How Admin Etiquette Can Effect Your ProBoard

[Høļļy]

I have been to forums where I have been harassed for no reason at all. I'm surprised that there were members there at all. But it seemed that the admin was friends with the members that he had, but still. He wasn't very encouraging towards his guests!

[gimel]

i had someone say they were once a member of my forum, but left because the staff wasnt nice. i actually asked if they were sure it was my forum, because i couldnt, and still cant remember a time when the staff havent tried to at least be polite when dealing with members. i cant remember if they rejoined or not. it was a while ago.

[XJ-0]

Either the admins have some kind of God Complex, or a former member just didn't want to get with the program.

[HoudiniDerek]

Feb 11, 2008 15:45:29 GMT -8 XJ-0 said:

Either the admins have some kind of God Complex, or a former member just didn't want to get with the program.

Are you saying that this is how all admins act or are you answering a specific question? If the former, most admins are decent sorts that want active forums that survive and do well...not only for their sake, but for the sake of the members too. If it was the latter, it might have helped to quote the person you were answering.

[XJ-0]

Feb 11, 2008 15:51:13 GMT -8 HoudiniDerek said:

Feb 11, 2008 15:45:29 GMT -8 XJ-0 said:

Either the admins have some kind of God Complex, or a former member just didn't want to get with the program.

Are you saying that this is how all admins act or are you answering a specific question? If the former, most admins are decent sorts that want active forums that survive and do well...not only for their sake, but for the sake of the members too. If it was the latter, it might have helped to quote the person you were answering.

I was answering the specific question.

And of course, I wasn't referring to all admins. I'll be sure to remember to quote next time.

I agree with the first post of this thread.
A forum's success is defined by the likability or popularity of the admin or theme. This is what has worked for me.

[Zion Lacus]

Its not only your admin either. I don't know if this has been said already but when it comes to how a board is liked or how it runs its affected by every single staff member. I have made many boards and had so many die on me because my staff was actually behind my back soliciting members to other sites or they would go ahead and make decisions that were wrong without consulting me. They would let members run wild and spam the board so then I had to jump in and look like the bad guy pointing out they were breaking the rules.

I once had a site that went on for two months and a member was completely god modding and destroying the entire role plays plot. The kicker, it was with the co-admin and she hadn't bothered to read the rules so she allowed it to go on. When your staff itself refuses to read the site's rules of course there will be issues.

Now I have a board that's been running smoothly since September despite a problem with one staff member that leaves me with only one person assisting now. But this staff member is so awesome that if ever for some reason I can't get access to the net she can run the whole board herself. She read every single rule, every detail of the plot and is fair and friendly with all the members of the board not just the friends she got to join the board.

Its really a team effort to keep a board running smoothly and though the main responsibility does fall on the admin its also good to have a great staff supporting you. Because the admin could be the greatest person in the world but once there's a mod/staff member with a bad attitude it can leave the player with a bad impression of the site.

I mean before when I had the other two staff members on my site we got little traffic and little activity and the people that did join left the site right away. The other two staff I later found out where incredibly rude to people not only on the board but over messengers as well. One was even insulting players privately and forcing them to cater to the plots she wanted to do. So here I was on the side trying to be nice to someone and they were immediately insulting and rude to me because of the horrid staff. So yeah admins need to keep on mind to mind who you let help you run your board. They could either make it more productive or destroy it.

[kelendria]

I had a staff member that was rude to me the other day in fact.
She told me off for apparently posting in the wrong section of a board as a guest then told me I had to sign up if I wanted further help.
She then kept telling me off in these threads & locking them so I couldn't explain my side of the story.
She misunderstood completely what the thread was for so I tried to explain it, but she kept bringing up other things that we'd discussed & solved in private.
Needless to say it's definitely not a forum I would want to join or go back to.
How do you expect to get potential memebrs if you're rude to your guests?
Alot of admins tend to think guests don't matter, just their members & staff.
What do you think guests are in the end?

[[.~*RCC94*~.]]

I've never been to a forum where the staff was mean to anybody unless they deserved it.

I also do my best as an Admin to be polite to everybody.

But if staff started at me for no reason, well...I'm probably outta there. =)

[The Doctor]

I am a good Admin, friendly, nice and will draw a line. But even nutters come to my board, C-Box saying lys and stuff.

[Michelangelo "Spike" Scarlatti]

Well I get members that I wont allow to do certian things on my board and then they complain and make a new account lying about their age when I know how to compare IP addys
But I had to be mean by banning this one person cause she was causing trouble for myself and my staff then I get this friend of hers bothering me too
And I even sent her a few warnings and she chose to ignore them so we made a choice and banned her from the group
So me and my staff are great until we get an out of control teen trying to get her own way on the board
How do you deal with people like that?
Was I wrong for doing that for someone that wouldnt follow the rules at all?

[HoudiniDerek]

Feb 12, 2008 22:59:45 GMT -8 Michelangelo "Spike" Scarlatti said:

Well I get members that I wont allow to do certian things on my board and then they complain and make a new account lying about their age when I know how to compare IP addys
But I had to be mean by banning this one person cause she was causing trouble for myself and my staff then I get this friend of hers bothering me too
And I even sent her a few warnings and she chose to ignore them so we made a choice and banned her from the group
So me and my staff are great until we get an out of control teen trying to get her own way on the board
How do you deal with people like that?
Was I wrong for doing that for someone that wouldnt follow the rules at all?

I just work to keep it simple. If I allow all of the members access to the same places, then I don't have to worry about it. If there is an age-restricted area, I have to worry about the problems you have. If I don't have one, I don't have the members lying and trying to get into those places. Maybe you should scrap those areas that make some members feel left out based on age.

[Michelangelo "Spike" Scarlatti]

Well see I state it in the rules you have to be 16 to be in the areas that allow the sex sorta stuff and this 14 year old or that was the age for her sign up she then told me differently in a pm she was 15 which I believe she was lying on both ages
anyways its in the rules if your under 16 your not allowed she then gave me a hard time telling me she gets to see m5 or whatever the rating was type movies and I told her it didnt matter what she did in real life I wasnt allowing kids under 16 to have any sort of sex type roleplay on my board
But there she was continuing on with it and giving myself and my staff problems and she even read and agreed to the rules
I mean we dont really hide them but she just so desperately wanted her character to have sex and my staff and I agreed she was to young
Besides who signs up and puts the age of 14 when supposedly she said she was 15
I think I was being lied to and she was actually much younger and not myself is thinking that my staff thought so too

[HoudiniDerek]

Feb 13, 2008 10:39:24 GMT -8 Michelangelo "Spike" Scarlatti said:

Well see I state it in the rules you have to be 16 to be in the areas that allow the sex sorta stuff and this 14 year old or that was the age for her sign up she then told me differently in a pm she was 15 which I believe she was lying on both ages
anyways its in the rules if your under 16 your not allowed she then gave me a hard time telling me she gets to see m5 or whatever the rating was type movies and I told her it didnt matter what she did in real life I wasnt allowing kids under 16 to have any sort of sex type roleplay on my board
But there she was continuing on with it and giving myself and my staff problems and she even read and agreed to the rules
I mean we dont really hide them but she just so desperately wanted her character to have sex and my staff and I agreed she was to young
Besides who signs up and puts the age of 14 when supposedly she said she was 15
I think I was being lied to and she was actually much younger and not myself is thinking that my staff thought so too

I think you did right with that particular member, especially since she kept making it a hassle with new accounts and the like. I am just saying that I have found it easier on forums to have no age-restricted areas so that we don't get problematic members.

[Michelangelo "Spike" Scarlatti]

True but its not fair though to other members that things get taken away cause someone wants to cause trouble
Is there other ways about this so they wouldnt know
I mean what happens if you hide a board can that be seen by certian members that admin can choose?
Then I could hide the board and allow only the older members there without the younger ones knowing about it

[HoudiniDerek]

Feb 13, 2008 11:25:30 GMT -8 Michelangelo "Spike" Scarlatti said:

True but its not fair though to other members that things get taken away cause someone wants to cause trouble
Is there other ways about this so they wouldnt know
I mean what happens if you hide a board can that be seen by certian members that admin can choose?
Then I could hide the board and allow only the older members there without the younger ones knowing about it

I have a board similar to that, but it is not age restricted. It is active participation based. Once people are active enough, I PM them to see if they want to be part of the other board and I tell them what it is about. If they say that they do, I put them into a separate member group...and that group is the only one (aside from staff of course) that can access the board.

EDITED TO ADD: I am on a forum like this, but I am unsure how they restricted the group names, but it can be done.