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Post by Avalikia on Aug 10, 2013 23:47:28 GMT -5
Tips:
- 1. Do not tell me you want to become staff. Or strongly hint about it. Or even weakly hint about it in a way that makes me suspect that's what you're doing. I generally take this as a sign that you're overly ambitious and could probably stand to spend some more time as a regular member until that's cured. I prefer my staff members to be the type of person who doesn't necessarily feel like they deserve the honor and responsibility. (Or at least has the ability to at least pretend to have a little humility about it.)
2. Stay on the site for a very long time. This may not seem fair if you feel like you'd make an awesome staff member even though you've not been around for very long (see Tip #1). But I do strongly favor the more senior members because they've proved their commitment to the site over the long term. However, all you have to do to change that is stick around.
3. Join AIM. This is not required to join the staff, but it helps you a lot simply because it gives me the opportunity get to know you better and allows me to see how you interact with people. You don't need to live there like some of us do, but popping in there now and then definitely helps your chances.
4. Behave yourself OOC. This means a lot of things. It means being kind, friendly, respectful, and polite to your fellow members (even and especially when they're not being nice to you). It means not whining too much or otherwise making yourself a nuisance, and especially not getting into OOC fights. Note that this does not mean you have to be a doormat - in fact, if you let people walk all over you I'll think twice about making you a moderator and you'll never become an admin. It is possible to stick up for yourself or disagree strongly with someone in a polite, mature, and yet extremely strong fashion. Proving that you have that skill is one of the quickest ways to impress me.
5. Be helpful with guests and newer members. This can be a tricky line to walk for a non-staff member, but doing it well can be another way to impress me. This means being quick to answer the questions if you know the answer, but also being quick to refer them to the staff if you don't or are unsure. Giving people wrong answers is one of the quickest ways to take yourself out of the running - it's better to remain silent or admit your ignorance. In some situations, being helpful means being quiet if a current staff member has the situation under control - if you seem to be unable to tell the difference, then I won't see you as staff material.
6. Set a good example with your IC posting. This again means a lot of things. It means not just keeping active but keeping on top of your posts (which, yes, the current staff has trouble with from time to time, but they were definitely on top of things when I first made them staff). It means writing high quality posts - not only long, but well written, detailed, and interesting.
{Unfortunately, here's where you run into my personal definition of 'good writing' - like anyone I have a personal list of opinions about how 'good writers' write, which may be very different from yours. I normally don't bring these up even when I'm critiquing someone's work, as I try to be tolerant of other people's ideas of how things should be done, but if you specifically (and privately) ask me if you do any of my pet peeves I will tell you. Just be prepared for me to be very opinionated - you have been warned. And I don't expect you to agree with me at all. Then again, if your posts rub me the wrong way far enough that I hesitate to define what you post as 'good writing', that alone may keep you off the staff list.}
This also means coming up with lots of really fun plots - they don't have to be big plots, but they should be the kind that makes lots of people who aren't even in your threads want to read them because they're just too much fun to miss.
7. Have spare time. Even if you're keeping up with your posts, if I know that you're barely managing it because your life outside of the forum is nuts, I may not promote you for that reason. Though it'd be for your own good, really - being on the staff is an extra commitment and I never want to overburden anyone. On the other hand, while there's no getting around the fact that being an admin is some serious work, being a moderator is not a huge load - I may ask you to be one right when your life seems at its worst because I really need you, know that you'd do a good job, and know that you'd manage to add it in somehow.
8. Add to the forum. If you're doing all of the above, then you're probably achieving this as well. But if you make it so that I can't look around the forum without seeing awesome things you did - whether it's a plot that you started, a member you helped, a suggestion that you made that took off - you'll end up making me want to make you staff to further increase your ability to add even more.
9. Luck. Even if you're doing all of the above, there is a certain amount of luck involved to getting on the staff list. Because, due to things outside of your control, there may be many months of delay in you getting promoted. For example, if I feel like I have plenty of staff, I don't seek out more even if there's perfectly qualified people just sitting around. If I lose staff members, they're not necessarily replaced - sometimes it depends on how busy I am and how much work the rest of the staff can put in. Or sometimes luck rolls in your favor - maybe the site happens to get really busy at the same time that most of the staff is going on vacation.
