Is there a way to become a moderator in this forum or any others?

[Camech]

This is on a semi-related note. Regarding Stripe and RR, how did you become administrators? Did you have a hand in creating the site?

[BlueDelvia]

Originally posted by Camech
This is on a semi-related note. Regarding Stripe and RR, how did you become administrators? Did you have a hand in creating the site?

It was a global network take over. Originally all these forums were separate enitities on the net till Stripe maneuvered to steal their copyrights (With Rob her cohort) and they merged them into one large enitity.

You don't want to mess with them... ruthless... completely uncompassionate and emotionless when it comes to business.




:bg: jk of course

[RobRoy]

Originally posted by BlueDelvia
It was a global network take over. Originally all these forums were separate enitities on the net till Stripe maneuvered to steal their copyrights (With Rob her cohort) and they merged them into one large enitity.

You don't want to mess with them... ruthless... completely uncompassionate and emotionless when it comes to business.

No, no, Blue, you have it right. Well, at least I'm completely uncompassionate and emotionless, but that's when it comes to anything at all. Stripe is actually the compassionate one, always taking in stray forums who have lost their servers. As Kirk said to Spock, "Don't trust them. Let them die!"

JK folks, this is just all part of the show.

To answer the question, Michael Martinez at one point when he was switching from the old forums to VBulletin, put out a call for moderators. The work load for him was becoming a full time job. Stripe and I, along with many of the current moderators answered the call. Mostly, we were given the forums we asked for.

Now, you'd have to ask exactly Stripe what happened, but essentially Michael appointed Stripe to be the senior admin. She then asked others to serve as either admins, or super moderators. I received my email from Stripe asking to serve as an administrator and to be honest I had to think about it for quite some time. It was a large responsibility, and to be honest, though I knew it was large, I never fully understood just how large it was. I've had times when I wasn't overly happy about accepting the position, and times when I wish someone else had the responsibilities of certain tasks that it was my duty to preform; but by and large I am greatly happy to be a part of this process, as I'm pretty certain Stripe is as well.

As for a hand in creating the site . . . well, sorta. Stripe and I oversee the day-to-day events of the forums. We monitor almost all of the forums, watch out for problems, take care of complaints, posting violations, etc. We also see ways in which we can improve the forums, such as adding new forums when the demand was apparent, or writing new policies when we saw room for improvement.

The actual creation and maintainence of the forums is the job of Dixie, who is also an administrator, though her realm mostly involves watching after the server and whatnot. She will step in, when required, to handle normal administrator duties, but we prefer to not add to her normal workload that just keeps the forums software running smoothly.

How was that? Did that answer your questions?

Maybe I should be writing this down somewhere other than the forums and keeping it for posterity? :bg:

[Orange1967]

So RR, you and Stripe were already mods of this forum before it went into VBulletin?
How long has the forum been running and how long has it been VBulletin? Is it easier to run and work with bieng VBulletin verses whatever it used to be?

Did it always include all of the forums it has now such as the Movies forum, the Television forum, etc...? Or did it just include one or two way back when?

So many questions-so little time

[RobRoy]

Originally posted by Orange1967
So RR, you and Stripe were already mods of this forum before it went into VBulletin?

Nopers. When Michael decided to make the switch to Vbulletin, he also decided to institute some other changes, which included a volunteer moderator staff selected at his discretion. Stripe and I were among the first to volunteer for the duty.

The method for moderator selection is much the same. The only change is that we remove the volunteer portion and select moderators, usually at gunpoint, upon our discretion.

How long has the forum been running and how long has it been VBulletin? Is it easier to run and work with bieng VBulletin verses whatever it used to be?

There is actually a history of Xenite.org, the predessor of SF-FANDOM right here for your reading pleasure. Basically, SF-FANDOM has been around in one form or another since 1997, and in its current embodiment since 2001. That history can be read right here .

VBulletin makes life very easy for the moderators and administrators. It has all kinds of perks that make our jobs and the forums members lives easier. It wasn't an easy transition, though. The old forum used a heirarchical system, so you could see where some threads branched off and went into new discussions. That way, you could bypass other threads if you weren't interested in where that conversation was going.

Did it always include all of the forums it has now such as the Movies forum, the Television forum, etc...? Or did it just include one or two way back when?

So many questions-so little time

It originally started with just the idea of housing a couple of websites about Tolkien, Andre Norton and, of course, about Xena (hence the name Xenite). It wasn't even a forum when it was started, but just a storehouse of information. Then more forums were created as demand increased for them. That precedent is how we go about building new forums on an as-needed basis.

So the short answer is, no, it wasn't all the forums we have today, just one or two way back.

[Orange1967]

Thank you for your answers RR, they were very informative and I appreciate your help with my questions.

[Mouse]

Actually, I've always kind of liked the "New World Order" rules on Home of the Underdogs. It contains a lot of sense and has been used as the basis for a lot of Forum's Terms of Service (or equivalent).

For an example see here.

[RobRoy]

Originally posted by Mouse
Actually, I've always kind of liked the "New World Order" rules on Home of the Underdogs. It contains a lot of sense and has been used as the basis for a lot of Forum's Terms of Service (or equivalent).

For an example see here.

This is actually pretty close to what we currently have as our own forum policy. It's formatted differently, which makes it a little tougher to follow, but the gist is pretty much the same.

Was there something specifically that you liked in their rules that you didn't like in our own?

[Mouse]

Originally posted by RobRoy
Was there something specifically that you liked in their rules that you didn't like in our own?

Nope - I just posted it as an example specifically with regard to Moderators. As far as I'm concerned, the rules and regulations of a particular forum are a matter for the owners/admins :wave:

[RobRoy]

Originally posted by Mouse
Nope - I just posted it as an example specifically with regard to Moderators. As far as I'm concerned, the rules and regulations of a particular forum are a matter for the owners/admins :wave:

Okey dokey. Thanks for that then. As I said, ours are pretty much the same. But your thought is appreciated