[wp-forums] Regarding Custom Titles

[James Huff]

I really do like the idea of all of us having "Volunteer" in our titles.  I think that will really help with this odd wave of particularly demanding individuals, but it should be something that we all agree to do, or else it will appear as if some of us are actually paid, which will wind up having the opposite effect.


________
James Huff
http://www.macmanx.com
http://weblogtoolscollection.com

On Sep 21, 2010, at 1:57 AM, Les Bessant wrote:

> As one of those people who've been around too long[1] (my current forum ID is over five years old, and I had a different one for a while before that), I vaguely remember a quite animated discussion on titles. For reasons that now escape me, a lot of people thought they were a Bad Thing. But anyway...
> 
> While custom titles could be fun, I'm inclined to think that some kind of standards might be better, especially as a lot of people don't have US English as their first language, which can result in confusion (for instance "Maven" isn't a word you often come across in UK English, and might mean something rude in another language).
> 
> I think "Volunteer Moderator" might be a useful modification - making it clearer to more people that the people answering questions aren't being paid, and have no legal or moral obligation to give them the answers they want to hear.[2]
> 
> Some sort of label or tag system so people with specialist skills (Multisite, Themes, etc) would be useful, I think.
> 
> And while the kind of people who'll make unreasonable requests are probably not going to read the Codex, we probably should have some kind of definition of what a "Moderator" or an "Administrator" can or can't do (possibly awkward given that there could potentially be multiple levels of each with varying powers). 
> 
> Oh, and I couldn't manage to laugh hysterically. Those stories sound all too familiar to be funny.
> 
> 
> [1] Which is probably why I spend a lot less time on the forums these days. My fragile little mind rebelled at seeing the same questions too many times...
> [2] Often the problem in my actual job. But they're mostly more polite there.
> --
> Les Bessant les at lcb.me.uk
> Losing it[1] - http://losingit.me.uk/
> My flickr pictures - http://flickr.com/photos/lesbessant/
> 
> 
> 
> On 21 Sep 2010, at 09:26, James Huff wrote:
> 
>> I had a very enlightening discussion a few days ago with WordPress.com Support Maven Mark Riley.  Those of you who have been around too long probably remember him as Podz.
>> 
>> Basically, he was following up on topic that was directed to plugins@, and he noticed my custom title as "Volunteer Moderator".
>> 
>> First, a little bit of backstory.  Several days ago (maybe weeks), I was the only "heavy hitter" on the forums for several hours, and for some reason I was begin accosted by three different users who demanded nothing less than the pinnacle of dedicated customer service.  One even demanded to stop using WordPress if I I didn't call and walk him through a few template modifications.  I'll pause while you finish laughing hysterically. :)  In response, I changed my title to "Volunteer Moderator" and that seemed to have shut them up for the rest of the day.  I had meant to change it back, but it slipped my mind.  Mark kindly reminded me that the other moderators were volunteers too. . . oops.  I apologize for anyone this may have offended.  Now, on to the actual discussion part.
>> 
>> Mark also noticed that despite many of us being Administrators, we have set our titles to Moderator.  In fact, at the time Chris was the only one of us brave enough at the time to bear the Administrator title.  This raised the concern that Chris would be sought out more as the only apparent administrator for the crazy requests (delete my account, change my password, etc), and I do agree this is a valid concern.  It also makes Chris look more important than us, and we certainly don't want that, just kidding.
>> 
>> So, the question was raised, why do we hide our role?  When I joined, Samuel suggested changing my title to Moderator so that I wouldn't come "under attack" by crazy requests, but I was still receiving direct emails requesting user name changes, threads deleted, and one is currently threatening to sue me if I don't suspend a "Powered by WordPress" site.  I'll pause again while you finish laughing hysterically. :)  So, figuring that the false moderator shield is not really protecting me, I've switched back to Administrator.  Perhaps the rest of us should consider doing the same?
>> 
>> Of course, we also have tech ninjas, forum janitors, multisite mavens, and members (miklb, you sneaky person), which raised the next question.  Mark suggested that it would be cool if we all picked custom titles akin to our own unique specialties and then perhaps added our roles (Admins and Mods) to the Support Forum Volunteer Codex page.
>> 
>> Personally, I haven't decided what I'd like to do, hence I'd love to hear your thoughts.  Should we continue as is?  Should we proudly display our role?  Should we get creative and come up with our own titles?  Should we keep a list of admins and mods on the Codex page?
>> 
>> I'd love to hear your thoughts!
>> 
>> 
>> ________
>> James Huff
>> http://www.macmanx.com
>> http://weblogtoolscollection.com
>> 
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