How do you deal with being "Administrator"
 

Warning: Ranting below

My name is MrEyes and I have been an forum Administrator for almost a year. My addiction has been something of a roller coaster ride of incredibly high highs and depressing low lows.

Since starting my site in December last year it has grown far beyond any of my expectations, right now there are over 2000 active members (just under a quarter of which log-on everyday), 25k threads and almost half a million posts. The site is more than just a forum, there is an arcade, a reviews section, a free classifieds area and much more.

When I started the site I made a concious decision to be open, honest and verbose in my management of the site, changes are discussed and dissected by all members who choose to participate. I naively believed that this would create an atmosphere of "belonging". In reality this has created a community of whingers and conspiracy theorists. It sounds almost ridiculous but in the last year more threads have been created in the "Admin can I ask you something" & "Post Reports" areas than have been created in the primary site forum.

Over the last year I have been frustrated many times, as an example earlier this year is was necessary to add paid subscriptions to the site. Subscribers get additional benefits and the money they provide helps to pay for hosting costs etc. Without this the site would have died 6 months ago as I simply cannot justify or afford to pay for the site out of my own pocket. This created countless threads questioning my motives and accusing me of profiteering, no matter how many times I explain the reasons some just will not listen.

I am also sick of constant questioning relating to moderation, no matter what is done somebody will have a problem with it, either there is too little or too much, too harsh not harsh enough, should be given a second, third, forth chance, should be banned.

The straw that has broken the camels back occurred this weekend, a lot of members have asked about merchandise (i.e. t-shirts, stickers etc). The problem is that the original logo simply wouldn't work for this purpose so it was redesigned and launched this weekend. This has resulted in yet more criticism and more accusation of profiteering, even though this is only being done because members have asked for it the conspiracy theorists still believe that this is only happening so that I can somehow line my pockets.

I have reached a point where I am weary of the constant accusations of profiteering, criticism and above all the hypocrisy (the whingers whinge about how I am destroying the site yet they continue to visit and participate). These whingers are a minority however they are exceptionally vocal and I have noticed that recently they have started to influence people who would otherwise be "on my side".

Last night I was seconds away from pulling the plug but I was stopped by friends and the fact that people have paid for subscriptions. However I am seriously considering killing the subs system and when the last one runs out pulling the plug.

Some people have said that I shouldn't take this sort of stuff personally, after all it's only the "internet". The thing is it isn't just the "internet" running the site is almost a full time (unpaid) job so I invest a lot of my personal time. Time that I am starting to believe could be better spent elsewhere on something much more rewarding.

So how do you deal with it, how do you handle this sort of thing, what do you do to prevent your members from sending you to an early grave?

I don't think they allow questioning of staff decisions on here. Why not do the same or ignore those questions or move them to a seperate forum?

Begrudgers care more about annoying you than justice or any thing like that. Tell them to f*ck off if they don't like it.

Use the miserable users mod.

the key is maintaining control, forum democracies don't last long

Allow your members limited democracy for small matters

yet maintain the controls of the forum to yourself alone

Well, thanks for sharing...

My advise is that you take it very personally, second rely in others admins/mods, third is a business [I think u didn't mention the topic of your forum or URL to see why ppl are causing problems] and fourth, it seems that you weren't prepared for any kind of success...

Show me the URL and I will make you an offer based on the topic ;) so u can live on peace...

your the admin so stand up and tell them who is in charge.If u back down then u gonna have to do it all the time.
If u want paid subscriptions to cover server costs then that is well within your right and if they not happy with it then they can either leave or not bother upgrading their account.
I would`nt reply to every whinging post either - reply to some and let the rest go or point them to the one where u have already replied.
Remember u are the admin and the one in charge - you dont need to act like God but let them know who is in charge and that any decision you make is in the best interest of the board.

If your members don't understand that a forum cannot be run "cost free" from the owner's perspective then they are out of their minds. No-one should care if your making any money at all. If the board is up, it's running fast, and thus giving them a place to hang out then who cares. My members know that if there is any profit then it goes back into making give-away items and promotional stuff to make the board even better. I've got eleven sponsors and just get by, I'd pay for the board myself if I had to since I'm doing it for the industry and to make it better. I personally am passionate about what I'm doing but am very happy to have all my costs covered. The members also know that I put in allot of time and effort, day in, day out, so their board is running smoothly and the environment is kept appropriate.

Sounds like a bunch of crazy members

WOW it seems like your forum is a great place. I wish you well on handling your issues. Here is mine. I am going crazy and I do not know how to handle this.....

1st my website is www.argentinahotlist.com and www.virginiahotlist.com

I know I have some little things to fix on both and they are both a work in progress... But out of nowhere last month I started getting so many new members that are only signing up tp post porn things and such.... I had to change both sites to moderate all new members before they can post. Also When signing up I make them do the catcha word scrable thing... Does anyone know how to stop these type of bad members from joining???? Maybe I should shut down both sites for like 1 month and then turn them back on then?? I do not know. All I know is I want it to stop. Today I got home and my sites were a complete mess. it took me like a hour to straighten them out. any ideas?????

I've read your post, Mr Eyes, and my main problem is that I'm trying to work out why you're running a forum.

If it brings in money and you can tolerate it, then it's a job.
If it costs money and you enjoy it, it's a hobby.
If it brings in money and you enjoy it, you're very fortunate.

I'm sure there are many alternatives and addenda for those three concepts, but that's the set I use. I'm firmly in the second category, since I know that treating it as a business to generate revenue would sour the experience for me. Where are you? Where do you want to be?

The second problem I have is working out who is in control. I've had a few people stamp their feet and threaten to throw their rattle out of the pram, and I've shrugged at them. I've received genuine suggestions from interested members and discussed them with the moderating staff and maybe a few members, and sometimes the decisions get acted upon if they're good. I don't know your forum and the dynamics, and as a species we tend to remember the best and the worst events, so I'm open to the suggestion that you're venting about something recent. However, what I read between the lines is that you're not controlling the community. Culture shift takes time, if you want to implement such, but as the board owner the buck stops with you. Always remember that - you have the final responsibility, so you make the final decisions.

The third problem is that you seem to be embarassed by the concept of making money. This links in closely with my first point, but what the Hades is the problem if you do make a little cash? I run my place without any source of income other than my pay packet from my day job. That's a decision I took. I don't have a problem if another forum admin on another forum runs adverts or sells merchandise - that's their headache. My advice on this is to stamp down on the whining gits and post in the threads where they are creating havoc that you have bills to pay as well, and if they want a free forum with features X, Y, and Z, then they can run their own and see how far they get. It's work for you, and people get paid for their work. If the whiners can't accept that, then tough. They should either pay for the server costs or bugger off.

My fourth problem is your attitude to this - until now, that is. I've said it above and I'll say it again - you own it, you make the decisions. You want to rescue the forum from the whiners, or you wouldn't be asking for help. If you don't tackle the whiners, probably losing a few on the way via bans etc, then you're allowing them to make your life a misery. You don't owe them a living. Your time is best spent creating a forum where the community is one you would be proud to see, instead of pandering to worthless scum.

Rapscallion

Once the members of a community no longer have the decency to appreciate their admin is when they're asking for the site to be killed off. I can tell you're frustrated and obviously don't get joy out of running the forum and considering you're not making a living off of it (instead, the forum is making a living off you), I'd say shut her down. Trust me, you'll feel like you just dropped 30,000 screaming babies off your back and can finally stand straight.

Thanks for the replies

In reply to Rapscallion the site 99% of the time the site falls into the "If it brings in money and you enjoy it, you're very fortunate.". The money it brings in isn't anywhere near giving up day job levels, however as long as it pays for itself I am more than happy to put the work into the site and have no intention of making it a business.

The biggest problem the site has is "history" and this taints everything I do. The majority of the members of the site (including myself) were originally on another very similar site. Just over a year ago the site admin sold out to a "proper" business and everything changed (different forum software (was VB), loads of banners, spam offers etc etc) and the original community atmosphere disappeared. In addition to this in the closing year of the original site there was little to no moderation so the idiots started to rule the roost.

I then came along an offered an alternative that was similar to the pre-corporate original, so in the matter of a few days I went from 0 to 1000 members. Due to this history I decided to be absolutely open, honest and verbose about everything that was happening on the site, I went to great lengths to explain why paid subs & sponsors were needed, that I had no intention of selling out and have gone out of my way to make the moderation system as transparent as it possibly can be.

99% of members accept all this and love the site and are a joy to deal with but there is an extremely vocal minority that assume and preach about the worse case scenario. The thing is these people use my openness against me as it gives them more ammo in their "he isn't telling us the truth, revels in iron fisted moderation and will sell out at the drop of a hat" crusade. I know I could and should just ignore these people and in theory they will either leave or put up and shut up, the fact is that a year on these hypocrites are still using the site and all its features everyday and are showing no signs of moving on.

To give a crazy example, a few months ago I took the site down for 2 hours to perform some critical server maintenance. I announced this a week before the downtime and explained why it was necessary and how it would benefit the site etc etc. Now according to the conspiracy theorists no maintenance was needed but the downtime was necessary to take a snapshot of the site that I would then filter their "opinions" from and create a portfolio that I was putting together to present to potential site buyers!

When I made the first post I was ranting, I have now had a chance to sit back and decide what to do. So I intend to become a typical Admin, I will still moderate and work on the site however I am not going to explain anything more than is absolutely necessary. I also plan to simply ignore the conspiracy theorists and ban those that take it too far. I also plan to create a normal "secret" account that I can use to participate in the forum as a normal person without the baggage of the "admin".

Implement the question and answer option for registration. Use something simple- what color is wood? (brown). This has solved this problem for several of us. Catcha has been compromised and is worthless in my opinion.

I have been using this system on my site for a few months now and it works brilliantly so good in fact that I recently disabled email verification*

At registration I am currently asking: What is the 5 letter of "spammers"

* back to the conspiracy theorists, when this change to the registration process was made apparently I disabled email verification to get more new members posting quickly (which is true) but the only reason for this is that it would help line my pockets when they decided to take up a paid sub :rolleyes:

Thanks alot. I am going to try it. It will take a few days to see if it works. Thanks again. Right now i am completely burned out because of this activity so maybe if i can get this stuff to stop I will be more motivated to work harder. HAHA thanks again

it seems like you don't have a big problem then....

Drinking and smoking helps...not good for your physical health but it allows you to keep your sanity. ;)

I have to agree with Rapscallion here. When I decided to turn my forum into business (in my head), I stoped caring, and don't take stuff personally anymore. Why can't you make a profit with your forum? Ask your members that.

I banned a member on my forum 10 times in 6 years. He annoyed me to no end, but he was friends with most the rest of the forum. Your forum, unfortunately, is not a place for you to make friends, it's for others to do so. You don't control who and how your forum is going to be used, and what for, and tweaking it is never going to end.

I like forum democracies too, but you need a set of rules, and point out that you are the owner of the forum, you pay, you manage, you spend time setting it so it works, it's private property, not a public one. So letting everyone discuss is nice and all, but it's your call in the end, and if people are not happy, they need to look for another place to go, simple as that, tell them that.

Just tell them, yes I want to make a profit with the forum, I decide stuff here but you are free to discuss and suggest everything, and I'm the Administrator first and your friend second. Think objectively, not emotionally, don't it personal, and it won't get to you. The guy is being a ++++? You can call him names or let the community work it out. They are the community, so it's their damn problem. As long as everyone clicks the ads, it's all fine and dandy. And if they ask you to ban him, ban his ass out.

When playing Civilization, democracy is the most PITA form of government for the player. Let them kill each other and evolve at their own pace, just delete the spam and ban the porn posters. Try to put some sense in their heads, and they will listen even if they don't agree, because of your position, and discuss it among them. Tears will roll, and it will work itself out. Think of poking a germ culture with a stick. Don't put your finger in it.

If nothing else works, pull the plug. But as you are going to pull the plug anyway, why don't you try putting some ads in there? You don't have anything to lose but members which you were going to anyway by pulling the plug!

If you want to have a forum to make friends and be admired for your hard work, forget it. They will hate you and ask for more to be done. You will get some thank yous some times, but not as many as you would deserve. Don't depend on your forum.

All communities are different, so take my advice with two grains of salt.

(oh, and don't let your ego inflate for being an administrator... MANY MANY communities are filled with "the superior forum staff" usual suspects. being an administrator and moderator sucks, there's nothing to feel proud about.)

I just wish I new how to get lots of new members that are legitamate and will actually post

I have 200 members and 35k posts. About 30 members log in daily. I have some very good members and some not so good users. Some will turn on you in an instant if you don't give them their way. They will try and poison your forum because when they are mad they want everyone else mad at you and will do everything they can to make you feel like pulling the plug.

If you pull the plug they win. Think about the good members before making any drastic decisions like shutting down. Good members have invested their thoughts and time in the forum as you have invested your time and money.

Being open and including your users is very noble but in my opinion you are only asking for trouble in the long run. It's your forum. You are the boss and do not have to explain your decisions to anybody. The more you tell them, the more you give them to pick you apart. They don't need to know what goes on behind the curtain, so keep them in the dark because it is not their concern.

If you want to place ads or sell merchandise on your site go for it. It's nobody's business but yours. If they don't like the ads, sell them a subscription and disable ads for the ones who pay for the privilege.

If someone starts getting out of line with you but they haven't crossed the ban line, discourage them from visiting your site by installing and using the miserable user mod.

I used to have moderators and tried to run a democratic site. When problems arose with certain members I had moderators that sided with them and that made matters even more complicated. I have since dropped all mods and I am the only one that has any authority on the forum, everyone else is equal.

You have a ban control, use it on the people that wont listen to you and keep critising, whether or not they have paid for a subscription

Well I plan to be a Admin Predator instead of whining... no offense... my site is for kids and I have to take care of them... no excuse

Ditto!!! Sounds like a good problem to have in my opinion. If I could only be so unlucky. As far as the whinners, let them whine, if they don't like it send them to my forum and I'll straighten them out :D