Finding the right administrator

As an administrator who has founded a forum, co-founded a forum, and semi-co-founded (it's complicated! :p) yet another forum, I can't imagine adding another administrator to the team. Well, I can imagine, but I can't make it a reality.

I don't know if I am just too picky about who I feel would be qualified for the job, or if the right person just hasn't come along... or maybe I feel the need to have too much control and oversee too much?

I'm just curious to hear your success and failure stories about adding another administrator to your original team of one or two administrators, way after your forum has been launched (not in the beginning).

 

i am way too picky about choosing staff, i dont think i could trust another admin on my forum.

i have been on a forum where there was a major falling out between the staff, and one deleted all of the posts and banned all the members, and i really dont want that happening again

 

I don't think there is anything wrong with being picky. Sometimes I think some forums that I visit make too many people staff way too fast and easy there. But in saying that, I also spot that most of them soon become inactive after getting bored.

It's true that most forum members only accept the position of staff to get the title that comes with it, which of course soon wears off when they're asked to help promote the forum as part of their staff duties in most cases.

I've only ever been asked once to moderate another forum I don't own, a long time ago now. I accepted the job for a week at the time, then jacked it in a week later. Why? Because it was too obvious for me that forums only make people staff, because they need help with making it grow and become active. And that's usually the only reason they need you. Your just being used!

Unless of course your approached by a very large forum that needs no help with new content being added, purely for moderation duties. That's a little different!

 

Is there such a thing as 'the right administrator'? honestly, I think that's something that really is a tough question, and once you've found them, they will be sorely missed if/when they go.

 

I used to be involved in a forum which employed a very different approach to the ones you normally see: we held annual elections for the "site management team" (as they were known). It's the only internet forum I've ever come across which employed direct democracy in such a fashion, and I'd be interested to know if there are any others.

I'll briefly explain how it works. The forum operates as a formally constituted Society, with the constitution voted on and approved by the members. There are elections every year for the President, Treasurer, Site Manager, Assistant Site Managers and Chat Moderators. Other committee members are either appointed by the President or (in some cases) can nominate themselves, subject to approval by the rest of the committee. The President is a neutral figure who plays no direct role in the running of the forum, but presides over the annual elections (so that his/her term never lasts more than one year). Other officers have to re-submit themselves for election every year. It took a lot of work to get the system up and running but it's remained pretty stable since then, and it quells any complaints about unaccountable abuses of power.

What do members here think of such an approach?

 

i think thats a very interesting approach it would be interesting to see how this would work

 

I must say I've been stuck in that rut the past year or more.

There is always that side of you that wants to make sure you retain ultimate control. I think that urge can conflict with finding the right administrator. A forum is like your child in some ways and I think we (as admins) feel responsible for what transpires in it. In my particular case, with running a forum about faith, I feel doubly responsible to ensure a safe and stable environment.

Perhaps it's the "divisiveness" that a more passionate topic can bring, but I must say it has even happened in secular and with more trivial forum topics.

Too many cooks in the kitchen, perhaps?

Either way, I settled on the idea of having three admins for a while. I've yet to find one other one. I'm concerned about giving too much power to a total stranger and yet I've found promoting folks within my ranks to be unsuccessful. I don't seem to have a lot of tech-savvy users, so I have to try and train folks for even moderator positions. Obviously you don't want an admin doing that which he/she doesn't know how to do...

However, I've found internal promotions to be an issue. There are almost always cliques and promoting someone inevitably imbalances the cliques. Even if that works out (which usually time heals many wounds), I've found that folks have their own ideas about how to run things. I think that is where the conflict arises because I want to retain the ultimate control and many times, a suggestion becomes an action before we talk about it.

At this point, I do not have an answer.

 

I would always prefer to be the sole admin in a website, but in some situations it just doesn't happen like that. On one of my boards, I had to step away for a while and couldn't do anything to further help my site, so I hired someone to take care of it for me. Now that I'm back, he's there when I need him still. On another board, I have my girlfriend and I as well as a contributer/investor. He didn't ask to be an administrator, but I figured having him co-admin the site would be a good way to return gratitude considering he was a forum hobbyist as well.

 

I'm very picky doing this, as people can look professional, but they can mess it up in moments.

 

i am the only admin of my forum...........
so this tells about me that i dont like any another person as an admin for my forum