Some of you may have noticed that as your forum grows, it becomes far more complicated to manage the delicate interpersonal relationships that form among members and even among groups of members - especially in relation to the forum management. The extent of the problems certainly relates to the type of people that are interested in your subject matter (I can’t imagine managing and ‘adult’ type site! Yikes!), but if it’s your site and it’s any kind of issue, then it’s a big deal to you.
We have a very active Off Topic section. It had been more active previously, but we didn’t properly manage the tight groups that formed there, and when things go out of hand, one group left entirely. We are better off now, but it illustrates how serious members take issues that develop in their relationship with the forum management. For a long time, there has been a sentiment that our Moderators have problems with ‘power tripping.’ Often, this comes about because not everyone is familiar with all the details of every situation, but that explanation doesn’t always diffuse problems in a forum setting. Generally, this is a simple problem of communication. In an effort to address these issues, we decided to try something that we hadn’t done before, but we had seen in a similar format on other sites.
We have created a new usergroup at NotebookForums.com - Trusted Members. As written by my Director:
TM’s will be responsible for communicating more directly with us staffers from what is really going on around the site from the member level. They are much more in tune with what is going on than many of us staffers will ever be given how much time we spend on the backend of operations and we hope to harness that influence to better communicate many of the initiatives we are working on going forward.
They will also be our first line of defense against many of the darker elements that can show themselves from time to time to do nothing but cause trouble.
TM’s cannot edit posts or ban anyone so there can never be the accusations of ‘Power Tripping’, yet they have a direct line to any of the mods and admins of the forum and will be listened to very closely as they unfold their assessment of the goings on around the site and what actions they feel are justified.
You can read more of the thread here as well as member reactions.
We nominated 5 core TMs from across the entire forum and tasked them with coming up with 5 more. We, the Admin and Moderators, are not interfering at all with this process. They have a private forum where they can discuss issues, complain, alert us to problems, etc. They all have our direct contact info in case of emergency. They can also move posts to other sections so they can help keep the board organized, but they have no other moderation abilities.
It’s been a few days since the program started and so far the response has been really great! Member responses have been a mix of, “It’s about time!” to “Great, we have Rent-a-Cops now…” So far, their private forum has been buzzing with posts about ideas for the site, the best way to nominate new TMs, and how best to define their role. They have been very enthusiastic and are eager to help improve the site.
One other nice thing is that this TM group is ripe for picking new Mods.
I know that not every forum is in a place where this type of usergroup is needed, but keep in mind that forums thrive on volunteer staff. Forums are generally crawling with people eager to help out in any way they can, but not everyone has the time it takes to be a moderator. We all need to take a step back at times to make sure we are making the most effective usage of our volunteer resources. It’s one of the great parts of being a forum Admin! How many static sites have visitors ready and willing to help on a daily basis?
But above all, make sure to thank and respect all of your staff. It’s so amazing to see so many people come together for one cause - a cause that you have spent countless hours creating. Without our members, we would be nothing.
great blog post! it’s a very interesting method to try and it sounds like it will work out for you.
Nice article Laura. Sounds a lot like the system we have at Sitepoint, but we call them ‘Mentors’ over there. I think something like this is a very good solution for many larger forums.
I think this method would work great for larger forums, I think for smaller forums maybe some sort of post count-based Gold Member group would be more beneficial.
Great idea!
A new way to form more of a community
I’ve thought about doing something similar in the past but always talked myself out of it. If the staff needs more help then add another mod.
@Michael:
Be careful of too many cooks in the kitchen… Give too many people Mod powers and you can end up with a mess - no matter how well-oiled the machine.
@Peter:
Yes, I thinks it’s very similar. I like the term “Mentor.” We have struggled a little with the term “Trusted Member” because of the *possible* leap that other members aren’t trusted, but the members have received it well. I always believe in not reinventing the wheel, and this is just another example of that.
I will report back with progress. So far, the first 5 members have elected 5 more to complete the founding TMs. It’s great to see such enthusiasm!
I will report back once I have some results.
Laura,
Don’t get me wrong I see your point, however I just don’t see the benefit of it and this is something I’ve considered doing myself in the past as well.
My forum has nearly 7,000 members with a total of 9 staff members including myself. I personally don’t see that as to many “cooks”.
For my I don’t see the benefit of having another usergroup that doesn’t have any power to do anything other then really just reporting the post/thread in question. Which all members have access to already.
On my site we have a “supporting membership” group which is for members who have donated to the site, I’ve found these tend to be the most loyal members and more times then not the members that care the most about the site. If there’s a problem they nor many others on the site have no issues using the Report Post function of PM’ing one of the staff members.
I hope you follow up on this posting in a few weeks or so as I’d still be interested in hearing how it’s working out for you. I’ve noticed your site has many thousands of members than I do so this may benefit you as a larger forum then someone small like myself.
@Michael:
You touch on what I was saying - this doesn’t become necessary until you hit a certain level, but it could certainly work on a smaller board too.
Put it this way: When you have thousands of posts made per day, it’s simply impossible to cover every section at all hours of the day to make sure they things are running smoothly. Likewise, deploying an absurd amount of mods is also a bad idea. (Trust me, 9 is not absurd at all!) That’s where this group comes in.
I will definitely report back. As of right now, they are voting on changing the name to avoid the word, “Trusted.” So far so good, though.
What’s your forum, Michael?
Laura,
Go avoid the word “Trusted” in the name, how about Liaison? Maybe “Forum Liaison” or something of that nature.
My lil forum is over at http://www.rcnitrotalk.com