What should I do to get my forum mods more active?

[Legendary]

Hey guys.

I have about 5 moderators for a small website, which I think is a bad idea, but all of them, save one, are inactive. Part of me wants to let them go, part of me wants to tell them to act like staff members (more on that below), but I'm not sure what to do, or how to even address the issue (damn shyness).

The issue? 4/5 Mods are inactive for the most part. They do not post new threads or replies which means they don't help to keep the forum active or the conversations going. I would make a "Staff Expectations"-esque thread in our staff board, but they aren't on enough to even read it. Hell, the forum contest I did flopped because none of them helped..Maybe it's me?

Should I fire some of them? Tell them the expectations I have for the site? 

I was thinking of having the staff I have now fill out that form I created in this thread, but I thought that might be too condescending. What do you think?

For those of you with staff members, how do you keep everything together? Do you have any tips or tricks I could/should use?

[nariadreaming]

We have the stipulation that you must log in at least every two weeks and have at least 5 posts on the board that you moderate per month.

They don't meet those expectations, they are immediately demoted

[Legendary]

Oct 4, 2016 11:45:21 GMT -8 nariadreaming said:

We have the stipulation that you must log in at least every two weeks and have at least 5 posts on the board that you moderate per month.

They don't meet those expectations, they are immediately demoted

Sounds like a good idea!

[Pebbles]

Oct 4, 2016 11:36:40 GMT -8 Legendary said:

Hey guys.

I have about 5 moderators for a small website, which I think is a bad idea, but all of them, save one, are inactive. Part of me wants to let them go, part of me wants to tell them to act like staff members (more on that below), but I'm not sure what to do, or how to even address the issue (damn shyness).

The issue? 4/5 Mods are inactive for the most part. They do not post new threads or replies which means they don't help to keep the forum active or the conversations going. I would make a "Staff Expectations"-esque thread in our staff board, but they aren't on enough to even read it. Hell, the forum contest I did flopped because none of them helped..Maybe it's me?

Should I fire some of them? Tell them the expectations I have for the site? 

I was thinking of having the staff I have now fill out that form I created in this thread, but I thought that might be too condescending. What do you think?

For those of you with staff members, how do you keep everything together? Do you have any tips or tricks I could/should use?

makes me wonder why you got so many in the first place if you now say it is not a good idea, as you say it is a small place right now (i got a small forum too and i am the only staff person, lonely admin )
just a tip for the future; never make people staff to think it will make them stick around, just for that, for the title and powers
not sure if thats what you did but if you did that, you wouldn't know wether they are actually good for the job as you didn't pick them for  the right reasons to be mods

as for the issue you bringing up
be honest and firm
and also do what is best for your forum
it is no good to be weak and think; i dont want to hurt their feelings
because if you let them down gentle, how are you hurting their feelings?  
if they are inactive that is a fact and not your fault, so dont think you may be hurting them or anything
it is their own fault for getting kicked off

it is best in such situations to just demote the people and pm them and tell them why in a kind way
you don't want inactive staff, it does not help your forum at all
and a lot of admins do not get that lol, its unfortunate because of that a lot of forums are not maintained well enough
because they refuse to get active people on their staff team.... anyways xD

btw maybe you need to edit this rule on your forum?
or are you actually allowing it? if so, im not sure if thats ok with the TOS of proboards?

NUDITY OR PORNOGRAPHY MAY BE POSTED ANYWHERE ON THE FORUM

[Kami]

I would've fired those folks long ago tbh, unless there was a valid reason for their inactivity (and even then if it goes too long I would demote them, but more nicely).

You shouldn't need to GET your forum mods active. That should be their default state. My mods are active because they care. If you have to get them active then they don't really belong as staff.

Staff should set an example for your members by being first and foremost active, productive members of the community. This should go without saying, and even if you didn't have rules stipulating this, I wouldn't think it would be unfair for you to fire them based solely on what should be common sense. A staff position is a privilege and requires work; if not only do they fail to work but fail to participate in any capacity, then out they go.

Honestly I'd probably send them all a PM explaining that you've demoted them (after you've demoted them, don't give them a chance to do any harm with their staff powers) because of inactivity and list the time stamps of their last login & post activity to demonstrate the point.

Once they're gone I'd then make a sticky thread in your staff board governing the additional (note that they are additional, not replacement) rules staff are required to follow. It doesn't need to be too formal; here are my staff rules for instance:

dA rules

last updated 12.04.2013

• Log in as often as possible (at least 2x a week), and let us know if you'll be gone for a while or will be on sporadically.
• Make sure everyone follows the rules of the forum & the RP.
• Ask (admin) or (admin) if you have any questions about what to do.
• What happens in the staff board, stays in the staff board. You'd think this would be obvious but apparently not.
• Try to roleplay, okay? =P
  
  
• Don't play favourites or give people rewards for being your friend. No really, that happened.
  
  
• If you suspect someone of having more than one account, go to their profile and make sure. In the top-right corner there is a little cog wheel. Click it, and there should be an option with their IP. Hover over it and select "members" on the next drop down. Any member with the same IP will then appear.
  
  
• Use your best judgement. If you think there is something breaking our rules or PB ToS, go ahead and take care of it. If you're really not sure, move the content into the "Threads Needing Staff Review" area (select the thread on the thread listing, click the "action" dropdown in the top right of the board, then "moderation" and "move") or temporarily suspend the account until we can talk it over.
  
  
• That's probably it, we'll let you know if we make any edits to this in the future.

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But I can't emphasise being less tolerant of this kind of behaviour enough. Lacklustre staff the admin does nothing about does not convey a good message to members or guests.
[/div]

[Legendary]

Oct 4, 2016 13:40:40 GMT -8 Pebbles said:

makes me wonder why you got so many in the first place if you now say it is not a good idea, as you say it is a small place right now (i got a small forum too and i am the only staff person, lonely admin )
just a tip for the future; never make people staff to think it will make them stick around, just for that, for the title and powers
not sure if thats what you did but if you did that, you wouldn't know wether they are actually good for the job as you didn't pick them for  the right reasons to be mods

as for the issue you bringing up
be honest and firm
and also do what is best for your forum
it is no good to be weak and think; i dont want to hurt their feelings
because if you let them down gentle, how are you hurting their feelings?  
if they are inactive that is a fact and not your fault, so dont think you may be hurting them or anything
it is their own fault for getting kicked off

it is best in such situations to just demote the people and pm them and tell them why in a kind way
you don't want inactive staff, it does not help your forum at all
and a lot of admins do not get that lol, its unfortunate because of that a lot of forums are not maintained well enough
because they refuse to get active people on their staff team.... anyways xD

btw maybe you need to edit this rule on your forum?
or are you actually allowing it? if so, im not sure if thats ok with the TOS of proboards?

NUDITY OR PORNOGRAPHY MAY BE POSTED ANYWHERE ON THE FORUM

That nudity/porn rule is a typo LMAO!!! Thanks for pointing this out! It's what I get for typing too fast.

And thanks for this. I am a shy person in general, but I need to toughen up, especially when it comes to the site. I think I might let the 4/5 go because they're not helping at all. Most of them I know from Twitter, so I know they are able to be active...they are on there all the time.

Edit: I mostly got all those staff members because I overestimated the incoming number of people joining the forum and I thought it would be good to have some kind of creative team on board. None of them are creative LOL. I asked them on Twitter DM if they had any ideas for the forum, they said they would help but that was about two weeks ago now..

Same thing for the forum contest..None of them participated or helped spread the word. But again...somehow they are extremely active on Twitter. Maybe it is because Twitter is more instant and forums are dying? I know at least some of it has to do with marketing on my part, but I'm trying my best, it's just a little hard.

Kami I thought about having staff rules but I wasn't sure how to "implement" them because again, I'm too nice and they don't come on much, but I will definitely do this. The one mod I have is very receptive and helpful and I don't want to let her down.

Do you guys have any tips on how to find creative people to add as staff? I don't really want to look for strangers, but I already got friends through Twitter and that's not really working out.

[Kami]

My opinion: if you are not as active as you expected then promote from within. It sounds like you and your current active mod have things under control for now, so just be a two person team until people from the forum start showing dedication.

Staff applications can be good, but frequently as you have experienced they are less than reliable.

[Former Member]

It's your responsibility to delegate jobs for people.

Write out a list of jobs you think people should be doing based on a critical level.

Urgent(to be taken care of straight away)

• spam
• drama
• abusive member

Normal(to be taken care of once a week/month)

• clean boards
• scan boards for malicious links

Daily(things to be done on each login)

• scan new threads no older than 6 hours
• welcome new members
• participate in chat
• directly introduce yourself to people, you have not already

etc etc...

If you are too shy, maybe hand over responsibility to someone else for a little bit and study how they handle things.

*When(not if) your forums have to deal with spam and rude members, your shyness will soon disappear and your protective mentality will soon kick in.

If your forums has less than 50 posts, do you really need moderators?
Is that something you can handle yourself?

Only look for help if there are too many posts for you to cover, only promote people if they are
already active and have the right personality(for your forum)

Moderator Checklist

• Is he/she unbiased
• Is he/she already participating in multiple topics
• can he/she calm down a situation without losing control
• Is he/she already active(logging in every 2/3 days)
• Is he/she mature enough to handle the responsibility

You won't know the answer to these questions until you get to know them through participating in the forum.
Don't think of it as a race to promote as many people as possible but more of a weeding out process of people who might do your forums more harm than good.

[Pebbles]

Oct 4, 2016 20:21:43 GMT -8 Legendary said:

Oct 4, 2016 13:40:40 GMT -8 Pebbles said:

makes me wonder why you got so many in the first place if you now say it is not a good idea, as you say it is a small place right now (i got a small forum too and i am the only staff person, lonely admin )
just a tip for the future; never make people staff to think it will make them stick around, just for that, for the title and powers
not sure if thats what you did but if you did that, you wouldn't know wether they are actually good for the job as you didn't pick them for  the right reasons to be mods

as for the issue you bringing up
be honest and firm
and also do what is best for your forum
it is no good to be weak and think; i dont want to hurt their feelings
because if you let them down gentle, how are you hurting their feelings?  
if they are inactive that is a fact and not your fault, so dont think you may be hurting them or anything
it is their own fault for getting kicked off

it is best in such situations to just demote the people and pm them and tell them why in a kind way
you don't want inactive staff, it does not help your forum at all
and a lot of admins do not get that lol, its unfortunate because of that a lot of forums are not maintained well enough
because they refuse to get active people on their staff team.... anyways xD

btw maybe you need to edit this rule on your forum?
or are you actually allowing it? if so, im not sure if thats ok with the TOS of proboards?

That nudity/porn rule is a typo LMAO!!! Thanks for pointing this out! It's what I get for typing too fast.

And thanks for this. I am a shy person in general, but I need to toughen up, especially when it comes to the site. I think I might let the 4/5 go because they're not helping at all. Most of them I know from Twitter, so I know they are able to be active...they are on there all the time.

Edit: I mostly got all those staff members because I overestimated the incoming number of people joining the forum and I thought it would be good to have some kind of creative team on board. None of them are creative LOL. I asked them on Twitter DM if they had any ideas for the forum, they said they would help but that was about two weeks ago now..

Same thing for the forum contest..None of them participated or helped spread the word. But again...somehow they are extremely active on Twitter. Maybe it is because Twitter is more instant and forums are dying? I know at least some of it has to do with marketing on my part, but I'm trying my best, it's just a little hard.

YOU ARE WELCOME lol , rules stuff is important, always re read or something / when i read it i was like wtf are you serious xD

it doesn't surprise me if they active on twitter they are not so much on a forum
they probably just not used to being on a forum and cba
i say go try find people on other forums , see if they are interested
then you have more of a chance people will show up with more interest

just get rid of the inactive staff if you haven't already, if they active somewhere else and not on your forum, whats the use

but also what i think has been mentioned above... you do have to guide your staff and lead them
if you do not do that and expect things to happen all by themselves, you need to think again xD