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| Tweet Topic Started: Mar 23 2011, 11:11 AM (520 Views) | |
| Frivi | Mar 23 2011, 11:11 AM Post #1 |
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AL is the first time I've built a mod team by myself from scratch, so I've been discovering some little things and thought I'd share what I've observed so far and invite anyone else to share their do's/don'ts with mods, as it seems to be a hot topic of discussion for those just starting out (understandably), as well as a very important aspect of the community building process. This isn't meant to be a guide, more like a recount of what I've been doing and how it's been working (or not working). First I was lucky enough to start out with one very experienced mod who already knows my leadership style and is familiar with the way I handle rules in general (she is the lead mod/admin on Capalls, so we worked together, and many of AL's rules are very similar in concept). Then I hand-selected (meaning there was no open application process) another individual from my pre-forums who I had known in some capacity for several years. Those were the only two mods I went into opening with (I had a cap of 500 on my registration, so I knew we wouldn't have exponential growth that the three of us couldn't handle). Unfortunately the mod I had picked had a family emergency/moved states, so she has not been able to be online for a few months now (which proves my point about hand picking mods, in a way -- I have found that generally if you ask someone to be a mod, they are very likely to accept even if their RL situation may not account for it, whereas if you open up applications people seem to consider their own situations/time constraints to a fuller extent without the pressure of an admin asking you to be a staff member heh). A little bit after opening I opened applications to select a replacement, and ended up with someone who had been a very active and helpful alpha tester. Last week I opened applications again, and ended up picking out four new mods (bringing us to a total of 6 on the team). This is a disproportionately large number compared to our player base (which I estimate is only 20-30 truly active members out of about 390 accounts...the rest are either just "lurkers" or people who registered the first night and then were highly irritated when they found out I don't allow account sales I apologize to all of the low ID sales entrepreneurs). I did this for a couple reasons:First, I wanted to create a team that would be able to maintain the community for quite a while even after we open to invites, and I wanted to be able to train the entire team together (because of communication techniques that look at the entire team and how everyone interacts with each other). For that purpose, adding new team members slowly would be much less effective than having them all on the same page. Second, I made a decision to re-evaluate and re-tool the role of mods in the community. Their responsibilities now include not only monitoring players but working together to plan and run community events. I'm hoping this will be both fun for players (more events than I could do by myself), and create a feeling that mods are not just the "police". When I announced my applications, I explicitly said in my news post that not only is the job difficult at times, but that I do not tolerate snarky mods and I wouldn't want the players to, either lol. I've said it before and I'll say again, there is nothing that irritates me more on a sim than staff people (owners/mods/admins/whatever) who have an attitude o_x I have no idea if I just got really lucky with who applied, or if the way I set up the applications made a difference, but in the last week the team has been doing SO much. Seriously, I am a happy camper XD Before I even said anything about it, several of them were creating community-centered posts and messaging me with ideas, asking about what they could do to help, etc. This Saturday we're doing our group training, and in a couple months our tiny community will (hopefully) be growing quite a lot, so we'll see how it goes when it's not all sunshine and posies anymore lol xD But yes, share share, and I shall update as new things come up ^^ |
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| Avalon | Mar 24 2011, 05:33 AM Post #2 |
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MysticalEquine.com - Whats Your Colour?
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Awsome Frivi <3 I too created my first Mod Team from scratch and have had many similar experiences with varying egress of success (and not so much!) The first Mods I selected were from my testing crew. I asked them if anyone wanted to Mod and actually selected all that applied (7) as I felt I would need them when we opened, making one of them our Hea Moderator and another one their 'right-hand gal' I had moderatied alot before creating ME and knew what I wanted to create for my team. We have a 'Mods R Us' Central with links to Mod Rules, Fines/Bans guide to make sure everyone is working from the same structure, a 'Last 50 SignUps' which my guys find VERY useful for not only monitoring multiple account signups but also to welcome new players and lots of other little things as well as their controls for each player. Now I had a major issue with one Mod not long into opening. I like to give everyone a chance, wether they have been a mod beofre or not, yet I hold my hands up and admit i made a mistake with this one who was banned from the site eventually After the inital influx of activity, ME has taken a long time to create a solid community and I found this really showed the Mods dedication to their role. There were a few that complained 'there was nothing to do' without making any effort to take part in shaping ME, or others that just wore their status and pretty much didnt do anything. We have 2 mods left on the team currently from the original 7; Jokers is now our Head Moderator. We now have 4 Modertaors and 2 !/2 Admins (one is currently on family leave...lol!!) and I feel this is adequate for the size/activity of ME My problem is, I like them to feel busy. Our players in general are so well behaved there is not much actual discipline mod duties for them to do, so we ensure they all have areas of ME to organise. So one of our mods is our 'Games Queen' and posts new triva and confuzzled questions, another runs communtiy projects like Art Tutorials. They all monitor forums and answer new player questions. They are always asking for more jobs/responsibilities which makes me happy that they want to play an active role within ME I'll leave you with a thought; one of my old Mods, when confronted with their lack of activity said to me 'I don't feel it is a Moderators duty to be active within forums and chat'... I whole-heartedly disagree with this on so many levels, but thoughts? |
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| Frivi | Mar 24 2011, 10:45 AM Post #3 |
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Aha, I'm getting ready to set up the same kind of "mod panel" before we open to new members heh. I'm also mid writing a "mod handbook" to send out to everyone, with step by step instructions for general situations. I find that giving them things like this seems to keep everything more consistent, and players like consistency when it comes to warnings and suchness. (As a side note, I also have a very detailed rules list available for players...this is what's okay, this is what's not, etc. I don't think we've been around long enough to tell if it helped, but at least they can't claim ignorance XD) Oh gosh x_x Completely and totally disagree with that. Mods being active with players beyond their duties shows that they are invested in the site and the community, allows players to connect with them, gives mods a better understanding of player dynamics...SO many good things. My team is supposed to notify me if they're going to be inactive for more than 72 hours (unless it's an emergency of course) xD And I take their forum activity into account when I make selections. Past experiences have taught me that if they are not an active member, they will not stick as a mod. It's the activity that shows me that they actually care about the site, rather than just caring about the position. Edited by Frivi, Mar 24 2011, 10:46 AM.
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| qwigoqwaga | Jul 9 2011, 05:10 PM Post #4 |
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I disagree with that too, for all the reasons Frivi said. Though I would like to mention that sometimes the job is what makes someone committed. They may or may not be on the site at all normally, but because they have this position and job they're supposed to do, they feel a sort of responsibility to stay there and at minimum do their job. This is not always the case though. Having active mods on forums and stuff is especially good for the community. I think it makes them more approachable so if there's ever an issue, players won't feel intimidated by the mods. The more distant the mods are from the players the more group polarization there is and eventually it can turn to this catastrophic us vs them with mods and players. |
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2:34 PM Jul 11
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I apologize to all of the low ID sales entrepreneurs). I did this for a couple reasons:





2:34 PM Jul 11