Forum Owners Outsourcing for new staff members

If you're a frequent forum visitor, have you ever noticed that the forum owner is outsourcing for staff members?

Personally, I see this all the time... This bugs me. Why outsource for a staff member when you have a community of members that may complete the job... Furthermore, why would you want to bring a complete new face onto the staff team?!

Does anyone personally do this or have seen it happen? What is your reasoning?

 

I've actually been an "outsourced" admin, when a non-profit I know needed help but none of their forum members had the necessary skills.

 

To be honest, I have never seen it happen. I'd love to hear some stories, though.

 

Solilo, so you're saying none of your members were qualified to fulfill moderator duties and you therefore outsourced?

I mean, you can always train people who you think will benefit your community.

 

No Tom, it was someone else's non-profit organization that needed help, and I volunteered.

 

Umm, sorry but I have to say that on Pisoga, no one is up to be a mod. So if I needed, I would outsource. The mods I have now are ok, but if the community grew bigger, I would outsource. I have my reasons for doing so too.

 

?????? huh? What is that supposed to mean. I'am a little confused.

 

He means bringing someone in to moderate who isn't already part of the community.

 

Ive seen plenty of forums advertise, but non of the forums I visit actually do it.

 

In that case, NO, I do not do that.

I want moderators that have some kind of experience with my forums topic, has been a member for at least 6 months and over 1,000 post. And then, they have to be on a staff position for several months (for a training period) before they get to be a moderator. To be a full fledged moderator on my forum, you have to be an active member for around 1 year.

 

Like Kevin, I look for members who have settled into the community and have become integral parts of it. I want users who demonstrate substantial interest in my forum/niche, and nobody does better than members who are already active users of my forum.

I don't think I would ever outsource unless my memberbase wasn't qualified.

 

I've never seen it happen, because most forums I am or were a part of were sort of specialized. A certain musician, a gaming community, etc. But I do understand some places have a need to outsource. For example, if the community is still relatively new but growing too fast, or if it's just a general BS forum and there's no real requirement to know a certain subject.

I don't think I personally would, though. It's much better to promote someone who has proven themselves than to pull somebody out of nowhere.

 

Outsourcing is good if you want someone who doesnt care for your forum to take on the job of looking after something it isnt used to or understands. I think outsourcing is a waste of time as we have tried it our selves. It resulted in a few posts made by the outsourced mod and a removal of his privileges after never coming back.

We hope that we will have someone stay on our forums for years who loves being on our site and have them as a moderator as they will know the forums, us and our members inside out.