I post up a lot of ideas and ask for feedback and don’t get much. Time to remind them that they need to be a part of the decision/idea process again, kind of a circular event. Some of them do their job well with the exception of that, but it’s one of the more important tasks I think.

Smiley – Giving your members access to your staff handbooks is an interesting strategy; I am not sure if I would share this information just because one of those users may be a competitor (potential or actual).

It is important for your staff to be aware that they have your support by default, but they also need to know that they need to fulfil their obligations to you in their role as moderators.

I didn’t do it for that reason, though. I did it because I like to know the users trust me and my methods, they can read little bits of what I expect of my staff now, be in the know.

The users sort of feel like I’m on their side, but one of the policies is I’ll always back up my staff in cases of unsubstantiated complaints so my staff feel like I’m on their side.

Unfortunately, people will always think of themselves as on a different side to authoritative figures, however silly that sounds for a website.

But at least I have best of both worlds and the full trust of both.

I’ll be improving it sometime during the next couple of weeks (working on the updated client at the moment), I’m afraid I rushed to get them up as I was going away for my weekend that has left me with minus count braincells.

Feel free to have a gander of what goes on in my head when I’m thinking about to run things. My only problem is I know exactly how I picture things, but I’m rubbish at explaining, so I’m forever editing the things. Remember they’re just excerpts, the actual handbook is actually quite professional. I was well pleased with myself. I’m a closet bureaucrat;
http://www.friendlychatrooms.co.uk/staff.html

For me the major issue is accountability, and that is not solely determined by your remuneration but is certainly influenced by it. I expect a volunteer to do what they said they were going to do – I might expect a paid moderator to go a bit beyond that. Just as it might be reasonable to expect your parish priest to take pastoral calls at 3am, but less so for the average Joe in the pew!

Fat Loss – Thanks for your comment. You’re right – moderators have a huge influence over the success (or failure) of your online community. They are also key influencers when it comes the the development of your community’s personality.

Smiley – I think many community developers are worried about really enforcing the duties of their moderators as most are unpaid. However, if they aren’t doing their jobs properly they should be given the opportunity to change their behaviour by letting them know what they are doing right and what they are doing wrong. If they still aren’t performing their duties as described, they need to be let go.

Staff guidelines or handbooks are an extremely good idea as they help clarify a moderator’s role and outline exactly what you expect from them.

Nicole – Yes, managing people is certainly very challenging! It is possible to influence how people think and react though, and that should be one of your aims when trying to get the most from your community moderators.

I’m a lot more careful these days about who I hire as support staff. Infact, it’s no longer up to me who becomes staff.

It’s a 3-way decision. Between myself and my two fellow management, we vote on it. If I vote yes and they both vote no.. then it’s a no. I won’t over-ride their decision, I want to show them respect and trust.

I don’t trust my own judgement of people these days, as the owner of the site people will inevitably ’suck up’ to me, which has happened before. So I’ve blocked myself from making major decisions in the site if it involves a user to ensure
a) it isn’t a biased decision and;
b) to protect me from being manipulated by ’suck ups’

I don’t even suggest people for staff now. It’s up to my two co-hosts to come to me with suggestions of staff, we all watch them for the requirements (cool head, sense of humour, friendly, loyal, ethical etc) then vote.

I’ve written out a ’staff handbook’ with staff policies for new staff to read and in the staff room they are ‘tested’ on the handbook, a sort of quick test to ensure they’ve read and understood the different policies and what their job is.

I’ve also already told you before I require a reference number e-mailed to me that I’ve sent them via snail mail before they become staff… this is to ensure they are genuine.

Because of this professionalism we put into it, I think we’ve attained that ‘high status’ you advise a staff role should have.. we hire one or maybe two new staff members every 3-4 months depending on how much the site has grown, so it is a highly desirable position, and one that is hard to attain now’a'days.

I believe that’s how it should be. I’ve seen several other sites make their friends mods/admins (and I, too, have been guilty in the past of this.. ie: Good Chat, but I’ve learnt and moved up since) and seen these sites crash because they just weren’t the right people.

I’ve even had a site, lately, come into Friendly Chat and spam my members. “If you don’t use Friendly Chat and use my site instead I’ll make you staff” — he’s literally just making people staff in hope they’ll use his site. (www.chatandrelax.com = the spammers)

Not a very professional way to go, huh?

I think your very last point is the most important of all, make sure you choose the right people lol, as some people are able to motivate themselves and realise the work they need to put in, people also need to have good communication skills too, to be able to approach others with problems.

With experiance you can learn to spot these people.

If you get it wrong it can cost you sleep and crediblity, we pretty much make a rule that only people who have been long term contributers to the site even stand a chance of being a moderator, and even then you still might not be given the chance, as some people just are not up to the job.

Woc