[+ Ryan]

Staff and Member Relations
Written By: Ryan (Old School DU Admin )

Hey all, since this forum is currently empty I decided to start things off with the first Article of the website, and it will be on Staff and member Relations on a forum.

What do you mean by Staff & Member Relations?
The relationship between Staff Members and Members is important to the fabric of a successful forum. If your staff is controlling and cruel, nobody is going to stay there and be active. If your staff is too light on matters, then spammers will eventually completely overtake your forum. These things may seem unimportant, but believe me, I have been to many forums and there have been few, if any, with good management.

What should I avoid?
Well, first off, you need to avoid a lax, careless staff on your forum. As an administrator serious about managing a productive forums with debates, discussion, and enjoyment, you need to look for staff that will be dedicated and caring about your forum, and what happens to it. You can't demand 24/7 of them, of course, but at least guarantee steady activity on the site, a sense of responsibility, and helpfulness. Basically, avoid hiring a staff member that won't ... manage the place well enough, basically.

And if you do hire that kind of person to moderate your forum that you've slaved over? Well, since they don't see any need in taking responsibility with their newly found powers, they won't prevent spammers, bad posts, or clutter from plaguing your forums. Soon the place will be lost to spammers and pointless, thoughtless posts. This is proven.. The more members you have, the better your staff is going to have to be and the harder they will have to work.

Next problem is hiring staff that is too power hungry and cruel. It's a bad idea for someone on your staff to be a complete douche to everyone who posts. These people include: Power abusers, Flamers, Abuse of Title ("I'm a mod, so I can post what I want"), and utter tools. Power abusers enjoy unnecessarily locking topics that were legitimate. Flamers can bother abuse their power and their title, and basically flame other members for no purpose, just because they can. This will demean the other members. Abuse of Title includes people who think that because they have a few more responsibilities and privileges, that they can disobey the rules of the forums, the ones that they should be enforcing.

Tools are people who don't have their own opinions, they are the people who come into topics so they can flame whoever is getting flamed by several others. They have no real thought, thus they really can't be a quality moderator. Avoid them.

What will happen if I allow this?
It's simple. Your forum will become anarchy. Your members will stop attending your forum (and since members are the bulk of a forum, that you need to avoid), and they won't respect the rules anymore. They'll spam, they will flame, and the forum will crumble, as will its credibility. Without enforcing a steady government-like, fair system for your Staff, the forum dies. It's a simple system. Members become demeaned, angered... they kill the forum and then leave. This happens too much, unfortunately. This is certainly an important matter.

How do I prevent this from happening to my forum?
Three simple words. Hire better staff! You can prevent your forum's demise by simply hiring a staff that will be fair, courteous, responsible, and a good person. It is rare to find these types of people, but if you do, make the offer to let them be on staff. There's no real expectation for staff. You don't need to wait until the member has 1,000 posts. If you can see that the member is a good person who would make a good staff member, then try to hire him! Don't wait around. That gets you nowhere. Forums aren't about posts, they're about discussions and enjoyment.

What are the benefits?
Also simple. When you maintain a good staff that will run your forum well, your members stay happy, and they will eventually refer other members, and your site becomes heavily trafficked and successful. You've accomplished what you've wanted to accomplish! By following these easy directions, you can have a bustling forum filled with happy individuals in no time! Remember, staff or member, we're all equal and important, so let's enjoy ourselves in our time on these forums.

So there you have it folks, short and sweet. Hopefully this is helpful to people who are reading this. I'll try to produce more Articles in the future. Feel free to give me some feedback on the article, and rate it too. Thanks.

[Lord-Adriel]

Also, when you are revamping your staff, look to seniority for additional help.


I'm biased in saying this, but there is a higher chance a member cares about the forum if he or she has been active for a year, rather than just a week. Something to be dedicated to vs something to entertain you...

[+ Ryan]

Agreed. Experience is also important when selecting staff members. There could be a whole other article about selecting ideal staff, but this was just made because on my trek throughout random forums, I've found that bad staff

* Ryanmber relations have caused a place to crumble.

There was no bias in that statement either, Addy.

[Michael]

Golly excellent work, perhaps you should post this in our Articles section too, check the navigation bar up top if you are unsure of its whereabouts.

[Adamrosso]

Great article, Ryan. I hope to see more of you in the future

[Michael]

Moving to appropiate forum.

[Adamrosso]

Wow, i love the new features for this!!!

[Hector]

I read this all in like, 20 seconds. Yes, I read extremly fast. This was well written, especially the whole Staff member relationship thing.

Silly Ryan, Trix are 4 kids.

Wurd.

~HM-UNDERGROUND

[Cn999er]

good guide there.

[SnaKKer]

It's especially tough to have good relationships with members when there are alot of them, because no matter what you do/don't do, people will have a problem with it.

[+ Ryan]

Yeah I agree. Any particular method you use?

[SnaKKer]

I try to do what's right, not what's popular. When I started on the site, I wanted everyone to like me and stuff, but at this point, as admin, I pretty much know what's best for the forum, and I'm going to look out for our best interests, even if other people don't like it.

If we have a staff member who doesn't communicate well with members, then that's a real problem. We've dropped several people in the past because of their inability to interact well with the members.

[+ Ryan]

Very noble strategy. I'm sure your members appreciate what they're getting from their administration. =)

[SnaKKer]

Some do, some don't. The complainers make up a very small, abiet very loud, percentage of the members.