Help! The gates of 'hell' just opened on my little Forum. Mass migration!! How to handle??

[palhanow]

The gates of 'hell' just opened on my little Forum.

Yeah, it's the administrator dream and it's happening right now as I'm posting this thread here. My Google Ads earning per day is something like U$ 0,25 and now is growing to U$ 2,0 right now and going up by the minute (or F5 pressing).

Because of some political censorship practiced on the biggest Forum on my country, I'm having now mass migration of users. I'm getting one new registration by the minute, man, that's a big load of users and thank God my server is keeping the pace.

My Forum is new, having like, 1 or 2 months of life, max. Usually i get 3 threads a day, now I'm getting so much threads and posts by the minutes.

The refugees started a political thread and now is getting to the 100 pages, with 20 posts each. That's a big deal for me.

And the reason of the creation of this thread is asking for help on how to handle this.

They asked for new emojis/emoticons and i did it (uploading right now to the server).

They asked for limit the image size for signatures and i did it (350x150px, its ok this size?).

I'm getting so much thanks and congratulations for the XenForo system, the users just can't believe the system is so good.

The biggest Forum in my country uses a outdated system that nobody like it. Just for curiosity, they don't even have WYSIWYG editor for posts and my users are giving me so much thanks for this.

The funniest thing is the biggest Forum in my country don't have even a proper mobile support.

And i ask... How the biggest Forum in my country don't even have a proper Forum system? Man, that's a shoot in the head. My new users are talking something like getting to a new "heaven".

Man, i cannot believe this is happening to me. I'm so happy, but i have to make sure that I'm doing the right things for my users.

Of course I'm having some consequences, because I'm getting a lot of troll users with the refugees, but most of then are good users, creating threads in every section of my Forum.

So, can you guys help me? Any tips on how to handle that?

 

[Anton Chigurh]

So, can you guys help me? Any tips on how to handle that?

First thing to do is, relax. Take it slowly, in adding new stuff. An old adage of message board ownership is "give them what they NEED, not necessarily what they want." You can run yourself ragged and really screw your site up trying to cater to every whim.

You were asking though, how to handle the trolls? Do you have any staff yet?

More information needed.

 

[MarkFL]

What size moderating staff do you have? For me that would be one of the first things I would address, if your moderators are too busy now.

 

[palhanow]

Let's see:

- I'm the owner, so, I'm the actual manager and moderator, and doing all the postings of the news on daily bases. I run a small news website so, all the content is on me too.

I don't have another moderator.

It's time to get a new one?

How i suppose to choose one of then?

 

[Anton Chigurh]

I don't have another moderator.

It's time to get a new one?

How i suppose to choose one of then?

Let time decide this. See how many of the new members stick. Meanwhile you're at the point of alone deciding what is 'trolling' on your board and what is not, and alone deciding what to do about it. I assume your new members are reporting posts?

 

[MarkFL]

Let's see:

- I'm the owner, so, I'm the actual manager and moderator, and doing all the postings of the news on daily bases. I run a small news website so, all the content is on me too.

I don't have another moderator.

It's time to get a new one?

How i suppose to choose one of then?

If you are overwhelmed with actual moderation, then I would definitely recommend looking into bringing others on board to help you moderate. I would begin by looking over those who have been with you for a while, and who show an ability to be mature and diplomatic, and above all, who you trust with the privileges moderators are typically given. Be judicious with the permissions you allow your mods too...give them only what they need to effectively moderate, and look very closely at those you allow to hard delete content.

 

[Anton Chigurh]

give them only what they need to effectively moderate, and look very closely at those you allow to hard delete content.

Yep, on my boards I'm the only one who can 'hard' delete anything.

 

[MarkFL]

Yep, on my boards I'm the only one who can 'hard' delete anything.

On one board we allow all admins and global mods to hard delete, and never had an issue. But, on another board, one of my mods was hard deleting threads in which he had made a math error, and once I caught wind of it, I removed that privilege and told him why. Now I watch the mod log more closely.

 

[Anton Chigurh]

On one board we allow all admins and global mods to hard delete, and never had an issue. But, on another board, one of my mods was hard deleting threads in which he had made a math error, and once I caught wind of it, I removed that privilege and told him why. Now I watch the mod log more closely.

Yeah, I just keep my life simple. Could never think of even one benefit to having the 'hard' delete power in others' hands, when the 'soft' delete works just fine for moderation purposes.

 

[southernlady]

I'm the only one who can hard delete on my board. Now I am a Tech Admin on a forum where I'm just making sure they get started good. The owner/admin wanted the ability to hard delete for a few moderators. Not my say...it's her's. I told her how to do permissions. Up to her what she does with them.

 

[Anton Chigurh]

Now I am a Tech Admin on a forum where I'm just making sure they get started good. The owner/admin wanted the ability to hard delete for a few moderators. Not my say...it's her's. I told her how to do permissions. Up to her what she does with them.

Yep in that case I carefully advise them of the pros and the cons, and show 'em how to do it if they really want it.

 

[LeadCrow]

First, you need your ear closer to the ground. Promoting trusted new members with past experiences in moderation/management or pristine reputations will help give you credibility and trust. This way, even if new users are not familiar enough with your site and staff they'll still have someone who will represent and defend their interests among staff.

- I'm the owner, so, I'm the actual manager and moderator, and doing all the postings of the news on daily bases. I run a small news website so, all the content is on me too.

Consider this an opportunity to eventually getting helpers filling reporter and editor roles. With a rush comes a necessity to 'condition' users to expect more and better content at least during the transition. Only either adding manpower or delegating management of the forum are really sustainable.

 

[bernard]

...
I don't have another moderator.

It's time to get a new one?

How i suppose to choose one of then?

Yes. It's been my experience that adding good moderators makes all the difference in growing a community. How do you choose? Find reasonable, friendly people. Be careful of folks with strong opinions as they are more likely than not to abuse moderating powers for censorship. $.02

 

[palhanow]

Let time decide this. See how many of the new members stick. Meanwhile you're at the point of alone deciding what is 'trolling' on your board and what is not, and alone deciding what to do about it. I assume your new members are reporting posts?

If you are overwhelmed with actual moderation, then I would definitely recommend looking into bringing others on board to help you moderate. I would begin by looking over those who have been with you for a while, and who show an ability to be mature and diplomatic, and above all, who you trust with the privileges moderators are typically given. Be judicious with the permissions you allow your mods too...give them only what they need to effectively moderate, and look very closely at those you allow to hard delete content.

First, you need your ear closer to the ground. Promoting trusted new members with past experiences in moderation/management or pristine reputations will help give you credibility and trust. This way, even if new users are not familiar enough with your site and staff they'll still have someone who will represent and defend their interests among staff.

Consider this an opportunity to eventually getting helpers filling reporter and editor roles. With a rush comes a necessity to 'condition' users to expect more and better content at least during the transition. Only either adding manpower or delegating management of the forum are really sustainable.

Yes. It's been my experience that adding good moderators makes all the difference in growing a community. How do you choose? Find reasonable, friendly people. Be careful of folks with strong opinions as they are more likely than not to abuse moderating powers for censorship. $.02

I'm quoting you all because my subject reply is the same for everyone.

First, i want to thank you all for the help. This Community is very friendly and always willing to help people who need it.

So, I'm trying to filter some good users, like i said, I'm receiving a very good amount of influx users from another competitors platforms. A lot. And the users are coming from the biggest forums in Brazil (my country).

There is a lot of bad users, but good users are coming too and i do indeed to 'hire' (voluntary) one Moderator in the future.

Until now, is a manageable work. A lot, but I'm doing ok. Probably in the next weeks i will need a new Moderator, without a doubt. I did manage to find 2 or 3 leaders of the 'refugee movement' and i think that the guys that i need it.

 

[gogoblender]

The gates of 'hell' just opened on my little Forum.

Yeah, it's the administrator dream and it's happening right now as I'm posting this thread here. My Google Ads earning per day is something like U$ 0,25 and now is growing to U$ 2,0 right now and going up by the minute (or F5 pressing).

Because of some political censorship practiced on the biggest Forum on my country, I'm having now mass migration of users. I'm getting one new registration by the minute, man, that's a big load of users and thank God my server is keeping the pace.

My Forum is new, having like, 1 or 2 months of life, max. Usually i get 3 threads a day, now I'm getting so much threads and posts by the minutes.

The refugees started a political thread and now is getting to the 100 pages, with 20 posts each. That's a big deal for me.

And the reason of the creation of this thread is asking for help on how to handle this.

They asked for new emojis/emoticons and i did it (uploading right now to the server).

They asked for limit the image size for signatures and i did it (350x150px, its ok this size?).

I'm getting so much thanks and congratulations for the XenForo system, the users just can't believe the system is so good.

The biggest Forum in my country uses a outdated system that nobody like it. Just for curiosity, they don't even have WYSIWYG editor for posts and my users are giving me so much thanks for this.

The funniest thing is the biggest Forum in my country don't have even a proper mobile support.

And i ask... How the biggest Forum in my country don't even have a proper Forum system? Man, that's a shoot in the head. My new users are talking something like getting to a new "heaven".

Man, i cannot believe this is happening to me. I'm so happy, but i have to make sure that I'm doing the right things for my users.

Of course I'm having some consequences, because I'm getting a lot of troll users with the refugees, but most of then are good users, creating threads in every section of my Forum.

So, can you guys help me? Any tips on how to handle that?

Choosing a mod team's a lot about who's modding style you get along with and who's character you want to be a part of for years. You're probably noticing some posters are posting a lot and are a good match for your style of management.

Choose them and good luck



gogo

 

[mysiteguy]

First thing to do is, relax. Take it slowly, in adding new stuff. An old adage of message board ownership is "give them what they NEED, not necessarily what they want." You can run yourself ragged and really screw your site up trying to cater to every whim.

You were asking though, how to handle the trolls? Do you have any staff yet?

More information needed.

100% agreement. I've seen mass migrations from other boards thrive, but I've also seen them peter out in a few days, weeks or months. So I would take a wait and see approach before I added moderators, or make changes.

At most I'd find someone who fits the traits desired in a moderator, give them a minimum of moderator privileges, and let them know its a trial run.

 

[mysiteguy]

Oh, and another thing, anyone who's too eager to be a moderator, proceed with caution!

 

[zappaDPJ]

It's also worth remembering staff promotions are easy to give but can be a nightmare to take away so choose with care. The right candidate is usually an active member who is to all intents and purposes already doing the job but without the tools.

 

[Anton Chigurh]

Oh, and another thing, anyone who's too eager to be a moderator, proceed with caution!

For me that's, "not at all."

 

[gogoblender]

It's also worth remembering staff promotions are easy to give but can be a nightmare to take away so choose with care. The right candidate is usually an active member who is to all intents and purposes already doing the job but without the tools.

Exactly right
+++



gogo