Taking a break from your forum

So, let's say you're very busy and decide to take a break from your forum for a while. What are some things you would do before going on break? Would you post a lot of threads and alert your staff members? Would you run a contest while you're away? Let's discuss taking a break from our forum.

 

I usually just hang back but still check in every day. Actually I've been on 'hang back' status for a while on the DJ board. Just too much drama lately, urgh.

If I'm actually going to be AFK because I'm traveling or something I let the staff know in the mods forum. One of my co-admins has access to the host's ticket system if need be. About they only the he cannot do is an emergency security patch just because he doesn't have the knowledge but I'm more than sure my host would overwrite a few files for me.

 

What is the drama about? What's going on?

 

I normally let my staff know I am going, I will give them my contact numbers or fb to get a hold of me, but usually I log in once a day to check things. I would create a few threads that can keep themselves hopefully going, being a university forum I would start a topic like how much debt are you in and how do you plan to take care of paying it off?

 

Namely 3 or 4 people going around trolling and baiting each other. It's ridiculous. Any thread one starts the other comes in and says some negative or takes a jab at the OP and vice versa. Keep in mind that these are 40 and 50 year old men -- I just don't get it.

I banned one troll yesterday. We'll see if that stems the tide of BS a bit.

 

Sounds like they're bored and trying to wreck havoc. Have you warned them?

 

One is just back off a 7 day ban not to long ago. The minute I PM one they push it off on the other, etc. Monday I'm going to draft a PM to all 4 and tell 'em to cut their chit or they can go play elsewhere. It's a shame because 2 of them are otherwise good members and all around decent guys.

 

Ya, that's ridiculous. I would have done the same. It's obvious that they're acting up for a reason because they think they can do that. Slap the authority on them and I bet they'll stop that shit.

 

I never really take a break 100%. I carry either a Laptop, a Tablet, or a Windows phone with me everywhere I go so I can check in and stay up to date with what's going on. However, if I was to take a break and turn off all my devices for some unforeseen reason, I would follow the below formula just for peace of mind.

• Elect a super mod / member services representative to stand in for me in my absence.
• Post a leave of absence thread in the staff area explaining the leave and announcing the staff member to report to in my absence.
• I would do a one on one with the chosen staff member and pass them a typed up daily routine schedule to follow.
• (If applicable) I would create time sensitive posts for the the elected staff member to copy / paste and post live on the specified dates.
• I would then make sure all matters are resolved, all pm's are answered, and all emails are responded to prior to the leave.
• Naturally I would keep at least one device on (Windows Phone) and make sure the elected staff member has the number with instructions to text me if any matters arise they need urgent assistance on (Emergencies).
• Lastly, I would try to fight my addiction and craving as a workaholic to not login unless notified (I think this is the hardest part for me).

That about sums it up. I don't foresee myself ever being able to stay away very long though. lol

Eric Lyon

 

On Latin D I have gone AWOL multiple times, for months at a a time. Not something I am proud of necessarily.

Only the last time I did it properly. I told my moderators what the reason was and that the absence would be indefinite and gave two of them admin rights so that they would not be left stranded.

I am incredibly lucky with my team.

 

How were the forums doing without you?

 

The founder disappearing brings out every weakness in the forum, that s/he has been balancing out until then.

I've never had (semi-)dedicated staff for thread/content creation and, boy, did that show. Something I am trying to rectify now.

Once I came back to a change in the forum atmosphere that required a noticeable amount of effort to alleviate. I ended up getting a great moderator out of that story

 

I have had no choice but to take a break from my forum lately, because of work and I need the money. I just try to make sure I continue to have postloop points. I'll never completely take a break from my forum, I'll always check in when I can.

 

Oh I definitely wouldn't run a contest while I was away. That's something I would want to be around for, monitoring it and answering questions, etc. I do alert staff, though.

Depending on the length of the break, I may alert the entire board, but I always make it clear that I'll still be stopping by (even if I'm not going to be able to), so people don't think they can just go crazy and have nothing done about it.

 

Why not? Your staff members can handle the community while you're running the contest, and it would be nice to see how your community reacts to it while you're on a break.

 

I guess I'm more hands-on with contests than that. I like to encourage and motivate people. Remind them it's going on, give suggestions of how to get ahead, prod a little at the competition, etc, etc. I also usually use that time to promote/market more, because it makes the community look even more active and entices people to join.

Yes, my staff could take care of the community, no problem, but I don't expect them to go above and beyond like that for the contest itself.

 

That's how I am as well. I motivate my users to strive to post more and be more helpful. It really helps, and helps drive in more members. I know the more friendly a community is, the more people that are willing to join and participate.

 

I'd try to let people know I'll be away and encourage the mods to be more active. And of course, I try to create many threads before I leave.