"Interns"

[Reverie]

A long time ago I remember there was a short term era of a usergroup "Interns" these were people who were perspective staff members, and they were showing their work ethic. Typically it was they could step in to assist with service requests, help moderate and tag someone to help assist in a situation occurring. What are your thoughts of this?

I think now a days there isn't enough activity on many forums to have the need for this, but I could definitely see this being helpful on a large community with over 400 members online in a day.

 

[SDL]

It sounds like a trial but with less permissions. It would work well for big forums, it shows who is serious and who just wants the rank which will help make better staffing decisions. It won’t be much use for small communities though.

 

[Ravenfreak]

I can see this being helpful on a very large and active forum, but as for smaller communities I don't think it's really needed. This also reminds me somewhat of having sectional moderators in a way. Sure they only moderate certain parts of the board, but if they do a good job and prove they are capable of keeping up with the rest of the forum then they could get promoted to a global moderator.

 

[Debashis]

As mentioned, it works for big forums but the concept is quite good. It's like real-life internships. You become an intern at a company, work with them daily for 6 months, if you are good enough, you are hired. If not, you're given a certification and asked to leave. It's a good idea since we'll get to know if the person is fit for the role.