forum without permission or without giving credit then it's considered stealing, stealing in any form is wrong!! That's just my opinion though .

Thanks...just checking on that part. I didn't want to seem like I was on a power trip or something.

Admin behavior is EVERYTHING. Admins are supposed to set the tone of their site and members follow that example. Furthermore they'll band together if someone tries to act up against that in a less than positive way.



We had this happen on my site in the worst possible way and the girl was playing EVERYONE (I actually left even though I was one of the main founders cause the drama OOC was silly). She was found out and when I came back promptly banned. She actually tried to come back! But all of the admins had made it known if she returned they'd leave and a lot of members agreed (a lot being ALL). We put our foot down and banned her. Here's a case of bad admin-ing.. She sent members of a rival forum she created to harass us! Nuts right? Some left the site and ended up joining ours because of our demeanor. So there you have it. Admin presentation is everything.



If you're kind and on top of your games member love it and will do the same thing.