have i made a terrible mistake...

im posting this in here as i think this person might see it one day if i post it on the main forum...

i am going away for a weekend in a month, and my forums only mod is coming with us. i was thinking of who i could ask to be mod on my forum, and i happened to bring this up in conversation with someone on facebook, who was starting a forum moderation company (others ask him to moderate their forum for money) and said he would do it for me for free and put my forum on his affiliates page.

now im not so sure whether i want him to do it...

its not that i dont know him very well, cause ive been speaking to him for a bit now, he is 13 years old, which is a lot younger than most of the members of the forum, but that is ok, i know they will respect him, and theres not really that much trouble going on on the forum.

it was just the way he asked so many questions about the way the forum was run, questioned everything, and his first post in introductions said he was doing a site evaluation and was going to look after the forum for a few days....site evaluation?? i think that was to do with his affiliates...he said he checks his affiliates every week...

he asked about what kind of rating the forum has...like movies do, i guess, but i dont really have one, i never set out to have one. he bought up a link to a thread which had mention of alcohol and a swear word said, and i said it was fine for occaisional swearing, and that about 90% of our members are legally able to drink alcohol. it just seemed like he was too professional and judging everything, and im not sure i even want a mod who is too serious, i wanted someone who was fun. im worried that he will turn into a really strict mod when im not there and be annoying.

the whole reason our forum is so popular compared to the official fan site we were on before that closed was because we werent strict and didnt hand out warnings and bans to people, and that the mods actually had personality and joined in the threads as a normal member would. i think hes trying a little too hard to be professional.

he does have experience, more than my forums mod has-her experience consists of that forum we owned about 5 years ago which was invite only and for us and about 10 friends to chat on, and closed within a year. but i dont think experience is really that important-in this case cause id rather have someone who has enough experience to know their way round the moderator control panel and is friendly to the members, to someone who has loads of experience and is really strict.

should i tell him no?
i feel bad saying no to him cause hes the same age as my little cousin, and i did say he could do it. but if i do want to tell him no, how do i tell him?

 

I think its entirely up to yourself to make this decision, personally I wouldnt leave our forum in the hands of a 13 year old, theyre usually not as "experienced" as they may make themselves out to be and with him doing things you dont already like imagine what you might get back to? To be honest I wouldnt really worry about leaving your forum for just 1 weekend, you could just catch up when youre back and not inform anyone as its only two days.

 

yeah, your right, i probably should cancel this agreement now so we can enjoy our holiday without worrying whether the forum will be the same as we left it.

 

I'd personally leave no-one on board, and check in from vacation. If the forum falls apart when you're not there, there is something VERY wrong with a] your forums userbase, and b] your management style.

I understand it's natural to worry about your site, I would too, but at the end of the day if the server went down while the 13y/o is handling it, he can't do anything anyway. He can do more harm to the site than good. Say no.

 

yeah, i will ask our mod to bring her laptop, and we can check in. theres not really much to do, we have had one troll and only one spambot that got as far as posting, and i guess anyone who wants to advertise their site in the proper section for it can wait til i get online and approve their links (its not that important after all). the forum will be fine