How do you recruit staff, moderators & community leaders

[KUB365]

Would anyone like to share some ways I can recruit staff and moderators for my web software and services community (thescripts.com)?

I've run the site for 5 months now. Though I am having a hard time building it into a community.

Is it better to get community leaders internally? or ask members of other communities? Also what are the rules of recruiting members of other communities? Is there a good way to approach such members?

Any advice would be appreciated.

[A_Jelly_Doughnut]

I'm not sure if you mean community leaders in the WHT sense or not, but I'll assume you mean active community members. My theory has always been to PM some friends you've made on other boards who you think may be interested in the topic of your new board. Networking :couch:

Then community leaders become moderators once the site outgrows just you.

[KimmiKat]

On my mboard, most of the leaders, liaisons, etc were "hired" internally. The idea for our system was borrowed from WHT since it's a proven model there.

A couple of leaders I have are like our versions of Jan and SWR. One really works his you-know-what off and does many functions. If he was on WHT, he'd be CL material.

If you know of some outside people, you would play it by ear.

[Scott]

When you're looking on other boards for staff, be careful and check you're allowed to recruit from that forum -- a lot of places don't like these topics and are closed. As mentioned above, approaching someone through PM on another board would be a better approach. :)

[Jan]

I would concentrate first on getting the community populated. You need members before you need staff to moderate them :) If you have some moderators already, get together with them and brainstorm as to how you can bring in more members.

When you have enough members to warrant possible extra moderation, then start observing current members' interaction with the community. You could start out by assigning a moderator that is more helpful in *the whatever* section of the forum and work it up from there.

Recruiting moderators from elsewhere is risky IMHO, although I know some that have approached moderators of similar forums, to consider a position on theirs. (I usually decline gracefully by saying I have enough to contend with now ;))

[Chile]

If you want to know my thoughts (and I guess you're looking for some input, whether right or wrong)

Take a good hard look at those who appear to be regular members of your forum. At two communities where I'm an admin, we promote quality regs into another group with limited mod abilities. From there, the admins for our sites simply put up a nominating topic in our staff room to share feedback with regards to prospective staff from this enhanced group.

I think, and this is not meant to imply anything, that your best course of action is to stick to what you know best about your site's topics, post inquisitive threads about the topics in your forums, let search engines do their thing, and then look for the responses from people who visit.

Although it would be great if your prospective staff already possess extensive knowledge AND plenty of moderating experience, I've found the best Moderators are usually the ones most willing to explain a detail with a pleasant manner.

[mpadc]

We Tend to Hand Pick modearators they have to have a Minimum of X amount of posts and have a reasonable rep on the board too

once we shortlist the mods decide and Vote on who to take on

then we give the final 3 candidates like a questionnaire with scnearios questions like "i.e what do you do if a person say such and such"

Then we decide from there!

[adb22791]

I put out an application request for mods, rather than ask people to be moderators. That way the ones who really care will submit long applications and actually put work into them, while the ones who just want power will submit a short app with nothing more in it than "make me a mod becuase blah". I don't require minimum posts, I would rather see activity than a giant spamming post count. I do require that the person has a reputation on the forums however, if anything they must be known and must be active (I see them online, and they do post here and there).

In the beginning I had a staff of about 5, and it was total chaos. I have since them narrowed it down to 2 Senior Staff members and 1 Junior Staff members. Between them they can uphold the rules on my game servers and forums.

[SoftWareRevue]

I put out an application request for mods . . .The thing I like about applications is that it lets me toss those that aren't followed.

Nothing is more bewildering to me than to have someone submit an application that doesn't include everything that needed to be included.

I mean; how much common sense does it take to, at least, include your user name.? :joker:

[Webdude]

You know, this is the very problem I am running into now. I just dont know how to get new mods. I dont really want existing clients because most (not all) are generally in need of enough support that they probably wouldnt be much help to another customer. I have advanced all our long time mods to higher positions with more access, but now I simply dont know how to get more mods.

I wonder.... would that be something we could put in our sigs. I mean here, wht, fws, etc. Thats the only way "I" can think of without possibly breaking rules....

[Scott]

I'm not sure putting something like that in your sig would get you high calibre applicants. Although you can certainly try.

[SoftWareRevue]

would that be something we could put in our sigs. I mean here, wht, fws, etc
Although that type of signature would be allowed here, it wouldn't be allowed somewhere like WHT where the solicitation for forum staff is prohibited.

And, like Scott eluded to, it might not be the best way to gain quality moderators.

I dont really want existing clients because most (not all) are generally in need of enough support that they probably wouldnt be much help to another customerMaybe if you started a thread that said you were looking for moderators, some would step up. And, after looking into them, you might find that they do like to help other members. :)

[Webdude]

Maybe if you started a thread that said you were looking for moderators, some would step up. And, after looking into them, you might find that they do like to help other members. :)

I wanted to, but wasnt sure if was allowed. Keep in mind SWR that most of us are used to stringint rules found at most places. If your rules are far more lenient, you should probably clarify.

If I did that, would it need to go into the advertising forum? (just for example)

[SoftWareRevue]

I was actually talking about your community. :angel:

But, if you want to advertise here, go ahead and post on the Bulletin Board (http://www.forumuniversity.com/campus/forumdisplay.php?f=8). Maybe someone's around that's interested.


/me is somehow not surprised that Webdude is the Spank the Monkey champion. :rofl:

[adb22791]

I mean; how much common sense does it take to, at least, include your user name.? :joker:

You'd be surprised :pullhair:

[Webdude]

not surprised that Webdude is the Spank the Monkey champion. :rofl:

Well, then this wont surprise you either :D

http://www.forumuniversity.com/campus/arcade.php?do=scores&gameid=283

[Doug]

Just see what members frequently help out, provide suggestions, and are of course, active. Sooner or later, it'll become clear who should become a community leader/moderator and who shouldn't. :)

[KUB365]

Thanks for all the replies. Definitely got some good insight into recruiting staff.

I do like the application idea.

[dojo]

I have good members. I study their activity and from time to time announce I need staff. Or I just PM those I really would love having in the team. For me the mods need to be the best memebers and it;s already hard since all my members are good. I have some insane ideas about posting quality, so all my members would be eligible for this. But I do get the most dedicated and active to be mods.

[sycld]

The best way to ensure you have a solid team of administrators and moderators is probably to not completely disrupt overnight and thereby completely alienate an entire forum community that has taken over 4 years to establish itself, thusly causing its collapse and all of its moderators and administrators to quit.

Just something that I learned from obersvation.

[SoftWareRevue]

Sounds like there has to be a story in there. :think:

and ....

Hi sycld! :wavey:

[sycld]

Thank you for the warm welcome, especially considering that my first post was to bump a 2 year old thread.

The original poster of this thread purchased a fairly successful and profitable forum with a large, solid community that had taken over 4 years to establish. He was chosen as the new owner both the previous owners as well as the administrators due to the laissez-faire style with which he operated his other forums. This would have suited us well, since as I said we were well-established with administrators that did their job well. We also were used to the owner not meddling directly with the daily operation of the forum too much.

Then suddenly, and without any prior warning, he changed the design of the forum from a clean presentation much like that of your forum to a tacky, early 90's retro theme which he thought would attract more users. We thought that was where it was going to end, but then quite literally overnight he implemented some rather tyrannical measures. He deleted our flames forum, which had a sub-culture all its own that was at the core of our community, and he also deleted some features that were in part paid for by the members to access and again also were core to the uniqueness of our community. To add insult to injury, he implemented a swear word filter, which made us feel as though we were being treated like children.

And just as quickly a new forum site was started elsewhere as a refuge and a rebirth of the community he tried to destroy. All the administrators and smods as well as most of the mods abandoned the old forums, and the new owner had a fit. This, as well as the reprisal by established members against the new owner and the forum that he ruined, caused the old forum's site to shut down. It is now up and running in a "closed beta" (whatever that means for an Internet forum), and its future is anyone's guess.

I know this seems surreal, and frankly it's rather hard for me to believe this whole petty, sordid drama over something as silly as an Internet forum, but I assure you it's the truth.

And that, my dear readers, is how NOT to manage a newly acquired forum.

[solecistic]

As former head administrator of LWS, I would like to make one thing clear - I never stepped down. Although I surely would have once I realized the full extent to which Niel pulvarized our community, I was removed from staff before ever waking up the day that LWS went down.

I have heard through the grapevine, as it were, that I was removed because Niel worried that I would "do something" - although even in greatest anger, I can truly say I would have never done anything to compromise LWS. The worst I would have done was leave. Instead, I found myself voided of that choice.

That out of the way, I'd like to express that I hope other forum tycoons learn from Niel's mistake. When you acquire a four year old forum, you do so for not only its potential but also for what is already there. If you want to bring to life an idea you hold dear, do so with a new forum. Each and every longtime member at LWS has been outraged that Niel took what was ours (even if not ours in equity) and instead of letting it evolve with his guidance, he chose to destroy it and attempt to rebuild.

Shame on you, Niel, for forgetting that communities are not just profit-makers. We were all happy to let you rake in the cash, make good on your investment. We were all happy to let you have your cake and eat it too. Instead of respecting what we would have let you have, you betrayed hundreds of people in one fell swoop.

That's all I have to say on the matter. This isn't as simple as a new owner buying a brick and mortar establishment and changing the menu or the color of the walls. This is an investor pouring gasoline on a well-loved building and getting angry when the inhabitants flee from inside.

[SoftWareRevue]

Ahhh ... so you guys are talking about an owner, as opposed to an administrator.

Most members here know that I work for iNET Interactive (http://www.inetinteractive.com/). We serve some very successful communities that were successful before we arrived. We work hard with the leaders (moderators and admins) of those communities to maintain the direction and scope of the forum.

Every community is unique. And owners should strive to maintain that uniqueness.

Thanks for sharing your story. It does serve as testament on how not to manage a forum.