Administrating a forum is something that takes a while to master and become strong at. I’ve seen quite a few forums crumble because the root administrator, who self proclaims himself or herself practically equivalent to a dictator, is unable to work through the bugs of the forum. One of the key things to administration is to be willing to accept change and being able to see problems in your forum before others can. An administrator can be a great asset or an invaluable staff member. It depends on how far the individual is willing to work and how much can be done by the individual.
My experience under the helm of administration is not long nor grand. Compared to others, I even lack the dedication of staff. However, I have been capable of achieving some strong staff ability. I found my first moderator position on the first forum I registered at. It is called ToyWiz Forums, located here. You can find my username there to be .:YSM:.
I enjoyed that forum for a long time, however, I originally was a horrid member. In fact, I was a spammer. I’m surprised that I was so willingly accepted onto the forum as a staff member because I don’t think that I could have possibly been in a worse position. Many on the community disliked me, but we had to transition to a new forum software. As a result, I was able to re-gain some respect. I eventually rose to a moderator and became a successful graphical artist. I no longer visit that forum actively, however, I have lost my graphical capability compared to the current others on that forum. I didn’t have a greed for power, or an interest in taking my job further, because I simply lost interest in the forum. As a result, I enjoyed my moderator ability on that forum.
I eventually got wrapped up in the forum employment scene, which at the time was exclusive to Ad-Utopia, run by Craig, WhiteElephant, and Delta. It was a fun time, excluding the fact that I never really held the position of administrator at any of those forums. If I did, I likely quit within the day. I created forums of my own, some which reached close to two thousand members, some which did not even start. I clearly did not have the ability to administrate the forum. Right now, I still feel as though I have a lot of room to improve as far as my staffing ability goes. If anyone visits the ZetaBoards Theme Zone, then you will find I am currently a member of the review staff there. I was promoted on July 8, 2008. Currently, that means I’ve been a staff member there for four months and approximately one week. During this time, I have gained some of the most experience I have had as a moderator. I am hoping to stay there until I achieve what I want to – to prove to myself that I have the capacity to run a forum successfully. Even with this goal in mind, there is a lot of learn.
As a moderator, I’ve also gained a lot of experience. Perhaps the shortest time I’ve been staff at a forum that I put forth effort into was at GameRenders, where I was a community moderator for approximately one month. I was not qualified because there were extremely high expectations set for me. I cannot believe some say that they gain experience having served a forum for only a month or so. Honestly, you need to do more than just stay for a week. I have left, and I will say I gained no experience at all from those minor jobs. I think my time at GameRenders was more worth my while than some other forums, even having been there for multiple months.
Now, let’s tie this all into administration. You can claim you have experience, but you honestly may not. You need to work your way up the hierarchy to gain experience, like most do. Being able to achieve something after you have already done everything needed to and you’ve climbed up that ladder, it is an amazing feeling.
