Staff Forum - Is it active/do you talk beyond the forum?

Does your staff forum tend to be very active? Does it have a place, or a thread, where you talk beyond the work of the forum, maybe like an off-topic section for staff only?

I used to have a thread in the staff forum of an old forum that was to discuss just about anything. It was an exact replica of a thread we had in our off-topic section, except in the staff forum. This allowed for a more direct conversation, since we all knew each other very well.

 

Yes, actually! My staff forums are quite active, but it can get to be a bit too business-like. Being the easy-going guy that I am, including some form of "off-topic" chat is a must. Because of this, I've created an individual forum under the staff discussion category dedicated to talking about... well, anything and everything.

 

Not as much personal chattiness as there used to be. Actually an off-topic area of the staff forum would be a good idea.

Up to perhaps a little over a year ago, when a different staff group was present, they talked about personal stuff more than forum biz.

 

A few minutes after creating the off-topic staff forum, it was being put to good use. My team was just itching to discuss something other than forum promotional techniques and management skills.

 

I don't have a specific off-topic section in the Staff Forum but we do have a bit of off-topic discussion in there. I never even thought of adding a Off-Topic sub-forum in there, and I think I just may do that.

Thanks for the idea!

 

We've got 3 staff forums. 1 for admins, 1 for admins and supermods, and finally 1 for all three. The 1 for admins and thee second one for admins and super mods are pretty much dead.

The moderators forum is normally decently active with both board & personal talk though we tend to go in spurts. Sometimes for a month or two it will be pretty quiet then something will fire it up again and for a couple months there will regularly be new threads.

 

My staff area is structured as follows:

Staff Discussion
- Off Topic Staff Chat
- General Staff Discussion
- Administrative Staff Discussion

The most active, by far, is the first forum listed under the category ("Administrative Staff Discussion" being the least active). In terms of overall activity and action, it is actually strickingly close to the off-topic forum viewable to the members.

 

Generally the staff forums I have are:

Administrators
Admins & Mods
Post Reports & Infractions

There are no set 'rules' as to what can be discussed in these so basically anything goes.

 

That reminds me. Do any of you set a certain set of guidelines for your staff sections?

 

You mean like rules as to what can be discussed in there? To be honest I don't see a reason to limit what you can talk about.

 

Correct - and I feel the same way. I'm an easy-going guy, and I personally don't believe in limiting what can be discussed within such a forum.

 

Nope, not at all. It never even crossed my mind as I don't see the need for this. The Staff forum is not only a place to discuss the management of the forum, but also something comparable to the water cooler at the workplace office.

 

Nice comparison. I agree.

 

Yeah, technically you could do whatever you want in the staff forum and no one would ever know. The only type of "guideline" threads I have ever used are not those that limit what can be done in the staff forum itself, but the moderating job altogether (ie: how to handle a common problem, not to hard delete posts, etc.).

 

They Tend To Be Not So Active. I Make A Staff ONly Section, Where We Talk
And Discuss New Stuff For The Site. Yes It Causes More Conversation Of
The Site Movement And Others.

 

My staff forum is very active...

We talk about the forum and we also talk about general stuff...

 

It's healthy to discuss subjects other than the actual forum.

 

Well my staff forum is active and inactive in periods and we talk about alot of different stuff but i like the idea of having an subforum for off topic talks.

 

Yeah, 'cause I constantly hate reading gossip. Well, I did.

Now, I don't have any moderators, on Bird is the Word, or Setsou Design.