General New user requesting staff position

[Tracy]

My site is not very busy as far as content generation goes. Most of the content is created by me.
I had a new user sign up today and send me a direct message, and in it they stated they were looking forward to being active on the site and wanted to know if they could be an administrator or a moderator.

My curiosity question is... have you had users like this?
To me, it's an immediate red flag. No history of where they have been staff before, no content created by them, just simply a request to be placed in a position of authority.

I was very polite and responded that due to lack of traffic, we were not currently looking to increase our staff.

 

[Shawn Gossman]

I had this the other day on AAF.

A person joined, didn't post, and sent me a PM asking if we're hiring.

I said not right now. I was nice about it.

Their next reply was, "Delete my account, please."

I'm going to admit this: I felt like my time was wasted. It kind of got on my nerves, so I banned them from the forum instead and left a ban message saying that I did it because they trolled the forum.

They tried to join with another account. XF's system caught it. I then IP banned after that.

It really takes a lot most of the time to get me to ban someone, but this time, I felt it was pretty justified.

 

[cpvr]

I had this the other day on AAF.

A person joined, didn't post, and sent me a PM asking if we're hiring.

I said not right now. I was nice about it.

Their next reply was, "Delete my account, please."

I'm going to admit this: I felt like my time was wasted. It kind of got on my nerves, so I banned them from the forum instead and left a ban message saying that I did it because they trolled the forum.

They tried to join with another account. XF's system caught it. I then IP banned after that.

It really takes a lot most of the time to get me to ban someone, but this time, I felt it was pretty justified.

I completely agree with your decision. It’s unreasonable to ask for a staff position without contributing anything to the forum first. That kind of behavior does seem suspicious, and it’s not the way to earn trust or a role in the community.

 

[Shawn Gossman]

I completely agree with your decision. It’s unreasonable to ask for a staff position without contributing anything to the forum first. That kind of behavior does seem suspicious, and it’s not the way to earn trust or a role in the community.

Yeah. It really got under my skin when he wanted his account deleted.

 

[Tracy]

Yeah. It really got under my skin when he wanted his account deleted.

That is definitely ban material. As I commented, that type of behavior should be an immediate red flag unless it is a user y ou may be familiar with from another site and that you trust.

 

[Ravenfreak]

Yeah I've had people do this in the past. I politely declined their offer, I make it pretty clear in my rules that if you ask to be staff then you'll never be promoted in the future even if you fill out an application.

 

[joelr]

they stated they were looking forward to being active on the site and wanted to know if they could be an administrator or a moderator.

Wait, that's really positive! There's a big difference to me between a user who states that look forward to being an active member and earning their way and a user who asks to be staff right away.

I would have thanked the user for this interest and provided guidance on next steps, such as letting them know you would love to see their level of expertise or friendliness or technical knowledge in the community.

 

[Tracy]

Wait, that's really positive! There's a big difference to me between a user who states that look forward to being an active member and earning their way and a user who asks to be staff right away.

Pretty much what I did. I told them that those were positions that were granted based upon a persons knowledge level and their interaction activity on the site. I also told them that our site content generation was low enough that currently it did not require any additional staff.
But it's questionable on that level as one of the required sign-up questions pertains to your capture telescopes/lenses. And that area was left blank, which for someone who claims 5 years experience is not usual. Generally after 5 or more years in this niche you have at least 2 telescopes and a DSLR/lens combination or two.

 

[joelr]

You should ask why they left that field blank!

 

[Tracy]

You should ask why they left that field blank!

It's even worse than that.... I clearly state that if you currently have none, to put None in that field.

And after checking, they could not even trouble themselves to select what level they considered themselves in the niche, which is a simple drop down choice list.

So all in all, several warning signs.

It is one of the reasons I leave that last one as a not-required... you can skip over it, and most in this niche have no issues with giving where they would class their knowledge level.

 

[Nomad]

This has not happened to me yet, I have not even received requests for staff position even from active members. However, if a new user asks me for a staff position, I would ask for his activities on other forums, his experience as a staff on other forums. He is a well known user on other forums and have some experience, I wouldn't mind having him as a staff, especially as a moderator or community team. But I would decline anyone who does not have a history in forums.

 

[AWS]

I had this happen to me. An admin of another site signed up and sent me a PM asking if I could use staff. I was leary. Something did tell me this guy might be genuine. I knew the site he was coming from. I made him admin. Next thing I know almost all the active users on his ild forum came to mine.

It turned out we became good friends until he passed away. When he did I turned the site over to his son.

 

[Rey619]

i think it depends. like for example i hired new members as staff brought over directly from FP and they only were given that based on their reputation there.

 

[Paul]

This happened a few months ago while I was absent, but they messaged another admin too, they were told "not now" or something, they haven't even returned since that day to read the reply. Not sure if they were expecting a reply within minutes or not. We should all name and shame, be funny if it's the same person everywhere

 

[Baw$e]

It depends if they've got previous experience. Shortly after I launched my forum I took on a new member that reached out to me as a moderator, and it's been a excellent decision. They've become one of the most active members in my community.

 

[Tracy]

It depends if they've got previous experience.

That was the thing with this person. They came in cold with no documentation on where they may have been either an admin or moderator. They simply were asking to be made one. 😱