Should WoW be a Lurker Game?

[Artega]

I'd be interested in being in an admin or moderator position for a WoW forum, but there are a few kinks in the works:

First, I'd like to know exactly what is involved in an administrative position. Keeping people in line is an expected duty, but beyond that, I don't know much of what admins actually do.

Second, I currently can't run WoW with my current system. I can barely run D2 as is (typically 10-15fps @ 640x480), so I obviously couldn't take the position if I couldn't even play the game. Funds are short for a new system at the moment (car repairs; first, the timing belt needed replacement, and now the radiator needs to be replaced), and finding a new job is proving difficult, but once I get another stable job, I shouldn't have any problems getting the funds together. The beta won't be finished for another couple of months yet, so it's not like there won't be time to see how things pan out.

[Sabra]

Hi, Bolty:

I've been reading this section of Lurker Lounge with great interest. So much good input, so you certainly don't need mine.

Seems to me that you have already established the premier, private forum on line for WoW. ;)

You know my style and my experience with forum administration and you know me. I've never set the world on fire, but I would be really proud and excited to be involved in the admin/mod responsibilities, if you decide to perpetuate a WoW presence at Lurker Lounge.

If the job requires an Iron Marshmallow, I'm your girl.

[Bolty]

I'd like to set a point here, since I think some people are getting the wrong impression: forum admins aren't what are needed. It's site admins, ala the people who run the content sections of the site (like the Diablo and Diablo II sections). This would entail:

1) news posts about game strategy, linking to strategy articles of high quality on other sites, forum posts worth reading, and anything that's just a solid strategy read
2) STSI management and posting
3) Content management and posting (hosted strategy guides, articles, etc - usually these come from forum posts that are so good they should be archived somewhere)

You'll find that if you're one of those read-the-game-forums-every-single-day types (like I used to be), this is in fact VERY EASY to do! All you do is put up small news blurbs pointing site readers to the best forum posts of the day. People email you STSIs, you decide what the good ones are, and put new ones up every few days. Finally, any really great strategy articles/guides that are posted in a forum and don't have an online home, you put up.

Oops, the secret's out on how I ran an interesting site all those years. :) My typical day would be:

1) Read the forum(s) for a bit
2) Pick some great threads
3) Link to them in the news section and give a short description.

This is about 85% of the job. The rest is STSIs and HTML'ing up articles. If you do #1 regularly, it's only a few minutes a day to do the rest. The hardest part is actually #1, believe it or not. The reason is that doing it for years and years and being dedicated to it is difficult - that's why it's so rarely done. I had my run...I'm looking for someone else to take up the cup. I just don't read gaming forums like I used to.

Remember that the main goal of the LL is to point out great reads to people who don't have the time to read everything. If someone can visit the LL for 15 minutes a day and be caught up on all the latest strategy news, discoveries, and juicy bits to make them a better gamer, then this site has done its job!

-Bolty

[Sabra]

I'd like to set a point here, since I think some people are getting the wrong impression: forum admins aren't what are needed. It's site admins, ala the people who run the content sections of the site (like the Diablo and Diablo II sections).

Actually that's the part that I've always wished I could do at Jim's, but we have no capacity for it on EZboard.com. Exciting, I say. Certainly vastly more interesting than mod-ragging stray cheaters! Well, at least to me. ;)