Things I stress about as an admin...

[Gothic 307]

Whether I come across as too passionate or enthusiastic about the site. 

[beans 19]

Design and aesthetic without actually having the talent to do anything about it so I have to depend on others until I learn! 😞

[Huskerdust 625]

I love my big casts but I still stress that I have “too many” characters. 

[NFT47 40]

Trying to run site-wide events, and hoping that the members enjoy it/can get their characters involved in it. I think trying to build excitement and energy towards site plots stresses me out the most. I want people to really be able to get into the stories and enjoy them. Even if it's setting up an environment that they can build some of their own storylines and really take off with it.

On a much smaller scale... I also worry about somehow screwing up ad codes when I am advertising. I always hit preview just to double check, but in my early days I messed that up big time a few times and still get VERY paranoid I will somehow royally mess up ads.

[ammut 42]

I stress about people forgetting that admins are people, too. We can't answer your questions the very second you have them all the time. We forget stuff about our own lore sometimes. We can't be online every second of the day. We're just humans. With lives and jobs, too.

[jordan 23]

I save face claims for months for people on LOAs so when they return they can pick up where they left off. So when someone returns. Plots a little then all of a sudden for as far as I can tell: No reason... They leave the discord server. Delete all their apps, remove our friend ship status so I cant ask whats up. Then they leave a private RP server and just vanish.

 

I bend over backwards to help and support to watch someone completely walk away... For as far as I know.. No reason... So what did we do wrong?

[Mab 58]

I think as an admin the biggest worry has to be not being exciting enough to actually draw in those first core members that you need to truly get the site of the ground. Those core members who are invested. And then worry that once you have them, not being able to keep them for whatever reason.

[Dale Bozzio 30]

One of my worries is turning potential members away by either being too niche in some way or by being unintentionally cliquey when in some ways, there's no choice but to just to keep a site somewhat moving and active.

[Huskerdust 625]

I purposely had css resize/clip avatars when I moved over to a new theme just to have a member keep bothering me about it. So something simple that took two seconds and one line of code turned into this freaking circus that took 40 minutes and the member calling in other people to come look at my so called “mistake.” Needless to say, I’m still pretty annoyed by that. I don’t need that kind of stress in my life. 

 

All of that over 15px. Ffs

Edited July 6, 2019 by Zozma

[snowpines 7]

I really stress about those quiet days in the server or when there hasn't been a new post in a day or so. I always freak out in those moments of quiet and I convince myself, "yep, this is it. this is the end now. time to hang it up." When really, everyone is just busy or tired (myself included). Usually, the site and server bounce back and there's a flurry of activity. It's just a matter of having patience and letting the site, the advertisements, the plots, the threads do their thing in their own time. We put a lot of effort into our sites and we all want them to succeed so I think we focus on every little thing that isn't 100% THE BEST.

[blindxsecrets 15]

The quiet times are terrifying, especially when a site is new and you are waiting for people to join. It's agonizing! You spend so much time setting up the forum, and then it's just a waiting game hoping that someone will like it enough to stick around for the long haul. I always try to plot with them and help get them started, but that can be daunting and tiring sometimes. Especially when they leave anyway, and I'm left holding the bag of a now useless plot.

 

I always worry that my site isn't good enough, or that all the adverting in the world won't save it during the quiet times. lol. I -always- stress about the prices of stuff in the store, or if things are fair or reasonable, if we should change X, Y, or Z because maybe people aren't thrilled about it for whatever reason, even though no one has complained. 

 

And doing all the work myself. Sometimes I get help, but most of the time it's up to me to set a majority of it up and maintain it. Some friends help, some say they will but end up doing very little.....it's also hard to know when it's time to de-staff a friend, even when I know they aren't pulling their weight. I always make up excuses for them, or let their excuses go on and on way past the point of reason because I'd rather they still be staff so I don't feel like I'm doing it alone, even when I am most of the time. 
 

I got lucky with my current site. A friend of mine is helping quite a bit and it's finally not so lonesome as a staff member, lol.

[Huskerdust 625]

omg I see Grizz and Sam. <333

 

ANYWAY, OT, RE: quiet times.

 

I admit I do stress about these. Most sites have them and my sites are small so every time things get quiet for a couple days, I start getting a little worried. But I have a pretty nice core group that keep things afloat on WAB. My pokemon site is another story though. I feel so bad for it, it had a rocky start (didn't open at the best time, since shit came my way over and over shortly after). But hey, we're still trucking! 

 

I do worry that people come by and think "Oh they're dead, don't bother." But we're still there and dedicated! We're just slow right now! T^T (New + Slow does sound bad though huh?) I think it's a natural thing for us to worry about as admins though. We created something. Time, skill, money was sunk into these projects. Of course we want them to succeed! (Good luck to you all with your sites!)

[blindxsecrets 15]

@Zozma Yessss, I just opened a Society forum a day or two ago. 😍 Grizzam is a weakness, lol.

 

IDK, I don't think new and slow is always a bad thing. Sometimes it just takes a little bit of time to get off the ground. Not everyone realizes or understands that, unfortunately. 

One thing I reealllly worry about since Discord has become a thing, is when someone will join the server....chat everyone up, have a nice conversation, say they are going to work on characters starting tomorrow and then.....I wake up to the message of them leaving discord. Not sure if that means they left the site (I hope not 😞 ) or just the discord, but it always makes me really concerned and I get super paranoid about it. Everything was fine, there was no reason to go and yet...poof. I've talked to a few other friends that run sites, too, and it seems to be a common occurrence. Part of me wants to try and contact them and ask why, and if there was anything wrong.....but the other part of me doesn't want to be intrusive or bothersome. 

 

Being an admin can be so stressful sometimes, lol.

[Huskerdust 625]

Discord in general kind of scares me. I have discord on my sites but I don't actually check in on them much. I don't have it installed on my phone or tablet and I just use the in-browser version because I don't need to be available to everyone 100% of the time. Basically, Discord is just another c-box to me... that isn't on my site because the embeds are either clunky and ugly or only let you chat onsite as a guest. ANYWAY, I find Discord to be kind of a chore but people asked for it so much that I was like "Here, chat." And then nobody uses it. lol 

[Yona Carlin 44]

My motto as an admin is keep it stress-free. Listen, I am lazy, I can be flaky sometimes, I'm bad at keeping up with lists and I get overwhelmed easily by taking on too much too soon. That's enough on my plate, so if something extra is causing me stress, I will find a different way of doing it. RP is a hobby, I don't have time to feel guilt and anxiety over my hobby. I've built this site, I designed the lore, I'm advertising it and I'm focused on getting people engaged, you know what I mean? Why should I be stressed about it? If people aren't interested, you can't force people to be interested. All you can do is show people having a good time, show people a good time, and make the kind of community that attracts people you want.