Anonymous 234 Share Posted March 21, 2019 So, I started my first ever role play forum over the summer. I got the site up and running, placed ads on the right sites and went on little advertising sprees. I had a small, but active, number of people posting on the site and things seemed to be going okay. Then my co-admin vanished (they weren't doing much anyway), someone else had to leave because of real life. Then two of the other members fell out badly and both quit, one of them taking their RP buddy with them. After that, the site just... died. After the drama, I didn't have the heart to carry on with it. I'd had no experience in dealing with that kind of drama and I failed to keep it together - and that's solely on me. But what I want to ask is: would you recommend trying again? Do most first-time admins have a bumpy start, like mine? I think I have learned from what happened. A good chunk of time has passed and, in the interim, I've been working alongside a much more experienced site admin on another board. My new site is going to be completely different and I don't want any of the old baggage from the old at all. But I'm still nervous about starting again. Anonymous poster hash: 9c53e...ad5 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jones 177 Share Posted March 21, 2019 I think some anxiety after a bad experience is totally normal. You seem to have matured in the time since your last foray into site administration. You're not passing the blame or other 'red flags' that are often associated with 'Serial Site Creators'. It's been nearly a year, and you know even with the best intentions sometimes sites just die. Sounds to me like you're ready and just struggling with some low-key esteem issues from what you're viewing as a failure. You had an active member base. People were writing. In the end things just didn't hold together, happens to even the best communities. The last site didn't fail. It was a learning experience- you learned! Get out there and make that new site. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Arceus 1,082 Popular Post Share Posted March 21, 2019 -pets Anon's face- Hon, nobody starts out a perfect admin. And nobody should expect, or be expected, to. It's okay to mess up. But, "Falling down is an accident. Staying down is a choice." Here's a thing to remember, though. No matter how good of an admin you are, you're dealing with other people. And the thing about that is, you can't control those other people or make their decisions for them. You'll have more than a few drama doozies over your course. I still get'em, and I've been adminning for over a decade now, so one could assume I know what I'm doing. (Less often now, apparently I became intimidating af at some point, but I digress.) But that's not a reason to give up. It's not necessarily a reflection on you. People will be people, and it's frustrating and can be a tough thing to deal with, there will be let-downs and moments when you wonder why you're even doing this, and not everyone is capable of shouldering it and going on, and that's okay. So I suppose my point is, that probably won't be the last time stuff goes down between players and OOC drama happens. You'll have to figure out how to brush it off and go on, so about here you should be thinking about, if something like that happens again, can I deal with it? Because if the answer's no, if it's just gonna freak you out the next time it happens, then maybe you're not cut out for this admin business. It's hard, thankless work that is often riddled with tough decisions and mitigating OOC drama. (People just really can't interact without getting dramatic at some point or another. Human condition I guess.) But it's also very rewarding, and you have to decide if the rewards are worth the drawbacks, and you can handle the drawbacks. Tldr I guess, you do you boo, don't let a couple rough patches shut you down. But remember other people will also be doing them, and sometimes that means it's gonna get tough. Inexperience is nothing; you can overcome that, and there are places you can go to for advice (like here). But nothing can make up for approaching it wrong. Don't get all over-defensive, just understand that it won't always be rainbows and lollipops, that it not always being rainbows and lollipops isn't necessarily something you're doing (but it might be, so also remember that), and you'll need to be able to get through it when it starts raining. 2 5 I am the darkness, always watching, always listening, ALWAYS THERE. (If you're interested in Plain of Ice, message me, it's private. Bleach site, non-canon.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prophetess 137 Share Posted March 21, 2019 My first time out was a bit of a disaster. In the year I've kept with it, there's been bumps, lulls, and drama. The key is sticking with it. As said before if you don't think you can, then maybe you need some more time. I've been learning from other owners/Admins along the way and picking up things that work for them. It takes a lot of patience. It's thankless. But you had activity which means you were doing the right thing. You deal with a lot of outside things though (also said before) and people will be people. You can't help what they do and you're not going to make everyone happy. You do it because you love it. If you feel you're ready, then do you boo! Make it happen for you. Sometimes we have to weather the storms. There's no magic formula about what works and what doesn't. You have to find what you can live with and stick with it. That's the best thing that I can say. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaxx 317 Share Posted March 21, 2019 Oh man, my first time staffing was back in fall of 2017 and it was a disaster too! After that, I didn't try running my own site for another year. Even though I couldn't quite find one that I liked, every time I thought about staffing I was kind of like, "well last time was horrible, better not do that again." But then I decided that screw it, I knew better and I wanted to make something I could be proud of. Now I have a Hobbit site that's almost seven months old, and a Marvel site that I just opened. I think it's perfectly reasonable to be a little anxious when starting a site, especially when there was drama like what you described. When I opened my Hobbit site, I was nervous all over again. Both because of drama, and because quite honestly that's a pretty niche market to get into and I thought I'd be struggling to get members and posts. But instead people seemed pretty excited, and even though we had a fairly high turnover in the first few months, there's a fairly dedicated group of writers now and I love 'em. But from what you said in your post, you seem to be pretty sensible and to have learned a lot since your first attempt. I would definitely recommend trying again! And asking for advice when you need to, because really, nobody can run a site on their own, even if they're the only staff member. You said you've been working with an experienced admin, maybe ask them if they'd be willing to mentor you for a month or two as you start out? I think you'll be able to make it - good luck! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HotPinkUnicornMess 51 Share Posted March 24, 2019 Do you know what I personally like about a website? History. Even if it's only open six months to a year to years. Seeing an admin sticking to it is admirable and makes me want to check out why they are so passionate about their idea and gets me passionate about it. Drama? Comes with the hobby. Seeing how an admin or staff handle it, even badly is in my personal opinion important for many reasons. Especially makes sense if we go back to my weird first statement about seeing the history of a site: because you can almost always see administration and staff improve, adapt and grow as they make mistakes as any other human may. Transparency is super important to me as an admin. If I screw up, I want it there. If I have to apologize, I want it there so people can see that I am trying and willing to try, not just for me but for my community. Anyway. What I mean to say: if you feel comfortable enough, and ready, and don't want to give up on your site then yes--it's definitely time to try again. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anonymous 234 Author Share Posted March 24, 2019 Thank you, everyone, for taking time to reply. You've been a great help. I'm going to take the time I need to build a new site that I'm 100% confident with (last time, I felt rushed and in a hurry to get it all up and running as quickly as possible) and make sure everything is ready and triple check every little thing. Then jump back into the fray. One of my big worries was becoming pegged as a "serial site-creator", which Jones mentioned above. I really don't want to be one of those guys. That was my biggest fear, and now I (like I said) I'm going to plan this out much more thoroughly and see how it goes. So, again, thank you all so much for your advice! Anonymous poster hash: 9c53e...ad5 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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