Staffing Staff Freedom

[Zahhy 130]

You need to do what you are comfortable with, but you also need to be honest with yourself. Do you want to give them more power because they are pressuring you, or because you could benefit from the help?

 

Secondly, why don't you want to give these staff more power? They are not the ones that have hurt you in the past. I say - create a trial system and create different Admin groups. When you feel like someone has done a really great job with their current power level, level them up! Slowly hand over more responsibility as you feel comfortable.

 

If it was me - I would do it based off of activity level and seniority. How long has this person been gaming here consistently, do they post regularly? Are they great at dealing with x. And then I would create admin levels specifically for that person. For Example: in the past we had a player that was really interested in organizing our archives. Normally this is only an Admin only level, and they were not interested in moderating anything other than closing out old threads, and maintaining the way our archives looked. So we made an Archivist group and gave them the title and let them organize the archives!

 

You've got to find what is best for you, your game and your staff. It sounds like they want to help you, so give them things that won't hurt you or the site that you can easily fix. I'm the type of admin that throws caution to the wind. If I trust THIS person, no matter what someone has done to me in the past, I'm going to let them help me, because why not? The worst thing someone can do is hurt another member, and then they get knocked back down to a lower level as admin, get a warning, maybe banned? The POSSIBLE consequences never outweigh the PROBABLE benefits of giving someone that you trust the ability to help you.

[Achera 22]

Like others have said, only go with what you're comfortable with. I'm in the same position now because my site has gone through some ups and down in regards to previous staff, so I'm hesitant to give people too much power even if I am close friends with them. The best way I've found is to start off small and then slowly work your way up to more powers. We have one member who just helped with approving characters and now she's able to run more on the site. It's all about building trust at the end of the day. Like for even if we get someone who could be an admin, my co and I will never let them have access to the code. That's just how we've chosen to run our site.

 

Like people said, you gotta do what's best for you and what you're comfortable with. Don't feel pressured, but maybe try to talk it out with staff so they can get your side as well?

[grimfox 1]

Having been on staff for several RP sites, it is very frustrating to work with people who grip the reins too tightly - especially if they do not have the time available to do the things they won't let anyone else do. I've had that problem in the past, and it was incredibly frustrating. I have also done this to others, and quickly got overwhelmed because I didn't feel like I could trust them to do things properly. 

 

I now only run sites with people I know and trust, and both issues have resolved themselves. 

[FriedKilamari 46]

On 3/24/2017 at 10:33 AM, Death Kitten said:

And once you've started loosening up, you will need to figure out how to handle new staff in the future. Do they start with lesser freedom and very gradually loosened to the same level as existing staff, or do you only hire from within your game to make sure you're already familiar with the person and their habits?

 

This right here is really important. In my opinion, all staff should have a training period. This is essential for making sure that 1. your staff gets the proper training to do their job and 2. lets you see whether or not a candidate is cut out for the position of staffer.

 

It's also really important to highlight what jobs you want your staff to do. When I ran my own sites, this was pinned in the staff section, so each staff member could see what was expected of them. This way a staffer can't get away with saying "I didn't know I was supposed to do x" or "I wasn't aware I couldn't do that".

 

You as the admin have the final say on things, as your word is law, but I do think it's important to have open discussions with your staff. Their input can point things out you might never have considered or thought of. Two heads are better than one, and all that. You and your staff are a team, and it's important to work together. Trust them, and they'll trust you back. Communication is key, especially when it comes to keeping everyone on the same page!

[Uaithne 543]

I will be the odd one out here, and that's okay. Regardless:

 

You don't need to trust staff members 100%. These are internet strangers (mostly) who are volunteering to help you out. There are no background checks or resumes or letters of recommendation that actually mean anything of significance. So I see no harm in having reservations about how much power to give them.

 

That said, taking on staff means that you trust them enough to give them the job and title - and the power that comes with it. Clearly identity expectations and limitations for them so that you are also on the same page.

 

If it helps, I'll let you know what I did. My staff member kept coming to me with really good questions that members had asked her. I knew that if I put all this information into board documents (what ifs and special circumstances), it would overwhelm all the members. So I made a special "staff faq" section where I put information that might be relevant so that I could empower my staff members.  I'm sure this could be used for many things around the board. It's not to discourage my staff from talking to me but to give them the ability and confidence to answer questions without saying, "I don't know. I'll check with Uaithne."

[Indy 23]

I've been the head admin of forums since I was fourteen and muddling my way through RPing on the internet, so I'd like to say I've seen some stuff. I've experienced variations of staff on other forums as a player, but I'll focus on my own experiences here.

 

Picking someone for staff should mean that you already trust them enough to trust their decision making skills at least. I've seen "staff wanted" threads on directories like Initiative, but I'd be leery of those simply because you don't know these people, unless the those responding are people you've built a camaraderie with pre-the "staff wanted" ad. But I have also been in weird staff situations where the staff splits in two because one faction wants one thing and one faction wants another (and they spit on what the head admin wants, anyway), so I put a lot of stock in knowing your staff on a friendly level. The latter example is a rare horror story though.

 

Holding the reins like they're the only thing saving you from a pit of spikes is the wrong way to go, though, for your own sanity and for everyone elses. I only did this very briefly in the beginning of my RP career because I was 14 and totally in over my head. However there's a difference between that and having some oversight, so it's a bit like looking controlling vs. actually being controlling.

 

@Uaithne's method of staff guides is really useful for a good balanced trust/oversight approach. With those in place you know that you've covered everything you can think of, and you can trust your staff will take these as a sort of template for how you would approach other situations. My staff often tack on "We can check with Indy and see what she says" just to cover their bases, but 90% of the time I entirely agree with them.

 

So implementing something like that, to brief them on things they should know, is useful for giving them some independence. In situations where you have horror stories like mine above, which it seems you do @Dawn, it is also important to tell them. Tell them this happened and that you don't want this in the future and to foster communication lines. Having a "staff only" area in whatever arena you like, say the forum itself or a discord channel, helps with this, they can drop you comments, tag you, and you can respond, or you can have discussions about things.

 

If you are the sort of admin who feels comfortable going to "staff wanted" ads, I feel this clear communication would be especially beneficial. You want to be in charge, yes, but also you want to make it clear that you're there for them if they have questions and concerns and that you wont just brush them off.

 

tl;dr: Be approachable, but firm. Foster communication. Give them what they need to know.