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Secret Admin

Shawn Gossman

Shawn Gossman

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Ever heard of a secret admin or moderator?

Back when I did retail loss prevention, I would dress in normal clothing and follow shoplifters. I blended in and looked like I was a normal customer. Once the shoplifter attempted to depart the store, I would apprehend them in the parking lot.

Imagine this same concept but for forums.

Have a regular member account that no one knows is a staff member. That account would watch for violations like PM spam or stuff like that only to take action when violations are found.

Do any of you practice this? Do you think it's a good idea or a bad idea? Why?
 
I have never heard or seen any forum owner practice this but I don't think it's really necessary because even forum members wouldn't know a staff or mod is overseeing whatever they are doing for PM spam or whatever. Also, fellow members can report spams and it's taken care of. So, I don't see any need for a secret admin.
 
Heatman said:
I have never heard or seen any forum owner practice this but I don't think it's really necessary because even forum members wouldn't know a staff or mod is overseeing whatever they are doing for PM spam or whatever. Also, fellow members can report spams and it's taken care of. So, I don't see any need for a secret admin.
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While I have never practiced this, I have seen other forums do it over the years.

Maybe not so much in today's forums but definitely from the past back when the spam was kind of getting out of hand.
 
Shawn Gossman said:
While I have never practiced this, I have seen other forums do it over the years.

Maybe not so much in today's forums but definitely from the past back when the spam was kind of getting out of hand.
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I think it's because there's no much relevance adopting such practice would have in forums now that makes forum owners never care about using it. The secret admin wouldn't even address an issue without being questioned by some members who feel he/she is overstepping.
 
I don’t see a reason as to why a forum would have a secretive admin. You want all your staff members to be known and recognized by the community. I haven’t came across any boards in years that have done this. I can see it happening if one was a server tech admin but that’s about it.

However, that would fall align with a much larger community not so much a smaller forum.
 
While it might work on physical stores, I don't think it works on online forums. The dynamics are totally different. That might work if you are investigating
a specific user or your forum involves minors or other specific topics, but anyways, I don't see how it would fit into a regular forum environment.
 
Cpvr said:
I don’t see a reason as to why a forum would have a secretive admin. You want all your staff members to be known and recognized by the community. I haven’t came across any boards in years that have done this. I can see it happening if one was a server tech admin but that’s about it.

However, that would fall align with a much larger community not so much a smaller forum.
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The secret admin wouldn't even have any credibility to his powers. Imagine when a members gets a notification about their content being removed by someone who's just seen as a regular member, it's definitely not going to end well.
 
Mike30 said:
While it might work on physical stores, I don't think it works on online forums. The dynamics are totally different. That might work if you are investigating
a specific user or your forum involves minors or other specific topics, but anyways, I don't see how it would fit into a regular forum environment.
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I agree.

Besides, if someone is doing something they're not supposed to do, if you (regular member) don't like it, then you should report it, and then action can be taken if applicable.
 
Shawn Gossman said:
I agree.

Besides, if someone is doing something they're not supposed to do, if you (regular member) don't like it, then you should report it, and then action can be taken if applicable.
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Very correct! It was exactly my first response to this because that's why there a report button in every comment. Also, DM can equally be reported as well. If all these features are available, there's no need to create any spot for a secret admin. No one needs CIA in a forum lol.
 
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