Staff Contact Info

Hi Folks,

I was just wondering how many of you have your staff post their contact information in the mods forum?

We had one a couple years back with Name, Address, Tel, IM handles, etc, it was never compulsory but it was nice a couple people sent Christmas cards back and fourth stuff like that.

I always thought it were a good idea in case something happened like the site crashes one of the mods could call or text an admin to see whats up, etc.

Your thoughts?

-Dan

 

I have never had anything more than e-mail, MSN, and AIM, and maybe another place on the internet where they can be found. It doesn't seem like a bad idea if it is something they are willing to share, especially when they have some important information that you cannot get elsewhere.

 

I never thought of sending Christmas Cards to staff. That is such a fantastic idea! Maybe even a card for their birthday too. Especially if your staff are unpaid, it makes them feel like they are wanted and appreciated.

However in public (As in the staff forum) I only ever have a thread which lists a staff members IM Info (MSN, ICQ, AIM etc) and secondary email address (Apart from [email protected])

 

I keep in regular communication with my staff team via calls and texting. As I'm addicted to both, it's very easy to get distracted and talk about something other than the forums.

 

We have a thread in the Staff forum where the team members just post their personal e-mail address and instant messaging clients/names.

I really like the idea of a Christmas Card sent to staff members. We've only sent one out and it was from the community as a whole - because one of our moderators was diagnosed with a disease that adversely impacted her life shortly before the holidays. We had her address from the previous year's Secret Santa Gift Exchange event that we held, so it was a total surprise to her and she loved it.

 

I DO NOT have them post their contact info in any forum, but have them send me their contact info confidentially. That way I can reach them if needed, which is rare. My concern is that no one knows what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, or next year. If you have a staff member that "goes bad" and becomes a problem, they now will have everyone else's contact info to bother them with.

In the moderator or staff forums they can talk, discuss member/forum issues, etc, but it is all kept there and in one place.

 

I limit contact info to personal info and messenger clients. I think some people enjoy relative anonymity, but the Christmas card idea would be a very nice touch to any forum!

 

No contact info in the admin forum other than email addy and IM. I'm always afraid that someway, somehow, for whatever reason, the forum permissions would get goofed up and they'd be made public.

When that happened at vb.com last week, it let me know I made the right decision.

 

Let me add that I do not require staff members to post their personal phone numbers (or any personal data) in the contact information thread - this is something that was discussed privately and not in a public environment. I realized that I never included this in my earlier post. :spin:

 

Limited to email and instant messenger. It isn't hard to find out personal info if you put effort into it.

 

But you would agree that it's a matter of respecting a member's personal privacy, correct?

 

Of course.

 

Just wondering. I once had to deal with a member who found it funny to harass fellow staff members for their personal information.

 

Kidding me, right?

 

Wow. How did you end up handling the situation?

 

No, I'm not - it was a rather serious situation and it was not fun to take care of. After multiple warnings, a call to his ISP was necessary... I believe his internet access was restricted for months and a call to the local authorities was also made in addition.

 

Serious stuff.

I find it encouraging that authorities are beginning to take internet harrassment/stalking seriously.

 

Agreed. This idiot was also an 11 year old kid who has been known to hack.

 

That's just very weird. I mean if he did it jokingly a few times and it looked like a joke then I wouldn't be worried about it, but that's just a whole other level of creepiness.

 

I'd say that it reached the "creep" factor quite quickly - this staff member received ten or so private messages per hour, all containing private information that was NOT released publicly.