Forum Admin Team

[~Legend~]

This idea is something that has been discussed/considered more than once before, but unsure to what extent and if there were any solid results in the end.

Instead of pitching this to an Administration audience, thought it might be better placed here for now.

The main Argonath RPG Forums (here) has a somewhat sketchy system of Forum Moderators/Administrators right now, and for the most part the current team that is assigned to the boards have moved away from their original purpose and/or have become inactive, not so necessary.

Perhaps the establishment of an official Forum Admin Team would be beneficial - based on how much it is required (this would be something Division/Community Leaders and the Owners would probably have to look into).

There would be greater scope for certain parts of the forums too, such as "real world" sections, which are often in heated debate - sometimes triggered by a lack of moderation etc.

A Forum Admin Team may be able to help resolve issues and generally aid in the running of these forums on a regular basis, than it having to fall to the hands of Managers and +.

[Ted]

What do you mean by "Moved away for their original purpose"?

[~Legend~]

What do you mean by "Moved away for their original purpose"?

As far as I know, for the most part we don't have a dedicated localised team of forum mods/admins.
Originally I am assuming they would have been set up for that very purpose?

These forums have grown a lot as well.

[Ted]

So basically setting up the team to moderate the whole forum as opposed to just specific sections?

[~Legend~]

Well, the team could be given certain sections to focus on, but an official Forum Admin Team may be a efficient on the whole.

I am thinking of more of a rejuvenated team to the one we have now (not that any of the members are incapable, but it was something set up a long time ago, and has been untouched since).

[SugarD]

Love this idea. Personally I see it as a much better solution to the current situation with moderation problems throughout the forums. Theoretically if a rank were granted for such a thing, it could effectively remove the need for many of the "Board Moderators" over specific sections too, seeing how those get so easily outdated with time. I've seen many people say that the current moderation system is fine, but this is just not true at all. Don't get me wrong, those who try do wonderful jobs, but there just aren't enough people around to handle these problems around the clock, and many reports are commonly ignored or forgotten, leaving arguments and trolling to continue unnecessarily. Granting those capable the power to cover all applicable boards could definitely lead to the slow-down of complaints and issues we see daily on the forums that drive users away.

[Gandalf]

We receive currently less than 5 reports on forum daily, and most of the time the report is handled before I look in to it.  So either the forum team is more active than you think, or people do not bother to report.

[SugarD]

We receive currently less than 5 reports on forum daily, and most of the time the report is handled before I look in to it.  So either the forum team is more active than you think, or people do not bother to report.

I usually make more than that in a day! D:

[ElMartu]

I have recently gained access to the report system.

Almost all the reports I read are invalid.

[~Legend~]

I don't think a lot of people are keen on the report system right now, as they're not too sure where their message would go.

I know quite a few people just try and get on MSN to someone that they know will be able to deal with it, or simply ignore it.
There are often a number of topics daily that may run off topic, and you do find a couple of requests asking for a lock/alteration to a post or whatever else.


A number of people have brought this idea up before (especially during when there have been ideas for new board creations etc.), and similarly to what Sugar said, thought it might be worthwhile to put things in one place.

[JayL]

For me the moderator work is generally more maintenance than prevention, that is, more sticky/unsticky, lock/unlock etc than answering reports.

I think servers' Management teams can already handle the current load, but we could do it like before and allow admins to apply for forum moderator position.

[JDC]

If you would get a forum admin team, then put them in Politics and Religion.

[SugarD]

If you would get a forum admin team, then put them in Politics and Religion.

That board would need it's own dedicated admin team.

[Morphine]

There's a group on forums running SMF called "Global Moderators" which basically is what Legend wrote about. Their standard rights are a bit higher than expected but those can always be reconfigured.

[SugarD]

There's a group on forums running SMF called "Global Moderators" which basically is what Legend wrote about. Their standard rights are a bit higher than expected but those can always be reconfigured.

As the username says, they essentially have moderation rights across the entire forum. Some things on it can be tweaked, but it might be better to make a rank especially for the task at hand so specific permissions can be set that otherwise can't be with the Global Moderator rank.