Do you prefer to be a laid back forum admin or more hands on?

[Smokey]

As a forum admin, do you prefer to be more laid back & easy going/go with the flow sort of admin or are you more hands-on with your community and more serious about running things perfectly or a more tightly ran ship so to speak?

Personally, I'm somewhere in the middle. I always have been. I make sure things are running smoothly, free of spam, etc, but I'm also very laid back at times and I take my time when making big decisions as well.

 

[Grant]

I prefer to be a bit more laid back, as in more relaxed. I don't like to be strict too much. I do keep a close eye on my forums, and take reports seriously, but I like to let users have fun.

 

[Kane]

My communities are small. So far, I have owned only one community with more than 1000 users (I sold this community, and I no longer own it). My current communities have less than 100 members and only a handful of members are active. Even though I try to be more hands-on my activities are not paying so I have ended up being a laid back admin. I have not visited one of my forums for over a week.

 

[Busybee]

Being both laid back and hands-on allows you to maintain a friendly and welcoming atmosphere while still ensuring the community runs smoothly and stays free of spam. Taking time to make informed decisions is also important for the overall well-being of the forum.

 

[Grant]

Being both laid back and hands-on allows you to maintain a friendly and welcoming atmosphere while still ensuring the community runs smoothly and stays free of spam. Taking time to make informed decisions is also important for the overall well-being of the forum.

For sure. There are some forums I run that are more relaxed and chill than others, so being laid back there is fine. But I also have a forum that has debates going on, and people do get heated, so you want to be strict when needed as well.

 

[Heatman]

As a forum admin, do you prefer to be more laid back & easy going/go with the flow sort of admin or are you more hands-on with your community and more serious about running things perfectly or a more tightly ran ship so to speak?

Personally, I'm somewhere in the middle. I always have been. I make sure things are running smoothly, free of spam, etc, but I'm also very laid back at times and I take my time when making big decisions as well.

Personally I would say that is going to be more better for you to be openly committed to running your community as an admin because if you are just working in the background, it will appear to some of your members that you are not even engaging and being active on your own platform and some people might take that as an unseriousness from the owner.

 

[Ja sa bong]

A forum admin is different from the forum owner unless we are talking about the same position. If you're hired as an administrator, you can't be laid back in doing your job. On the other hand, if the admin we are talking about is the same person as the owner, you don't have to do everything by yourself once you have staff members.

 

[Heatman]

For sure. There are some forums I run that are more relaxed and chill than others, so being laid back there is fine. But I also have a forum that has debates going on, and people do get heated, so you want to be strict when needed as well.

The level and nature of activities that's going on in your forum or one which you're an administrator on will determine how you would dispose yourself with your work. Just like you said, if it's always peaceful, calm and collected, there's no need to be fully involved in everything.

 

[akinlolu99]

I prefer to be more hands-on, the reason being I believe there is a certain level of spice that an admin adds to a platform for example I have been contacted once by an admin of this platform on a particular thing I did some time ago and I felt cool and relaxed not because what I did was right but because you showed me how much the platform is growing and the kind of group that is still to come.

 

[Heatman]

A forum admin is different from the forum owner unless we are talking about the same position. If you're hired as an administrator, you can't be laid back in doing your job. On the other hand, if the admin we are talking about is the same person as the owner, you don't have to do everything by yourself once you have staff members.

This is very correct. I have seen some forum where there are more than 5 administrators, 4 moderators, 2 super moderators and Community leader staff member, Technical staff and marketing staff.

The forum owner in this kind of set up doesn't need to get involved in much unless it's about investing more money in his project.

 

[Ja sa bong]

This is very correct. I have seen some forum where there are more than 5 administrators, 4 moderators, 2 super moderators and Community leader staff member, Technical staff and marketing staff.

The forum owner in this kind of set up doesn't need to get involved in much unless it's about investing more money in his project.

I can count about 4 moderator in Bizdustry and other administrators. It's a bit forum, I saw it the moment I joined the community. Most big forums like this will have more staff members to have everything looked after without missing out any.

 

[Heatman]

I can count about 4 moderator in Bizdustry and other administrators. It's a bit forum, I saw it the moment I joined the community. Most big forums like this will have more staff members to have everything looked after without missing out any.

That's very correct. The bigger the forum, the more staff members you're going to need to help and manage it. If not, it's going leave a lot of work on the few staffs you have including yourself too as the owner. You just have to work it out on how to have all your staff motivated to be active.

 

[Ja sa bong]

That's very correct. The bigger the forum, the more staff members you're going to need to help and manage it. If not, it's going leave a lot of work on the few staffs you have including yourself too as the owner. You just have to work it out on how to have all your staff motivated to be active.

Before any forum gets this big, it shows they have had long run of success. It's years of hardwork from the owner down to the least of the staff members because their efforts and contribution is what propelled the forum.

 

[Cedric]

You really don't get a better community by being a professional tight up the ass administrator. You need to be laid back, engaging and a fun person to talk about. Build relationships with your members, don't act distantly from them.

 

[Shortie]

I would say that I am laid back and also engaging myself. I do get strict if I need to be when it comes to troublesome members and also when it comes to things like spam or things being posted on the forum that are no-go but other than that, I am pretty chill and like to have fun and people prefer it that way.

 

[Grant]

The level and nature of activities that's going on in your forum or one which you're an administrator on will determine how you would dispose yourself with your work. Just like you said, if it's always peaceful, calm and collected, there's no need to be fully involved in everything.

Some forums don't need a lot of moderation. Especially the forums that have repeat users who come back daily. They usually behave as they know the rules and all that. So I think tenure at a forum helps too. But then there are the forums that have a ton of activity and you're going to see users breaking rules left and right, most of the time by new users.

You really don't get a better community by being a professional tight up the ass administrator. You need to be laid back, engaging and a fun person to talk about. Build relationships with your members, don't act distantly from them.

Exactly. Each forum I went to where the moderation team was awful didn't end up lasting, either they quit being mods, or the site kicks them out of the position. When we encountered mods like that, we'd sometimes make their lives hard by arguing with them, making a fuss about how they were doing their work etc. Back in those days I didn't care, I went along with the crowd. Which resulted in countless topics with constant arguments between the mod team and users. Some forums can get real bad.

 

[Heatman]

Some forums don't need a lot of moderation. Especially the forums that have repeat users who come back daily. They usually behave as they know the rules and all that. So I think tenure at a forum helps too. But then there are the forums that have a ton of activity and you're going to see users breaking rules left and right, most of the time by new users.

This is actually the reason why some foreign owners are very selective when it comes to letting members join their community. It is the reason why they have to manually approve any account who registers on their platform to make sure that whoever that joints is someone who can be able to stick by the forum rules and regulation.

 

[saoussen57651]

My communities are small. So far, I have owned only one community with more than 1000 users (I sold this community, and I no longer own it). My current communities have less than 100 members and only a handful of members are active. Even though I try to be more hands-on my activities are not paying so I have ended up being a laid back admin. I have not visited one of my forums for over a week.

You could have 10,000 users however most of them especially just do one registration and inactive needs manual activation or either do less than 5 posts or just one reply means in reality there is 50 or 70 active members.

 

[linux.poet]

It depends on the type of forum, and also the level of activity. When the forum first started, I would be hands-on, seeding topics, welcoming new members, etc. As the forum grows, I would step back further and further, hiring more people I trusted to be admins and mods and letting the place take on a life of its own.

If the forum has a purpose to it, however, it’s about a certain project, I would be more involved to make sure the forum stays on track in hiring and operations. A general topical forum I would just let wander where the users want it to go and stay out of the way.

 

[Frank]

The approach that I adopt depends on a lot of factors.

1. Is the activity on the forum high or a bit slow? This is the major part that will make me decide on how to approach my activities on a forum that I own as I wouldn't want some members mess things up for me.

2. Do my forum experience spamming and attacks? There are occasional attacks on forums and watching it from afar instead of being active can be a wrong decision to make. So, I get involved always.