Staffing Not enjoying it anymore, need advice

[Morrigan 1,826]

Anonymous, The Initiative is free! And we can help in the transfer.

[Uaithne 543]

I have handed off sites when I have become bored of them or wasn't able to take care of them.  But I will give you (and anyone else who is in the same position) a few words of advice: do so carefully.

 

If you suspect that you may be returning to the site, make sure to be very clear about it.  State to the people to whom you're handing it over that you plan on resuming your position, and make sure to give them a time frame.

 

The thing is that if somebody takes the site over from you and does tons of work, that site is no longer yours anymore, at least not as much as it was.  They aren't babysitting it - they're loving it and growing it and helping it flourish.  A part of that site is theirs, and it will be difficult to hand it over to somebody else.  Heck, even if you are clear about the fact that you're coming back, it may still be quite difficult for them to give it over.  There may even be a negative sentiment because they've worked hard on it and you have done "nothing" and then come waltzing back in to reclaim it.  But this chance will be decreased if you're very clear with the new owners.

 

Unfortunately, I learned this first hand.  I didn't know what I was doing and I left and came back.  But I wasn't quite greeted as warmly as I expected, and I found that I couldn't just jump back into doing work (even if I was no longer "head admin") because the staff had rearranged duties and the entire board culture had shifted from what it had been.  They were a little hesitant to include me again, and I ended up finding other things to do on other sites.

 

I have also had the record of shutting boards down because I didn't want to continue as admin and I didn't want to give the board to someone else.  The first was an old Hunger Games site years ago.  I was having an upcoming lifestyle change that would result in me no longer having the time needed to run a board of that size and complexity.  I asked one or two people whom I trusted if they wanted to take it over, but due to the fact that the Hunger Games are time and labor intensive, they declined.  I could not give the site to anyone; it wouldn't have worked.  So I gave everybody head's up, I gave them links to similar sites, I allowed other people to use my Hunger Games system rules if they wished, and we all ended the site quite pleasantly and respectfully.  If someone had come up to me and asked to make a board with the same concept on another forum, I would have given them my blessing.  It's just that that was my site, and I had worked on it for four years; I was not going to hand it over for the sake of handing it over because I did not want to see it destroyed.  So it died with respect.

[Quell 249]

 

I have seen this same thing happen with sites in the past and it breeds such bad blood. Site ownership is so confusing, because there is this fascinating idea that if you leave your own site or you step down from administrative duties, it remains yours. 

 

I think of sites more like a business deal. If I, George Lucas, give Starwars ti Disney, I no longer have say. I might like some things that they are doing and dislike other things, but at the end of the day, I sold starwars and now my brain baby is someone else's. It won't go the way I planned because Disney is not me. But that doesn't make Disney wrong. It might attract different audiences and not be academy award winning, but that doesn't make it a monstrosity. 

 

I personally think handing over sites is the best thing to do when you're done with a site (assuming it has a strong member base). Like a dog who you don't have time for anymore, if it still has life in it, there is no reason to put it down, just give it to someone who still wants to walk, feed, vet, and bathe it. But also... keep in mind that if you used to keep the dog's hair long and the new owner keeps it short, that's just not your business. 

 

My only hold over is the money aspect. But I think that if someone is paying the bills and steps down, they should transfer the accounts to someone else... because that's making an already confusing situation more confusing.

 

TLDR: Be a figure head CEO if necessary, but don't step down unless you're actually stepping down. And if at all possible give it to someone who will love it.

Edited June 19, 2018 by Thyme