Do you hire/pay staff?
- Thread starter Mike G
- Start date
No, I don't pay my staff. I think that if the work is voluntary then they are more likely to do a good job, where as if you are paid then you might just be doing it for the money and don't really care how well you do.
Shiny Star
Addicted
Usually not seeing as they shouldn't be paid to do a job, they should enjoy it and not have to do it as a 'job' type thing. The odd time I have paid them, needing advanced skills.
musicmanmg
New Arrival
How best do you advertise to get forum staff. Do you advertise, or is it best practice to approach the people you want via PM?
I would never hire staff members to run my forum. If it was a writing blog, that's a different story. But if your talking about a forum, then no, defiantly not. Also I see many people here on FP posting topics asking for staff. Personally that is not the way to go. Staff on your site should be dedicated members, and almost every active forum has those type of people. If you don't have those people yet, then you DON'T need staff. Sorry to say.
/Democrat
/Democrat
Darth, there's probably a print shop in your area somewhere and then there's also tons of t-shirt maker sites too. 😛
I've never paid staff and although I thought about it at one point, I returned to the conclusion most people here have stated. Staff should be staff because they want to be and enjoy the forum, not for money reasons.
I've never paid staff and although I thought about it at one point, I returned to the conclusion most people here have stated. Staff should be staff because they want to be and enjoy the forum, not for money reasons.
Singkol Promo
New Arrival
In my opinion managing a forum is the same as managing a blog. As you begin to expand, there may be a need to hire more staff and admins. It's always something that people with small blogs or forums ask themselves. Hiring people is usually not necessary, but it may take more manpower to create enough content to compete with the larger sites.
If you can get volunteers and pay them with swag I believe you are on the right track. Perhaps as your site begins to gain revenue you can afford to pay some people to produce quality content. Managing a forum or blog simply takes time to build up.
Good luck!
If you can get volunteers and pay them with swag I believe you are on the right track. Perhaps as your site begins to gain revenue you can afford to pay some people to produce quality content. Managing a forum or blog simply takes time to build up.
Good luck!
Poopy Head
Seasoned Veteran
I don't pay mine. As long as they do their job and are happy about it, I usually just let them do what they're supposed to do.
I wouldn't pay for staff even if I had the money. I mean most times money enters the picture people tend to get greedy and don't do a very good job since they're only looking for the end result. (They want to get in, do the bare minimum and get out.) And we see this with paid posting services (even the ones you use forum cash for).
Besides, I wouldn't trust someone who was only in it for the money. If they suddenly decide they aren't getting paid enough so they decide to quit or go work for the competition, they can really mess your site up if they're feeling vindictive/mean. And it's not like you really have any recourse either. You can't get your money back and you have to clean up any damage they do on your own.
Though for hiring off-site people. I'm not entirely opposed to the idea, but I am extremely skeptical. I think that there is a slim chance you can get a really good staff from it... but more often than not nothing really good comes from hiring off site. At best the off-site simply leaves quietly and after a month of inactivity you demote them. At worst they kick up a fuss and you have to demote them in a hurry and clean up whatever mess they made. (Whether it's restoring topics to their proper spots, apologizing to the community in general or specific members, etc...)
So if I were hiring off-site, I'd be a lot stricter than hiring from on-site. Like I wouldn't hire someone who only joined FP a few days ago and who's only post was to reply to my seeking position request. Pretty much anyone who has under 100-150 posts and is a member less than 3 months I very likely wouldn't even consider.
My reasoning is that I know nothing about them, nor does anyone else so it's not like someone else could pipe up and say: "Hey, I hired you 2 months ago and you vanished on me... " or whatever the case may be. And I also don't know what kind of loyalty they have... Will they vanish from FP after 3 days? if so, I believe the probability they'd do that to me is even higher. Plus I have no way to look at their responses here and see what kind of staff they'd plausibly be like. I mean if they are rude or arrogant here then I wouldn't want them on staff... That would be a recipe for disaster.
Though supposing I did hire someone (on-site or off-site, doesn't matter), I still wouldn't likely pay them. Even sending them stuff might be out of the question (depending on costs). I wouldn't exactly want them to think that I'm always going to be sending them things and that's how I'm paying them. I don't want the idea of payment anywhere near being staff.
Besides, I wouldn't trust someone who was only in it for the money. If they suddenly decide they aren't getting paid enough so they decide to quit or go work for the competition, they can really mess your site up if they're feeling vindictive/mean. And it's not like you really have any recourse either. You can't get your money back and you have to clean up any damage they do on your own.
Though for hiring off-site people. I'm not entirely opposed to the idea, but I am extremely skeptical. I think that there is a slim chance you can get a really good staff from it... but more often than not nothing really good comes from hiring off site. At best the off-site simply leaves quietly and after a month of inactivity you demote them. At worst they kick up a fuss and you have to demote them in a hurry and clean up whatever mess they made. (Whether it's restoring topics to their proper spots, apologizing to the community in general or specific members, etc...)
So if I were hiring off-site, I'd be a lot stricter than hiring from on-site. Like I wouldn't hire someone who only joined FP a few days ago and who's only post was to reply to my seeking position request. Pretty much anyone who has under 100-150 posts and is a member less than 3 months I very likely wouldn't even consider.
My reasoning is that I know nothing about them, nor does anyone else so it's not like someone else could pipe up and say: "Hey, I hired you 2 months ago and you vanished on me... " or whatever the case may be. And I also don't know what kind of loyalty they have... Will they vanish from FP after 3 days? if so, I believe the probability they'd do that to me is even higher. Plus I have no way to look at their responses here and see what kind of staff they'd plausibly be like. I mean if they are rude or arrogant here then I wouldn't want them on staff... That would be a recipe for disaster.
Though supposing I did hire someone (on-site or off-site, doesn't matter), I still wouldn't likely pay them. Even sending them stuff might be out of the question (depending on costs). I wouldn't exactly want them to think that I'm always going to be sending them things and that's how I'm paying them. I don't want the idea of payment anywhere near being staff.
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