Establishing Your Forum Staff
Oct 30, 2020 13:47:15 GMT -8
Joshua Farrell, Nscalerr 🐺, and 6 more like this
Post by Scott on Oct 30, 2020 13:47:15 GMT -8
Establishing Your Forum Staff
All About Staff Members
Forum Staff are members that you choose to assist with the administration of your forum. The tasks forum staff perform and the powers they have are completely customizable.
For a member to be considered "staff" they need to belong to a member group with a Staff designation. However it is not necessary for the member group to have powers assigned for it to be designated staff.
Forum staff will only have access to the forum’s admin panel if granted by a member group and the extent of access is dictated by the group powers assigned. (The Admin always has full access.)
Unlike regular members, forum staff (and the Admin) will have access to the forum if the forum is in Maintenance Mode.
Setting up Your Staff - General Steps
The following Help Guide articles explain how to create and modify member groups, and assign a member to a group:
Creating and Managing Member Groups
Modifying Member Group Powers
Adding a Forum Member to a Member Group
NOTE: It is highly recommended that you implement the safeguards outlined in the Help Guide article: Preventing Forum Content Deletion when deciding on the powers for your member groups.
The 3 Preset Member Groups
The default forum has 3 preset member groups with a staff designation: Moderator, Global Moderator, and Administrator. These can be used as is, deleted, or customized. You can also add member groups as needed, each with its own customized set of powers.
The Admin (forum creator) is automatically considered staff, and assigned to the Administrator group by default. However, the Admin always has full powers whether or not they are assigned to a member group.
Moderators
Moderators (not Global Moderators) are generally staff that preside over a specific board (or boards) on the forum as the group's global status is set to no. Their powers are usually limited to tasks related to threads and posts, such as moving, editing, locking, bumping, and falling.
Because moderators are board specific, they need to be assigned to a board for their powers to be active on that board. To add a moderator to a board:
Repeat as necessary for each board you wish to assign a moderator.
You can have multiple members in the Moderator member group, but assign them each to a different board (or boards). Just be sure to only add them to a board individually and do not use the Add Group function, unless you want the same group of members to moderate the same group of boards.
Reminder: For a moderator's powers to work, that member must both be in a member group AND assigned to a board. A member can be assigned as a moderator on a board, however if that member is not also in a member group, they will have no powers.
Note: Should you want those in the Moderator member group to moderate all boards on the forum, then set the group's global status to "yes." With this setting it is not necessary to assign a moderator to the boards for their powers to be active.
Global Moderators
Global Moderators are considered to be the next step up from Moderators. As the name suggests, they are able to globally moderate the forum and are not limited to a specific board or boards. Global Moderators will generally have more staff tasks and an expanded set of powers.
Administrator
Those in the Administrator member group have the most expanded powers and are in the highest default staff tier. This staff position is ideal for forums who want to have co-admins as powers can be assigned that virtually mirror the powers of the main admin.
Group Leaders
With each member group you have the option to assign a Group Leader to manage the group. More than one group leader may be assigned to a single group if desired. The moment a leader is added to a group, they are automatically added as a member of that group, if they were not already a member first.
Group Leaders have complete control over whether or not someone is a member of their group. Group leaders may manually add members to their group regardless of the group type, as well as remove members. However they cannot remove other group leaders from their group.
The group leader position is ideal for the Petition type member group. Members who wish to join a Petition type member group will click on the Request to Join button (Profile > Groups tab). The group leader will receive a notification of the pending request and can either accept or reject the member's petition to join the group.
Group leaders can manage their group by going to their Profile > Groups tab and clicking on the Manage Group link under the group's name.
Tip About Member Group Names
It is possible to create multiple member groups with the same name but each with a different set of powers. One of the benefits would be consistency. For example if you have more than one Moderator member group, all the moderators on the forum can display the same member group name of "Moderator" regardless of their assigned powers.
If creating groups with the same name, it is recommended that the group's optional Description field be filled in to differentiate the groups from one another. The description only shows in the profile's groups tab and the group leader management page.
All About Staff Members
Forum Staff are members that you choose to assist with the administration of your forum. The tasks forum staff perform and the powers they have are completely customizable.
For a member to be considered "staff" they need to belong to a member group with a Staff designation. However it is not necessary for the member group to have powers assigned for it to be designated staff.
Forum staff will only have access to the forum’s admin panel if granted by a member group and the extent of access is dictated by the group powers assigned. (The Admin always has full access.)
Unlike regular members, forum staff (and the Admin) will have access to the forum if the forum is in Maintenance Mode.
Setting up Your Staff - General Steps
- The first thing you need to do is decide what staff positions you would like to have for your forum and what staff powers you would like for each position.
- Next you need to create and/or customize the member groups that you will need for those positions.
- Then you assign the chosen staff members to the appropriate member group.
The following Help Guide articles explain how to create and modify member groups, and assign a member to a group:
Creating and Managing Member Groups
Modifying Member Group Powers
Adding a Forum Member to a Member Group
NOTE: It is highly recommended that you implement the safeguards outlined in the Help Guide article: Preventing Forum Content Deletion when deciding on the powers for your member groups.
The 3 Preset Member Groups
The default forum has 3 preset member groups with a staff designation: Moderator, Global Moderator, and Administrator. These can be used as is, deleted, or customized. You can also add member groups as needed, each with its own customized set of powers.
The Admin (forum creator) is automatically considered staff, and assigned to the Administrator group by default. However, the Admin always has full powers whether or not they are assigned to a member group.
Moderators
Moderators (not Global Moderators) are generally staff that preside over a specific board (or boards) on the forum as the group's global status is set to no. Their powers are usually limited to tasks related to threads and posts, such as moving, editing, locking, bumping, and falling.
Because moderators are board specific, they need to be assigned to a board for their powers to be active on that board. To add a moderator to a board:
- Go to Admin > Structure > Categories & Boards
- Select the board you wish to add a moderator
- Double-click (or click the Edit Properties button)
- In the Edit Board Properties box, click the Moderators tab
- You can assign moderators to the board by Group, OR individually
- Save Changes
Repeat as necessary for each board you wish to assign a moderator.
You can have multiple members in the Moderator member group, but assign them each to a different board (or boards). Just be sure to only add them to a board individually and do not use the Add Group function, unless you want the same group of members to moderate the same group of boards.
Reminder: For a moderator's powers to work, that member must both be in a member group AND assigned to a board. A member can be assigned as a moderator on a board, however if that member is not also in a member group, they will have no powers.
Note: Should you want those in the Moderator member group to moderate all boards on the forum, then set the group's global status to "yes." With this setting it is not necessary to assign a moderator to the boards for their powers to be active.
Global Moderators
Global Moderators are considered to be the next step up from Moderators. As the name suggests, they are able to globally moderate the forum and are not limited to a specific board or boards. Global Moderators will generally have more staff tasks and an expanded set of powers.
Administrator
Those in the Administrator member group have the most expanded powers and are in the highest default staff tier. This staff position is ideal for forums who want to have co-admins as powers can be assigned that virtually mirror the powers of the main admin.
Since the Global Moderator and Administrator member groups have a global status, it is not necessary to add those members to a board for the powers to be active.
Group Leaders
With each member group you have the option to assign a Group Leader to manage the group. More than one group leader may be assigned to a single group if desired. The moment a leader is added to a group, they are automatically added as a member of that group, if they were not already a member first.
Group Leaders have complete control over whether or not someone is a member of their group. Group leaders may manually add members to their group regardless of the group type, as well as remove members. However they cannot remove other group leaders from their group.
The group leader position is ideal for the Petition type member group. Members who wish to join a Petition type member group will click on the Request to Join button (Profile > Groups tab). The group leader will receive a notification of the pending request and can either accept or reject the member's petition to join the group.
Group leaders can manage their group by going to their Profile > Groups tab and clicking on the Manage Group link under the group's name.
The position of Group Leader is optional and not a necessity for the establishment of a member group.
Tip About Member Group Names
It is possible to create multiple member groups with the same name but each with a different set of powers. One of the benefits would be consistency. For example if you have more than one Moderator member group, all the moderators on the forum can display the same member group name of "Moderator" regardless of their assigned powers.
If creating groups with the same name, it is recommended that the group's optional Description field be filled in to differentiate the groups from one another. The description only shows in the profile's groups tab and the group leader management page.
