This is a continuation/response to the blog entry here: http://starwarsrp.net/blog/107/entry-664-thoughts-on-board-success-and-failure/
I wholeheartedly agree. We've all seen those forums that are just... man, we want to like them so much, we want to find a "new home." A place where you can pour hours into it and hope that some guy with authority doesn't come around and screw it up, making you feel like you've wasted so much time dedicating yourself to the community.
The era of the "free forums" showed us that any immature punk can rise to a place where he makes others feel he has power over them. I'm going to cover a few of them, and what "the signs" to watch should any of you choose to leave Chaos and venture out into the wilds of the Internet looking for a new home.
WHEN TO RUN FROM A SITE BECAUSE THE ADMINS SUCK
1. The most telling sign of a terribad Admin is when he's built the whole board around himself and what *he* wanted to be. "Oh, you're the Chosen One?" "Oh, you're a God?" When someone builds a community, specifically a role-playing community - and then they pick the most powerful entity possible to be - run. That dude is an egomaniacal child on par with Sid from Toy Story. When a creator places him as a King and his members as the Pawns, he's compensating for something - and more than anything, he's focusing more on himself than he is on enforcing leadership values within the community.
2. Admins who don't interact with the community - and are just plain absent - are driving a sinking ship. While a leader doesn't make the community, he certainly instills faith in the community that there will be a tomorrow for the website. If they ain't communicating, or it's been months since the last time they did - get out.
3. When the Admins queen at the members that there isn't enough posting. I'm sad to say I've seen this before. It's not our fault we don't want to post, homie, don't blame us - it's on the owners of the website to provide incentive for us to post.
4. When there's a whole metric crapton to read but nobody wants to help you. This isn't just on the Admins, I don't think. This is a selfish community. If they don't want to help you, you shouldn't want to stay. We're moving towards an easier, faster internet - where content consumption is skyrocketing. It should be made easy for you to navigate, and to learn about.
5. Staff's retaining TOO much control. Okay, there MIGHT be a reason for this - but usually, it's not a good one. Writer freedom helps self-sustain a community - I have no earthly idea why anyone would want to limit that to such a degree that they're restricting activity.
6. When he gets accused publicly of stealing stuff and you do the research - and the accuser is correct. Seriously, screw that guy who stole stuff from us, but also - this is a terrible scenario and everyone should immediately bail on these types of people. They're looking for the easy way in. The easy way to owning their own content. They're slummers, the filth of the internet. They have a lack of ingenuity and without the help of the source - the actual people creating content - they are helpless children on their own.
7. When he always seems to focus on "me, myself, and I". Bro, your concern should be "the community, the members, and the website". Being an Admin is a duty, and it's a thankless one. Nobody cares about you or your thighs.
I wholeheartedly agree. We've all seen those forums that are just... man, we want to like them so much, we want to find a "new home." A place where you can pour hours into it and hope that some guy with authority doesn't come around and screw it up, making you feel like you've wasted so much time dedicating yourself to the community.
The era of the "free forums" showed us that any immature punk can rise to a place where he makes others feel he has power over them. I'm going to cover a few of them, and what "the signs" to watch should any of you choose to leave Chaos and venture out into the wilds of the Internet looking for a new home.
WHEN TO RUN FROM A SITE BECAUSE THE ADMINS SUCK
1. The most telling sign of a terribad Admin is when he's built the whole board around himself and what *he* wanted to be. "Oh, you're the Chosen One?" "Oh, you're a God?" When someone builds a community, specifically a role-playing community - and then they pick the most powerful entity possible to be - run. That dude is an egomaniacal child on par with Sid from Toy Story. When a creator places him as a King and his members as the Pawns, he's compensating for something - and more than anything, he's focusing more on himself than he is on enforcing leadership values within the community.
2. Admins who don't interact with the community - and are just plain absent - are driving a sinking ship. While a leader doesn't make the community, he certainly instills faith in the community that there will be a tomorrow for the website. If they ain't communicating, or it's been months since the last time they did - get out.
3. When the Admins queen at the members that there isn't enough posting. I'm sad to say I've seen this before. It's not our fault we don't want to post, homie, don't blame us - it's on the owners of the website to provide incentive for us to post.
4. When there's a whole metric crapton to read but nobody wants to help you. This isn't just on the Admins, I don't think. This is a selfish community. If they don't want to help you, you shouldn't want to stay. We're moving towards an easier, faster internet - where content consumption is skyrocketing. It should be made easy for you to navigate, and to learn about.
5. Staff's retaining TOO much control. Okay, there MIGHT be a reason for this - but usually, it's not a good one. Writer freedom helps self-sustain a community - I have no earthly idea why anyone would want to limit that to such a degree that they're restricting activity.
6. When he gets accused publicly of stealing stuff and you do the research - and the accuser is correct. Seriously, screw that guy who stole stuff from us, but also - this is a terrible scenario and everyone should immediately bail on these types of people. They're looking for the easy way in. The easy way to owning their own content. They're slummers, the filth of the internet. They have a lack of ingenuity and without the help of the source - the actual people creating content - they are helpless children on their own.
7. When he always seems to focus on "me, myself, and I". Bro, your concern should be "the community, the members, and the website". Being an Admin is a duty, and it's a thankless one. Nobody cares about you or your thighs.
