Upcoming Admin Council Nominations

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Imp-Chan
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Upcoming Admin Council Nominations

Post by Imp-Chan »

As explained here, we have an Admin Council here on these boards. There are three spots on the Council, two of which are appointed, and one of which is elected. We need your input as to who would be a good choice for any of these spots. Actual elections aren't until November, since it will no doubt take a while for this board to get active enough to make them appropriate, but I'm starting the thread now because elections are going to be an important and recurring part of this board, so we may as well get used to them.

Oh, and I should mention that one of the three Admin Council positions has already been filled by Jim (Viking Master), since Poe and I know we'll be out of town a fair bit and we need a backup that we can hunt down if necessary. There is also a technical administrator, who is NOT a member of the Council and is here to take care of only technical stuff. Wave hello to Pat, everyone, he's the man who keeps all our various codes and such working.

^-^'
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finalcarrot
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Re: Upcoming Admin Council Nominations

Post by finalcarrot »

Hi, Pat! I hope you know what you're getting into with phpBB. She's a tempermental code, she is.

As for nominations, well, I guess it depends on how many people show up. I, for one, wouldn't mind doing it. I admin three boards of varying flavor already, all based on phpBB code and have a fun time doing it. I'm pretty much always available and I like to make sure a forum maintains its fun-factor for everyone perusing it. Two of the boards I admin are fantastic and have never had any problems that didn't require a gentle warning. The other has a few charged conversations that required constant admin-ing for a long time due to the racial/homophobic/stereotyping nature of the material being discussed. I have the good and the bad, and I'm not a viper when I admin. A warning is usually enough, but that warning only gets issued once before action is taken. I'm very much about keeping everyone "in the know" on things -- I adore the idea of a council of administrators acting in tandem.
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Re: Upcoming Admin Council Nominations

Post by Imp-Chan »

I think it's important to have distinctions between the Admin Council, who have the overwhelming responsibility of looking after the boards as a whole, and the moderators, who do the under-appreciated grunt-work of actually overseeing threads and warning people and so forth.

On the old board, the moderators were all like rulers of their individual boards, but there was no real cohesion or communal law to keep them together and cooperating, which is I think why we ultimately fragmented. My vision for this board is primarily one of a true community with a focus and purpose, and I think one of the best ways to do that is to try to balance the power as much as possible, especially at the top. A lot of what I'm doing here is an amalgamation of two very different but equally useful systems... the corporate model, where there's a board of directors and then a bunch of people in charge of different areas who are either on the board or reporting to it, and the Quaker model, where most decisions are evaluated by a committee, then reported to and considered by the community as a whole, and ultimately the clerking committee (responsible for running the meetings for business) says what they see as the sense of the meeting (translation: community opinion), and if there's a consensus then the decision is made, and if not it's thought about some more and deferred until people are more united.

I see the Admin Council as being, ideally, a combination of that board of directors, and the clerking committee from my background in Quakerism. A good admin, in my opinion, will be equally concerned with what's best for the business, what's best for the community, and what makes people happiest. The skill they need MOST badly is the ability to listen and process what people want, and to keep the boards united and focused so that the community can stay strong.

None of which is to agree or disagree with your self-nomination, I just wanted to share my little realization about what I'm trying to do here.

^-^'
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finalcarrot
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Re: Upcoming Admin Council Nominations

Post by finalcarrot »

Sounds even better! I always hated micro-managing posters unless something went beyond the ability of a moderator. As frightening as the concept is, one of the boards I work for/on has NO moderators and I share power with two other admins. Despite the numerous requests I have put forward, the owner won't allow moderators, believing they'll be railroaded off the boards and have to become excessively forceful to gain any respect. I think someone "had a bad 'xperience".

That aside, I like your business model. It would be a safe assumption that anyone who has made the port over to these forums already wants to see Errant Story continue. What you're looking for is someone who wants to see Poe and CAS as a whole continue. Having been a reader since EN (with some time lost in the middle), I love Poe's work and his dedication to it. Each new comic shows a dedication to a love of labour indeed.

Additionally, I expressed a concern for community already. When Kyhm's was deciding it's future, I was interested in what would happen there as well. The cohesive community you want couldn't exist there, but here it can. This place has a fresh start and a sizable audience that follows Poe's work.
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Re: Upcoming Admin Council Nominations

Post by Admin »

Thanks for the welcome, finalcarrot. So far phpBB3s been pretty stable for a RC. I'm sure along with Viking-Sensei on board, we'll have smooth sailing! (That's not to say we won't see a wrinkle or two to be ironed out.)

-Pat
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Re: Upcoming Admin Council Nominations

Post by finalcarrot »

I just switched over a forum to phpBB3 and I'm loving it. The design features are so much greater than with 2.
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