The most annoying part as an administrator?

[CedricV]

What part of being an administrator is something you dislike and think is annoying to go through? I think I speak for most here that we all enjoy creating and managing a forum, but there must be at least one thing that is your least favorite ?

For me it's having drama on a forum and dealing with it to make sure the drama is gone. It's been a while I saw any real drama happening, but I see this as something that can drive away members from your forum and it needs to be dealt with asap.

 

[Old Nick]

Dramas on the forums are signs of good health! Personally, I dream of my first to manage…

 

[Harpers Tate]

A tiny proportion of members who are difficut to deal with - as in, they tread a very fine line between being clearly and justifiably ban-worthy and being serial miscreants without ever quite crossing that line.

Oh, and the Moderator permissions setup in XenForo, which was, and remains, badly thought out IMO.

 

[Mr Lucky]

When you get a good member who created good content usually, but sometimes behave badly. So you moderate lightly not wanting to lose them.

Then a member who is not so useful behaves badly and gets dealt with more heavily and complains you are treating other people more lightly.

 

[TPerry]

Then a member who is not so useful behaves badly and gets dealt with more heavily and complains you are treating other people more lightly.

Being the opinionated ass-hat that I am, in that case I'd simply tell them if their participation was of more benefit to the site, they would be regarded higher.
The thing with society now is that we can't seem to be able to tell people the simple truth. If they are a PITA (pain in the ass) you simply tell them that and treat them appropriately. Those that might occasionally get out of line but still provide good content get treated differently. That is a simple fact of life that is present in ALL societies. The more you benefit the society, the more "grace" you get.

 

[Mr Lucky]

The thing with society now is that we can't seem to be able to tell people the simple truth. If they are a PITA (pain in the ass) you simply tell them that and treat them appropriately.

You are making assumptions about me that don't apply. I am totally able to tell the simple truth, and I treat them appropriately.

In my case appropriate treatment can be different for two people based on previous form. I choose to do it like this for the sake of the forum, but it can be quite hard work. I never said I don't tell anyone the simple truth. Maybe there is some other agenda.

 

[TPerry]

You are making assumptions about me that don't apply. I am totally able to tell the simple truth, and I treat them appropriately.

No, I simply told you how I would deal with them.

And I dare you to refute the simple fact that society tries to "prettify" their dealings with each other instead of telling the cold hard truth.
Awards for participation ring a bell? How about the inability of a certain party to tell a certain individual that enough is enough because they are afraid of offending a certain segment of society.
Forty years ago, you really didn't have this issue of "offending someones finer sensibilities". There as a phrase for it... but now if you use it you are accused of being racist.
The simple fact is, we are afraid of offending others... and sometimes, they simply need to be offended to slap them back into reality.

And you aren't saying anything different than I am, you are simply tying to "pretty" it up. When it comes down the the base, if they give gain to the site... they are going to be treated differently than someone that does not in comparison. I'm a tad bit more blunt about it, and I really don't care if I offend someone.. of course, that probably comes from spending over 1/2 my life in law enforcement and we tended to tell folks how it really was.

 

[Forsaken]

Admin forums and other administrators .

 

[Mendalla]

People who should get along, who have no reason to not get along, but who nonetheless do not get along. Sorry, we've got a thing happening that has required more work from me and the mods than it should.

 

[FTL]

Spammers. Doesn't matter how good the filtering system is, I just hate them. They're the drek of the internet.

 

[AnjaC]

This, because I really hate people like that:

A tiny proportion of members who are difficut to deal with - as in, they tread a very fine line between being clearly and justifiably ban-worthy and being serial miscreants without ever quite crossing that line.

but... we deal with it, as we are not treating users differently as discussed in the postings above. If they break rules, they get the appropriate answer, good content or not, old member or new.

The only thing different is how I approach them. For the active long-time members I know my flock quite well over the time So in order to make sure my message will reach their heart and mind it is an advantage if I know which approach will work with this individual user. This is easy to determine if the user has been an active member with lots of postings. However, the consequences will be the same.

 

[AnjaC]

People who should get along, who have no reason to not get along, but who nonetheless do not get along. Sorry, we've got a thing happening that has required more work from me and the mods than it should.

Yeah, that is annoying. I decided years ago not to expect anything when it comes to the behaviour of people (what they should do, what thy should be able to, ...). Works fine for me (not only as admin) and helps me not to get personally/emotionally involved. So if they get along: fine. If they don`t: I did not expect them to so I can deal with this without too much grudge.

 

[Alvin63]

I haven't had any major issues yet. Permissions I still find complicated sometimes. Trying to change the title ladder and points system confused me. Only had to ban one member. Another I just messaged and asked them nicely not to use so many capitals and they stopped doing it.

Oh one thing - regularly explaining why I can't do anything about the fact you can't type after a smiley at the end of a sentence and what to do about it. It lets the software down that one minor thing!

 

[Mendalla]

Another I just messaged and asked them nicely not to use so many capitals and they stopped doing it.

"WHY DO YOU SHOUT EVERYTHING?" is one warning that I have never actually had to use. My crew are well-behaved that way.

 

[Suzanne O]

When trolls join your forum to deliberately annoy me and cause the forum to be aggressively reset.

 

[briansol]

waiting for 2.3 :X