Privileges for Productive Members

[Gylfie107]

Jun 12, 2008 14:48:14 GMT -8 Enchant said:

As an admin or staff for that matter, do you find that you show a certain amount of favoritism or allow certain privileges or leniencies to members with high post counts? Do you not look at post count and treat everyone as an equal?

It is understandable to think that an active and productive member of a forum will have some kind of privileges versus a new member. They have been loyal and contributed to the forum and you do not want to loose their membership over an occasional rule violation. However, If a new member is accused of violating a rule and points out that someone else broke it and the staff didn't say anything to that particular member, it could reflect badly on the administration. So what do you do?

I personally have been fortunate, I haven't really had a problem with this on my forum. That being said, I am not ignorant to the fact that it does evolve on other communities. So, for those of you who have dealt with or even currently dealing with this issue let us know your thoughts and experiences.

The first forum I ever joined, The admin favorited most of the other members. Me, being new to roleplaying, made a lot of mistakes, so the eventuly they just all ganged up on me.

Therefore, I think that favoriting members is not an option in rewarding posts.

I think that the character-post ratio is a good reward. When a member gets a certin amount of post, they get to be able to make more characters to roleplay.

Then agian, that only works in roleplay.

The idea of geting "money" per post work good in human roleplays. The more you post, the more money you get, the more things you can buy.

But you all know that cats, horses, ect. can use money, so the sulotion dies there.

Maybe getting karma when you go up a post rank would help.
Or getting more privledes.
Or you could make a board for only the members with the highest post rank.

But those few above, I have not seen or tryed. Just the first two.

That's my opinion.

[sibleytutor]

Personally myself I do have more lenience to the more experienced members, but I don't rank my members through the number of posts that they have. I believe it's more of the quality of the posts that count. Not the post count.

I have a special group that I made called "Respected Member." I made it so that I can personally add people to that group who have shown respect to others within the forums and answer one's questions with a positive and thoughtful response. No matter what nature the question may be.

This group I do give more lenience to. As they are counted more of my friend rather than just a member of the forums. I usually wouldn't rank someone who is nice but would completely ignore me, but I would give that set of positions to people who like to talk to me and appreciate me taking control of the boards and making sure that everything runes smoothly.

However if they do do something they shouldn't have done. I will usually take action on the thread but I might not give them as much of a 'punishment' perhaps. I'd just lock the thread or something and explain exactly what they did wrong. It would appear almost exactly the same to a newer player as if I was taking action on a different player who isn't that much respected.

That way a newer player would never see that I didn't take action on the thread. I did leave a post at the end to educate everyone on the rules and how to avoid breaking them. I will avoid these kinds of problems if I keep doing as mentioned above. I feel fortunate.

That's my testimony, I'm looking to see how other people are coping with their boards!

[Pro—Poster]

Aug 4, 2008 8:25:02 GMT -8 @sibleytutor said:

Personally myself I do have more lenience to the more experienced members, but I don't rank my members through the number of posts that they have. I believe it's more of the quality of the posts that count. Not the post count.

I have a special group that I made called "Respected Member." I made it so that I can personally add people to that group who have shown respect to others within the forums and answer one's questions with a positive and thoughtful response. No matter what nature the question may be.

This group I do give more lenience to. As they are counted more of my friend rather than just a member of the forums. I usually wouldn't rank someone who is nice but would completely ignore me, but I would give that set of positions to people who like to talk to me and appreciate me taking control of the boards and making sure that everything runes smoothly.

However if they do do something they shouldn't have done. I will usually take action on the thread but I might not give them as much of a 'punishment' perhaps. I'd just lock the thread or something and explain exactly what they did wrong. It would appear almost exactly the same to a newer player as if I was taking action on a different player who isn't that much respected.

That way a newer player would never see that I didn't take action on the thread. I did leave a post at the end to educate everyone on the rules and how to avoid breaking them. I will avoid these kinds of problems if I keep doing as mentioned above. I feel fortunate.

That's my testimony, I'm looking to see how other people are coping with their boards!

I agree with most of what Fránçáis Çyclísté™ said. Mainly, I would give staff members powers and admin because of the relationship will me, and however much they do on the site. I do believe the post quality does count more in effect than with the number of posts. Personally, if the member was active enough, they would probably have a lot of posts on the forum, but I tend to treat my members fairly, even if they do not have a lot of posts. If they cause problems however, productive members or not, that is a different story.

[matrix934]

Old members set examples for new members. An old member breaks a rule and doesn't get in trouble, what do you think the new member is going to do? I (would) give my old members (if I had any members) some privelages like some extra money (for that shop using the shop code on my forum) but old member or new member, rules are rules. Old members should be aware of the rules.

[tasia the free spirit !]

To be honest, I have been known to play favorites to those who stick by a board through the end. I also have been known to get in little miffs with people over the fact I have put forth more effort into the board. But it's because you earn the right to be higher ranked, or placed up the popularity. I would not allow someone to be a staff member just because they stuck around.

I have to have a balance of personas on my staff team, and I'll observe the members of my board to see if they'll fit in with my staff. I've appointed tough admins, gental admins, and the fun admins to talk to. For moderators, I looked for ablity to produce graphics, to understand to talk to me before deleting any posts, and knowing that I give this a privilage, not a right. I know it seems like it's unfair at first, but I do have certain limits, I won't up someone just because they post more.

It may or may not be mostly OOC and I always check to see if they're active, and not just posting every other month. I like it when I have a balance of power, and I don't just appoint someone to a higher postion because of whatever. They have to be there. And it's not just being productive, it's being kind, considerate and able to have a personality that can reach out over typing a few words. You know what I'm saying?

I also make sure they don't start fights over stupid things like celebrities or whatever. I don't like seeing people abuse powers on certain areas. It's annoying.

[matrix934]

I treat everyone equal and if someone is really loyal and contribute a lot to your forum, then why would they do so much as break a rule? I do give privelages to my members. It's a Digimon & Pokemon game forum, so I might give an active member a prize such as a Pokemon or Digimon. It really all depends on the member. I have warning meters so nomatter who the person that breaks the rule is, they get a part on the warning meter. However, the warning could quickly be erased if the member apologizes and keeps being active.

[Vivalashakeit]

I do tend to be a little less strict towards members who are more active in the community, and to those who have been there longer. I know them better first off, and probably trust them more. Though I give everyone equal opportunities and priveleges, I've been thinking of adding a 500+ Club in the way future, when we get more members over the 500 post mark, for just those members, as a special privelege for having been more active in the community.

I have been found to have allowed an older member to get away with one thing that a newer member did not, only because I knew the older member was just joking around because I knew them longer. So sometimes knowing the person's personality can have some influence on what others may view as fair or unfair. I ended up just letting the new member know the situation, and letting the older member know that they shouldn't be doing it anymore. So I just balanced it out and everyone understood. Hopefully I won't have to deal with it in the future.

[Former Member]

I treat everyone the same way.. When I was a admin of a site.. If you get on my good side lucky you, you might get something extra.. But rules apply to everyone to me I usually give people 3 warnings and You finally pissed me off.