Forum Member and Staff Interaction

[Joshua Farrell]

When it comes to how your staff interact with members, are you strict, or do you not have that many rules? Such as members and staff talking in a thread and joking around having fun (nothing inappropriate of course).

I generally love to have fun in most threads that I deem to not be too serious; though there are times I feel like having fun in certain threads shouldn't be tolerated, like discussing major changes that affects the forum userbase.

 

[PGen98]

It depends on the forum, really. Most of the communities I'm involved in are informal, so there's no need to be officious or super strict. I don't think there needs to be that separation between staff and members in a community like that. Yes, there are times when that distinction needs to be made and discipline needs to be doled out, or situations need to be calmed down, but I think it's important for staff to be relaxed and informal. It's more encouraging for members to interact if they don't feel like they're at risk of being punished for this, that and the next just because they get a little joke in here or there. Professionalism is nice, but you can mix professionalism with fun.

There are other forums, though, where a professional attitude is necessary. Those tend to be forums related to companies, products, and so forth, so it's expected, but when it's your forum, even if it's a forum that generates income and serves as your livelihood, there's room there for leniency and levity.

 

[Katrina]

On Christianity Haven we expect our staff to follow the rules but they don't have to be stick in the muds 😀 As long as they don't flame anyone and are not disrespectful they can joke around with members in threads but if they get off onto too many tangents it destroys that conversation.

 

[Smokey]

As of right now, the only staff Revillution has are myself & @Shortie861 , we tend to be friendly and engaging with our members while still remaining professional. 🙂 it seems to work out pretty well.

 

[Deleted member 49125]

I'm the only Staff on mine lol But I can still answer. Staff are members too & should follow the same rules, no exemptions, no special favors. They should feel comfortable & joke around, have fun, encourage discussions. I do agree on having the conversation stay on topic. If it goes off, I would prefer the poster create a new one & start it from there.

 

[HolisticStorm]

I always appreciated staff members who were able to have fun and take a joke. Obviously, they should follow the rules just as any decent member would, but I think it's odd when staff members on an Internet forum are overly professional (unless, of course, it's a more business-oriented forum).

 

[Carlos X]

I have rules on my site(s), and I absolutely try to follow the letter of my own rules, but I deal with problems on a case by case basis. Sometimes I ban people after 1 warning, sometimes I just ban the account (spam and stupid people), and in general I have a strict 3 strike rule as a characteristic. My characteristic is my tolerance is high, or low depending on the situation. If you're stupid enough to test my patience - its a ban. I don't want to deal with it.

However, I'm not bad, and I agree with the following comment..

I always appreciated staff members who were able to have fun and take a joke. Obviously, they should follow the rules just as any decent member would, but I think it's odd when staff members on an Internet forum are overly professional (unless, of course, it's a more business-oriented forum).

 

[Page]

It's hard to have your staff member follow rules at times, this is how I see it but I never had that problem since they are owners of their own forums 🙂 If you think or find that they did not obey the rules and or mess up then you are an admin or whatever goes to them and talk about it, if you pee them off they leave or ban them they leave then you are back to basic and can't find anyone to replace them.

End of the day for me, even if you have two to three staff members, you as the owner does all the work anyway. They just look good with there colours groups