Staff on the Forums - A How-to-Tell Guide

n0e · #1 September 25th, 2009

Greetings! This thread is to help newer users and users simply interested to know what usergroups you will encounter on the forums and what exactly they represent. Included are basic details about each group and the Administration.

Forum Administration

Forum Administrators - Forum Administrators are a few of the most senior members that proved themselves capable of managing the staff, garnering the respect of their fellow Staff and Members of the FileFront Forums. They are responsible for the creation of the rules and assist other staff when needed or providing a 'final' answer to a situation that cannot be handled by any other level of staff. While generally mild-mannered, be sure to follow the general rule of: "Don't anger an Admin".
Your Forum Administrators are:
n0e - n0e is the leader of the Administration and officially called 'Community Manager'. His job is to ensure that the forums are in proper working order and to govern the staff that are assigned to help control them. As with any leader, all actions of those he manages are his responsibility and he is held accountable for any mistake made by those working for FileFront on a volunteer basis. He has a pet he enjoys using on those pesky trolls and flamers called Bessy. To find out 'who' bessy is, just ask those that have felt her wrath.

Dreadnought[DK] - aka. Sir. Hugsalot - Quite possibly one of the most stubborn and grumpy of the staff ever to volunteer on any forum, he's the senior-most administrator that volunteers his services and is notorious for his ability to handle any situation with a level head. Aside from grammatical errors that occur because of his adoption of the incorrect English Dictionary (Oxford English ) he's generally in charge of creating all documentation you will find on the Forums and handles the Name Change Amnesty period where users are able to freely have their username changed.

MrFancypants - aka. ze German - He may not be the oldest in regards to registration date, but I think this old timer has us all beat in actual age. Quickly moving up the ranks he's proven himself quite capable of making tough decisions in many situations (probably due to his vast experience of being on this planet longer then the automobile. ) and currently is in charge of handling all staff assignments on the forums. He's the first Admin you will talk to after volunteering.

Ensign Riles - aka. ??? - This Administrator is a big addict of the lovable Spam Forum. A fun fact is that he was once an Administrator before, but the staff was consolidated a bit and his duty no longer required the access. He stuck around as a Super Mod and became a known name on deleted messages and quite helpful to the Moderators.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - aka. Spamtastic! - To call him a spammer is an understatement. At over 20k posts to his name, he's got the largest post count of the Administration and is having it increase everyday. He also happens to be a Network Administrator and is the Liaison between network staff and forum staff. While working with MrFancyPants, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is responsible for adding new staff to game specific forums.

Super Moderators - Super Moderators are hand picked by a unanimous approval of the 5 Administrators. So, if you want a position as a Super Moderator, being respectful and showing you can handle the responsibility will help you stand out enough to be considered. Generally this position is offered to Moderators only as it's considered a promotion position.

Moderators - From time to time we will require additional staff to cover forums due to staff turnover or new forums being created. When such a need arises a thread will be made where you can apply for one of the positions available. This is the only time when applying will actually get you a position.

Please note, that no matter how good you are, if the forum you are interested in has a full compliment of Moderators already, you won't be considered. It is important that we maintain the correct balance of Moderators to members on each forum. If a forum needs extra staff, that will be decided by the Administrators or by existing staff requesting help.

The other route to Moderator is via one of the xxx.filefront.com Network Sites. As a staff member on one of the sites it is understood that you will have expertise in your area and know the community. Note that being staff at a network site doesn't guarantee you a position, but it certainly puts you in a good position to be considered. Network Staff may request to be made Moderator of their respective forum.

Network Administration

Network Administrator - Network Administrators are the leaders of the FileFront Network Sites and shoulder the load of managing dozens of volunteers alongside managing specific sites when needed to. The workload they must carry is certainly never overlooked and they are considered some of the hardest working volunteers at FileFront. They command respect from each level of leadership or community they are involved with.

Network Staff - Network staff are a more generalized ranking term for those that work on the Network sites.
Site Managers - Each Network Site has a slightly different arrangement for their own staff, but the Site Manager is considered to be the leader of that site and in charge of that specific community. They often times work just as hard, if not harder, than the Network Administrators to maintain their communities and keep their sites popular.

There are other levels of a Network Staffer, however as stated before, they vary from site to site in terms of who does what. To find a list of a site you're interested in, it's best to visit that site to find out.

Forum Members

Advanced Member - Advanced Members are members of the community that have proven to be nothing but positive for the overall atmosphere people will have when visiting the forums. Unless you are a retiring Administrator or Super Moderator, you are hand picked and voted in unanimously by the Administrators and Super Moderators to become one. While there are not that many features that can be offered for them, the title image represents that this member has proven themself to be a respected member of the community and should be treated as such.

-No Rank Image-
Member - When you register, you become this. Your only requirement is to read and follow the simple rules of the forums. Basically, if you follow common sense, you'll have no problem.

Other Groups

FileFront Management - On rare occasions you'll see one of these pop up. This group is reserved for those who work at FileFront but are not directly or actively responsible for the Forums or Network Sites. Generally you will not see important messages from them, they just like to hop on and chit chat, but they ARE Administrators and should be treated as such.

-Group Specific Images-
Public Groups - You can find a listing of these freely joinable groups in your Control Panel. They only provide special user titles and images based on post count.