It seems like some forums are too small to justify even one moderator. However, I've seen some small forums willing to pay for moderators. Of course, I can see an exception to the rule. Certain types of forum software are weaker at keeping out spam.
Do we need staff for small forums?
- Thread starter Jason76
- Start date
I started off just myself till then my mate joined to help to work together. so small website shouldn't have anymore then two. But the more staff, lets say three then they will invite there mates and there people to join. so getting more staff can also make the site bigger
I think every forum has different staff requirement. For a discussion forum, the ideal staff to member ration would fall in 1 per 100 active members for community moderation and 1 adminstrator per 300 active members.
Staff are pretty helpful when the owner is inactive and/or not available. The other staff can also help promote your site and suggest ideas!
Yeah I agree, the bigger the staff team = the bigger the site.
It truly depends on what type of forum it is. For example if you have a graphics forum and lots of requests then youd need moderators and graphic artists but for general discussion and a decent activity level you could likely moderate yourself.
I think when you are just starting off it is helpful to have one other staff member working with you, whether it is a co-founder, admin, moderator, etc. It is easier to create the initial discussions and divvy up tasks that way. When the forum is new there will be a lot of initial setup and projects that need to be done. Both people will likely be more motivated to continue with the forum as well with having support. I agree though, I've seen many small forums overstaffed and that could lead to solely discussions amongst staff members, thus turning away some potential members. Potential members want to see other members interaction, too.
fantanoice
Madly Diligent
Honestly depends on the forum's requirements and how much time the owner can afford to dedicate to their site.
2arjupraja
Acquaintance
Its depend upon your forum active members.
When you say small, I assume the activity is low. If so then no, you do not need any staff. Treat your forum like a company. AKA, you will only hire staff if you actually need too. So unless you need moderators to help with the content or you are too busy to moderate the forum, stick to having one staff member - you. Plus, that would make being on staff a rewarding job.
GameHandout
Acquaintance
It really all depends on the type of forum as well as your own personal opinion/structure. If you're not able to be on at specific times, or are going on a hiatus for any reason it is always good to have a staff member(s) there to replace your absence. I normally have 1 extra admin and a moderator or two. Mainly because they've been following me since my second website I've ever made back in 2009. For most people though, having 2 admins on a small forum isn't something that they have, nor need. As well as a moderator.
DO you have that problem with your staff aren't active? I mean they join post around then leave and don't see them much?
from your experience what keeps your team going?
Having to many staff can put your members/people of from joining. And for an low content website you need to have posts done by members more then the staff, the staff can start and push of the floor and get to know the members to build. For 260+ members and over 2600 posts I have two other staff members. And that's good enough
GameHandout
Acquaintance
On GameHandout I do in fact have that problem. However, that's mainly because the site's been up for around 5 years and I've let it die quite a few times in all honesty. So, I understand why they're hesitant to try and become active this time.
However, with RPGMakerMV.co I have 1 other admin outside of myself who isn't really active until I go on a hiadus which is more than okay with me and then also 3 staff who are active daily and post around 50 times a day with the 14k-15k members that we have. 2 of them volunteered and went through a huge process to get into the staff position, the third I chose. They all were top of the members, and have yet to become inactive after almost a year of being on the staff team. As for what keeps them going, I can only assume it the will to help other people out, and the fact that we're known as having the nicest staff out of any forum in our niche (as well as nicest community). Our rival forums are quite the elitists, and treat the members quite poorly which is why we got so big so fast. Granted, we've died down to only getting 200-500 members a month, but that's still better than not.
I know this doesn't answer your question too well. In all honesty, the staff will only be as active as they feel they want to. Weening down, scanning through, and finding the ones you know will be active in the long term versus short term is one of the only people I found to work. Never add someone to the staff who has been on less than a month and posts a lot. It does show they are active, but from my experience they will burn themselves out, or simply get bored after a month and stop posting or start becoming less inactive. Instead focus on the person with consistency. If he's been on for a few months, has been making a decent amount of posts every day, and is genuinely helpful. That's the person you want for a long term, and active staff member.
I haven't had much luck, First guy I hired found the site from googling and wanted to join the team and he went thought the progress that I had step-up. He made like 30 posts then just became inactive and left after 5 months as he was into an gaming server that he built and family to deal with.
I had two people join in the team that became inactive and left and it's not easy to say with an two year old dead website. had First impression they are willing to help then later down the track it has changed, I'm not complaining to my passed staff as they are very nice people and they had to leave for some other life reasons. What I find that I have to do it myself with an team just not posting.
that's very good, My site gets like less then 5 a month IF lucky that's how dead it is.
Small forums, depending on their niche, may need staff, but not necessarily need moderators/community team members. For example, if it is a promotion forum, it will probably need staff who help with services like reviews and packages. As said above, a graphics forum will probably need a graphics specialist. But mods aren't really needed when the forum is small - if you have too many mods when the forum is tiny, sometimes it can seem a little overbearing to new members and a turn off.
D
Deleted member 17779
I think it's okay to have at least 1 or 2 other staff members on your forum. I don't think having that many people would be too overbearing but it would help having that 1 or 2 extra people to help create content on the forum. Now, having 10 or more staff members on a small forum, then I agree that that can be overbearing and scare some people off.
CosmicEternity
Acquaintance
I recommend just running the site yourself at first, then maybe hiring one or two staff members as moderators, who are good, active and contributing to your site, when you hit around thirty members, unless generally your members are well-behaved and you don't need to moderate much at all. When you hit around 100 or 150 members, you'll probably need more staff.
When you first start, it's always better to have someone else around rather than being on your own because you don't have to do everything and you can rely on someone else. It also depends on the niche too, for example a promotion forum might need quite a few staff members when starting out. While a GD forum, needs 2 at the most. Then as your forum gets bigger then start to hire more people to become staff.
Who's asking anyone to justify why they have a moderator? It's always good to have an extra pair of eyes on a forum, especially when they can be online during the hours the other staff member isn't.
Agreed there. Even if it's a brand new forum, it's better to have someone else with you! I don't see why having 2 members staff on a new forum is justifiable. Having more staff early on is also a good thing because they can all make topics and start the posting.
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