Top 10 Staff Mistakes?

In your opinion, what are the "Top 10" crucial mistakes that a staff member (or members) can make during his/her/their reign as a co-administrator, super moderator, or moderator?

 

Certainty one of them would be banning or otherwise alienating members they didn't like.

 

It depends on person's point of view.
1-10 10 being ok and 1 being the worst...

10)Arguing with the staff in public- Looks awfully bad for the staff, the staff is there to avoid conflict and drama, not create it.
9)Disrespecting members- Members are to be respected, they are who we serve to. The site/forum was made by us, but we had in mind sharing with the world.
8)Not taking in consideration the possible nationalities [sometimes jokes can hurt]
7)Not bring prepared for server problems- It doesn't happen to everyone, but it MIGHT happen, so better be safe than sorry.
6)A moderator banning because they want- This is not fair, this is power abuse!
5)A moderator arguing with a user in public- This kind of conflict should not be seen by the other members, they can take it to PM, or the admin can step in and stop it.
4)Just creating the forum t get money out of it- Ultimately, you might never succeed. The community will feel abandoned or used.
3)An administrator choosing mods out of popularity contests- These mods tend to be power hungry, I've been banned by one of these ind of mods.
2)A moderator arguing with a user in public- I know, it is your forum, but be the role-model?
1)An administrator banning and censoring a targeted user because of like- I would never enter the board if something like this happened.

Those are my opinion, and I know many my vary because of past experiences and such. I have made a post before on what I thought a god mod/user should be and the kinds of mod that existed before.

 

The other side of too quick to ban ... too permissive and tolerant of trolls. The is a huge turn-off for the members, it does affect their interest in visiting the forum and posting.

 

The "Top 5" for me (in no particular order) are:

1. Letting an ego "show": This is easily one of the biggest mistakes that one can make as either an administrator or moderator. With power and responsibility comes a sense of superiority - because of this, one's true colors are bound to show. By publicly "unleashing" your ego, you are asking for trouble. You will not only aggravate the memberbase, but you will degrade yourself in the process. It's fine to have an ego (I sure as hell do), but try to contain it.
2. Making Assumptions: This is something that I see done quite often, on a near-daily basis. Let's say that a member is mouthing off and continually does so, without hesitation. Rather than personally contacting this individual in an attempt to solve the situation, the administrator decides that such a scenario is hopeless and the only real viable option is to ban the member. Why choose to ban the member when you could have easily worked it out with him/her in private?
3. Being Grammatically Incorrect: This is self-explanatory. I myself am a grammar (and spelling) freak - when I see a fellow staff member make an inordinate amount of mistakes in a post, I tend to become aggravated. We all have different writing styles, but let's try to maintain at least an ounce of grammatical correctness.
4. Behaving Immaturely: If a staff member insists on acting immaturely, they shouldn't have been promoted to such a position in the first place. Use logic. Think clearly. Be structured when it comes to your writing and/or actions taken.
5. Abusing the Power: As a staff member, you are expected to maintain a certain amount of self-control; preferably, an amount that will prevent you from making a quick, inappropriate decision. In order to earn respect, you must return the favor - abusing the power(s) given to you is most certainly not the correct way to do so.

Let's see... other things that I consider to be mistakes are:

• The banning of a member (or members) for absolutely no viable or acceptable reason.
• Using administrative powers to get what you want (or to further yourself in a not-so-respectable way).
• Accusing members of doing something that they actually didn't do.
• Closing threads just for the hell of it - or in other words, doing so without reason.
• Bashing and attacking members. You do not get to do this just because you're in a position of power.

 

deleting the database would be a big one!

Ignoring the forum and letting it languish is also bad. Peoples posts going unanswered.

Favoritism by staff towards members is another.



Sorry, I've only got 3 at the moment.

 

For grammatically incorrect, my first language isn't English but as a staff member it's expected to have very 'proper' wording. I remember I used to not type in proper caps and correct punctuation marks till one of my graphic mentor[the one who has helped me through my graphic career giving me advice] told me I should look more professional and try to learn English more. I did, took extra English courses, which did not help, I think I knew more English than the actual professors. Though I think I am doing okay, I do have some Rican moments~

 

You're doing absolutely fine. By grammatically incorrect, I am referring to this:

helo 'ow r u friend? i lik to welcom u to the forum!

 

That's just horrid... xD Though I used to do it before I was admin~ Hell before I was made mod. D: I still do some of those grammar errors that stuck with me, like wierd <.< I know it's weird... but D: I like it wierd!!

 

... but you still maintain a grammatical structure. It's fun to be quirky every now and then. I'm just a stickler when it comes to writing, so I rely on emoticons to express my emotions. :lol:

 

xD Happy California :cow::cow:

Yeah, I use what can be called 'Otaku' smileys, what ever they are... <(^_^)> <---One of them~

I rarely use it on serious posts on the site.

 

Exactly - when making a post regarding a serious matter, it's probably best to not use (or overuse) such emoticons... but when posting for the "fun of it", that's fine. It also helps to be aware of a member's posting characteristics. For example, if the majority of members are aware of the fact that so-and-so likes to use emoticons heavily, it should be fine. If a new member registers, however, and decides to compose his first post of only happy, laughing smiley faces, that could be a problem.

And if it's a staff member... oh my! :p

 

When a staff member resigns or is clearly no longer functioning as a mod, not quickly removing management permissions. If it is done as a standard policy that won't be considered rude, or as rejection. And it blocks any surprising misuse of those permissions. We think we know people ...

 

Yes, that is indeed a mistake. On Pisoga we had a major ban craze ex-mod.

 

1. adding your ip to the ban list to see what happens :o
2. giving too many people power on your forum and then one of them goes power mad and deletes things, or bans you and takes over.
3. spelling mistakes and bad grammar in forum descriptions, rules, important announcements (even i try and improve my typing!)
4. getting power mad and thinking you are god because you run a forum
5. talking about staff matters in public, about which members are a problem and should be banned
6. accedentally pressing the delete button and killing a really popular thread and not being able to get it back
7. not doing anything about spam and trolls
8. getting in an argument with a mod or other member and getting in a flame war
9. breaking your own rules yet warning and banning others for breaking them
10. being rude to members and unwelcoming to newbies

 

I know of a forum that breaks a lot of these 'rules'

I agree with the above quoted!

Ive noticed that there are the types of forum owners that think it would be a great idea, that it would be easy, and thats it, make the forum and expect everything to come running to them. Nooo you actually have to know what your doing!! You actually have to put work into it.

I recently got asked to be a moderator on a forum, and I accepted, why? Because I felt sorry for the person, she doesnt know what she was doing and I thought Id help her out.
I then realised that I was the only person posting anything of substance, so stopped. Why should I be the one building her forum?

 

1) Messing up the permissions so the staff forums can be read by anyone ; )

 

1. Hitting on members of the opposite sex - And no, I'm not joking.

 

That would be embarrassing,

I try hard to make sure that my moderators forum and private forum really are invisible to the public and only select members can see the private forum.

There is a reason why we should DOUBLE CHECK the settings.

 

Not doing the administrative or moderating work as appointed.

Arguing with forum members over rules or moderating decisions,in the open forum.

Moderating decisions are erratic and too weak in enforcing the forum guidelines.

Allowing trolls to wreak havoc in threads for a while,as if they do not know it is happening.