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Running multiple sites: How do you do it?


Sara-Zorah
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I am always in awe of folks who can run two or more boards. How do you do it? What are your time management skills like? Do you have any advice for the perpetually-disorganized/piss-poor at time management? 

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My time management skills suck. But I manage to have two sites going. I build my sites to be very hands off for staff though. So people

can play even if staff is busy. 🙂
 

edit: as for advice, I’d say the more sites you run the more hands off you should make it. Don’t have staff approved apps, try to automate lists like face claims, and do as much as you can to make it a place where staff isn’t required to be around 24/7 for things to get going. 

Edited by Zozma

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Automation is key as the last two have pointed out. Having mandatory things that have to be updated manually is a daunting task for one site, let alone 2 or 3. I believe if you're a Jcink user there is a guide in our guides for how to make sortable member lists based on custom fields (I think) but I know things like MyBB, IPS, phpBB and SMF have ways to better automate things using scripting for things like playby lists job lists, etc.

 

Additionally supportive co-admin/staff help a lot.

 

Really its important knowing your limits and knowing when you need help. Getting overwhelmed often shuts down creativity and eventually love for a site idea.

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I ran two once, and honestly the others here have hit it pretty solidly on the head. Try to limit the amount of work you actually have to do (claims, updating lists, etc) and find staff that are willing to take on at least some of the work. A lot of people make sites with their friends but don't take into account whether or not those friends actually know how to manage a site or handle some of the needed code/software that your site requires/uses (ie navigating ACP or assigning groups/boards/etc). This can be an issue because you end up being the only one that can update anything and you get run down super fast. 

So my advice:

- Automate/slim where you can.
- Choose your staff for their skills/ability to manage properly and not for how close of a friend you are.

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I've got to throw in another vote for automation. Automation is king. Why burden staff with menial tasks like coding faceclaims into a directory listing, when that can be done automatically? Staff burnout is one of the main reasons sites die. A lot of sites also lose new members because members of the staff team got busy and couldn't process apps and the like for a day or two. Automation solves that. As both a staffer and a member, I want a site where all I have to do is fill out a character profile - and everything else automates from there. 

 

On my site all members have to do is complete the character profile. By filling out the profile it automatically creates claims for: Profession, Faction, Faceclaim/Playby, Member-Character listing. 

 

This takes the burden of having to remember to claim everything off members. Obviously it removes the staff burden of having to manual code this information into a template that will shatter to hell if they put a bracket in the wrong place. And lets not forget the irritation of having to back track through and find claim information from those members who either forget to, or just won't, submit their various claims. 

 

Staffing is important too. Most importantly, the admin has to be able to take criticism and objection from their fellows without lashing out - and the rest of the staff have to be able to do the same. If you are ever in a position where you find yourself thinking "This needs to be addressed but X won't take it well..." then that staff person needs to go. If you have those thoughts about an admin you work with... well, time to jump ship because it's already taking on water. 

 

Avoid plots that require staff input to remain running. Always build so players can continue uninterrupted by staff absence. Don't require app approval if you can't guarantee the app will be reviewed within at max 12 hours - which, honestly, is already too long. Especially if the app is a first submission by a new member. 

 

 

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9 hours ago, Dragon said:

Don't require app approval if you can't guarantee the app will be reviewed within at max 12 hours - which, honestly, is already too long. Especially if the app is a first submission by a new member. 


I think this is a really good point. It’s especially daunting to a new player to see the staff online (even if they are at work) and not approving their application. I’ve left sites that don’t approve my app same day when I see staff members online for more than 6 hours in the day chatting it up but ignoring my application. 

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 4/1/2020 at 12:33 PM, Dragon said:

Don't require app approval if you can't guarantee the app will be reviewed within at max 12 hours

 

okay -inhale-  this is one of my BIGGEST pet peeves with RP, so a thousand apologies for the small rant none of you asked for.

I recently (recently as in maybe 2 or 3 months ago tbh) waited 7 days for an app to be pended, essentially because for some reason I can't wrap my head around they needed all 50 admins to take a look and then decide he didn't fit with the site plot. I'm not miffed over that, it's the fact that it took 7 days to get to that point.

 On the same site I have seen apps from new players take 5 days to get to. I can't imagine many player being that patient - in that time people *will* find other sites. 

On my site we have a 1 admin pass an app unless they're unsure or unless its a significant/major canon (where all 3 of us will have a look). 
 

I also joined a site late last year with a sort of... teired app system where the app was first reviewed by an app-review mod, then a specific admin - my particular app went through various pends because of things that werent even in the guidebook (i think one was that a particular image couldn't be a gif, and that the image in his app had to be of his face. Niether of these were rules in the guidebook.) and even to get to the second pend from the admin review it took over a week. It was super off-putting how picky they were just with images, let alone the app processing time, so I left.

 

 We have an app-review discord channel where members drop a link to their finished app and tag admin - If admins are online, the review channel plus multi-mods literally gets apps sorted not even ten minutes after posting (if it doesnt need a pend). 5-9 minutes give or take to read a good app, 2 seconds to accept with a multi-mod, 30 seconds to change membergroup.

I get 100% that admins aren't always around, you got lives, jobs, etc. but 12 hours is too long for me too, and I would be really mortified making someone wait that long for an accept or pend when all they want to do is write and join in with the community! Until they are accepted they will feel separate, they cant plot, etc. A new players app is priority to me.

I think if one admin out of 3 cant get an app looked at in under 12 hours, they maybe need more staff, or be an app-less RP.


I think that making things automatic is definitely the way to go if you need to lower staff input, or if you don't have the time to read and accept all those apps, especially over two sites!!

Edited by neverrmind

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Even though right now I'm too busy to be on two sites, once I was on two just because I had a friend over another site - one of them always gets looked over so I don't think it's really possible to give them all the same attention

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To go with what everyone else is saying, 100% automation and making things as hands-off as possible for staff.If you can't automate it, set up a Discord webhook. Posts in threads, new threads going up. All of it. Set them to dump into their own channels in a staff-only part of your server (or set up a server for just yourself if your site doesn't use one). I don't know about iPhone's email client, but Gmail is notoriously bad for taking hours to send you emails, so don't rely on that.

 

Also, I was saying this to someone (don't remember who, sorry) yesterday, but if you're an admin/its possible to get an admin to do it, set up very clear tasks for each staff member. Itemize literally every task that needs to be done, assign it to a staff member, and give it a clear deadline (like every app must be approved/pended within 6 hours). Even if you don't have clear roles set up for your staff, you can still assign each one a list of things to do. Post your list of tasks and time frames, and get your staff to volunteer for the things they want/can do. Once its divvied up, post that list somewhere where the staff can all see it and refer back to it. Its beyond helpful to have a list of things you're responsible for that you can actually see, and tape to the fridge if you really want to.

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  • 1 month later...

I try to stagger events/activity checks/skin redesigns so I'm not doing two at the same time on each site.  I will say it's a lot easier having staff than not...  And while they can get in the way of some things, they pick up the slack on others.  I also think you just have to be an avid poster..  the type that posts 4-5 times a day, but that's only because I'm kind of a believer that staff should be top posters and the most extroverted on a site.. though not everyone adheres to that policy or necessarily needs to.  That's really just a personal preference.  

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